DESART. This is a word very well known. The Hebrews, by Midbar, Desart, mean every uncultivated place, particularly mountains. There were Desarts intirely dry and barren; others were very beautiful, and abounded with good pastures; for which reason the Scripture in several places speaks of the beauty of the Desart, Pinguescent speciosa deserti, Ps. lxiv. 13. And, Super speciosa deserti planctum assumam, Jerem. ix. 10. And Ignis devorabit speciosa deserti, Joel i. 20. The Scripture names several Desarts in the Land of Promise, and there was scarce a town without a Desart belonging to it, that is to say, without uncultivated places for woods and pastures.
The Desart of Arabia, wherein the Israelites sojourned forty years after their departure out of Egypt, is particularly called the Desart. In the article Incampment, and in the geographical Map, any one may see the different stations of the Israelites during this whole space of time. The Mahometans Karik. Montekhebshorten it mightily, by reducing their forty years sojourning to forty days. They do not scruple to say, that Moses, Aaron, and their sister Miriam died there. One of their poets ridiculing the superstition of the Jews, says, that they are always wandering in the Desart.
Deut. viii. 4.Moses assures us, that during their journey, their clothes did not wear out; nor were their feet swelled. Vestimentum tuum quo operiebaris, nequaquam vetustate defecit, & pes tuus non est subtritus; en quadragesimus Justin. Dial. cum Tryphon.annus est. St. Justin the Martyr, and many Interpreters as well Jewish as Christian, still farther enhance the miracle, by saying, that the children’s clothes grew with them, and were proportion’d to their Hieron. Ep. 38. Nov. Edit. p. 325. Cosmas Monach. in Depleust. l. 5. p. 205. Est. in Deut. viii. Jun. Druf. Cler.size and stature. St. Jerom reports something still more incredible, which is, that their hair and nails did not grow during these forty years. But others speak in a more credible manner, affirming that the particular providence of God provided so well for the necessities of the Hebrews, that they wanted nothing, neither food nor clothes, nor covering for their legs and feet.
We have observed likewise under the articles Chion and Remphan, that many of the Israelites worshipped Idols in private, during their sojourning in the Desart. And the Psalmist says, that God was grieved forty Ps. xcv. 10. LXX.years with this generation: they did nothing but provoke him, offend him and murmur against him.
The Desart of SHUR, lies towards the point of the Red Sea. Hagar being driven from Abraham’s house, wandered in this wilderness. The Israelites, after their march through the Red Sea, went into the Desart of Shur. There was, in all probability, a city of this name anciently in these parts.
The Desart of PARAN was in Arabia Petræa, in the neighbourhood of the city of Paran. Ishmael, the son of Abraham, dwelt Gen. xxi. 11. Hab. iii. 3.in the wilderness of Paran. Habakkuk says, that the Lord appeared to his people in the mountains of Paran. The Hebrews sojourned a long time in this Desart. See PARAN.
The Desart of SIN. There are two Desarts of this name in Scripture, the first is written with a Samech, this lies between Elim and Mount Sinai. The second is written with a Tzade. It is near Kadesh Barnea; Exod. xvi. 1. and Numb. xxxiii. 12. Numb. xx. 1. and xxxiii. 36. Tzin. Exod. xix. 2.this town was in the Desart of Sin or Zin.
The Desart of SINAI is that which lies about, and is adjacent to Mount Sinai. The people incamped there a long time, and received the generality of those Laws which are written in the books of Moses.
The Desart of ARNON, or AMON, which is in the Wilderness. Arnon is a Brook which runs along the Desart of Gilead, or the frontiers of Arabia deserta.
The Desart of ZIPH, whither David retired when he fled from Saul. See ZIPH.
The Desart of MAON lay in the country, and perhaps near the capital city of the Maonians, or Meonians in Arabia petræa, at the extremity of the inheritance belonging to Judah.
The Desart of KADESH, about Kadesh Barnea, in the southern part of Judah, and in Arabia petræa.
The Desart of EDOM. We cannot exactly point out the extent or limits of it; for Edom itself extended very far into the mountains of Arabia.
The Desart of PALMYRA. Solomon built Palmyra in the Desarts which lie between the Euphrates and the rivers Orontes and Chrysorroas. Palmyra was in Syria incompassed every way with Desarts.
The Desart of DIBLAH, all about this city, which was situated in the land of Moab. Jerem. xlviii. 22.
The Desart of EGYPT, in Ezekiel seems to denote the Desart, wherein the Hebrews sojourned forty years after their departure out of Egypt. Tobit speaks of the Desarts of upper Egypt, probably of the Thebais, where the Demon Asmodeus was banished, and chained up.
The Desart of JUDÆA, where St. John the Baptist preached about Jericho in the partition of the Tribe of Judah.
The Desart of TEKOAH, the Desart of BOSOR, the Desart of GIBEON. See TEKOAH, BOSOR, GIBEON. Their Desarts signify the uncultivated places near these cities.
The DESART, absolutely speaking, signifies very frequently the Desarts of Arabia, which lay between Jordan and the mountains of Gilead, and the river Euphrates: for example, God promised the children of Israel all the land lying between the wilderness and the river, that is to say, all that country which extends itself from the mountains of Gilead as far as the Euphrates. And in another place he promises them all that lies between Libanus, the Desart, the Euphrates, and the Mediterranean Sea.