RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Neotarius Negeb
Mens, he settled in the lonely valleys of the Queras and Freissiniere in the Hautes-Alps. Some remnants of the Waldenses had at one time sought refuge there, but they had utterly degenerated. Not only had fights and drunkenness taken the place of the piety of their ancestors, but they had even forgotten the commonest arts, and sunk into barbarism. The work which lay before Neff in that place was almost overwhelming. He performed it, however, though it cost him his life. When in 1827, he returned, dying, to Geneva, the settlements in the valleys which had been the scene of his labors were converted and flourishing.
Bibliography: I,ettres de Felix Neff, ed. A. Bost, 2 vols., Geneva, 1842, Eng. transl., Letters and Biography of Felix Neff, London, 1843; T. S. Ellerby, Memorials of Felix Neff, London, 1833; Vie de. Felix Neff, Pasteur dans les Hautes Alpes, in French and English, London, 1836; W. S. Gillv, Memoir of Felix Neff, London, 1855; A. Christ, Felix Neff, Basel, 1873; Lichtenberger, ESR, ix. 568- 570.
NEGEB, THE.
Character, Location and Extent (§1).
Subdivisions and History (§ 2).
Cities of Simeonitic Negeb (§ 3).
Cities of Judaic Negeb and the Border (§4).
[The Negeb is a term which covers the stretch of country by which the descent is made from the hill country of Judah just south of Hebron to the arid desert on the south. This descent is made by
a series of great terraces with rolling i. Character, hills, cut by a number of wadies run- Location, ning east and west. It forms a natural and Extent, barrier on the south of Judah, by its
broken surface and comparatively infertile soil so completely protecting Judah that the latter has seldom been invaded from the south. The geology of the region differs from that farther south, the crystalline rocks of the desert being covered in the Negeb by soft limestone. Possibilities of fertility are there, dependent, however, upon continual irrigation. There are signs that at one time a considerable population maintained itself in the region.] Although no precise boundaries are indicated in the Old Testament, the general situation is given by the geography of Judah (Josh, xv. 21-32), the account of the spies (Num. xiii. 17, 21-26), and the wanderings of Abraham (Gen. xx. 1). The Negeb is often mentioned in connection with the other southern parts of the land of Israel and with the hill country and the lowland (Judges i. 9; Deut. i. 7; Josh. x. 40; Jer. xvii. 26). Rimmonwas on the northern boundary (Zech. xiv. 10), and the boundaries given for Judah (Josh. xv. 1 sqq.) and for Canaan (Ezek. xlvii. 18-19; Num. xxxiv. 3 sqq.) essentially coincide with those of the Negeb. Since the eastern boundary varied at different times, its exact merging with the southern boundary of Judah (Josh. xv. 1 sqq.) can not be given. On the southern boundary, however, may be placed Gerar (cf. Gen. x. 19, xx. 1 ; II Chron. xiv. 13), especially as the modern Wadi Jerur empties westward, through the Wadi al-Sheraif into the Wadi al-Arish or "brook of Egypt," which formed the southern boundary of Israel to the sea (Josh. xv. 3 sqq.; Ezek. xlvii. 19; Num. xxxiv. 4-5), though
it is not probable that the Negeb extended as far as the coast. The Western boundary seems to have been still more indistinct than the Eastern. The Negeb, therefore, apparently designated in general the level slope of the land to the west of the watershed; and as this merged into the plain without marked interruption, the region was without fixed boundaries.
Originally Negeb was not a proper name, but merely denoted " the dry, parched country." It played a small part in history, for it was a region of pasturage rather than of settled civilization (cf. Josh. xix. 8; Gen. xxv. 16), and remained a mere appanage of the settled district, 2. Subdivi- sometimes abandoned to the Bedouin
sions and and at other times won for trade and
History, cultivation by centers of population. In the Old Testament the district is named in five (or six) ways, according to the tribes which controlled it. The Negeb of the Jerahmeelites has been identified with the Jebel and Wadi Rahameh about eighteen miles south of Tell al-Milh. The Negeb of the Kenites may be sought in the southeast, possibly near Kedesh; but if the preferable reading of the Septuagint, " Kenesites," be adopted, this part of the Negeb would abut on the Negeb of the Calebites (cf. Judges i. 15; Josh. xv. 19). But if (Judges i. 16; cf. I Sam. xv. 6) the Kenites lived in the vicinity of Arad and were neighbors of the Amalekites, the Negeb of the Kenites would then be on the watershed some nine miles south of Carmel and Maon (cf. Num. xxi. 1). The Negeb of the Cherethites lay to the west of Beersheba (cf. I Sam. xxx. 14, 16). The Negeb of Judah was doubtless a later designation, arising after the establishment of the kingdom of Judah, and is synonymous with the Negeb of Caleb. Besides these tribes mention is also made in the Old Testament of the Negeb of the Amalekites (Num. xiii. 29) and of the Geshurites (I Sam. xxvii. 8). So long as the Davidic kings were important rulers, the trade routes, especially those to Egypt and to Elath on the Red Sea, were under their protection. The first of these routes soon lost its importance; and the second was lost in the reign of Joram (II Kings viii. 20), regained by Azariah (II Kings xiv. 19-22), and finally lost to the Judeans with Elath and its tributary commerce in the reign of Ahaz (II Kings xvi. 6). In the course of the seventh century the Negeb seems to have come progressively under the sway of the Edomites and other tribes from Arabia. In postexilic writings, therefore, the Negeb was no longer regarded as Jewish (Obadiah 19-20; cf. Jer. xiii. 19). The Hasmonean dynasty and Herod troubled themselves little about the Negeb. The Romans were the first, by their roads, cities, and castles, to reduce this district of Canaan. Ptolemy reckoned the Negeb partly to Idumaja and partly to Arabia Petraa, and in the fifth and sixth centuries the Negeb formed part of Palestina Tertia or Salutaris. After the Arab conquest in the seventh century and particularly after the crusades the Roman structures fell into decay and the Bedouin became the lords of the district.
The cities of the Negeb are given partly to Judah
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