1. The WiLDioitNiissoi- Paijan ("pNS ^31^; Sept. >'/ tp7]i.ioQ ToiJ 'Papc'iv). — The situation and boundaries of this desert are set forth witli considerable exactness by a number of incidental notices in Scripture. It had Palestine on the north, the valley of Arabah on the east, and the desert of Sinai on the south. Its western boundary is not mentioned in tlie Bible, but it appears to have extended to Egyi)t and the ^lediterrancan.
The first notice of Paran is in connection with the expedition o the eastern kings against Sodom. After
defeating the giant tribes east of the Jordan, they swept over Mount Seir (Edom) " unto the tei-ebinth of Paran (■"ISQ b"^><; 1> ; Sept. tdjQ rriQ rtptjiiv^ov t^iq *a- pdv ; Vulg. usque ad Canipestria Pharan, A. V. " El- Paran"), which is in the wilderness" (Gen. xiv, 6). Doubtless some well-known sacred tree is here referred to. It stood on the western border of Seir, and conse- quently in the Arabah [see Seir] ; and it was " in the wilderness" — that is, the desert of Paran, apparently considerably south of Kadesh. From the terebinth of Paran they turned back, "and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh." — When Abraham sent away Hagar and Ishmael from his tent at Beersheba, they went out into "the wilderness of Paran;" and Ishmael dwelt there, allying himself doubtless with the nomad tribes who made that place their home (Gen. xxi, 14, 21).
But it is from its connection with the wanderings of the Israelites that Paran derives its chief and abiding interest: "And the children of Israel took their jour- neys out of the wilderness of Sinai ; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran" (Numb, x, 12). From this it might be thought that Paran lay close to Mount Si- nai, wliere the Israelites had long been encamped ; but the fidl narrative which is afterwards given shows that from the encampment at Sinai they made a four-daj's' march to Hazeroth (x, 33; xi. 3, 34, 35); and then the next march brought them into " the wilderness of Pa- ran" (xii, IG). From Paran the spies were sent to sur- vey Canaan (xiii, 3) ; and' after completing their mis- sion they returned to the camp " unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh" (ver. 26). There is an apparent dif- ficidty here. At first sight it would appear as if Kadesh in Paran was only a single march from Hazeroth ; while Hazeroth has been identified with Aiu Hudherah, which is 140 miles distant from Kadesh. The difficulty is solved by a reference to the detailed itinerary in Numb, xxxiii. Paran is not mentioned there, because it was the name of a wide region, and the sacred writer records only the names of the camp-stations. Hazeroth is men- tioned, however, and so is Kadesh ; and between them there are twenty stations (17-38). Most probably all these stations were in Paran, for it is said that when the}' "took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai, the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran" (x, 12) ; and J\Ioses also states, " When we departed from IIo- reb, we went through all that great and terrible wilder- ness which ye saw by way of the mountain of the Amorites; and we came to Kadesh-barnea" (Deut. i, 19). The wilderness of Paran in fact extended from Hazeroth, and the desert of Sinai (or Horeb) on the south, to the foot of the mountains of Palestine on the north ; and its eastern border ran along the valley of the Arabah, froin the gulf of Akabah to the southern shore of the Dead Sea. Through this wide region the Israel- ites marched, not in a straight line, but, like the mod., em Arab tribes, from pasture to pasture; and it was when entering upon that long and toilsome march that Moses said to his father-in-law, " Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to en- camp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us in- stead of eyes" (Numb, x, 31). Jethro was intimately acquainted with the whole wilderness. As a nomad pastoral chief he knew the best pastures and all the wells and fountains; and hence Moses was most anx- ious to secure his services as guide.
The reference made to Paran in 1 Sam. xxv shows that it bordered upon the southern declivities of the mountains of Judah. Probably its boundary was not very accurately defined; and whatever part of that re- gion lay between the limits of settled habitation was called " the wilderness, or pasture-land, of Paran." It thus included a large section of the Ncgcb. See South CoLXTijv. — The reference to Paran in Deut. i, 1 is not so clear. The object of the sacred writer is to describe the place where Moses gave his long address to the Is- raelites. It was "on this (the east) side of Jordan, iu
PARAN
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PARAN
the wilderness" (or Midbar of Moab; comp. ver. 5). in the j)laiii (the Arabah, nn"i") over against the Keel Sea (or "opposite to Suf," rjlD ^T^), httmen Paran and Tophel, etc. (" between Paran, and between Tophel and Laban," etc.). The sense appears to be that the Arabah in which Jloses stood was opposite to the north- ern gulf of the Red Sea, and had on the one side Paran, and on the other Tophel, etc. It must not be inferred that Paran extended up to Jericho ; all that seems to be meant is that it formed the western boundary of the greater part of the Arabah. — It would seem from the incidental statement in 1 Kings xi, 18 that Paran lay between Midian and Egypt. The region there called Midian was situated oiv^e soufli of Edom [see Mid- ian], apparently at the lSKM)f the ^Elanitic gulf; and the road taken by the fugitive Iladad was most prob- ablj' that now traversed by the Egyptian Haj route, which passes through the whole desert of Tih.