JESHIMON jĭ shī’ mən (יְשִׁימֹֽון; LXX Ιεσσαιμυν, meaning waste or desert, and usually rendered as a common noun, except with the article, when it refers to a specific area, e.g.):

1. The wilderness of Judea. The southern part, SE of Hebron, in the vicinity of Ziph (1 Sam 23:19, 24; 26:1, 3).

2. The region of Pisgah in Moab. A barren area, NE of the Dead Sea (Num 21:20; 23:28, see KJV and notes in Oxford ed. of RSV).

The desert was regarded as a dreadful place, to be avoided, or crossed hurriedly. Its occupants were often regarded as inferior, or they would not remain there (cf. the disdainful attitude of the Egyp. texts toward the “sand-dwellers”). Figurative usage of the term described a nation desolated and defeated by her enemies (cf. Jer 22:6; Hos 2:3-5). See Desert.

Bibliography G. Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1906), 312-314; G. Wright and F. Filson, The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible, rev. ed. (1956), 125, Map IX; Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible (1967), 57.