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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And I will stretch your bounds from the Red Sea even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
and from Bamoth in the valley, in the country of Moab, they worked to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward the wilderness.
Every place on which the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the furthest sea shall your border be.
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills gird themselves with joy. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy and 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/mkjv'>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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And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. And he gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
And he lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
And Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount.
And I will stretch your bounds from the Red Sea even to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies waste, and you are in your enemies' land; then shall the land rest and enjoy its sabbaths.
and from Bamoth in the valley, in the country of Moab, they worked to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward the wilderness.
and from Bamoth in the valley, in the country of Moab, they worked to the top of Pisgah, which looks toward the wilderness.
And the sons of Israel pulled up stakes and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
Every place on which the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the furthest sea shall your border be.
And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah that is opposite Jericho. And Jehovah showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan,
And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. And the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
And the sons of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
And his oldest brother Eliab heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled 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 pride and the naughtiness of your heart. For you have come down to see the battle.
And Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him.
And now send quickly and tell David, saying, Do not stay in the plains of the wilderness tonight, but speedily pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people with him.
The desolations of the enemy have come to an end forever, and You have destroyed the cities; their memorial has perished with them.
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!
I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
but they lusted greedily in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.
Yet the fortified city shall be wasted, and the dwelling forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and eat up its branches.
until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is thought to be a forest.
The earth mourns and droops. Lebanon is ashamed; Sharon withers like a wilderness; Bashan and Carmel are shaken out.
The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus.
The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the desert.
The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway in the desert for our God.
The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight a highway in the desert for our God.
I will plant the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together;
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall sprout; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.
And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cut open the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
Who knows why I have come, and no one is here? I called and no one answered. Is My hand shortened at all so that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.
For Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind from the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to sift nor to cleanse.
O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Do not be afraid, beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness grow green; for the tree bears its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
And His disciples said to Him, From where should we get so many loaves in the wilderness, so as to fill so great a crowd?
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after that 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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And Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
And Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword.
And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray you, three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He fall upon us with plague or with the sword.
Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind. For we must take from them to serve Jehovah our God. And we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah until we come there.
Our cattle also shall go with us. There shall not be a hoof left behind. For we must take from them to serve Jehovah our God. And we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah until we come there.
And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks, and herds, very much cattle.
And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks, and herds, very much cattle.
And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount.
And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness. And Israel camped there in front of the mount.
Shall the flocks and the herds be killed for them, to be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be enough for them?
Shall the flocks and the herds be killed for them, to be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be enough for them?
And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, behold, the place was a place for cattle.
And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, behold, the place was a place for cattle.
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills gird themselves with joy.
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills gird themselves with joy.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.
The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus.
The wilderness and the desert shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the crocus.
And he said to me, These waters go out toward the eastern circuit, and go down into the Arabah, and go into the sea. They are brought out into the sea, and the waters shall be healed.
And he said to me, These waters go out toward the eastern circuit, and go down into the Arabah, and go into the sea. They are brought out into the sea, and the waters shall be healed.
Do not be afraid, beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness grow green; for the tree bears its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
Do not be afraid, beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness grow green; for the tree bears its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
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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And Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.
And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But I was not known to them by the name JEHOVAH.
And Moses said to Jehovah, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai. For You commanded us, saying, Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!
but they lusted greedily in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert.
Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall sprout; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.