desert Summary and Overview

(1.) Heb. midbar, "pasture-ground;" an open tract for pasturage; a common (Joel 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 Israel (Gen. 21:14, 21; Ex. 4:27; 19:2; Josh. 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 (1 Kings 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 (1 Sam. 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 Matt. 3:3; 15:33; Luke 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" (Josh. 5:10; 2 Kings 25:5), "the plains of Moab" (Num. 22:1; Deut. 34:1, 8), "the plains of the wilderness" (2 Sam. 17:16). (3.) In the Revised Version of Num. 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 (Num. 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; Deut. 11:24. (See JESHIMON T0002050.) (4.) A dry place; hence a desolation (Ps. 9:6), desolate (Lev. 26:34); the rendering of the Hebrew word "horbah'". It is rendered "desert" only in Ps. 102:6, Isa. 48:21, and Ezek. 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" (32:15, "midbar"). It is a symbol of temptation, solitude, and persecution (Isa. 27:10, "midbar"; 33:9, "arabah").

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 #Eze 47:8| 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 Israel, and which are a very familiar feature to the traveller in that country. #Ex 3:1; 6:3; 19:2| 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:" #Ps 78:40; 106:14; Isa 43:19,20|

DES'ERT . The popular conception of the term must not be applied to all passages in the English Bible, in which the word is the translation of four Hebrew words denoting definite localities. 1. It is applied to the Arabah, Eze 47:8, the name of the remarkable depression which runs through the land of Palestine; but this is a waste merely because of the depopulated and neglected state of the country. It is capable of cultivation. See Arabah. 2. It is used to translate midhar, "pasture-ground," in Ex 3:1; Ex 5:3; Josh 19:2; Num 33:15-16. 3. Horbah. Ps 102:6; Isa 48:21; Eze 13:4. But the term commonly employed is "waste places" or "desolation." 4. Jeshimon. With the definite article, it is treated as a proper name. See Jeshimon. Without the article, it occurs in a few passages of poetry. In the following verses it is translated "desert:" Ps 78:40; Ps 106:14; Isa 43:19-20. The "desert," as an illimitable stretch of heavy sand, does not exist in Bible lands. The "desert of Sinai" is a wild and desolate region of country, but in many parts, especially from Elim (Wadi Ghurundel) to Mount Sinai, and the region toward the southern border of Palestine, are traces of previous fertility; and when the Israelites guided their flocks through it, they found pasture in many of the little valleys, and perhaps upon some of its plains. The different tracts mentioned under this name in the Bible, as Shur, Sin, Paran, etc., will be found particularly noticed in their proper places.

Not meaning a barren, burning, sandy waste, in the case of Sinai and Israel. 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 (Ezekiel 47:8). In the prophets and poetical books arabah is used generally for a waste (Isaiah 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" (Exodus 3:1; Exodus 5:3; Exodus 19:2), means a pasture ground (from daabar, "to drive flocks") (Exodus 10:26; Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:22; Numbers 32:1). It is "desert" only in comparison with the rich agriculture of Egypt and Israel. 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: Psalm 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 Psalm 65:12, "the pastures of the wilderness" (