John 3:23

John also was baptizing at Ænon near to Salim.

The location of Ænon was long in doubt, and it was left for Lieut. Conder, of the British Palestine Exploration, to settle the question so satisfactorily that the authorities on the sacred localities, Robinson, Stanley, Thompson, Schaff and McGarvey, have accepted his discovery. He, the only man who has made. scientific survey of Palestine, locates it northeast of Samaria, in. beautiful valley, not far from the Jordan. He says (Tent Work, p. 92): "The valley is open in most of its course, and we find in it the two requisites for the scene of the baptism of. large multitude,--an open space and abundance of water. Not only does the name Salim occur in the village three miles south of the valley, but the name Ænon, signifying 'springs,' is recognized as the village of Ainun, four miles north of the stream. There is only one other place of the latter name in Palestine, Beit Ainun, near Hebron, but this is. place that has no fine supply of water and no Salim near it. On the other hand there are many other Salims all over Palestine, but none of them has an Ænon near it. The site of Wady Far'ah is the only one where all the requisites are met,--the two names, the fine water supply, the proximity of the desert, and the open character of the ground." Prof. McGarvey, who visited the locality, says: "The much water we found all the way, and although the season was exceptionally dry, pools well suited for baptizing were abundant.... Here, then, was the open space required, and. more suitable place for the gathering of. multitude could not be found on the banks of any stream in Palestine.... We cut an oleander cane apiece from the bank of the stream, and took. bath in one of its pools."-- Lands of the Bible, pp. 508-9.

Because there was much water there.

This is assigned as. reason, not why John was at Ænon, or preached at Ænon, but why he baptized at Ænon. It explains "baptizing." "Much water" was essential to baptism in New Testament times, and Ænon provided it. It shows the stress of Pedobaptists when they insist that he chose Ænon because the great multitudes would require much water for domestic purposes. The Scripture explains its necessity otherwise. Nor does the criticism that polla hudata means "many waters" help their cause. The phrase is applied in the Septuagint to the Euphrates (Jeremiah 51:13), and in Revelation to the Tiber (Revelation 17:1). It may mean either "much" or "many" waters. There were many fountains at Ænon and many pools in the stream they created. Whatever polla hudata may mean it explains the reason why John was baptizing there,. fact that can be reconciled only with immersion. The reason why the historian gives this explanation is that all the other accounts of John's baptizing locate him at the river Jordan. As it is here affirmed that he was baptizing at. place some distance from the Jordan, it is explained that there "was much water there" also.