Desert

Holman Bible Dictionary

 1 Samuel 14:48

Palestine's desert areas received brief if hard rains in March and April. At times they blossomed briefly, but long dry spells returned its normal desert characteristics. The Hebrew language distinguishes with several words what English describes as desert or wilderness.

Midbar is the most prominent and inclusive term but is used in several different contexts with differing meaning. It can describe the southern boundary of the Promised Land (  Exodus 23:31;  Deuteronomy 11:24 ). This southern wilderness can be divided into various parts: Shur ( Exodus 15:22 ); Sin ( Exodus 16:1 ); Paran ( Numbers 12:16 ); Zin ( Numbers 13:21 ). This entire southern desert region can be called the wilderness of Sinai ( Exodus 19:1 ) above which rises Mount Sinai. North of this is the wilderness of Judah ( Judges 1:16 ), lying east of the road connecting Jerusalem and Hebron. Here deep, narrow gorges lead down from the Judean hills to the Dead Sea. Midbar also describes the area surrounding a settlement where herds are pastured (  1 Samuel 23:24;  1 Samuel 24:1;  2 Chronicles 20:20; compare  Joshua 8:24 ). Settlements in the desert arose particularly during times of political stability and served as military stations against bedouin invasions and as protection for commerce on the desert trade routes.

Arabah often appears as a synonym for midbar . This is the basic term for the long rift reaching from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea and on down to the Red Sea. It describes ground dominated by salt with little water or plants. Arabah is never used to describe pasturelands. It serves as the eastern boundary of the Promised Land and is often translated, “plain,” if it is not transliterated as “Arabah” (  Deuteronomy 3:17;  Joshua 12:1 ).

Yeshimon designates the wasteland which is unproductive. The word appears either in parallel with midbar or as part of a territorial designation such as in   1 Samuel 23:24 . See  Isaiah 43:19-20 ).

Chorbah describes hot, dry land or land with destroyed settlements. It can designate dry land opposed to water-covered land (  Genesis 7:22;  Exodus 14:21 ). It describes the desert in  Psalm 102:7;  Psalm 106:9;  Isaiah 25:5;  Isaiah 50:2;  Isaiah 51:3;  Isaiah 64:10;  Jeremiah 25:9 .

Tsiyyah points to a dry region (  Job 30:3;  Psalm 78:17;  Psalm 105:41;  Isaiah 35:1;  Jeremiah 50:12;  Zephaniah 2:13 ).

Shamamah is a desolate and terrifying land and often indicates God's destruction of a place (  Exodus 23:29;  Leviticus 26:33 ,  Jeremiah 4:27;  Ezekiel 6:14;  Ezekiel 23:33 ).

Negeb refers to the dry land and is a technical name for the southern desert whose northern border lies north of Beersheba. Annual rainfall ranges from 100 to 300 millimeters a year. Rainfall varies drastically year to year. Negeb came to mean “south” in Hebrew and could be translated the “south country” (  Genesis 24:62 ).

The dry, mostly uninhabited desert held fear and awe for Israel. It could be described like the original chaos prior to creation ( Deuteronomy 32:10;  Jeremiah 4:23-26 ). Israel was able to go through the desert because God led them ( Deuteronomy 1:19 ). Its animal inhabitants caused even more fear—1snakes and scorpions ( Deuteronomy 8:15 ); wild donkeys ( Jeremiah 2:24 ). The desert lay waste without humans or rain ( Job 38:26;  Jeremiah 2:6 ). The desert was a “terrifying land” ( Isaiah 21:1 NAS). The only expectation for a person in the wilderness was death by starvation (  Exodus 16:3 ).

God's judgment could turn a city into desert ( Jeremiah 4:26 ), but His grace could turn the wilderness into a garden ( Isaiah 41:17-20 ).

In the New Testament the desert was the place of John the Baptist's ministry ( Luke 1:80;  Luke 3:4 ) and where demon-possession drove a man ( Luke 8:29 ). The crowds forced Jesus into the unpopulated desert to preach ( Mark 1:45 ). Jesus took His disciples there to rest ( Mark 6:31 ). See Wilderness .

Trent C. Butler

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

A — 1: Ἐρημία (Strong'S #2047 — Noun Feminine — eremia — er-ay-mee'-ah )

primarily "a solitude, an uninhabited place," in contrast to a town or village, is translated "deserts" in  Hebrews 11:38; "the wilderness" in  Matthew 15:33 , AV, "a desert place," RV; so in  Mark 8:4; "wilderness" in  2—Corinthians 11:26 . It does not always denote a barren region, void of vegetation; it is often used of a place uncultivated, but fit for pasturage. See Wilderness.

B — 1: Ἔρημος (Strong'S #2048 — — eremos — er'-ay-mos )

used as a noun, has the same meaning as eremia; in  Luke 5:16;  8:29 , RV, "deserts," for AV, "wilderness;" in  Matthew 24:26;  John 6:31 , RV, "wilderness," for AV, "desert." As an adjective, it denotes (a), with reference to persons, "deserted," desolate, deprived of the friends and kindred, e.g., of a woman deserted by a husband,  Galatians 4:27; (b) so of a city, as Jerusalem,  Matthew 23:38; or uninhabited places, "desert," e.g.,  Matthew 14:13,15;  Acts 8:26; in  Mark 1:35 , RV, "desert," for AV, "solitary." See Desolate , Wilderness.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

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 ( 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.

Μidbar , 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 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:  Psalms 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  Psalms 65:12, "the pastures of the wilderness" ( Joel 2:22.).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

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. See Arabah . Arabah, in the sense of the Jordan valley, is translated by the word "desert" only in  Ezekiel 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 Palestine, and which are a very familiar feature to the traveller in that country.  Exodus 3:1;  Exodus 6:3;  Exodus 19:2.

3. Charbah appears to have the force of dryness, and thence of desolation. It is rendered "desert" in  Psalms 102:6;  Isaiah 48:21;  Ezekiel 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:"  Psalms 78:40;  Psalms 106:14;  Isaiah 43:19-20.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Desert. In the Scriptures this term does not mean an utterly barren waste, but an uninhabited region. The Hebrew words translated in the English Versions by "desert" often denote definite localities. 1. Arabah. This refers to that very depressed region—the deepest valley in the world—the sunken valley north and south of the Dead Sea, but more particularly the former. Arabah in the sense of the Jordan valley is translated by the word "desert" only in  Ezekiel 47:8 A. V. The R. V. reads Arabah. 2. Midbar. This Hebrew word, frequently rendered "desert," R. V. "wilderness," 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.  Exodus 3:1;  Exodus 5:3;  Exodus 19:2. 3. Charbah appears to mean dryness, and thence desolation. It is rendered "desert" in  Psalms 102:6, R.V. "waste places,"  Isaiah 48:21;  Ezekiel 13:4, R. V. "waste places." 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 regions 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: "  Psalms 78:40;  Psalms 106:14;  Isaiah 43:19-20.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit.

(2): ( v. t.) To abandon (the service) without leave; to forsake in violation of duty; to abscond from; as, to desert the army; to desert one's colors.

(3): ( v. t.) To leave (especially something which one should stay by and support); to leave in the lurch; to abandon; to forsake; - implying blame, except sometimes when used of localities; as, to desert a friend, a principle, a cause, one's country.

(4): ( v. i.) To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond.

(5): ( n.) A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa are destitute and vegetation.

(6): ( n.) A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place.

(7): ( a.) Of or pertaining to a desert; forsaken; without life or cultivation; unproductive; waste; barren; wild; desolate; solitary; as, they landed on a desert island.

King James Dictionary

Desert a. S as z L. To sow, plant or scatter.

1. Literally, forsaken hence, uninhabited as a desert isle. Hence, wild untilled waste uncultivated as a desert land or country. 2. Void emprty unoccupied.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.

DESERT, n. An uninhabited tract of land a region in its natural state a wilderness a solitude particularly, a vast sandy plain, as the deserts of Arabia and Africa. But the word may be applied to an uninhabited country covered with wood.

Desert, L To forsake.

1. To forsake to leave utterly to abandon to quit with a view not to return to as, to desert a friend to desert our country to desert a cause. 2. To leave, without permission, a military band, or a ship, in which one is enlisted to forsake the service in which one is engaged, in violation of duty as, to desert the army to desert ones colors to desert a ship.

DESERT, To run away to quit a service without permission as, to desert from the army.

DESERT, n.

1. A deserving that which gives a right to reward or demands, or which renders liable to punishment merit or demerit that which entitles to a recompense of equal to the offense good conferred, or evil done, which merits an equivalent return. A wise legislature will reward or punish men according to their deserts. 2. That which is deserved reward or punishment merited. In a future life, every man will receive his desert.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

This word is the symbol of the Jewish church when they had forsaken God ( Isaiah 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 (  Isaiah 27:10 , Midbar_; 33:9, _arabah ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Desert'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/d/desert.html. 1897.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

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,  Psalm 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,  Numbers 21:20; also the region between Canaan and the Euphrates,  Exodus 23:31   Deuteronomy 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.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 35:1 (c) This is typical of the marvelous change in a dry, barren human heart when Christ comes in to dwell and the living water flows freely.

 Isaiah 43:19 (c) The blessing of GOD will remove all barrenness and relieve all drought when once He is admitted to rule and reign in the heart.

 Jeremiah 17:6 (c) A type of the surroundings in which one gets no blessing for his soul, no food for his heart, no light for his mind - a religious desert.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DESERT . See Wilderness.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

DESERT. —See Wilderness.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See WILDERNESS.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Gr. Ἔρημος ; see Rechenberg, De Voce Ἔρημος , Lips. 1680), a word which is sparingly employed in the A.V. to translate four Hebrew terms, and even in the rendering of these is not employed uniformly. The same term is sometimes translated "wilderness," sometimes "desert," and once "south." In one place we find a Hebrew term treated as a proper name, and in another translated as an appellative. This gives rise to considerable indefiniteness in many passages of Scripture, and creates confusion in attempts at interpretation. But, besides all this, the ordinary meaning attached to the English word "desert" is not that which can be legitimately attached to any of the Hebrew words it is employed to represent. We usually apply it to "a sterile sandy plain, without inhabitants, without water, and without vegetation" such, for example, as the desert of Sahara, or that which is overlooked by the Pyramids, and with which many travelers are familiar. No such region was known to the sacred writers, nor is any such once referred to in Scripture. It will consequently be necessary to explain in this article the several words which our translators have rendered "desert," and to show that, as used in the historical books, they denote definite localities. (See Topographical Terms).

1.' MIDBAR, מדְּבָּר (Sept. Ἔρημος , and Ἄνυδρος Γῆ ), is of very frequent occurrence, and is usually rendered "wilderness" ( Genesis 14:6, etc.), though in some places "desert" ( Exodus 3:1;  Exodus 5:1, etc.), and in  Psalms 75:6, "south." It properly designates pastureground, being derived from דָּבִר , Dabar "to drive," significant of the pastoral custom of driving the flocks out to feed in the morning, and home again at night; and it means a wide, open tract used for pasturage, q. d. a "common;" thus, in  Joel 2:22, "The pastures of the desert shall flourish." It is the name most commonly applied to the country lying between Palestine and Egypt, including the peninsula of Sinai, through which the Israelites wandered ( Genesis 21:14;  Genesis 21:21;  Exodus 4:27;  Exodus 19:2;  Joshua 1:6, etc.). Now the peninsula of Sinai is a mountainous region; in early spring its scanty soil produces grass and green herbs, and, with the exception of one little plain on the north side of the great mountain-chain, there is no sand whatever. This small plain is expressly distinguished from the rest by the name Debbet er-Ramleh, "plain of sand" (Robinson, Bib. Res. 1:77; Porter, Handbook for Syria and Pal. p. 2 sq.). On the other hand, in this whole region streams of water are not found except in winter and after heavy rain; fountains are very rare, and there are no settled inhabitants. Stanley, accordingly, has shown that "sand is the exception and not the rule of the Arabian Desert" of the peninsula of Sinai (Palest. p. 8, 9, 64). As to the other features of a desert, certainly the peninsula of Sinai is no plain, but a region extremely variable in height, and diversified even at this day by oases and valleys of verdure and vegetation, and by frequent wells, which were all probably far more abundant in those earlier times than they now are. With regard to the Wilderness of the Wanderings — for which Midbar or grazing-tract (almost our "prairie"), is almost invariably used — this term is therefore most appropriate; for we must never forget that the Israelites had flocks and herds with them during the whole of their passage to the Promised Land. They had them when they left Egypt ( Exodus 10:26;  Exodus 12:38); they had them at Hazeroth, the middle point of the wanderings ( Numbers 11:22), and some of the tribes possessed them in large numbers immediately before the transit of the Jordan ( Numbers 32:1). In speaking of the Wilderness of the Wanderings the word "desert" occurs as the rendering of Midbar, in  Exodus 3:1;  Exodus 5:3;  Exodus 19:2;  Numbers 33:15-16; and in more than one of these it is evidently employed for the sake of euphony merely. (See Exode).

Midbar is also used to denote the wilderness of Arabia; but generally with the article חִמַּדְבָּר , "the desert" ( 1 Kings 9:18). The wilderness of Arabia is not sandy; it is a vast undulating plain, parched and barren during summer and autumn, but in winter and early spring yielding good pasture to the flocks of the Bedawin that roam over it. Hence the propriety of the expression pastures of the wilderness ( Psalms 65:13;  Joel 1:19; compare  Luke 15:4). Thus it is that the Arabian tribes retreat into their deserts on the approach of the autumnal rains, and when spring has ended and the droughts commence, return to the lands of rivers and mountains, in search of the pastures which the deserts no longer afford. It may also be observed that even deserts in the summer time are interspersed with fertile spots and clumps of herbage (Hacket's Illustration of Scripture, p. 25). The Midbar of Judah is the bleak mountainous region lying along the western shore of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father's flocks, and hid from Saul ( 1 Samuel 17:28;  1 Samuel 26:2 sq.). The meaning of Midbar in both these instances is thus likewise a district without settled inhabitants, without streams of water, but adapted for pasturage. It is the country of nomads, as distinguished from that of the agricultural and settled people ( Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 1, 2;  Jeremiah 4:11). The Greek equivalents in the New Test. are Ἔρημος and Ἐρημία . John preached in the "wilderness," i.e. the open, unpopulated country, and our Lord fed the multitudes in the "wilderness" or wild region east of the Dead Sea ( Matthew 3:3;  Matthew 15:33;  Luke 15:4). (See Wilderness).

Midbar 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 traveler in that country. In spring these tracts are covered with a rich green verdure of turf, and small shrubs, and herbs of various kinds. But at the end of summer the herbage withers, the turf dries up and is powdered thick with the dust of the chalky soil, and the whole has certainly a most dreary aspect. An example of this is furnished by the hills through which the path from Bethany to Jericho pursues its winding descent. In the spring, so abundant is the pasturage of these hills that they are the resort of the flocks from Jerusalem on the one hand and Jericho on the other, and even from the Arabs on the other side of Jordan. Even in the month of September, though the turf is only visible on close inspection, large flocks of goats and sheep may be seen browsing, scattered over the slopes, or stretched out in a long, even line like a regiment of soldiers. A striking example of the same thing, and of the manner in which this waste pasture-land gradually melts into the uncultivated fields, is seen in making one's way up through the mountains of Benjamin, due west, from Jericho to Mukhmas or Jeba. These Midbars seem to have borne the name of the town to which they were most contiguous, for example, Bethaven (in the region last referred to); Ziph, Maon, and Paran, in the south of Judah; Gibeon, Jeruel, etc., etc. (See Village). In the poetical books "desert" is found as the translation of Midbar in  Deuteronomy 32:10;  Job 24:5;  Isaiah 21:1;  Jeremiah 25:24. (See Midbar).

2. ARABAH' ( עֲרָבָה , Sept. ῎Αραβα and Δυσμή ), from עָרִב , arab', to dry up (Gesenius, Thes. p. 1060), i.e. parched (" desert" in  Isaiah 35:1;  Isaiah 35:6; xl, 3; 41:19; 2:3;  Jeremiah 2:6;  Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 1, 12;  Ezekiel 47:8; elsewhere usually "plain"), which is either applied to any and tracts in general, or specially to the Arabah (as it is still called), or lone desert tract or plain of the Jordan and Dead Sea, shut in by mountains, and extending from the lake of Tiberias to the Elanitic Gulf; called by the Greeks Αὐλών (Euseb. Onomast .). The more extended application of the name by the Hebrews is successfully traced by professor Robinson from Gesenius: "In connection with the Red Sea and Elath" ( Deuteronomy 1:1;  Deuteronomy 2:8). "As extending to the lake of Tiberias" ( Joshua 12:3;  2 Samuel 4:7;  2 Kings 25:4). "Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea" ( Joshua 3:16;  Joshua 12:3;  Deuteronomy 4:49). "The arboth (plains) of Jericho" ( Joshua 5:10;  2 Kings 25:5). "Plains ( Arboth ) of Moab," i.e. opposite Jericho, probably pastured by the Moabites, though not within their proper territory ( Deuteronomy 24:1;  Deuteronomy 24:8;  Numbers 22:1). In the East, wide, extended plains are usually liable to drought, and consequently to barrenness. Hence the Hebrew language describes a plan, a desert, and an unfruitful waste by this same word. Occasionally, indeed, this term is employed to denote any dry or sterile region, as in  Job 24:5, and  Isaiah 40:3. It is thus used, however, only in poetry, and is equivalent to Midbar, to which it is the poetic parallel in  Isaiah 35:1 : "The wilderness (Midbar) shall be glad for them, and the desert (Arabah) shall rejoice, etc.;" also in 41:19. Midbar may be regarded as describing a region in relation to its use by man — a pastoral region; Arabah, in relation to its physical qualities — a wilderness (Stanley, Palest. p. 481).

But in the vast majority of cases in which it occurs in the Bible, Arabah is the specific name given either to the whole, or a part of the deep valley extending from Tiberias to the Gulf of Akabah. With the article הָעֲרָבָה , it denotes, in the historical portions of Scripture, the whole of the valley, or at least that part of it included in the territory of the Israelites ( Deuteronomy 1:7;  Deuteronomy 3:17;  Joshua 12:1; etc.); when the word is applied to other districts, or to distinct sections of the valley, the article is omitted, and the plural number is used. Thus we find "the plains of Moab" ( עִרְבוֹת ,  Numbers 22:1, etc.); "the plains of Jericho" ( Joshua 4:13); "the plains of the wilderness" ( 2 Samuel 17:16). The southern section of this sterile valley still retains its ancient name, el-Arabah (Robinson, Bib. Res. 1:169; 2:186; Stanley, Palest. p. 84). It appears, therefore, that this term, when used, as it invariably is in the topographical records of the Bible, with the definite article, 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. True, in the present depopulated and neglected state of Palestine, the Jordan Valley is as and desolate a region as can be met with, but it was not always so. On the contrary, we have direct testimony to the fact that when the Israelites were flourishing, and later in the Roman times, the case was emphatically the reverse. Jericho (q.v.), "the city of palm-trees," at the lower end of the valley, Bethshean (q.v.) at the upper, and Phasaelis in the center, were famed both in Jewish and profane history for the luxuriance of their vegetation (Joseph. Ant. 18:2, 2; 16:5, 2). When the abundant water- resources of the valley were properly husbanded and distributed, the tropical heat caused not barrenness, but tropical fertility, and here grew the balsam, the sugar-cane, and other plants requiring great heat, but also rich soil, for their culture. Arabah, in the sense of the Jordan Valley, is translated by the word "desert" only in  Ezekiel 47:8. In a more general sense of waste, deserted country-a meaning easily suggested by the idea of excessive heat contained in the root — "desert," as the rendering of Arabah, occurs in the prophets and poetical books; as  Isaiah 35:1;  Isaiah 35:6;  Isaiah 40:3;  Isaiah 41:19;  Isaiah 51:3;  Jeremiah 2:6;  Jeremiah 5:6;  Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 1, 12; but this general sense is never found in the historical books. In these, to repeat once more, Arabah always denotes the Jordan Valley, the Ghor of the modern Arabs. (See Arabah).

3. YESHIMON', יְשַׁימוֹן (Sept. Ἄνυδρος and Ἔρημος ), from יָשָׁם , to lie waste ("wilderness,"  Deuteronomy 32:10;  Psalms 48:7; "solitary,"  Psalms 107:4), in the historical books is used with the definite article, apparently to denote the waste tracts on both sides of the Dead Sea. In all these cases it is treated as a proper name in the A. V.: thus in  Numbers 21:20, "The top of Pisgah, which looketh towards Jeshimon." See also BETH-JESIMOTH. Without the article it occurs in a few passages of poetry, in the following of which it is rendered "desert:"  Psalms 78:40;  Psalms 106:14;  Isaiah 43:19-20. This term expresses a greater extent of uncultivated country than the others ( 1 Samuel 23:19;  1 Samuel 23:24;  Isaiah 43:19-20). It is especially applied to that desert of peninsular Arabia in which the Israelites sojourned under Moses ( Numbers 21:20;  Numbers 23:28). This was the most terrible of the deserts with which the Israelites were acquainted, and the only real desert in their immediate neighborhood. It is ‘ described under ARABIA, as is also that Eastern desert extending from the eastern border of the country beyond Judaea to the Euphrates. It is emphatically called "the Desert," without any proper name, in  Exodus 23:31;  Deuteronomy 11:24. To this latter the term is equally applicable in the following poetical passages:  Deuteronomy 32:10;  Psalms 68:7;  Psalms 78:40;  Psalms 106:14. It would appear from the reference in Deuteronomy — "waste, howling wilderness," that this word was intended to be more expressive of utter wasteness than any of the others. In  1 Samuel 23:19;  1 Samuel 26:1, it evidently means the wilderness of Judah. (See Jeshimon).

4. CHORBAH', חָרְבָּה (Sept. Ἔρημος , etc.; A.V. usually "waste," "desolate," etc.), from חָרִב , to be dried up, and hence desolate, is a more general term denoting a dry place ( Isaiah 48:21), and hence Desolation ( Psalms 9:6), or concretely Desolate ( Leviticus 26:31;  Leviticus 26:33;  Isaiah 49:14;  Isaiah 64:10;  Jeremiah 7:34;  Jeremiah 22:5;  Jeremiah 25:9;  Jeremiah 25:11;  Jeremiah 25:18;  Jeremiah 27:12;  Jeremiah 44:2;  Jeremiah 44:6;  Jeremiah 44:22;  Ezekiel 5:14;  Ezekiel 25:13;  Ezekiel 29:9-10;  Ezekiel 25:4;  Ezekiel 28:8), or Ruins ( Ezekiel 36:10;  Ezekiel 36:33;  Ezekiel 38:12;  Malachi 1:4;  Isaiah 58:12;  Isaiah 61:4). It is generally applied to what has been rendered desolate by man or neglect ( Ezra 9:9;  Psalms 109:10;  Isaiah 44:26;  Isaiah 51:3;  Isaiah 52:9;  Jeremiah 49:13;  Ezekiel 26:20;  Ezekiel 23:24;  Ezekiel 23:27;  Ezekiel 36:4;  Daniel 9:2). It is employed in  Job 3:14, to denote buildings that speedily fall to ruin (comp.  Isaiah 5:17, the ruined houses of the rich). The only passage where it expresses a natural waste or "wilderness" is  Isaiah 48:21, where it refers to that of Sinai. It does not occur in any historical passage, and is rendered "desert" only in  Psalms 102:6;  Isaiah 48:21;  Ezekiel 13:4.

5. The several deserts or wildernesses mentioned in Scripture (besides the above) are the following, which will be found under their respective names:

(1.) The Desert of Shut or Etham ( Numbers 33:8;  Exodus 13:17;  Exodus 15:22);

(2.) the Desert of Paran ( Numbers 10:12;  Numbers 13:3);

(3.) the Desert of Sinai (Exodus 19);

(4.) the Desert of Sin ( Exodus 16:6);

(5.) the Desert of Zin ( Numbers 20:1) — these are probably only different parts of the great Arabian Desert, distinguished by separate proper names;

(6.) the Desert of Judah, or Judaea (Psalms 68, in the title;  Luke 1:80);

(7.) the Desert of Ziph ( 1 Samuel 23:14-15);

(8.) the Desert of Engedi ( Joshua 15:62);

(9.) the Desert of Carmel ( Joshua 15:55);

(10.) the Desert of Maon ( 1 Samuel 23:24);

(11.) the Desert of Tekoa ( 2 Chronicles 20:20) — these are probably only parts of the Desert of Judah;

(12.) the Desert of Jericho, separating the Mount of Olives from the city of Jericho ( Jeremiah 52:8);

(13.) the Desert of Beth-Aven seems to be a part of Mount Ephraim ( Joshua 18:12);

(14.) the Desert of Damascus ( 1 Kings 19:15) is the same as the Desert Syria, where Tadmor was built ( 1 Kings 9:18).

6. "Desert" or "wilderness" is also the symbol in Scripture of temptation, solitude, and persecution ( Isaiah 27:10;  Isaiah 33:9). The figure is sometimes emblematical of spiritual things, as in  Isaiah 41:19; also in  Isaiah 32:15, where it refers to nations in which there was no knowledge of God or of divine truth, that they should be enlightened and made to produce fruit unto holiness. A desert is mentioned as the symbol of the Jewish Church and people, when they had forsaken their God ( Isaiah 40:3); it is also spoken of with reference to the conversion of the Gentiles ( Isaiah 35:1). The solitude of the desert is a subject often noticed ( Job 38:26;  Jeremiah 9:2). The desert was considered the abode of evil spirits. or at least their occasional resort ( Matthew 12:43;  Luke 11:24), an opinion held also by the heathen (Virg. AEn. 6:27).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dez´ẽrt מדבּר , midhbār , חרבּה , ḥorbāh , ישׁמון , yeshı̄mōn , ערבה , ‛ărābhāh , ציּה , cı̄yāh , תּהוּ , tōhū  ; ἔρημος , érēmos , ἐρημία , erēmı́a ): Midhbār , the commonest word for "desert," more often rendered "wilderness," is perhaps from the root dābhar , in the sense of "to drive," i.e. a place for driving or pasturing flocks. Yeshı̄mōn is from yāsham , "to be empty", ḥorbāh (compare Arabic kharib , "to lie waste"; khirbah , "a ruin"; kharāb , "devastation"), from ḥārabh "to be dry"; compare also ‛ārabh , "to be dry," and ‛ărābhāh , "a desert" or "the Arabah" (see Champaign ). For 'erec cı̄yāh ( Psalm 63:1;  Isaiah 41:18 ), "a dry land," compare cı̄yı̄m , "wild beasts of the desert" ( Isaiah 13:21 , etc.). Ṭōhū , variously rendered "without form" ( Genesis 1:2 the King James Version), "empty space," the King James Version "empty place" (  Job 26:7 ), "waste," the King James Version "nothing" ( Job 6:18 ), "confusion," the Revised Version, margin, "wasteness" ( Isaiah 24:10 the English Revised Version), may be compared with Arabic tāh , "to go astray" at - Tih , "the desert of the wandering." In the New Testament we find erēmos and erēmia ̌ : "The child (John) ... was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel" ( Luke 1:80 ); "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert" ( John 6:31 the King James Version).

The desert as known to the Israelites was not a waste of sand, as those are apt to imagine who have in mind the pictures of the Sahara. Great expanses of sand, it is true, are found in Arabia, but the nearest one, an - Nufūd , was several days' journey distant from the farthest southeast reached by the Israelites in their wanderings. Most of the desert of Sinai and of Palestine is land that needs only water to make it fruitful. east of the Jordan, the line between "the desert" and "the sown" lies about along the line of the Ḥijāz railway. To the West there is barely enough water to support the crops of wheat; to the East there is too little. Near the line of demarcation, the yield of wheat depends strictly upon the rainfall. A few inches more or less of rain in the year determines whether the grain can reach maturity or not. The latent fertility of the desert lands is demonstrated by the season of scant rains, when they become carpeted with herbage and flowers. It is marvelous, too, how the camels, sheep and goats, even in the dry season, will find something to crop where the traveler sees nothing but absolute barrenness. The long wandering of the Israelites in "the desert" was made possible by the existence of food for their flocks and herds. Compare  Psalm 65:11 ,  Psalm 65:12 :

"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;

And thy paths drop fatness.

They drop upon the pastures of the Wilderness.

And the hills are girded with joy";

and also  Joel 2:22 : "The pastures of the wilderness do spring."

"The desert" or "the wilderness" ( ha - midhbār ) usually signifies the desert of the wandering, or the northern part of the Sinaitic Peninsula. Compare  Exodus 3:1 King James Version: "MOSES ... led the flock (of Jethro) to the backside of the desert";   Exodus 5:3 King James Version: "Let us go ... Three days' journey into the desert";   Exodus 19:2 King James Version: "They ... were come to the desert of Sinai";   Exodus 23:31 King James Version: "I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river" (Euphrates). Other uncultivated or pasture regions are known as Wilderness of Beersheba (  Genesis 21:14 ), West of Judah ( Judges 1:16 ), West of En-gedi ( 1 Samuel 24:1 ), West of Gibeon ( 2 Samuel 2:24 ), West of Maon ( 1 Samuel 23:24 ), West of Damascus; compare Arabic Bādiyet - ush - Shām ( 1 Kings 19:15 ), etc. Midhbar yām , "the wilderness of the sea" ( Isaiah 21:1 ), may perhaps be that part of Arabia bordering upon the Persian Gulf.

Aside from the towns and fields, practically all the land was midhbār or "desert," for this term included mountain, plain and valley. The terms, "desert of En-gedi," "desert of Maon," etc., do not indicate circumscribed areas, but are applied in a general way to the lands about these places. To obtain water, the shepherds with their flocks traverse long distances to the wells, springs or streams, usually arranging to reach the water about the middle of the day and rest about it for an hour or so, taking shelter from the sun in the shadows of the rocks, perhaps under some overhanging ledge.