PHARAN. – Desert of Arabia Petraea, today called Badjet et-Tih. It is formed by a wide expanse bordering to the east with the 'Arabah valley, which extends from the south of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf; to the west with the desert of Sur or Etham (Gen. 16:7); to the south with the Ġebel et-Tih; to the north with the desert of Sin and with the mountains of the Amorites, or the southern borders of the land of Canaan. It is called “a terrible and vast desert” (Deut. 1:17), where there are “fiery serpents, scorpions, parched ground, lacking water” (ibid. 8:15).
Modern travelers describe it as a horribly wild place, without vegetation, with bare hills of clay, plains covered with black flint, wide stretches of quicksand, interrupted only here and there by rare oases. It is first mentioned in Gen. 14:6 as the extreme southern limit of the expedition of Chodorlahomor.
In this desert dwelt Ishmael (Gen. 21:10, 21). It owes, however, its special renown to the 38 years spent by the Hebrews after leaving Egypt: in it must be sought the 19 stages of the Hebrews referred to in Num. 22:18-36. Kadesh (v.) was situated in the northern part of the desert, a region also called “the desert of Sin.”
David, pursued by Saul, took refuge there after the death of Samuel (1 Sam. 25:1); likewise the Edomite Hadad, fleeing from Joab toward Egypt, crossed the desert and led away many inhabitants of the land (1 Kgs. 11:17-18).