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Desert of Paran

December 22, 2023

The Desert of Paran or Wilderness of Paran (also sometimes spelled Pharan or Faran; Hebrew: מִדְבַּר פָּארָן, Midbar Pa'ran), is a location mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the places where the Israelites spent part of their 40 years of wandering after the Exodus, and was also a home to Ishmael, and a place of refuge for David.

In Islamic tradition, it has often been equated with an area of the Hejaz.

Biblical Paran edit

 
Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael into the desert, illustration by Gustave Doré

The Wilderness or Desert of Paran is said to be the place where Hagar (the Egyptian servant girl of Abraham's wife Sarah/Sarai and, by Sarah's suggestion, was made his wife and had a son with him Ishmael) was sent into exile from Abraham's dwelling in Beersheba (Genesis 16:1). Hagar "departed, and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba" (Genesis 21):

Then God opened her [Hagar's] eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. (Genesis 21:19–22)

Paran is later mentioned in the Book of Numbers as a place where the Israelites temporarily settled during the Exodus:

Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. (Numbers 10:12; see also Numbers 12:16)

Paran again features in the opening lines of the Book of Deuteronomy:

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert beyond the Jordan--that is, in the Arabah--opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (Deuteronomy 1:1)

He said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones, from his right hand went a fiery law for them." (Deuteronomy 33:2)

King David spent some time in the wilderness of Paran after Samuel died (1 Samuel 25:1).

1 Kings 11:17–18 states that when Hadad the Edomite fled from Edom to Egypt, he passed through Midian and Paran on the way to Egypt.

It is not certain precisely where the wilderness of Paran is to be located. It is often associated with Mount Sinai in Egypt, and there is some evidence that it may originally have referred to the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula.[1] However the Deuteronomy 1:1 text suggests it could be east of the Jordan River.

The minor prophet Habakkuk references that "God is coming from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran" in Habakkuk 3:3.

Both Eusebius (in his Onomasticon, a Bible dictionary) and Jerome reported that Paran was a city in Paran desert, in Arabia Deserta (beyond Arabia Nabataea), southeast of Eilat Pharan. Onomasticon, under Pharan, states: "(Now) a city beyond Arabia adjoining the desert of the Saracens [who wander in the desert] through which the children of Israel went moving (camp) from Sinai. Located (we say) beyond Arabia on the south, three days journey to the east of Aila (in the desert Pharan) where Scripture affirms Ismael dwelled, whence the Ishmaelites. It is said (we read) also that (king) Chodollagomor cut to pieces those in 'Pharan which is in the desert'."[2]

Eusebius' mention of Chodollagomor refers to a possible earlier mention of Paran in Genesis 14:6, which states that as he and the other kings allied with him were campaigning in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah, they smote "the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness". (KJV)

Sebeos, the Armenian Bishop and historian, describing the Arab conquest of his time, wrote that the Arabs "assembled and came out from Paran".[3][4]

in 1989, Professor Haseeb Shehada, in his translation of the Samaritan Torah, suggested an identification of the wilderness of Paran with the desert of Western Arabia, which is known today as the Hijaz.[5]

Arab and Islamic traditions edit

The Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi mentioned in his book that the Red Sea branches into two "at the extremity of al-Hijaz at a place called Faran".[6]

The association of Paran in Genesis 21:21 with Ishmael and the Ishmaelites is affirmed by the Muslim geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi who writes "Faran, an arabized Hebrew word, one of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah."[7] Islamic and Arabic traditions hold that the wilderness of Paran is, broadly speaking, the Hejaz, the northern half of Tihamah, stretching along the east side of the Red Sea starting from Jordan and Sinai,[8] and that the specific site where Ishmael settled is that of Mecca, near the mountains of Paran.[9]

The "Desert of Paran" is also interpreted as Hijaz in an old Arabic translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch.[10] When it was translated into English in 1851, it was found to include a footnote making this interpretation.[11] The name 'Paran' or 'Faran' has often been used to refer specifically to the wilderness and mountains near where Mecca is situated.[11] Al-Hamdani in his book Geography of the Arabic Peninsula says that the Paran mountains around Mecca were named after Paran son of Amalek.[12] Sam'ni in his Book of Surnames also says that the surname Farani is derived from the Faran mountains near Mecca in Hijaz [13]

According to Wahb ibn Munabbih, there was a Tal Faran ("Hill of Faran") on the outskirts of Mecca, mentioned in his book Kitab al-Tijan, a Pre-Islamic Arabic folklore compilation.[7] Ibn Munabbih further suggested an identification for Tal Faran as the 'mound of the Two runaways', a place where the Jurhum tribe found Hagar and Ishmael and thought of them as two runaways.[14]

Haggai Mazuz, a scholar of Islam associated with the Bar-Ilan University, asserts that Muslim polemicists' (like the Jewish convert Samawʾal al-Maghribī, 1125–1175 CE) appropriation of Deut. 33:2 has antecedence in Jewish tradition itself, as some Midrashim and Targumim, before the rise of Islam itself, posed a connection between Paran and Ishmael-Arabs. For instance, commentating on the Sifrei Debarīm, a halakhic midrash on Deuteronomy, dated from the 3rd to the 5th century CE, he says:

the link between Paran and the Arabs (actually the Arabic language), who are also called Ishmaelites after Ishmael (among other names), is very early although somewhat vague.[15]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Brisco, T.V. (1982). Geoffrey W. Bromiley (ed.). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J (Revised ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-8028-3782-0.
  2. ^ Eusebius. "entry for Pharan No 917". Onomasticon.
  3. ^ Sebeos (1999). "30". The Armenian History of Sebeosi. liverpool: liverpool university press. pp. 95–97. OCLC 44228890.
  4. ^ Marx, edited by Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, Michael (2010). The Qur'an in context historical and literary investigations into the Qur'anic milieu. Leiden: Brill. p. 142. ISBN 9789047430322. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Alt URL 2015-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Shehada, Haseeb (1989). Translation of the Samaritan Torah, p.90. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
  6. ^ Al-Muqaddasi, Muhammad (1994). The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions. The United Kingdom: Garnet Pub. p. 11. ISBN 1873938144.
  7. ^ a b Reuven Firestone (1990). Title Journeys in holy lands: the evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael legends in Islamic exegesis. SUNY Press. pp. 65, 205. ISBN 0585076294.
  8. ^ "Hejaz map".
  9. ^ Marx (1924). Halper's 'Post-Biblical Hebrew literature. Philadelphia. p. 53. OCLC 172997009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Khan, Sayyid (1870). Essays on the life of Muhammad. London: Trubner. p. 75. OCLC 438478.
  11. ^ a b Sir Sayyid Aḥmad Khān (1870). A series of essays on the life of Mohammad: and subjects subsidiary thereto. London: Trübner & co. pp. 74–76.
  12. ^ Hamdani, al-Hasan. Geography of the Arabian Peninsula. p. 285.
  13. ^ al-Sam`ni, Abd Al-Karim (1912) [1140 CE]. Kitab al-Ansab: The book of surnames. London. OCLC 459336183.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Alt URL
  14. ^ Al-Munabbih, Wahb bin (2009). Book of crowns on the kings of Himyar = Kitab al-Tigan. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1593335151.
  15. ^ Haggai Mazuz, "Tracing possible Jewish influence on a common Islamic commentary on Deuteronomy 33:2" in Journal of Jewish Studies, Autumn 2016, vol. 67, no. 2, p. 294

External links edit

December 22, 2023
desert, paran, wilderness, paran, also, sometimes, spelled, pharan, faran, hebrew, אר, midbar, location, mentioned, hebrew, bible, places, where, israelites, spent, part, their, years, wandering, after, exodus, also, home, ishmael, place, refuge, david, islami. The Desert of Paran or Wilderness of Paran also sometimes spelled Pharan or Faran Hebrew מ ד ב ר פ אר ן Midbar Pa ran is a location mentioned in the Hebrew Bible It is one of the places where the Israelites spent part of their 40 years of wandering after the Exodus and was also a home to Ishmael and a place of refuge for David In Islamic tradition it has often been equated with an area of the Hejaz Contents 1 Biblical Paran 2 Arab and Islamic traditions 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksBiblical Paran edit nbsp Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael into the desert illustration by Gustave DoreThe Wilderness or Desert of Paran is said to be the place where Hagar the Egyptian servant girl of Abraham s wife Sarah Sarai and by Sarah s suggestion was made his wife and had a son with him Ishmael was sent into exile from Abraham s dwelling in Beersheba Genesis 16 1 Hagar departed and strayed in the wilderness of Beer sheba Genesis 21 Then God opened her Hagar s eyes and she saw a well of water So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink God was with the boy as he grew up He lived in the desert and became an archer While he was living in the Desert of Paran his mother got a wife for him from Egypt Genesis 21 19 22 Paran is later mentioned in the Book of Numbers as a place where the Israelites temporarily settled during the Exodus Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran Numbers 10 12 see also Numbers 12 16 Paran again features in the opening lines of the Book of Deuteronomy These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert beyond the Jordan that is in the Arabah opposite Suph between Paran and Tophel Laban Hazeroth and Dizahab Deuteronomy 1 1 He said The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir he shone forth from Mount Paran He came with myriads of holy ones from his right hand went a fiery law for them Deuteronomy 33 2 King David spent some time in the wilderness of Paran after Samuel died 1 Samuel 25 1 1 Kings 11 17 18 states that when Hadad the Edomite fled from Edom to Egypt he passed through Midian and Paran on the way to Egypt It is not certain precisely where the wilderness of Paran is to be located It is often associated with Mount Sinai in Egypt and there is some evidence that it may originally have referred to the southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula 1 However the Deuteronomy 1 1 text suggests it could be east of the Jordan River The minor prophet Habakkuk references that God is coming from Teman the Holy One from Mount Paran in Habakkuk 3 3 Both Eusebius in his Onomasticon a Bible dictionary and Jerome reported that Paran was a city in Paran desert in Arabia Deserta beyond Arabia Nabataea southeast of Eilat Pharan Onomasticon under Pharan states Now a city beyond Arabia adjoining the desert of the Saracens who wander in the desert through which the children of Israel went moving camp from Sinai Located we say beyond Arabia on the south three days journey to the east of Aila in the desert Pharan where Scripture affirms Ismael dwelled whence the Ishmaelites It is said we read also that king Chodollagomor cut to pieces those in Pharan which is in the desert 2 Eusebius mention of Chodollagomor refers to a possible earlier mention of Paran in Genesis 14 6 which states that as he and the other kings allied with him were campaigning in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah they smote the Horites in their mount Seir unto El paran which is by the wilderness KJV Sebeos the Armenian Bishop and historian describing the Arab conquest of his time wrote that the Arabs assembled and came out from Paran 3 4 in 1989 Professor Haseeb Shehada in his translation of the Samaritan Torah suggested an identification of the wilderness of Paran with the desert of Western Arabia which is known today as the Hijaz 5 Arab and Islamic traditions editThe Arab geographer Al Muqaddasi mentioned in his book that the Red Sea branches into two at the extremity of al Hijaz at a place called Faran 6 The association of Paran in Genesis 21 21 with Ishmael and the Ishmaelites is affirmed by the Muslim geographer Yaqut al Hamawi who writes Faran an arabized Hebrew word one of the names of Mecca mentioned in the Torah 7 Islamic and Arabic traditions hold that the wilderness of Paran is broadly speaking the Hejaz the northern half of Tihamah stretching along the east side of the Red Sea starting from Jordan and Sinai 8 and that the specific site where Ishmael settled is that of Mecca near the mountains of Paran 9 The Desert of Paran is also interpreted as Hijaz in an old Arabic translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch 10 When it was translated into English in 1851 it was found to include a footnote making this interpretation 11 The name Paran or Faran has often been used to refer specifically to the wilderness and mountains near where Mecca is situated 11 Al Hamdani in his book Geography of the Arabic Peninsula says that the Paran mountains around Mecca were named after Paran son of Amalek 12 Sam ni in his Book of Surnames also says that the surname Farani is derived from the Faran mountains near Mecca in Hijaz 13 According to Wahb ibn Munabbih there was a Tal Faran Hill of Faran on the outskirts of Mecca mentioned in his book Kitab al Tijan a Pre Islamic Arabic folklore compilation 7 Ibn Munabbih further suggested an identification for Tal Faran as the mound of the Two runaways a place where the Jurhum tribe found Hagar and Ishmael and thought of them as two runaways 14 Haggai Mazuz a scholar of Islam associated with the Bar Ilan University asserts that Muslim polemicists like the Jewish convert Samawʾal al Maghribi 1125 1175 CE appropriation of Deut 33 2 has antecedence in Jewish tradition itself as some Midrashim and Targumim before the rise of Islam itself posed a connection between Paran and Ishmael Arabs For instance commentating on the Sifrei Debarim a halakhic midrash on Deuteronomy dated from the 3rd to the 5th century CE he says the link between Paran and the Arabs actually the Arabic language who are also called Ishmaelites after Ishmael among other names is very early although somewhat vague 15 See also editMiddle East Wadi Feiran whose oasis was identified by Ptolemy as Paran References edit Brisco T V 1982 Geoffrey W Bromiley ed International Standard Bible Encyclopedia E J Revised ed Wm B Eerdmans Publishing p 241 ISBN 978 0 8028 3782 0 Eusebius entry for Pharan No 917 Onomasticon Sebeos 1999 30 The Armenian History of Sebeosi liverpool liverpool university press pp 95 97 OCLC 44228890 Marx edited by Angelika Neuwirth Nicolai Sinai Michael 2010 The Qur an in context historical and literary investigations into the Qur anic milieu Leiden Brill p 142 ISBN 9789047430322 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a first has generic name help CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Alt URL Archived 2015 10 02 at the Wayback Machine Shehada Haseeb 1989 Translation of the Samaritan Torah p 90 Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Al Muqaddasi Muhammad 1994 The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions The United Kingdom Garnet Pub p 11 ISBN 1873938144 a b Reuven Firestone 1990 Title Journeys in holy lands the evolution of the Abraham Ishmael legends in Islamic exegesis SUNY Press pp 65 205 ISBN 0585076294 Hejaz map Marx 1924 Halper s Post Biblical Hebrew literature Philadelphia p 53 OCLC 172997009 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Khan Sayyid 1870 Essays on the life of Muhammad London Trubner p 75 OCLC 438478 a b Sir Sayyid Aḥmad Khan 1870 A series of essays on the life of Mohammad and subjects subsidiary thereto London Trubner amp co pp 74 76 Hamdani al Hasan Geography of the Arabian Peninsula p 285 al Sam ni Abd Al Karim 1912 1140 CE Kitab al Ansab The book of surnames London OCLC 459336183 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Alt URL Al Munabbih Wahb bin 2009 Book of crowns on the kings of Himyar Kitab al Tigan Piscataway Gorgias Press ISBN 978 1593335151 Haggai Mazuz Tracing possible Jewish influence on a common Islamic commentary on Deuteronomy 33 2 in Journal of Jewish Studies Autumn 2016 vol 67 no 2 p 294External links editBaseinstitute org permanent dead link A 16th century French map showing Paran Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Desert of Paran amp oldid 1186086030, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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