Desert

The desert as a harsh place

Jeremiah 2:6 See also Isaiah 25:4–5, Isaiah 49:10; Jeremiah 4:26, Jeremiah 22:6; Hosea 13:5

They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

The desert as a place of human activity

Living in the desert

Genesis 21:21 See also Judges 1:16; Proverbs 21:19; Jeremiah 25:24; Ezekiel 34:25; Luke 1:80

And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Grazing livestock in the desert

Exodus 3:1 See also Genesis 36:24; 1 Chronicles 5:9; Job 24:5

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Hiding in the desert

1 Samuel 23:14–15 See also 1 Samuel 23:25

And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand. While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

Dying in the desert

Exodus 14:11–12; John 6:49 See also Exodus 16:3; Numbers 3:4, Numbers 14:29, Numbers 32:13; 1 Corinthians 10:5; Hebrews 3:17

They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

God leading and caring for his people in the desert

Deuteronomy 2:7; Nehemiah 9:19–21; Psalm 78:52 See also Exodus 13:18, Exodus 17:1, Exodus 17:5–6; Deuteronomy 1:19, Deuteronomy 8:2, Deuteronomy 29:5, Deuteronomy 32:10; Joshua 24:7; Psalm 136:16; Amos 2:10; Acts 7:36, Acts 13:18

Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.

You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go. You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst. For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

John the Baptist in the desert

Mark 1:4 See also Matthew 3:3 parallels Mark 1:2–3, Luke 3:4; Isaiah 40:3

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus Christ in the desert

Matthew 4:1 parallels Mark 1:12–13, Luke 4:1

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Specific deserts

See also Genesis 21:14 Beersheba; Exodus 15:22 Shur; Exodus 16:1 sin; Exodus 19:1–2 Sinai; Numbers 12:16 Paran; Numbers 13:21 Zin; Numbers 33:8 Etham; Deuteronomy 2:26 Kedemoth; Joshua 18:12 Beth Aven; 1 Samuel 23:24 Maon; 1 Samuel 24:1 En Gedi; 1 Samuel 26:2 Ziph; 1 Kings 19:15 Damascus; 2 Kings 3:8 Edom; 2 Chronicles 20:16 Jeruel; 2 Chronicles 20:20 Tekoa; Psalm 29:8 Kadesh; PSA 63:0 Judah; Matthew 3:1 Judea; Acts 8:26 the desert road from Jerusalem to Gaza

Deserts used figuratively

Jeremiah 2:31 See also Isaiah 35:6, Isaiah 40:3; Jeremiah 50:12; Lamentations 4:3; Hosea 2:3

You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?