250px, The Wilderness is in the south The Wilderness of Zin or the Desert of Zin (, ''Mīḏbar Ṣīn'') is a geographic term with two meanings, one

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

and one modern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i, which are not necessarily identical.

Biblical deserts

Desert of Zin

The Desert of Zin is an area mentioned by the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

as containing Kadesh-Barnea (; ), and it is therefore also referred to as the "Wilderness of Kadesh" ().

Desert of Sin

Similarly named is the Wilderness of Sin. Modern English translations make a distinction, but it is not easily evident from the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

and the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

which, apart from a couple of instances, render both Hebrew ''ṣīn'' and ''sîn'' as "Sin". The "Wilderness of Sin" is mentioned by the Bible as being adjacent to

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa (), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is one of several locations claimed to be the Mount Sinai (Bible), biblical Mount Sinai, the place where, according to the sacred scriptures of the thre ...

; 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 the same place.

Identification

As of 1899, most scholars, as well as traditional sources, identified the Wilderness of Zin as being part of the Aravah.Cheyne and Black (1899), '' Encyclopedia Biblica'', pp
769
770 (see at Internet Archive). Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.

Modern Desert of Zin

Modern

has adopted the name for a specific southern desert area, which might or might not be identical with the biblical Wilderness of Zin. It was this 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 The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

, included a survey of the entire Negev Desert.

Important Bird Area

A tract of Israel's "Zin Desert" area near Sede Boqer, south of Be'er Sheva and some above sea-level, has been recognised as the Cliffs of Zin and Negev Highlands Important Bird Area (IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

. Significant bird populations for which the IBA was designated include sand partridges, common cranes, MacQueen's bustards,

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and white storks, pallid scops owls, desert tawny owls, Egyptian and griffon vultures, sooty and lanner falcons, Arabian babblers, hooded wheatears and Sinai rosefinches.

References

Bibliography

* Woolley, C. Leonard and Lawrence, T. E., ''The Wilderness of Zin''. Rev. 3rd ed. (Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns, in association with Stacey International, London, 2003). {{Stations of the Exodus Stations of the Exodus Torah places Deserts of Israel Important Bird Areas of Israel