– From the Latin desertus , by etymology, it means abandoned, isolated. It was the place of evil spirits, where scapegoats were sent. It was also a place of prayer and encounter with God:
Lev 16, 22 : When the goat has been sent into the desert.
Zep 2,13-14 : He will reduce Nineveh to a dry desert like the steppe.
1 Kings 19:1-12 : When he arrived at Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there and walked through the desert.
– The covenant with God is signed in the desert of Sinai:
Ex 19,1 : In the third month after their departure from Egypt, on that day, the Israelites entered the Sinai desert.
– Forty years God led his people through the desert:
Deut 29: 5 : You did not eat bread or drink wine or beer, so that you would know that I am the Lord your God.
– In the spiritual sense of conversion to charity, in the times of the Messiah, the desert will become a garden:
Is 32,15-18 : Justice will reign in the desert, and justice will reside in the orchard.
Is 35,1-2 : The desert and the arid land will rejoice. The steppe will rejoice and blossom.
Is 41:18 : I will turn the desert into lakes, and the parched land into fountains.
Is 43,19-20 : I will make a way through the desert, and make streams flow through the steppe.
– In the NT, John the Baptist preaches in the desert:
Mt 3,1-2 : In those days, John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert.
Mk 1,4-5 : John the Baptist appeared in the desert and preached a baptism of conversion for the remission of sins.
Lk 3:2 : When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, son of Zechariah, in the desert.
– Jesus is tempted in the desert:
Mt 4,1-11 : Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
Mk 1:12 : And immediately the Spirit drove him into the desert.
Lc 4,1-13 : He was led by the Spirit into the desert, where he was tempted by the devil.
– And to him he withdraws to pray:
Mt 14:13 : Jesus left there in a boat to go to a deserted place.
Mk 1:35 : Long before dawn, he left and went to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
Mk 6:31 : Go away to a deserted place and rest a while.
Lk 4:12 : Jesus said: “It has been said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Dt 6:16).
