And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.
They returned, and came to En-mishpat (i:e., the spring of judgment), which is Kadesh. Having at Elath reached the goal of their expedition, and made arrangement for securing the important benefits for which it was undertaken, they prepared to return northwards, and by what route? 'Not through the Arabah, but they ascended the desert plateau from Aileh, either through the pass Akabah Aileh, or following the tract of the subsequent Roman road through Wady El-Bejaneh (see Robinson, 'Resear.', 1: 328), then went round Jebel Araif since the mountain-wall opposite blocks up the passage through, and arrived on the edge of Jebel Helƒl, the eastern mountain at its northern extremity, about twelve miles to the east-southeast of Moilahhi' (Tuch, J.S.L., July, 1848).
There was Kadesh (Ain El Kadeis), a copious spring which Chedorlaomer evidently deemed it of prime importance in a strategical point of view to secure, since this watering place must, to all who traverse that region, be a most important station, lying near the junction of the various roads from Egypt and the desert on the southern border of Canaan (see further the notes at Numbers 13:26; Deuteronomy 1:46).
And smote all the country of the Amalekites, [Hebrew, sªdeeh (H7704), field, open cultivated field. Instead of this, the Septuagint translators must, in their Hebrew copy have read sariy; because they have: pantas tous archontas, all the princes; whence it has been inferred that the Amalekites had in that early age an independent national existence, distinct from the branch that afterward sprang from the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12).]
This reading has the recommendation of preserving a uniformity in the narrative of the historian, who has hitherto spoken only of the people or tribes that were smitten. But if the text in our version is adhered to as the correct one, the clause must be taken as an instance of prolepsis, "all the country of the Amalekites" meaning all the district that was occupied by them in the days of Moses. The term х sªdeeeh (H7704), cultivated plain] is a very appropriate one, the whole region from Kadesh, round by Beer-sheba to Engedi, partaking partly of a pastoral and partly of an arable character.
And also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar - the cutting or pruning of palm-trees. This town was situated on the western shore of the Dead Sea, at an equal distance from both extremities of the lake. It stood at the base of a precipitous ridge of rocks, over which a copious stream issues from a spring about 400 feet above the level of the sea, and clothes the high table-land around with verdure and plantations of a tropical character. It was near the cities of the plain, and then inhabited by a tribe of Amorites. It was an oasis abounding in palm trees. But that grove has entirely disappeared. The place was afterward called Eugedi (see the note at 2 Chronicles 20:2; Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28).