A desert on the south border of Canaan, and the west of Edom, Num 34:1-4 . It formed part of the great wilderness of Paran, Num 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, Num 13:21 20:1-13 27:14.\par
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. . Num 13:21; Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Num 33:36; Num 34:3; Jos 15:1.
Zin (zĭn), a low palm tree. The wilderness of Zin was a part of the Arabian desert south of Palestine. Num 13:21-22; Num 34:3; Jos 15:1; Jos 15:3; Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Num 33:36. Kadesh is sometimes spoken of as in the wilderness of Zin, Num 33:36, and again as in the wilderness of Paran. Num 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.
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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Immanuel Benzinger
Frontier post of Judah on the south, mentioned in the description (Num. xxxiv. 4; Josh. xv. 3) of the frontier between the "ascent of Akrabbim" and Kadesh-barnea. The desert of Zin derived its name from this place. Kadesh-barnea was situated in this desert (Num. xiii. 2, xxxiii. 36; Deut. xxxii. 51; Josh. xv. 1, 3; comp. Num. xx. 1, xxvii. 14; Deut. xxxii. 51); and one passage (Num. xxxiii. 36) reads, "the wilderness of Zin which is Kadesh." The phrase "the wilderness of Kadesh," which occurs only once (Ps. xxix. 8), refers possibly not to any definite geographical locality, but to the region around Kadesh. The statement found in Num. xiii. 26, that Kadesh is situated in the wilderness of Paran, is due to the fact that, of the two sources combined in that chapter, one (P) says that the spies started from the wilderness of Paran, and the other (JE) that they set out from Paran. The wilderness of Zin adjoined the wilderness of Paran on the north; hence it must be assigned to a locality immediately south of the southern part of Judah, on the plateau or on the mountain region (Josephus mentions the "mountains of Sin") in which the 'Azazime Bedouins now pitch their tents.
ZIN (Num 13:21; Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Num 33:36; Num 34:3; Num 34:6, Deu 32:51, Jos 15:1; Jos 15:3).—A region passed through by the Israelites in their journeyings. The most exact indication of its position is given in Num 34:1-29 and Jos 15:1-63. In Num 13:21 ‘the wilderness of Zin’ is named as the southern limit from which the spies began to search the land. In Num 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’ …). Num 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 Num 20:2-13 relate the events which took place at Meribah. The remaining two passages, Num 27:1-23 and Deu 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 Exo 17:1-16 and Num 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].
A thorn
(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 (Num 34:4; Jos 15:3). It must have lain somewhere between
(2) The Wilderness of Zin is the tract deriving its name from the town (Num 34:3). It is identified with the wilderness of Kadesh in Num 33:36; while in other places Kadesh is said to be in the wilderness of Zin (Num 20:1; Num 27:14; Deu 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 (Num 13:21; compare Num 32:8). It bordered with Judah “at the uttermost part of the south” (Jos 15:1). In this wilderness Moses committed the offense which cost him his hope of entering the promised land (Num 27:14; Deu 32:51). It is identical with the uplands lying to the North and Northwest of the wilderness of Paran, now occupied by the
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 (Num 20:1-2; Num 27:14; Num 33:36; Num 34:3-5). (For map and other details see PALESTINE, sub-heading ‘Negeb’.)