Reference: South
Easton
Heb Negeb, that arid district to the south of Palestine through which lay the caravan route from Central Palestine to Egypt (Ge 12:9; 3/1/type/ylt'>13:1,3; 46:1-6). "The Negeb comprised a considerable but irregularly-shaped tract of country, its main portion stretching from the mountains and lowlands of Judah in the north to the mountains of Azazemeh in the south, and from the Dead Sea and southern Ghoron the east to the Mediterranean on the west." In Eze 20:46 (21:1 in Heb) three different Hebrew words are all rendered "south." (1) "Set thy face toward the south" (Teman, the region on the right, 1Sa 31:13); (2) "Drop thy word toward the south" (Negeb, the region of dryness, Jos 15:4); (3) "Prophesy against the forest of the south field" (Darom, the region of brightness, De 33:23). In Job 37:9 the word "south" is literally "chamber," used here in the sense of treasury (comp. Job 38:22; Ps 135:7). This verse is rendered in the Revised Version "out of the chamber of the south."
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And Abram journeyeth, going on and journeying towards the south.
And Abram goeth up from Egypt (he and his wife, and all that he hath, and Lot with him) towards the south;
And he goeth on his journeyings from the south, even unto Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the commencement, between Bethel and Hai --
And Israel journeyeth, and all that he hath, and cometh in to Beer-Sheba, and sacrificeth sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac; and God speaketh to Israel in visions of the night, and saith, 'Jacob, Jacob;' and he saith, 'Here am I.' read more. And He saith, 'I am God, God of thy father, be not afraid of going down to Egypt, for for a great nation I set thee there; I -- I go down with thee to Egypt, and I -- I also certainly bring thee up, and Joseph doth put his hand on thine eyes.' And Jacob riseth from Beer-Sheba, and the sons of Israel bear away Jacob their father, And their infants, and their wives, in the waggons which Pharaoh hath sent to bear him, and they take their cattle, and their goods which they have acquired in the land of Canaan, and come into Egypt -- Jacob, and all his seed with him,
And of Naphtali he said: -- O Naphtali, satisfied with pleasure, And full of the blessing of Jehovah, West and south possess thou.
and passed over to Azmon, and gone out at the brook of Egypt, and the outgoings of the border have been at the sea; this is to you the south border.
and they take their bones, and bury them under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and fast seven days.
From the inner chamber cometh a hurricane, And from scatterings winds -- cold,
Hast thou come in unto the treasure of snow? Yea, the treasures of hail dost thou see?
Causing vapours to ascend from the end of the earth, Lightnings for the rain He hath made, Bringing forth wind from His treasures.
Son of man, set thy face the way of Teman, and prophesy unto the south, and prophesy unto the forest of the field -- the south;
Fausets
The designation of a large district of Judah; the Negeb. (See JUDAH; PALESTINE.) Palmer (Desert of Exodus) notices how accurately Jer 13:19 has been fulfilled, "the cities of the South shall be shut up, and none shall open them." Walls of solid masonry remain; fields and gardens surrounded with goodly walls, every sign of human industry, remains of wells, aqueducts, reservoirs; mountain forts to resist forays of the sons of the desert; desolated gardens, terraced hill sides, and wadies dammed to resist the torrent; ancient towns still called by their names, but no living being, except the lizard and screech owl, amidst the crumbling walls. In Jg 1:16 it is called "the wilderness of Judah South of Arad"; a strip of hilly country, running from the Dead Sea westward across Palestine, obliquely to the S.W. This tract is separated from the hills of Judaea or the mountains of Hebron by the broad plain of Beersheba (wady el Malih, "the valley of Salt") extending from the Dead Sea westward or S.W. to the land of Gerar.
The cities were 29 (Jos 15:21-32); some of the names are not of distinct cities, but compound names. The land is now at rest, enjoying its Sabbath, because it did not rest in the Jews' Sabbaths (Le 26:34-35,43). Besides the application of "the Negeb" to the whole district there are ethnological and geographical subdivisions; the Negeb of the Cherethites, the Negeb of the Kenites, the Negeb of Judah the Negeb of Arad, the Negeb of Jerahmeel. The Negeb of Caleb was a subdivision of, or identical with, the Negeb of Judah, as appears from 1Sa 30:14,16; 25:2-3; compare with Jos 21:11-12).
The low country N. and W. of Beersheba was the Negeb of the Cherethites. The Negeb of Judah was South of Hebron in the outposts of Judah's hills; Tel Zif, Main, and Kurmul (Carmel), ruined cities, mark the Negeb of Caleb. Tel Arad marks the Negeb of the Kenites reaching to the S.W. of the Dead Sea. The Negeb of Jerahmeel lay between wady Rukhmeh (corruption of Jerahmeel) in the N., and wadies el Abaydh, Marreh, and Madarah, in the South. The Amalekites (in Nu 14:25) dwelt in the valley and yet "in the hill," for their land was a plateau, the sense of sadeh "country" in Ge 14:7; compare 1Sa 27:8. Some lived in the hills, others in the fertile lower level to which the wadies debouch; so now the Azazimeh.
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and they turn back and come in unto En-Mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smite the whole field of the Amalekite, and also the Amorite who is dwelling in Hazezon-Tamar.
Then doth the land enjoy its sabbaths -- all the days of the desolation, and ye in the land of your enemies -- then doth the land rest, and hath enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it resteth that which it hath not rested in your sabbaths in your dwelling on it.
And -- the land is left of them, and doth enjoy its sabbaths, in the desolation without them, and they accept the punishment of their iniquity, because, even because, against My judgments they have kicked, and My statutes hath their soul loathed,
And the Amalekite and the Canaanite are dwelling in the valley; to-morrow turn ye and journey for yourselves into the wilderness -- the way of the Red Sea.'
And the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah are unto the border of Edom in the south, Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, read more. and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan, Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, and Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, Hezron, (it is Hazor,) Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, and Hazar-Gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-Palet, and Hazar-Shual, and Beer-Sheba, and Bizjothjah, Baalah, and Iim, and Azem, And Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon; all the cities are twenty and nine, and their villages.
and they give to them the city of Arba father of Anak (it is Hebron), in the hill-country of Judah, and its suburbs round about it; and the field of the city and its villages they have given to Caleb son of Jephunneh for his possession.
And the sons of the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, have gone up out of the city of palms with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad, and they go and dwell with the people.
And there is a man in Maon, and his work is in Carmel; and the man is very great, and he hath three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats; and he is shearing his flock in Carmel. And the name of the man is Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail, and the woman is of good understanding, and of fair form, and the man is hard and evil in doings; and he is a Calebite.
and David goeth up and his men, and they push unto the Geshurite, and the Gerizite, and the Amalekite, (for they are inhabitants of the land from of old), as thou comest in to Shur and unto the land of Egypt,
we pushed to the south of the Cherethite, and against that which is to Judah, and against the south of Caleb, and Ziklag we burned with fire.'
And he bringeth him down, and lo, they are spread out over the face of all the earth, eating, and drinking, and feasting, with all the great spoil which they have taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
The cities of the south have been shut up, And there is none opening, Judah hath been removed -- all of her, She hath been removed completely --
Hastings
Morish
In the Bible, as we might expect, the points of the compass are spoken of as they refer to the land of Palestine. The south would therefore indicate the part of the land which contained Judah's and Simeon's portions, or to the district still further south, a country little known. Ge 12:9. It is called negeb in the Hebrew. Two other words are yamin and teman, signifying 'the right hand,' and are translated 'south' because the Israelites considered themselves as looking toward the East when speaking of the points of the compass. 1Sa 23:19,24; Ps 89:12; Jos 12:3; 13:4; Ps 78:26; Isa 43:6. Another word is darom, 'bright, sunny region,' hence 'the south.' De 33:23; Job 37:17; Eze 40:24-45. In the N.T., except in Ac 8:26 (where the word is ?????????, 'mid-day,' because the sun is then in the south: as the Latin meridies, 'mid-day,' also signifies 'south'), the word is ?????, 'the south.' Mt 12:42; etc.
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And Abram journeyeth, going on and journeying towards the south.
And of Naphtali he said: -- O Naphtali, satisfied with pleasure, And full of the blessing of Jehovah, West and south possess thou.
And the plain unto the sea of Chinneroth eastward, and unto the sea of the plain (the salt sea) eastward, the way to Beth-Jeshimoth, and from the south under the springs of Pisgah.
From the south, all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah, which is to the Sidonians, unto Aphek, unto the border of the Amorite;
And the Ziphites go up unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, 'Is not David hiding himself with us in fortresses, in the forest, in the height of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desolate place?
And they rise and go to Ziph before Saul, and David and his men are in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain, at the south of the desolate place.
How thy garments are warm, In the quieting of the earth from the south?
He causeth an east wind to journey in the heavens, And leadeth by His strength a south wind,
North and south Thou hast appointed them, Tabor and Hermon in Thy name do sing.
I am saying to the north, 'Give up,' And to the south, 'Restrain not.' Bring in My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.
And he causeth me to go southward, and lo, a gate southward, and he hath measured its posts and its arches according to these measures; and windows are to it and to its arches all round about, like these windows, fifty cubits the length, and the breadth five and twenty cubits; read more. and seven steps are its ascent, and its arches are before them, and palm-trees are to it, one on this side, and one on that side, at its posts; and the gate of the inner court is southward, and he measureth from gate unto gate southward, a hundred cubits. And he bringeth me in unto the inner court by the south gate, and he measureth the south gate according to these measures; and its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches are according to these measures, and windows are to it and to its arches all round about; fifty cubits the length, and the breadth twenty and five cubits. As to the arches all round about, the length is five and twenty cubits, and the breadth five cubits; and its arches are unto the outer court, and palm-trees are unto its posts, and eight steps are its ascent. And he bringeth me in unto the inner court eastward, and he measureth the gate according to these measures; and its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches are according to these measures: and windows are to it and to its arches all round about, the length fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits; and its arches are toward the outer court, and palm-trees are toward its posts, on this side and on that side, and eight steps are its ascent. And he bringeth me in unto the north gate, and hath measured according to these measures; its little chambers, its posts, and its arches; and windows are to it all round about: the length fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits; and its posts are to the outer court, and palm-trees are unto its posts, on this side and on that side, and eight steps are its ascent. And the chamber and its opening is by the posts of the gates, there they purge the burnt-offering. And in the porch of the gate are two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slaughter on them the burnt-offering, and the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering; and at the side without, at the going up to the opening of the north gate, are two tables; and at the other side that is at the porch of the gate, are two tables; four tables are on this side, and four tables on that side, at the side of the gate, eight tables on which they slaughter. And the four tables for burnt-offering are of hewn stone: the length one cubit and a half, and the breadth one cubit and a half, and the height one cubit: on them they place the instruments with which they slaughter the burnt-offering and the sacrifice. And the boundaries are one handbreadth, prepared within all round about: and on the tables is the flesh of the offering. And on the outside of the inner gate are chambers of the singers, in the inner court, that are at the side of the north gate, and their fronts are southward, one at the side of the east gate hath the front northward. And he speaketh unto me: 'This chamber, whose front is southward, is for priests keeping charge of the house;
'A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and lo, a greater than Solomon here!
And a messenger of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, 'Arise, and go on toward the south, on the way that is going down from Jerusalem to Gaza,' -- this is desert.