Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Abounding in foliage, or abounding in caverns, (Gen. 21:21), a desert tract forming the north-eastern division of the peninsula of Sinai, lying between the ‘Arabah on the east and the wilderness of Shur on the west. It is intersected in a north-western direction by the Wady el-‘Arish. It bears the modern name of Badiet et-Tih, i.e., “the desert of the wanderings.” This district, through which the children of Israel wandered, lay three
days’ march from Sinai (Num. 10:12, 33). From Kadesh, in this wilderness, spies (q.v.) were sent to spy the land (13:3, 26). Here, long afterwards, David found refuge from Saul (1 Sam. 25:1, 4).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
PA'RAN (place of caverns), a wilderness or desert region west of the Elanitic Gulf, and within the Sinaitic peninsula. It was bounded on the north by the wilderness of Shur and the land of Canaan; on the east by the great valley of the Arabah - which separated it from the mountains of Moab - and the Gulf of Akabah; on the south by a great sand-belt, separating it from the granitic mountains of Sinai; and on the west by the wilderness of Etham,
which separated it from the Gulf of Suez and from Egypt. A range of mountains sweeps around this wilderness on all sides except the north. It is a high limestone plateau, crossed by low ranges of hills and intersected by few watercourses, always dry except in the rainy season. In this blanched and dreary waste of chalk, covered with coarse gravel, black flint, and drifting sand, upon which a slight coating of vegetation struggles for existence,
the Israelites spent thirty eight years after leaving Sinai. Num 10:12. The modern name, Badiet et Tih , or "desert of the wandering," commemorates this historic fact. Across this desert lay the road from Canaan to Egypt which was travelled by Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. The north-east corner of the wilderness is a hilly plateau, the home and pasture-ground of the patriarchs, the Negeb, or "south country," of Scripture. Scripture History. - Paran
is first mentioned in connection with the conquest of the confederate kings, when it appears to have been the home of the Horites. Gen 14:6. Hagar and Ishmael, after being driven away by Abraham, went into the wilderness of Paran, Gen 21:21; the Israelites entered it soon after leaving Sinai, Num 10:12, 1 Sam 15:33; Josh 11:3, Num 11:34-35; Neh 12:16; the spies were sent up to Canaan and returned from this region:and eighteen stations of the
Israelites' journev are noted in this wilderness. Num 13:3, Acts 11:26; Num 33:17-36; comp. Deut 1:1. Probably, during their thirty eight years of sojourn in the wilderness, the people were scattered over a wide extent of territory, like the modern Bedouin tribes. David found refuge in this wilderness, 1 Sam 26:1, and Hadad passed through it when escaping to Egypt. 1 Kgs 11:18.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
beauty; glory; ornament
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
PARAN, MOUNT OF, the place where the Lord is said to have shined forth. Deut 33:2; Hab 3:3. It was probably the most southern portion of the mountain-plateau in the north-eastern part of the wilderness of Paran, now Jebel Magra'h. In this region is situated 'Ain Gadis, which some identify with Kadesh, and the one encampment in the wilderness of Kadesh. Jebel Magra'h would always be the most conspicuous object, and would completely shut out from
view the more fertile mountains beyond. PAR'BAR occurs only in 1 Chr 26:18, where it denotes some place on the western side of the temple-enclosure.