Negev

Biblical Text

The Negev is an Old Testament place name for the dry region in southern Canaan, below the hill country of Judah. The principal passages that mention the Negev are as follows.

• Patriarchal narratives: Abraham went up out of Egypt into the Negev (Genesis 13:1) and later journeyed into the land of the Negev and sojourned in Gerar (Genesis 20:1). Isaac also lived in the Negev (Genesis 24:62).
• Wilderness period: Moses sent the twelve spies up by way of the Negev, and they passed through it to reach Hebron (Numbers 13:17, 22). Scripture also records that the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negev, fought against Israel (Numbers 21:1).
• Settlement and monarchy: The southernmost cities in the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah lay in the Negev (Joshua 15:21–32). The Kenites, descendants of Moses' father-in-law, went up and settled in the wilderness of Judah south of Arad (Judges 1:16). Although David actually raided other peoples (1 Samuel 27:8), he told Achish, the Philistine king, that he had raided "the south of Judah" and "the south of the Kenites" (1 Samuel 27:10). Scripture also records that the Amalekites invaded the Negev and Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:1).
• Poetry and prophecy: "The streams in the south" in Psalm 126:4 are understood to refer to the dry streambeds of the Negev. Jeremiah included the Negev among the regions of Judah that would be restored (Jeremiah 32:44), and Obadiah likewise mentions the Negev in his promise of restoration (Obadiah 1:19–20).

Background

The Hebrew word negev is generally thought to be related to a root meaning "to be dry." Because the region lay to the south of Judah, the word also came to be used for the direction "south." The biblical Negev generally refers to the area around Beersheba and Arad, and many scholars regard it as smaller than the entire Negev Desert of modern southern Israel. Low rainfall made large-scale agriculture difficult, but the inhabitants relied on wells and winter rains for herding and limited cultivation. The account of Isaac's disputes over wells in the valley of Gerar (Genesis 26:17–22) reflects this environment. The Negev lay along the route to Egypt and formed a frontier bordering Edom and Amalek.

Significance Across Scripture

The Negev marks the southern boundary of the Promised Land, where wilderness and settled land meet. Both the routes the patriarchs traveled in their wanderings and the route from the wilderness into Canaan passed through this region. Psalm 126 uses the streams of the Negev, which suddenly flow with water when the rains come, as an image of restoration and return from captivity. The prophetic image of restoration in which rivers are made in the wilderness also appears in passages such as Isaiah 43:16–21. The name Negev does not appear in the New Testament, and no New Testament passage directly takes up this place name.

Interpretation and Issues

• Translation: Because a single word in the original language denotes both a place and a direction, translations vary in rendering it as "Negev" or as "the south." The New Korean Revised Version likewise uses both "Negev" and "the south" (as in Psalm 126:4), depending on the passage.
• Extent and location: Scholars differ on the boundaries of the Negev in biblical times and on the locations of individual cities within it.
• Symbolic readings: Some sermons interpret the Negev as a symbol of "spiritual dryness." This is an interpretive application; the text itself does not say so directly. Scripture portrays the Negev as an actual region where people tended livestock and built cities.

In the Korean Church

Korean Christians encounter this place name mainly through Psalm 126. The verse "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5) is frequently read at Thanksgiving and at the early summer harvest thanksgiving. On these occasions it is sometimes explained that "the streams in the south" in verse 4 refer to the seasonal streams of the Negev that flow during the rainy season.