The Wilderness of Zin/Desert of Zin (Hebrew: מדבר צין, Midbar Tzin) is a geographic area mentioned by the Torah as containing Kadesh-Barnea within it; and it is therefore also referred to as the "Wilderness of Kadesh". Most scholars, as well as traditional sources, consequently identify this wilderness as being part of the Arabah.
Similarly named is the Wilderness of Sin. Modern English translations make a distinction; but it is not easily evident from the LXX and the Vulgate that, apart from a couple of instances, render both Hebrew ṣin and sîn as "Sin". The "Wilderness of Sin" is mentioned by the Bible as being adjacent to Mount Sinai; some consider Sinai to refer to al-Madhbah at Petra, adjacent to the central Arabah, and it is thus eminently possible that the "Wilderness of Sin" and the "Wilderness of Zin" are actually the same place.
It was this very region that the British Arabist and adventurer T. E. Lawrence was exploring in a military survey for the British army when he was drafted into service. His expedition, funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund, included a survey of the entire Negev Desert.
Famous quotes containing the word desert:
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)