Desert in Biblical History

Bible History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is the Desert?
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.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'desert' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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