In the bible what desert did the hebrews cross on the way to the promised land?

Answer 1

In The Bible there are a number of different wilderness areas described. The wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula, still bears this name today. The Negev region, somewhat to the North of this covers quite a broad area of land through which the Israelites would have had to journey, much closer to Israel.

In the Biblical Exodus account the term wilderness if often used generically as 'they went into the wilderness' in a number of other places specific wilderness areas are named.

These include the following:

The Wilderness of Shur - Exodus 15:22. This is directly East of the Nile Delta. They passed to the Western edge of this on the way out of Egypt.

The Wilderness of Sin - Exodus16:1 and 17:1. This is towards the South-east on theSinai Peninsula.

The Wilderness of Sinai - Exodus Exodus 19:1, Leviticus 7:38. This refers to the area near the South East tip of the Peninsula where Mount Sinai is believe to be (the exact location is a matter of 'discussion').

The Wilderness of Paran - Numbers 10:12, 12:16, 13:3. This area was to the North-West of Sinai, up towards present-day Israel.

The Wilderness of Zin - Numbers 13:21. This area is further to the Noth-West, just below the Dead Sea and Beersheba.

The reference to these areas as wilderness certainly indicates their largely uninhabited nature at this time, as well as their general unsuitability for permanent settlement except for isolated oases. It is of course unknown what the rainfall was at that time, and if it has decreased significantly since due to a changing climate which has been evidenced in other places.

Answer 2

The Sinai Desert was the region that the Israelites walked through according to the route in the Biblical narrative (Numbers ch.33).

In the Bible itself, it names the area as the Deserts of Shur (Exodus ch.15), Syn (Exodus ch.16), Sinai (Exodus ch.19), Paran (Numbers ch.13), Tsin (Numbers ch.20), Kadesh (Psalms 29), and Moab (Deuteronomy ch.2). Every one of these is in the Sinai peninsula and western Jordan.

Note that many commentaries feel that the word "wilderness" is more accurate than "desert."

Answer 3

You get a fair idea of the route if you begin at the southern end of the Suez Canal,
proceed south along the west coast of the Sinai Peninsula to its southern tip near
Sharm el Sheikh, then back north through the interior of the Sinai Peninsula, and
swinging east around the Dead Sea, northward through Jordan parallel to the Jordan
River, then turning west to cross the river into present-day Israel directly from the east.

From the detailed account of the route and the events at each stage along the way,
in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, it's quite clear
that the migration could only be called 'wandering' in the sense that it was far from a
straight line. But in the sense of aimlessness, there was no wandering at all. Every
step of the route was carried out under clear guidance, and any individuals who
decided to take off on their own, in a direction in which the nation were not guided,
were lost from existence.

Answer 4

The Israelites jurneyed through the Sinai Peninsula. They also journeyed from south to north around the lands of Edom, Ammon and Moab, which are today parts of Jordan.

Answer 5

The Sinai desert (מדבר סיני)

Answer 6

The Jordan River (Joshua ch.3-4).

Answer 7

No