Judean Wilderness
The dry, steep country between the hills of Judah and the Dead Sea. David hid here from Saul, John the Baptist preached here, and the Gospels set the temptation of Jesus in it.
The wilderness of Judah is the eastern slope of the Judean hills, which falls from the ridge near Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron to the Dead Sea and the lower Jordan valley. It receives little rain and has few settlements. Joshua lists six towns in it, among them En Gedi (Joshua 15:61–62), and David took refuge there from Saul (1 Samuel 24:1–2). Qumran lies on its eastern edge.
Matthew says that John the Baptist preached “in the wilderness of Judea” (Matthew 3:1), and the first three Gospels tell that Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness after his baptism (Mark 1:12–13) (Matthew 4:1–2). They name no particular spot, so the marker is set near the middle of the region and shows only its general position.
What happened here
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJohn the Baptist Preaches at the Jordan
Luke dates to the fifteenth year of Tiberius the preaching of John, who calls Israel to repentance in the wilderness and baptises crowds in the Jordan. All four Gospels and the Jewish historian Josephus describe him.
- c. AD 26–29, estimated dateThe Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
Jesus comes from Nazareth to the Jordan and is baptised by John. The Gospels tell of the Spirit descending on him and a voice from heaven naming him the beloved Son, and then of forty days of testing in the wilderness.