In Acts 13:7, 8, 12; 18:12, it denotes a proconsul; i.e., the governor of a
Roman province holding his appointment from the senate. The Roman
provinces were of two kinds, (1) senatorial and (2) imperial. The
appointment of a governor to the former was in the hands of the senate,
and he bore the title of proconsul (Gr. anthupatos). The appointment of a
governor to the latter was in the hands of the emperor, and he bore the title
of propraetor (Gr. antistrategos).
- DERBE a small town on the eastern part of the upland plain of Lycaonia,
about 20 miles from Lystra. Paul passed through Derbe on his route from
Cilicia to Iconium, on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1), and
probably also on his third journey (18:23; 19:1). On his first journey
(14:20, 21) he came to Derbe from the other side; i.e., from Iconium. It was
the native place of Gaius, one of Paul’s companions (20:4). He did not
here suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:11). - DESERT (1.) Hebrews midbar, “pasture-ground;” an open tract for
pasturage; a common (Joel 2:22). The “backside of the desert” (Exodus
3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the
region in front. The same Hebrew word is rendered “wildernes,” and is
used of the country lying between Egypt and Palestine (Genesis 21:14, 21;
Exodus 4:27; 19:2; Joshua 1:4), the wilderness of the wanderings. It was a
grazing tract, where the flocks and herds of the Israelites found pasturage
during the whole of their journey to the Promised Land.
The same Hebrew word is used also to denote the wilderness of Arabia,
which in winter and early spring supplies good pasturage to the flocks of
the nomad tribes than roam over it (1 Kings 9:18).
The wilderness of Judah is the mountainous region along the western shore
of the Dead Sea, where David fed his father’s flocks (1 Samuel 17:28;
26:2). Thus in both of these instances the word denotes a country without
settled inhabitants and without streams of water, but having good
pasturage for cattle; a country of wandering tribes, as distinguished from
that of a settled people (Isaiah 35:1; 50:2; Jeremiah 4:11). Such, also, is the
meaning of the word “wilderness” in Matthew 3:3; 15:33; Luke 15:4.
(2.) The translation of the Hebrew Aribah’, “an arid tract” (Isaiah 35:1, 6;
40:3; 41:19; 51:3, etc.). The name Arabah is specially applied to the deep
valley of the Jordan (the Ghor of the Arabs), which extends from the lake
of Tiberias to the Elanitic gulf. While midbar denotes properly a pastoral