Paran

Paran (Hebrew: פארן, Pa'ran) is a desert located in Egypt, several times mentioned in the Old Testament.

The precise boundaries of the area on which Paran stretches are difficult to determine. It is identified with the high longitudinal calcareous plateau of Ettih, which extends north-south from the southwestern part of the Dead Sea along the western side of Sinai to Ha-Arawa. The desert itself was located on the Sinai Peninsula - south of Kadesz-Barnea. According to 1 Kings (1 Kings 11:18), it was between Midian and Egypt. According to the Book of Deuteronomy (D & C 33: 2), the duration of the forty-day period, according to the Book of Numbers (13: 25-26), was made during the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to the Holy Land in the Paranan desert. During the camp, according to this book (Lk 13,3), scouts of Moses were sent to spy caves in Canaan.

The desert of Paran is also mentioned in Genesis (Genesis 21:21) - in the context of the description of the exile of Hagar and Ishmael; and in 1 Samuel (1 Sam. 25,1) - during the presentation of the early biography of David, who, after Samuel's death, took refuge in his area. Early Christian authors identified the Paran with the Feiran oasis, located in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula in the Jabal Sirbal and Jabal Moneyda mountains, worshiped by the Nabataeans in the second and third centuries. On the higher mountain, Jabal Sirbal, the temple was erected; The lower Jabal Moneyda was the object of pilgrimage, as evidenced by numerous inscriptions on its slopes and stone blocks with the names of priests and worshipers. In Byzantine times, this area became the center of monastic life.

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