Dizahab

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DIZAHAB . The writer of   Deuteronomy 1:1 thought of this as a town on the further side of the Jordan, in the ‘Arabah, on the border of Moab, ‘over against Suph,’ and as belonging to a group of places which he names. Unfortunately the mention of them does not make the matter clear. The site of Suph is unknown. So is that of Paran. The proposed identification of Tophel with et-Tafile , S.S.E. of the Dead Sea, fails on phonetic grounds. If ‘Ain el-Huderah , between Jebel Musa and ‘Akabah, represents a Hazeroth , and if Laban = Libnah (  Numbers 33:20 ), not far from ‘Ain el-Huderah , these are at too great a distance from the ‘Arabah. The same is to be said of Burckhardt’s suggestion that Mina ed-Dhahab , between the Ras Muhammad and ‘Akabah, is the place of which we are in search. Most probably the text is corrupt. At   Numbers 21:14 we find Suphah (  Deuteronomy 1:1 Samuph) in conjunction with Vaheb (see RV [Note: Revised Version.] ); and Vaheb , in the original, is almost the same as Zahab , which, indeed, the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] reads. There seems to be some relationship between the two passages, but neither of them has so far been satisfactorily explained. At   Genesis 36:39 we have Mezahab (= ‘waters of gold’): this gives a better sense than Dizahab , and may be the proper form of the name.

The Versions do not help us. The LXX [Note: Septuagint.] has Katachrysea (= ‘rich in gold’). The Vulg. [Note: Vulgate.] ( ubi auri est plurimum ) takes the word as descriptive of the district, ‘where is gold in abundance.’ The Targums see in it an allusion to the golden calf. And we may add that Ibn Ezra thought it was an unusual designation of a place which commonly went by another name.

J. Taylor.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

( Deuteronomy 1:1) ("where gold is abundant"): an early stage of Israel's march after Sinai. Marks of former mining abound in the Arabian peninsula, and have led to recent discoveries. Dahal is probably too far out of the way on the W. of the gulf of Akaba to be the ancient Dizahab.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Diz'ahab. (Region Of Gold). A place in the Arabian desert, mentioned in  Deuteronomy 1:1, that is identified with Dahab , a cape on the western shore of the Gulf of Akabah.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Place in the wilderness near where Moses rehearsed the law. Deuteronomy 1:1 . Identified with Dahab on the west shore ofthe Gulf of Akaba, about 28 30' N, 34 29' E .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Deuteronomy 1:1

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Deuteronomy 1:1

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrews Di-Zahab', דְּי זָהָב [see below]), a place in the desert of Sinai, one of the boundary points of the "Arabah," or region where the Israelites wandered ( Deuteronomy 1:1). It is probably the same cape now called Dahab (Robinson, Res. 1:217; 2:600), on the western shore of the Elanitic Gulf (Schwarz, Palest. page 212), about opposite Sinai; it abounds in palms, and has traces of ruins (Burckhardt, Syria , page 523). Wilson, however, doubts the identification ( Lands Of Bible , 1:235 n.). (See Wilderness). The name is indicative of the presence of gold there, as that is the meaning of the latter half of the word (so Sept. Καταχρύσεα , Vulg. ubi auri est plurimum); but the former part of the name is foreign, either with the Aramaean expletive = of (literally "that which is"), or from the Arabic = בִּעִל , "lord," i.e., possessor of (Gesenius, Thes. page 334). With this import also agrees the description of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Κατὰ Τὰ Χρύσεα , Cata Ta Chrysea), that the mountains in that region (in Phaeno , according to the true reading; see Le Clere in Bonfrere's ed.) are full of gold veins; also the modern name, which is in full Minah el-Dahab, "the porch of gold" (B Ü sching, Erdbeschr. XI, 1:621).