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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So will I set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines and from the desert unto the River (Euphrates), - for I will deliver into your hand the inhabitants of the land, so shalt thou drive them out from before thee.
and, from Bamoth of the valley, which is in the field-country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, - which over-looketh Jeshimon.
every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread yours, shall it be, - from the desert and the Lebanon from the river - the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea, shall be your boundary.
Fruitful are the pastures of the wilderness, And, with exultation, the hills do gird themselves. Clothed are the pastures with flocks, The valleys also, cover themselves with corn, They shout for joy, yea 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/type/emb'>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 up early in the morning - and took bread and a skin of water and gave unto hagar, - putting them on her shoulder and the child, and sent her forth, - so she went her way and wandered, in the desert of Beer-sheba.
And he dwelt in the desert of Paran, - and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
Now, Moses, was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law priest of Midian, - so he led forth the flock behind the desert, and came in unto the mountain of God to Horeb.
And Yahweh said unto Aaron, Go thy way to meet Moses, towards the desert. So he went his way, and fell in with him in the mountain of God and kissed him.
then was it that they brake up out of Rephidim and came into the desert of Sinai, and encamped in the desert, - yea Israel encamped there before the mountain.
So will I set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines and from the desert unto the River (Euphrates), - for I will deliver into your hand the inhabitants of the land, so shalt thou drive them out from before thee.
Then, shall the land be paid her sabbaths, All the days she lieth desolate, While, ye, are in the land of your fees, - Then, shall the land keep sabbath, And pay off her sabbaths:
and, from Bamoth of the valley, which is in the field-country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, - which over-looketh Jeshimon.
and, from Bamoth of the valley, which is in the field-country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, - which over-looketh Jeshimon.
Then did the sons of Israel break up, - and encamp in the waste plains of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan by Jericho.
So Balak took Balaam, - unto the head of Peor, that looketh over the face of the Jeshimon.
every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread yours, shall it be, - from the desert and the Lebanon from the river - the river Euphrates, even unto the hinder sea, shall be your boundary.
So then Moses went up, from the waste plains of Moab into Mount Nebo, the head of Pisgah, which is over against Jericho, - and Yahweh showed him all the land - even Gilead as far as Dan;
And the sons of Israel bewailed Moses in the waste plains of Moab thirty day, - then were completed the wailing-days of the mourning for Moses.
From the desert and this Lebanon, even unto the great river - the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea, toward the going in of the sun, shall be your boundary.
Thus then the sons of Israel encamped in Gilgal, - and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, in the waste plains of Jericho.
Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men, - then was kindled the anger of Eliab against David, and he said - Wherefore is it that thou hast come down? and to whom hast thou entrusted those few sheep in the wilderness? I, know thy pride, and the foolishness of thy heart, for, to see the battle, hast thou come down.
Then Saul arose, and went down into the wilderness of Ziph, and, with him, three thousand chosen men of Israel, - to seek David in the wilderness of Zip.
Now, therefore, send quickly, and tell David, saying, - Do not lodge to-night in the waste plains of the wilderness, thou must, even pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him.
O enemy! complete are the desolations, evermore, - even cities, hast thou uprooted, The memory of, them, hath perished.
How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:
I am like the pelican of the desert, I have become as an owl among ruins.
But lusted a lust in the desert, and tested GOD in the waste.
For the fortified city, is solitary, The dwelling forsaken and left as a wilderness, - There, shall the calf feed, And, there, lie down And shall consume the branches thereof:
Until there be poured out upon us the spirit, from on high, - Then shall the wilderness become, garden-land, And the garden-land, for a forest, be reckoned;
The land mourneth, languisheth, Lebanon, displayeth shame, is withered, - Sharon, hath become, as the waste plain, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.
Wilderness and parched land, shall be glad for them, - And the waste plain, shall exult, and blossom as the lily:
Wilderness and parched land, shall be glad for them, - And the waste plain, shall exult, and blossom as the lily:
Then, shall leap as a hart the lame, Then shall shout the tongue of the dumb, For, there have broken forth - In the desert - waters, And streams, in the waste plain:
A voice of one crying! - In the desert, prepare ye the way of Yahweh, - Make smooth in the waste plain a highway for our God:
A voice of one crying! - In the desert, prepare ye the way of Yahweh, - Make smooth in the waste plain a highway for our God:
I will set in the desert! Cedar, acacia, and myrtle, and oil-tree, - I will place, in the waste plain, Cypress, holm-oak, and sherbin-cedar, together
Behold me! doing a new thing, Now, shall it spring forth, Will ye not take note thereof? Surely I will set In the desert, a way, In a desolate land, rivers: The wild beast of the field shall honour me, Jackals, and ostriches, Because I have given - In the desert, waters, Rivers in, desolate land, To give drink unto my people, my chosen:
And they thirsted not, when, through dry places, he led them, Waters out of the rock, caused hero flow out to them, - Yea be cleft a rock and, there gushed out waters:
Wherefore, When I came in, was there no one? When I called, was there none to answer? Is mine own hand, really shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or is there not, in me, strength to deliver? Lo! by my rebuke, I dry up the sea I make rivers a desert, Their fish Stinketh, for want of water, Yea dieth, for thirst:
For Yahweh hath comforted Zion, He hath comforted all her waste places, And hath made her wilderness like Eden, And her waste plain like the garden of Yahweh, - Joy and gladness, shall be found in her, Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
At that time, shall it be said of this people and of Jerusalem, - The sharp wind of the bare heights in the desert, cometh towards the daughter of my people, - not to winnow nor to cleanse.
As jackals, among ruins, thy prophets O Israel have been.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness, - for, the tree, hath borne its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine, have yielded their wealth.
For, this, is he who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, A voice, of one crying aloud! In the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight, be making his paths.
And his disciples say unto him - Whence, to us, in a wilderness, loaves in such numbers as to fill a multitude, so great?
What man from among you, having a hundred sheep, and losing, from among them, one, doth not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go his way after the lost one, until he find 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 shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law priest of Midian, - so he led forth the flock behind the desert, and came in unto the mountain of God to Horeb.
Now, Moses, was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law priest of Midian, - so he led forth the flock behind the desert, and came in unto the mountain of God to Horeb.
And they said, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us, - let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.
And they said, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us, - let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with sword.
Moreover also, our own cattle, shall go with us - there shall not be left behind, a hoof, for thereof, must we take, to serve Yahweh our God, - even we ourselves, cannot know wherewith we must serve Yahweh, until we have come in thither.
Moreover also, our own cattle, shall go with us - there shall not be left behind, a hoof, for thereof, must we take, to serve Yahweh our God, - even we ourselves, cannot know wherewith we must serve Yahweh, until we have come in thither.
Moreover also, a mixed multitude, came up with them, - flocks also, and herds, exceeding much cattle,
Moreover also, a mixed multitude, came up with them, - flocks also, and herds, exceeding much cattle,
then was it that they brake up out of Rephidim and came into the desert of Sinai, and encamped in the desert, - yea Israel encamped there before the mountain.
then was it that they brake up out of Rephidim and came into the desert of Sinai, and encamped in the desert, - yea Israel encamped there before the mountain.
Shall the flocks and herds, be slaughtered for them, that it may suffice for them? Shall all the fishes of the sea, be gathered together unto them that it may suffice for them?
Shall the flocks and herds, be slaughtered for them, that it may suffice for them? Shall all the fishes of the sea, be gathered together unto them that it may suffice for them?
Now, much cattle, had come into the possession of the sons of Reuben and of the sons of Gad, an exceeding mighty number. And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, lo! the place, was a place for cattle.
Now, much cattle, had come into the possession of the sons of Reuben and of the sons of Gad, an exceeding mighty number. And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, lo! the place, was a place for cattle.
Fruitful are the pastures of the wilderness, And, with exultation, the hills do gird themselves.
Fruitful are the pastures of the wilderness, And, with exultation, the hills do gird themselves.
I am like the pelican of the desert, I have become as an owl among ruins.
I am like the pelican of the desert, I have become as an owl among ruins.
Wilderness and parched land, shall be glad for them, - And the waste plain, shall exult, and blossom as the lily:
Wilderness and parched land, shall be glad for them, - And the waste plain, shall exult, and blossom as the lily:
And he said unto me these waters are going forth unto the region toward the east and shall go down unto the waste plain, a and shall eater the sea, unto the sea being led forth, then shall the waters be healed;
And he said unto me these waters are going forth unto the region toward the east and shall go down unto the waste plain, a and shall eater the sea, unto the sea being led forth, then shall the waters be healed;
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness, - for, the tree, hath borne its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine, have yielded their wealth.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for sprouted have the pastures of the wilderness, - for, the tree, hath borne its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine, have yielded their wealth.
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 shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law priest of Midian, - so he led forth the flock behind the desert, and came in unto the mountain of God to Horeb.
I appeared, therefore, unto Abraham unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as GOD Almighty, - although, by my name Yahweh was I not made known to them;
And Moses said unto Yahweh, The people cannot come up into Mount Sinai, - for, thou thyself, hast adjured us saying: Set bounds to the mountain and hallow it.
How often they, Resisted him in the desert, Vexed him, in the waste:
But lusted a lust in the desert, and tested GOD in the waste.
Behold me! doing a new thing, Now, shall it spring forth, Will ye not take note thereof? Surely I will set In the desert, a way, In a desolate land, rivers: The wild beast of the field shall honour me, Jackals, and ostriches, Because I have given - In the desert, waters, Rivers in, desolate land, To give drink unto my people, my chosen: