Reference: Desert
American
The Scriptures, by "desert," generally mean an uncultivated place, a wilderness, or grazing tract. Some deserts were entirely fry and barren; others were beautiful, and had good pastures. David speaks of the beauty of the desert, Ps 65:12-13. Scripture names several deserts in the Holy Land. Other deserts particularly mentioned, are "that great and terrible wilderness" in Arabia Petraea, south of Canaan, Nu 21:20; also the region between Canaan and the Euphrates, Ex 23:31; De 11:24. The pastures of this wilderness are clothed in winter and spring with rich and tender herbage; but the heat of summer soon burns this up, and the Arabs are driven to seek pasturage elsewhere.
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"I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.
"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks And the valleys are covered with grain; They shout for joy, yes, they sing.
Easton
(1.) Heb. midbar, "pasture-ground;" an open tract for pasturage; a common (Joe 2:22). The "backside of the desert" (Ex 3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered "wildernes," and is used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine (21/14'>Ge 21:14,21; Ex 4:27; 19:2; Jos 1:4), the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.
The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia, which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of the nomad tribes than roam over it (1Ki 9:18).
The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks (1Sa 17:28; 26:2). Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from that of a settled people (Isa 35:1; 50:2; Jer 4:11). Such, also, is the meaning of the word "wilderness" in Mt 3:3; 15:33; Lu 15:4.
(2.) The translation of the Hebrew Aribah', "an arid tract" (Isa 35:1,6; 40:3; 41:19; 51:3, etc.). The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep valley of the Jordan (the Ghor of the Arabs), which extends from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While midbar denotes properly a pastoral region, arabah denotes a wilderness. It is also translated "plains;" as "the plains of Jericho" (Jos 5:10; 2Ki 25:5), "the plains of Moab" (Nu 22:1; De 34:1,8), "the plains of the wilderness" (2Sa 17:16).
(3.) In the Revised Version of Nu 21:20 the Hebrew word jeshimon is properly rendered "desert," meaning the waste tracts on both shores of the Dead Sea. This word is also rendered "desert" in Ps 78:40; 106:14; Isa 43:19-20. It denotes a greater extent of uncultivated country than the other words so rendered. It is especially applied to the desert of the peninsula of Arabia (Nu 21:20; 23:28), the most terrible of all the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted. It is called "the desert" in Ex 23:31; De 11:24. (See Jeshimon.)
(4.) A dry place; hence a desolation (Ps 9:6), desolate (Le 26:34); the rendering of the Hebrew word horbah'. It is rendered "desert" only in Ps 102:6; Isa 48:21; Eze 13:4, where it means the wilderness of Sinai.
(5.) This word is the symbol of the Jewish church when they had forsaken God (Isa 40:3). Nations destitute of the knowledge of God are called a "wilderness" (Isa 32:15, midbar). It is a symbol of temptation, solitude, and persecution (Isa 27:10, midbar; Isa 33:9, arabah).
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So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.
He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Now the LORD said to Aaron, "Go to meet Moses in the wilderness " So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.
"I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.
and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the land of Moab, at the top of Pisgah which overlooks the wasteland.
Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.
"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.
Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan,
So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.
"From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho.
Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle."
So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
"Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, 'Do not spend the night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over, or else the king and all the people who are with him will be destroyed.'"
The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; The very memory of them has perished.
How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert.
For the fortified city is isolated, A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert; There the calf will graze, And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
The land mourns and pines away, Lebanon is shamed and withers; Sharon is like a desert plain, And Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage.
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
"I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert Together with the box tree and the cypress,
"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. "The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts He made the water flow out of the rock for them; He split the rock and the water gushed forth.
"Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst.
Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places And her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.
In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people--not to winnow and not to cleanse,
"O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.
Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'"
The disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?"
"What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
Fausets
Not meaning a barren, burning, sandy waste, in the case of Sinai and Palestine. Sand is the exception, not the rule, in the peninsula of Sinai. Even still it is diversified by oases and verdant valleys with wells. Much more formerly, for traces exist in many parts of Egyptian miners' smelting furnaces. But forest after forest being consumed by them for fuel, the rain decreased, and the fertility of the land has sunk down to what it now is. Arabah (now the Ghor) is the designation of the sunken valley N. and S. of the Dead Sea, especially the N., the deepest and hottest depression on the earth. Though in its present neglected state it is desolate, it formerly exhibited tropical luxuriance of vegetation, because the water resources of the country were duly used.
Jericho, "the city of palm trees," at the lower end, and Bethshean at the upper, were especially so noted. Though there are no palms growing there now, yet black trunks of palm are still found drifted on to the shores of the Dead Sea (Eze 47:8). In the prophets and poetical books arabah is used generally for a waste (Isa 35:1). It is not so used in the histories, but specifically for the Jordan valley. (See ARABAH.) The wilderness of Israel's 40 years wanderings (Paran, now the Tih) afforded ample sustenance then for their numerous cattle; so that the skeptic's objection to the history on this ground is futile.
Midbar, the regular term for this "desert" or "wilderness" (Ex 3:1; 5:3; 19:2), means a pasture ground (from daabar, "to drive flocks") (Ex 10:26; 12:38; Nu 11:22; 32:1). It is "desert" only in comparison with the rich agriculture of Egypt and Palestine. The midbars of Ziph, Maon, and Paran, etc., are pasture wastes beyond the cultivated grounds adjoining these towns or places; verdant in spring, but dusty, withered, and dreary at the end of summer. Charbah also occurs, expressing dryness and desolation: Ps 102:6, "desert," commonly translated "waste places" or "desolation." Also Jeshimon, denoting the wastes on both sides of the Dead Sea, in the historical books. The transition from "pasture land" to "desert" appears Ps 65:12, "the pastures of the wilderness" (Joe 2:22.).
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Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
"Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD."
"Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD."
A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.
A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.
When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.
When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.
"Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"
"Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"
Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,
Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock So when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock,
The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.
The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing.
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places.
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus
Then he said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh.
Then he said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh.
Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, For the tree has borne its fruit, The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
Hastings
Morish
See WILDERNESS.
Smith
Desert.
Not a stretch of sand, an utterly barren waste, but a wild, uninhabited region. The words rendered in the Authorized Version by "desert," when used in the historical books denote definite localities.
1. ARABAH. This word means that very depressed and enclosed region--the deepest and the hottest chasm in the world--the sunken valley north and south of the Dead Sea, but more particularly the former. [ARABAH] Arabah in the sense of the Jordan valley is translated by the word "desert" only in
See Arabah
2. MIDBAR. This word, which our translators have most frequently rendered by "desert," is accurately "the pasture ground." It is most frequently used for those tracts of waste land which lie beyond the cultivated ground in the immediate neighborhood of the towns and villages of Palestine, and which are a very familiar feature to the traveller in that country.
3. CHARBAH appears to have the force of dryness, and thence of desolation. It is rendered "desert" in Psal 102:6; Isai 48:21; Ezek 13:4 The term commonly employed for it in the Authorized Version is "waste places" or "desolation."
4. JESHIMON, with the definite article, apparently denotes the waste tracts on both sides of the Dead Sea. In all these cases it is treated as a proper name in the Authorized Version. Without the article it occurs in a few passages of poetry in the following of which it is rendered; "desert:"
See Jeshimon
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Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.
Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, 'Set bounds about the mountain and consecrate it.'"
How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert!
But craved intensely in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert.
"Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. "The beasts of the field will glorify Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I have given waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My chosen people.