Negeb,

VIEW:16 DATA:01-04-2020

NEGEB, originally meaning ‘the dry land,’ is in most passages in the OT the name of a definite geographical area (Deu_1:7; Deu_34:3, Jos_10:40; Jos_12:8 etc.); the word is, however, used also in the sense of ‘South’ (Gen_13:14). The Negeb was often the scene of Abraham’s wanderings (Gen_12:9; Gen_13:1; Gen_13:8; Gen_20:1); here Hagar was succoured by the angel (Gen_16:7; Gen_16:14); Isaac (Gen_24:62) and Jacob (Gen_37:1; Gen_46:5) both dwelt there; through this district passed the spies (Num_13:17; Num_13:22). In Num_13:29 the Negeb is described as belonging to the Amalekites. Later the land was allotted to Simeon, and its cities are enumerated (Jos_19:1-9); later they reverted to Judah (Jos_15:21-32). David was stationed by Achish at Ziklag on the borders of the Negeb (1Sa_27:6). At this time the Negeb is described as of several parts, the Negeb of Judah, of the Jerahmeelites, and of the Kenites (1Sa_27:10); while in 1Sa_30:14 we read of the Negeb of the Cherethites and of Caleb. Jeremiah (Jer_13:19) prophesied trouble as coming on the cities of this region, but on the return from captivity they too were to participate in the blessings (Jer_32:44, Jer_33:13).
The district in question was an ill-defined tract of country lying S. of Hebron, and extending some 70 miles to the Tih or desert. It was bounded on the E. by the Dead Sea and the ‘Arâbâh, while W. it faded away into the Maritime Plain. It was a pastoral region, wedged between the cultivated lands on the N. and the wilderness, and formed a most efficient barrier to the land of Israel towards the South. Attacks of large armed forces could not come from this direction, but only by the ‘Arâbâh to the S.E. (Gen_14:1-24), viâ Gaza on S.W., or by the E. of the Jordan. The Israelites themselves were compelled to take the last route. The country consists of a series of mountainous ridges running in a general direction E. and W., with open wadys in which a certain amount of water collects even now; In ancient days dams were constructed in places to collect and store the rainfall, which to-day soon runs off. Though now little better than a wilderness, the numerous ruins of towns and broken terraces witness to days of large population and good cultivation; the OT, too, in the stories of Saul’s and David’s captures from the Amalekites (1Sa_15:9; 1Sa_27:9), witnesses to a great wealth of cattle. In Byzantine times the land attained its highest prosperity. Under neglect it has become again little better than a desert: the Bedouin of these parts are known in Palestine for their skill in making rough cisterns on the hillsides to catch the surface water, and have in recent years been employed to construct many such in the ‘wilderness of Judæa.’ Beersheba and the district around have recently been greatly improved: a rough carriage road has been made from there to Gaza.
E. W. G. Masterman.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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