WILDERNESS
WILL
823
or breadth ; sometimes culture wins over unculti- ^•ated lands, sometimes these regain spaces formerly tilled and sown. At the boundary itself of those two tracts of land live some poj)ulations which hold a sort of intermeiliate position in the pro- gress of civilization: they are half - sedentary, half -shepherds {haU-Fellahin, hali-Bedaivin), and, dwelling still under tents, they cultivate the ground, plough, sow, and reap (cf. Max von Ojipen- heim, Vo»i Mittebnccr zum Perslschen Golf, 1900, ii. pp. 78-84). Even in the interior of cultivated districts, where villages and towns exist, there are frequently i^atches 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 midbcir. They are found even near toAvns ; thus the OT mentions the Avil- dernesses of Gibeon, of Tekoa, of Damascus, of Riblah (MT Dihlah, Ezk 6").' Besides those local ilenominations, others occur which apply to peri- pheric regions : wildernesses of Shur, of Sin, of Sinai, of Paran, of Zin, of ^i^adesh, of Etlian (or Vani-Suph), of Maon, of Ziph, of Beersheba, of Enged'i, of Jeruel, of Beth-aven, of Edom, of Moab, of ^edemoth. Several of these wildernesses, as tlieir names show, cover vast spaces ; others, on the contrary, represent quite limited places.
One of the most important deserts is the Wilder- ness of Judah, twenty hours in length and live in breadth, which constitutes, with the Mountain (Har), the South (Ncgeb), and the Low-Country (Shephelah), the four parts of the ten-itory 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 tlie 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. Lk IQSoff.j 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 vege- tation, 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 or black or brown tents. That wilderness was the refuge of David when persecuted by Saul (I S 22-26); he knew it from the time of his youth, having, Avhen a boy, followed there the herds of his father (16" IT^^-'^*"'). Later on the same region sheltered Judas Maccabaeus and his companions (1 Mac 9^).
The wildernesses mentioned in the Bible are not all as inclement and inhospitable as the Wildei-- ness of Judah. They are sometimes inhabited ; they contain wells and cisterns, towns (Jos IS"!'-, 1 K 9i«, 2 Ch 8-») and houses (1 K 2^), herds of sheep (1 S 17-«), and pastures (Ps eo^^f-).
The fJospel of John alludes twice to the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness (3^^ Moses lifting the serpent, and 6-"- ''^ the manna). The Synoptics do not mention it ; but it is spoken of in the Book of Acts, specially in Stephen's discourse (73b-m) and in 13'^ and in 1 Co iO^ and He 3^ (quoting Ps 95*^) and 3^^.
The Wilderness of Judah is named several times in connexion Avitii John the Baptist. His youth, according to Lk F", was spent ' in the deserts ' • that is, certainly, with the keepers of herds, away from towns or villages, in solitude and contempla-
tion. In that resjject, as Avell 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 (Mt 3', Mk 1^ Lk 3-^ ; cf. Mt 1 V, Lk 7'^ ; see artt. Bethabara, John the Baptist, Jordan), and the four Gospels apply to that event the pro- phecy of Is 40=* (Mt 3^ Mk V, Lk 3^ Jn V^).
Ecclesiastical tradition has not been content with the indica- tions 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 vaguel.y named in Lk iw, 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, but 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 xxii. pp. 81-93).