Zin

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ZIN (  Numbers 13:21;   Numbers 20:1;   Numbers 27:14;   Numbers 33:36;   Numbers 34:3;   Numbers 34:6 ,   Deuteronomy 32:51 ,   Joshua 15:1;   Joshua 15:3 ). A region passed through by the Israelites in their journeyings. The most exact indication of its position is given in   Numbers 34:1-29 and   Joshua 15:1-63 . In   Numbers 13:21 ‘the wilderness of Zin’ is named as the southern limit from which the spies began to search the land. In   Numbers 33:36 it is given as one of the stations in the journeyings. The brief note, ‘the same is Kadesh,’ serves to explain the following verse (‘And they journeyed from Kadesh’ …).   Numbers 20:1 records the arrival of the children of Israel ‘in the wilderness of Zin’ in the first month [the year is not stated], and the following   Numbers 20:2-13 relate the events which took place at Meribah. The remaining two passages,   Numbers 27:1-23 and   Deuteronomy 32:1-52 , which are duplicates, refer to the punishment of Moses for his offence at ‘the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.’ Hence it may be inferred ( a ) that the Wilderness of Zin formed part of the southern boundary of Judah at its eastern end towards the Dead Sea; ( b ) that Kadesh was included within its limits.

The close similarity between the events recorded in  Exodus 17:1-16 and   Numbers 20:1-29 , and other points of resemblance between occurrences before and after Sinai, suggest the question whether Sin and Zin, the Sin of the pre-Sinai and the Zin of the post-Sinai narrative, may be variations developed in the course of tradition. The hypothesis does not appear improbable, but the narrative in its present form indicates two regions bearing different names.

Cf. Paran, Sin [Wilderness of].

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Zin. (Flat). The name given to a portion of the desert tract between the Dead Sea, Ghor , and Arabah on the east, and the general plateau of the Tih which stretches westward. The country in question consists of two or three successive terraces of mountain converging to an acute single at the Dead Sea's southern verge, toward which also they slope. Kadesh lay in it, and here also Idumea was conterminous with Judah; since Kadesh was a city in the border of Edom. See Kadesh, Kadeshbarnea . .  Numbers 13:21;  Numbers 20:1;  Numbers 27:14;  Numbers 33:36;  Numbers 34:3;  Joshua 15:1.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Zin ( Zĭn ), A Low Palm Tree. The wilderness of Zin was a part of the Arabian desert south of Palestine.  Numbers 13:21-22;  Numbers 34:3;  Joshua 15:1;  Joshua 15:3;  Numbers 20:1;  Numbers 27:14;  Numbers 33:36. Kadesh is sometimes spoken of as in the wilderness of Zin,  Numbers 33:36, and again as in the wilderness of Paran.  Numbers 13:26. This is explained by the fact that Paran was the general name for the whole desert, while Zin was the northeastern corner of that desert.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 20:1 Numbers 27:14 Numbers 33:36 Numbers 34:3-4 Joshua 15:1 15:3 Numbers 13:21NegebPalestineSinWilderness

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A desert on the south border of Canaan, and the west of Edom,  Numbers 34:1-4 . It formed part of the great wilderness of Paran,  Numbers 13:26; and in its north-east corner was Kadesh-barnea, memorable for the death of Miriam, the mission of the twelve spies into Canaan, the murmuring of the Israelites, the rock flowing with water, and the unholy passion of Moses,  Numbers 13:21   20:1-13   27:14 .

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Much of southern Palestine was a dry region known as the Negeb. Within this region lay the barren Wilderness of Zin. It lay south-west of the Dead Sea, between the Dead Sea and Kadesh-barnea ( Numbers 20:1-2;  Numbers 27:14;  Numbers 33:36;  Numbers 34:3-5). (For map and other details see PALESTINE, sub-heading ‘Negeb’.)

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 13:21

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Tsin צַן [with. ה directive, Tsinah, צַנָה ,  Numbers 34:4; or Tsintnah, צַנָּה , Joshua 10; Joshua, 3 ], A Flat [plain or palm-tree]; Sept. Σίν v.r. Σινά ‘ etc.; Vulg. Sin ) , a wilderness ( מַדַבָּר ) or open, uncultivated region on the south of Palestine and westward from Idumaea, in which was situated the city of Kadesh-barnea ( Numbers 13:22;  Numbers 20:1;  Numbers 27:14;  Numbers 33:36;  Numbers 34:3;  Deuteronomy 32:51;  Joshua 15:1). It evidently was a portion of the desert tract between the Dead Sea, Ghor, and Arabah (possibly including the two latter, or portions of them) on the east and the general plateau of the Tih which stretches westward. The country in question consists of two or three successive terraces of mountain converging to an acute angle (like stairs where there is a turn in the flight) at the Dead Sea's southern verge, towards which also they slope. Here the drainage finds its chief vent by the Wady el-Fikreh into the Ghor, the remaining waters running by smaller channels into the Arabah, and ultimately by the Wady el-Jeib also to the Ghor. Judging from natural features in the vagueness of authority, it is likely that the portion between and drained by these wadies is the region in question; but where it ended westward, whether at any of the above -named terraces or blending imperceptibly with that of Paran, is quite uncertain. Josephus (Ant. 4:4, 6) speaks of a "hill called Sin" ( Σίν ) where Miriam, who died in Kadesh, when the people had "come to the desert of Zin," was buried. This "Sin" of Josephus may recall the name Zin, and, being applied to a hill, may, perhaps, indicate the most singular and wholly isolated conical acclivity named Moderah (Madura, or Madara), standing a little south of the Wady Fikreh, near its outlet into the Ghor. This would precisely agree with the tract. of country above indicated ( Numbers 20:1; see Seetzen,Reisen, 3, Hebron To Madara; Wilton, Negeb, p. 127, 134). (See Kadesh).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

zin ( צן , cin  ; Σίν , Sı́n ):

(1) A town in the extreme South of Judah, on the line separating that province from Edom, named between the ascent of Akrabbim and Kadesh-barnea ( Numbers 34:4;  Joshua 15:3 ). It must have lain somewhere between Wâdy el - Fiḳra (the ascent of Akrabbim?) and ‛Ain Ḳadı̄s (Kadesh-barnea); but the site has not been recovered.

(2) The Wilderness of Zin is the tract deriving its name from the town (  Numbers 34:3 ). It is identified with the wilderness of Kadesh in  Numbers 33:36; while in other places Kadesh is said to be in the wilderness of Zin ( Numbers 20:1;  Numbers 27:14;  Deuteronomy 32:51 ). We may take it that the two names refer to the same region. The spies, who set out from Kadesh-barnea, explored the land from the wilderness of Zin northward ( Numbers 13:21; compare  Numbers 32:8 ). It bordered with Judah "at the uttermost part of the south" ( Joshua 15:1 ). In this wilderness Moses committed the offense which cost him his hope of entering the promised land ( Numbers 27:14;  Deuteronomy 32:51 ). It is identical with the uplands lying to the North and Northwest of the wilderness of Paran, now occupied by the ‛A zazimeh Arabs.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Zin, a desert on the south of Palestine, and westward from Idumea, in which was situated the city of Kadesh-barnea (; ; ). Its locality is therefore fixed by the considerations which determine the site of Kadesh to the western part of the Arabah south of the Dead Sea.