McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Dizahab

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Dizahab


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(Hebrews Di-Zahab', ãְּé æָäָá [see below]), a place in the desert of Sinai, one of the boundary points of the "Arabah," or region where the Israelites wandered (Deu_1:1). It is probably the same cape now called Dahab (Robinson, Res. 1:217; 2:600), on the western shore of the Elanitic Gulf (Schwarz, Palest. page 212), about opposite Sinai; it abounds in palms, and has traces of ruins (Burckhardt, Syria, page 523). Wilson, however, doubts the identification (Lands of Bible, 1:235 n.). SEE WILDERNESS. The name is indicative of the presence of gold there, as that is the meaning of the latter half of the word (so Sept. Êáôá÷ñýóåá , Vulg. ubi auri est plurimum); but the former part of the name is foreign, either with the Aramaean expletive = of (literally "that which is"), or from the Arabic = áִּòִì , "lord," i.e., possessor of (Gesenius, Thes. page 334). With this import also agrees the description of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Êáôὰ ôὰ ÷ñýóåá , Cata Ta Chrysea), that the mountains in that region (in Phaeno, according to the true reading; see Le Clere in Bonfrere's ed.) are full of gold veins; also the modern name, which is in full Minah el-Dahab, "the porch of gold" (Büsching, Erdbeschr. XI, 1:621).