Wilderness is a place of temptations, misery, persecution, and all that is opposed to settlement, and worldly peace.f1 The prophets frequently use the symbol to signify all manner of desolation. Thus in Isa 27:10, "Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness." The like is found in Isa 14:17; Isa 33:9; Jer 22:6; Hos 2:3. And thus in Virgil, Æneas, to shew the misery of his condition, mentions his wandering unknown and needy in a wilderness,-
Ipse ignotus, egens, Libym deserta peragro. F2
But yet this symbol, however bad, may sometimes have a mixture of good; as when persons threatened and pursued by enemies fly to a wilderness, as to a hiding place. As the Israelites, in the persecution of Antiochus, when the Gentiles had profaned the sanctuary, did; flying unto the mountains, and into the secret places of the wilderness.f3 And as when the prophets, during the persecution of Jezebel, hid themselves in the wilderness, and were nourished by miraculous means, as Elijah, at the brook Cherith, (1Ki 17:3-4) was fed by ravens; and when supplied with bread and water by an angel, (1Ki 19:4-6;) in the case also of the prophets, whom Obadiah hid in a cave, and fed with bread and water, 1Ki 18:13. And in Eze 20:34-38, where God declares that he will gather Israel out of the countries wherein they are scattered; and bring them into the wilderness of the people, and plead with them. See also Hos. ii. 14 Jer. xxxi. 2; and Rev 12:6. And in this sense a wilderness is the symbol of an obscure and retired though safe state and condition.
A church is made a wilderness when the living waters of the Spirit are withheld. Hos 2:3, "Make her as a wilderness, and set her as a parched land." Isa 40:3, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The wilderness and the desert seem to be expressive of the spiritual condition of the Jewish Church.
[DESERTS]
See DESERT.\par
Wilderness, The, in which the Israelites spent 40 years, between Egypt and Canaan, is called sometimes the "great and terrible wilderness" by way of eminence. Deu 1:1; Deu 8:2; Jos 5:6; Neh 9:19; Neh 9:21; Psa 78:40; Psa 78:52; Psa 107:4; Jer 2:2. In general it may be identified with the peninsula of Sinai, the triangular region between the Gulf of Akabah, on the east, and the Gulf of Suez and Egypt on the west. See Sinai. In this region there are several smaller wildernesses, as Etham, Paran, Shur, Zin. What is known distinctively as the "wilderness of the Wandering" is the great central limestone plateau between the granite region of Sinai on the south, the sandy desert on the north, and the valley of the Arabah on the east. The explorations of travellers and the British Ordnance Survey have made this region quite well known. The route of the Israelites from Egypt to Kadesh can be traced with reasonable accuracy. Instead of entering the Promised Land immediately from Kadesh, they were driven back into the wilderness for their disobedience, and there wandered for 40 years. They probably lived a nomad life as do the Bedouin Arabs of the present day.
This term and that of DESERT do not usually refer in scripture to such places as the vast sand-plains of Africa, though there are some such in Palestine, but the words mostly refer to non-arable plains where the vegetation but thinly covers the limestone with patches of verdure. In places where the ground is not worth cultivating it can be used for pasture. Some of such deserts are comparatively small, but others are extensive. The wilderness of JUDAH is a plain extending the whole length of the Dead Sea; but some of it can be used for pasture land. It may be said to include the wilderness of EN-GEDI, that of MAON, and probably that of ZIPH and of JERUEL.
The wilderness of BETH-AVEN and of GIBEON were in the allotment of Benjamin.
The wilderness of DAMASCUS was far north, and that of BEER-SHEBA far south; and that of SHUR, still farther south-west.
Those of KEDEMOTH, of EDOM, and of MOAB were east of the Dead Sea.
The rest were not in Palestine proper, but were the deserts through which the Israelites passed or were located in their wanderings: namely, ETHAM, KADESH, PARAN, SIN, SINAI, and ZIN. See WANDERINGS OF THE ISRAELITES.
Typically the wilderness was outside Canaan, and stands in contrast to it. The wilderness was the place of testing to the Israelites, and it is the same to the Christian, to humble him, and to prove what is in his heart. Deu 8:2. He has to learn what he is in himself, and the God of all grace he has to do with. There is need of constant dependence or there is failure, while the experience is gained of knowing One who never fails to succour. Canaan is figuratively a heavenly position and conflict, corresponding with the need of the armour of Eph 6:11, to stand against the wiles of the devil. For this one needs to realise what it is to be dead and risen with Christ. It is association in spirit with Christ in heaven.
WILDERNESS.—The word or words (more or less synonymous) which the Authorized and Revised Versions translation by ‘wilderness’ or ‘desert’ afford a striking example of the difficulties which translators, and after them the ordinary readers of Holy Scripture, have to contend with, because that word does not convey to our mind the idea of something we know: in our western European countries there is not, properly speaking, any desert or wilderness, in the Biblical sense of the word. Thus, unable to consult our own experience, we have to fall back upon books we have read, and upon notions obtained in that way. Immediately there rises in our memory the view of a desert of sand, stretching itself out of sight in a complete solitude, and giving to the caravans of travellers scarcely any other choice but death from thirst, or burial under the moving soil blown up by some terrible windstorm. Such is the classical representation of a desert or wilderness, and it is a constant source of errors for the understanding of numerous passages of the Bible where that word occurs. There is no ‘desert of sand’ either in Palestine or in the neighbouring countries. In fact, the Hebrew word which is usually translation ‘desert’ or ‘wilderness’ (midbâr) does not in the least convey the idea of solitude or desolation; on the contrary, it belongs to a root which means ‘to pasture,’ and therefore, etymologically,’ feeding-ground’ or ‘pasture-land’ would seem to be the most exact translation. But if we should adopt it, another ambiguity would be created, and a false notion suggested. Indeed, for a European reader, a pasture is a meadow with abundant grass, which is not at all true of the-Palestinian midbâr.
For a correct understanding of the meaning of the word ‘wilderness’ in the Bible, one has to remember that there were—and are still—nomads in Bible lands. Those people are not addicted to agricultural life, but to the breeding of cattle; they live on the borders of cultivated lands, between these and other regions which are either uninhabitable or practically uninhabited. The territories held by those nomads—called Bedawîn in modern times—are not without water and grass; but these indispensable resources, required for the herds, are both scarce, and the tribes of shepherds, are compelled to remove their camps from one place to another for feeding and watering their cattle. The midbâr is therefore essentially the ground occupied by nomad tribes; it forms around agricultural districts a zone variable in extension or breadth; sometimes culture wins over uncultivated lands, sometimes these regain spaces formerly tilled and sown. At the boundary itself of those two tracts of land live some populations which hold a sort of intermediate position in the progress of civilization: they are half-sedentary, half-shepherds (half-Fellahîn, half-Bedawîn), and, dwelling still under tents, they cultivate the ground, plough, sow, and reap (cf. Max von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf, 1900, ii. pp. 78–84). Even in the interior of cultivated districts, where villages and towns exist, there are frequently patches of land where the soil remains abandoned to itself, without culture, and they offer, therefore, the same character as the exterior zone inhabited by nomads. Those spaces are generally used as pasture-grounds for the cattle, and have also been called midbâr. They are found even near towns; thus the OT mentions the wildernesses of Gibeon, of Tekoa, of Damascus, of Riblah (Massoretic Text Diblah, Eze 6:14). Besides those local denominations, others occur which apply to peripheric regions: wildernesses of Shur, of Sin, of Sinai, of Paran, of Ẓin, of Kadesh, of Ethan (or Yam-Suph), of Maon, of Ziph, of Beersheba, of Engedi, of Jeruel, of Beth-aven, of Edom, of Moab, of Kedemoth. Several of these wildernesses, as their names show, cover vast spaces; others, on the contrary, represent quite limited places.
One of the most important deserts is the Wilderness of Judah, twenty hours in length and five in breadth, which constitutes, with the Mountain (Har), the South (Negeb), and the Low-Country (Shephelah), the four parts of the territory of that tribe. The Wilderness of Judah is the region situated east of the watershed, between this high line and the western shore of the Dead Sea. The wildernesses of Ziph and of Maon are portions of it in the south, as well as those of Engedi and Tekoa in the middle; and finally also, in the north, the rough, barren, and uninhabited district where the road runs from Jerusalem to Jericho (cf. Luk 10:30 ff.) That wilderness is an uneven, undulating table-land, where conical hills and rocky hillocks arise, where deep ravines are cut between steep walls of rocks; it falls down towards the east—here in gradual declivities, there in sudden and abrupt slopes—in the direction of the Dead Sea, situated 1500 or 2000 feet below. No river or rivulet, no trees, no villages; a soil without vegetation, either sandy or stony, here and there with scarce and meagre grass, which is avidly sought for by small flocks of sheep and goats, belonging to a few miserable camps of black or brown tents. That wilderness was the refuge of David when persecuted by Saul (1 Samuel 22-26); he knew it from the time of his youth, having, when a boy, followed there the herds of his father (1Sa 16:11; 1Sa 17:15; 1Sa 17:34). Later on the same region sheltered Judas Maccabaeus and his companions (1Ma 9:33).
The wildernesses mentioned in the Bible are not all as inclement and inhospitable as the Wilderness of Judah. They are sometimes inhabited; they contain wells and cisterns, towns (Jos 15:61 f., 1Ki 9:18, 2Ch 8:4) and houses (1Ki 2:34), herds of sheep (1Sa 17:28), and pastures (Psa 65:13 f).
The Gospel of John alludes twice to the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness (Joh 3:14 Moses lifting the serpent, and Joh 6:31; Joh 6:40 the manna). The Synoptics do not mention it; but it is spoken of in the Book of Acts, specially in Stephen’s discourse (Joh 7:36-44) and in Joh 13:18, and in 1Co 10:5 and Heb 3:8 (quoting Psa 95:8) and Joh 3:17.
The Wilderness of Judah is named several times in connexion with John the Baptist. His youth, according to Luk 1:80, was spent ‘in the deserts’; that is, certainly, with the keepers of herds, away from towns or villages, in solitude and contemplation. In that respect, as well as in others, John is like Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa. According to the Gospels, ‘the deserts’ included also the country near Jordan—beyond, that is, east of, the river—where John began his ministry, preaching and baptizing (Mat 3:1, Mar 1:4, Luk 3:2; cf. Mat 11:7, Luk 7:24; see artt. Bethabara, John the Baptist, Jordan), and the four Gospels apply to that event the prophecy of Isa 40:3 (Mat 3:3, Mar 1:3, Luk 3:4, Joh 1:23).
Ecclesiastical tradition has not been content with the indications given in the Gospels which connect John the Baptist’s life and work with the wilderness: it has connected also his birth with it. The place where Zacharias and Elisabeth dwelt being only vaguely named in Luk 1:39, it has been identified by the Christians of the Holy Land and the pilgrims, since the time of the Crusades, with a village situated about 4 miles west from Jerusalem; the Arabs call it ‘Ain-Karim, hut it is known in the language of the Churches as ‘St. John in the Desert’ or ‘St. John in the Mountain.’ That place is not in the Wilderness of Judah; its neighbourhood is cultivated and fertile, at least in the sense in which one can use that word when speaking of Judaea. Even if we should suppose that such was the birthplace of John, it would be unjustified to consider it as being ‘in the wilderness’ (cf. ZDPV
It is also in the wilderness that the Gospel narratives place the scene of the Temptation of our Lord (Mat 4:1, Mar 1:12, Luk 4:1). Since the time of the Crusades, ecclesiastical tradition has contrived to localize that event in a particular, well-defined spot, and has chosen for it the wild and desolate mountain which arises almost vertically above the Fountain of Elisha, west from the oasis of Jericho. A Greek convent, continuation of a very old laura, which was, if not founded, at least developed by Elpidins (ZDPV
Galilee, and particularly the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, was at the time of our Lord relatively well peopled: this is proved by the Gospels, and still more explicitly by the testimony of Josephus. There were, however, spaces of land without human habitations, and probably left to the shepherds and their cattle. According to the narratives of the Gospels, several scenes of the Galilaean ministry of Jesus, and some of His teachings, were connected with places of that sort, designated now as ‘a desert’ or ‘a wilderness’ (
Literature.—PEFSt
Lucien Gautier.
(Hebr. "ḥorbah" [Jer. vii. 34; Isa. xlviii. 21], "yeshimon" [Isa. xlviii. 19; Deut. xxxii. 10; Ps. lxxviii. 40], "midbar" [very frequently], "’arabah" [generally in poetic speech and as a parallel to "midbar"], "ẓiyyah" [Ps. lxxviii. 17], "tohu" [Ps. cvii. 40; Job xii. 24; Deut. xxxii. 10], "shammah," "shemamah" [Isa. v. 9; Jer. xlii. 18; Ezek. xxxv. 7], "sharab" [Isa. xxxv. 7; R. V., "glowing sand"]):
By: Emil G. Hirsch
An examination of the Hebrew terms rendered "wilderness" or "desert" in the English versions shows that these translations are inadequate and misleading. "Ḥorbah" implies violent destruction; and it is more exactly rendered by "waste places" (Ps. cii. 7 [A. V. 6]) or "desolation" (Jer. xliv. 2). The latter term also expresses more accurately the connotation of "yeshimon" and "shammah" or "shemamah," while "tohu" conveys the idea of chaotic confusion (Jer. iv. 23; Job xxvi. 7). "’Arabah" comes nearer to the meaning of the English "desert" (Isa. xxxv. 1; Jer. li. 43); "ẓiyyah" implies the absence or dearth of water (Ps. lxiii. 2 [A. V. 1]); while the more probable rendering of "sharab" is "mirage" (see Isa. xxxv. 7, R. V., marginal reading). In so far as the Hebrew terms do not imply artificial desolation and destruction, they connote a stretch of uncultivated land suitable for grazing and occupied by nomads (Num. xiv. 33), as is clear both from the etymology of the word "midbar," and from the fact that it and its synonyms usually denote the wilderness of the wandering or Exodus. Such a midbar occasionally existed in the very midst of land under tillage (Gen. xxxvii. 22), and again was found at the borders as a transition from cultivated to uncultivated districts (Deut. iv. 43; I Sam. xvii. 28).
This "wilderness" is described as without animate occupants (Deut. xxxii. 10), or as a district where no man is found (Jer. ii. 6; ix. 1, 11; Job xxxviii. 26) and where sowing is not carried on (Jer. ii. 2). It is an abandoned stretch (Isa. xxvii. 10; comp. vi. 12, vii. 16) without protection (Ps. lv. 8 [A. V. 7]), and a thirsty land (Ezek. xix. 13; Job xxx. 3, R. V.) devoid of vegetation (Hos. ii. 3; Isa. xli. 19). These terrors play upon the fancy of the people (Isa. xxx. 6; comp. "Z. D. P. V." iii. 114 et seq.). Some parts of the wilderness are characterized as "ne’ot" (Jer. xxiii. 10), or pastures, and others as "’arabot," or dry, barren stretches (II Sam. xv. 28), or as "ḥarerim," or stony table-lands (Jer. xii. 12, xvii. 6). The wilderness is the home of wild animals ("ẓiyyim"; Isa. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14), including wild asses (Jer. ii. 24), and thorns grow there (Judges viii. 7, 16) as well as the heather (Jer. xvii. 6. xlviii. 6).
The term "midbar" is applied to the district of the Hebrews’ wanderings between the Exodus and the conquest of Palestine. This region stretched south of Palestine in or on the border of the Negeb; separate parts of it are called the wildernesses of Sin, Shur, Kadesh, and the like. The wilderness between Canaan and the Euphrates is repeatedly mentioned in prophetic writings (Ezek. xx. 35; Isa. xl. 3), and some portions of it are named in Num. xxi. 11, 13 and Judges xi. 22. The wilderness referred to in Josh. xv. 61 is that of Judah, which comprised the eastern declivity of the mountainous region toward the Dead Sea. The character of this district illustrates most strikingly the great variety of localities designated in Biblical usage as wildernesses; for in it were pastures (II Chron. xxvi. 10), caves (I Sam. xxiv. 3), and cities (Josh. xv. 61), though it contained also barren rocks and precipices. This wilderness of Judah included the wildernesses of Maon (I Sam. xxiii. 24) and Ziph (ib. xxiii. 14). Connected with it to the north were the wildernesses of Gibeah (Judges xx. 42), Michmash (I Sam. xiii. 18), Ai (Josh. viii. 15), and Beth-aven (ib. xviii. 12).
See Desert.
Psa 102:6 (a) This type represents the lonely, desolate condition of the blessed Lord as He walked about among sinful men and wicked enemies on the earth. (See under PELICAN).
Pro 21:19 (a) It is better for one to go without many comforts, and to deny himself many pleasures if thereby he can live as he pleases. This is to be preferred to living the life with one who is constantly a source of sorrow and trouble to the heart.
Isa 32:15 (b) This is a wonderful type of the barren Christian life, which is filled with sorrow, difficulty, disappointment and grief, but which, by the ministry of the Spirit, becomes a life filled with fruitfulness, beauty and joy.
Isa 43:19 (b) This word describes the deliverance which GOD is able to bring into the tangled affairs of human life, straightens out the difficulties, delivers from perplexities, and brings His child safely through to a life of peace.
Rev 12:6 (b) Probably this refers to the condition of Israel as scattered throughout the world, where they have weary feet, longing eyes, and heavy hearts. GOD will bring them out of this condition, and out of these nations, to inhabit again their own land.
Rev 17:3 (b) This wilderness no doubt represents the various nations of the world in which the great apostate and religious system operates. This church produces nothing but tragedy and sin in the lives of the people who become members of their group. It really is a wilderness in every sense of the word.