Enon (Aenon)

Enon — spelled Aenon in the UPDV — is the site at which John the Baptist was working at the moment Jesus' own immersion ministry began to draw crowds away from him. It is named once and located by its proximity to a second town and by the practical reason for its choice.

The Place near Salim

The text gives both the location and the rationale in a single sentence: "And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized" (Joh 3:23). Aenon is fixed by reference to Salim, a settlement evidently better known than Aenon itself, and it is selected — explicitly — for its supply of water. The same verse records that people kept coming to be immersed there, framing the next paragraph's exchange between John's disciples and Jesus' growing following.