PARAN a place of caves,' from 'In, Arab. to excavate ;' cPapav ; Pharan), a name given in the Bible to a wilderness, and to a mountain.
I. The wilderness of Paran (rn
it epngos. ro l
situation and boundaries of this wilderness are set forth with considerable exactness by a number of incidental notices in Scripture. It had Palestine on the north, the valley of Arabah on the east, and the desert of Sinai on the south. Its western boundary is not mentioned in the Bible, but it appears to have ex tended to Egypt and the Mediterranean. The first notice of Paran is in connection with the expedition of the Eastern kings against Sodom. After defeat ing the giant tribes east of the Jordan, they swept over Mount Seir (Edon') 'unto the terebinth of
Faran (n
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to survey Canaan (xiii. 3) ; and after completing their mission they returned to the camp unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh' (ver. 26). There is an apparent difficulty here. At first sight it would appear as if Kadesh in Paran was only a single march from Hazeroth ; while Hazeroth has been identified with Ain Hudherah, which is 540 miles distant from Kadesh. The difficulty is solved by a reference to the detailed itinerary in Num. xxxiii. Paran is not mentioned there, because it was the name of a wide region, and the sacred writer records only the names of the camp-stations. Hazeroth is mentioned, however, and so is Kadesh ; and between them there are eighteen stations (17 36). Most probably all these stations were in Paran, for it is said that when they took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai, the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran' (x. t2); and Moses also states—' When we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw by the way of the moun tain of the Amorites ; and we came to Kadesh barnea ' (Deut. i. 19). The wilderness of Paran in fact extended from Hazeroth, and the desert of Sinai (or Horeb) on the south, to the foot of the mountains of Palestine on the north ; and its eastern border ran along the valley of Arabah, from the gulf of Akabah to the southern shore of the Dead Sea. Through this wide region the Israelites marched, not in a straight line, but, like the modern Arab tribes, from pasture to pasture ; and it was when entering upon that long and toil some march that Moses said to his father-in-law, Leave us not, I pray thee ; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes' (Num. x. 31). Jethro was intimately acquainted with the whole wilderness. As a nomad pastoral chief he knew the best pastures and all the wells and foun tains ; and hence Moses was most anxious to secure his services as guide.