Parched Ground
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Parched Ground

In Isaiah 35:7, translated by Lowth "the glowing sand," by Henderson "the vapory illusion," and in German sand-mer and wasserschein, sand-sea and water-show, is understood to refer to the mirage, an optical illusion described by almost all travelers in tropical deserts. The inexperienced wanderer sees at a distance what he thinks is an beautiful sheet of water; and imagination clothes the farther shore with herbage, shrubbery, buildings, etc.; but on hasting towards it he finds the delightful vision recede and at length disappear, and nothing remains but the hot sands. Quintus Curtius long ago gave an account of this wonder in his Life of Alexander the Great. It is thus described in St. John's "Egypt and Nubia:"

"I had been riding along in a revery, when chancing to raise my head, I thought I perceived, desertwards, a dark strip on the far horizon. What could it be- My companion, who had very keen sight, was riding in advance of me, and with a sudden exclamation, he pulled up his dromedary, and gazed in the same direction. I called to him, and asked him what he thought of yonder strip, and whether he could make out anything in it distinctly. He answered, that water had all at once appeared there; that he saw the motion of the waves, and tall palms and other trees bending up and down over them, as if tossed by a strong wind. This, then, was the mirage. My companion galloped towards it, and we followed him, though the Arabs tried to prevent us; and ere long I could with my own eyes discern something of this strange phenomenon. It was, as my friend had reported, a broad sheet of water, with fresh green trees along its banks; and yet there was nothing actually before us but parched yellow sand."

"Far as we rode in the direction of the apparition, we never came any nearer to it; the whole seemed to recoil, step for step, with our advance. We halted, and remained long in contemplation, of the magic scene, until whatever was unpleasant in its strangeness ceased by degrees to affect us. Never had I seen any landscape so vivid as this seeming one; never water so bright or trees so softly green, so tall and stately. We returned lowly to our Arabs, who had not stirred from the spot where we left them. Looking back once more into the desert, we saw the apparition gradually becoming fainter, until at last it melted away into a dim band, not unlike a thin mist sweeping over the face of a field."

The same phenomenon may be alluded to in the expression, "waters that fail," Jeremiah 15:18. It is ascribed to the unequal refraction of the rays of light, caused in some way by excessive heat. The Savior and his proffered blessings are not, like earthly hopes, a deception and a mockery, but true waters of eternal life.

Strong's Hebrew
8273. sharab -- burning heat, parched ground
... 8272, 8273. sharab. 8274 . burning heat, parched ground. Transliteration: sharab
Phonetic Spelling: (shaw-rawb') Short Definition: land. ... heat, parched ground ...
/hebrew/8273.htm - 6k

6724. tsayon -- dryness, parched ground
... 6723, 6724. tsayon. 6725 . dryness, parched ground. Transliteration: tsayon
Phonetic Spelling: (tsee-yone') Short Definition: drought. ...
/hebrew/6724.htm - 6k

6772. tsama -- thirst
... Definition: thirst. Word Origin from tsame Definition thirst NASB Word Usage
parched ground (1), thirst (15), thirsty (1). thirsty. From ...
/hebrew/6772.htm - 6k

Library

The Holy Spirit.
... dead until the Spirit of life from God and his throne shall enter into them; until
they shall drink it in by vehement thirst, as the parched ground drinks in ...
//christianbookshelf.org/bunyan/the riches of bunyan/viii the holy spirit.htm

Gideon's Fleece
... grace which they have received that they may diffuse it, and turning the dry and
thirsty land where no water is into fertility, and the 'parched ground' into a ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/gideons fleece.htm

Letter xxv. (AD 394. )
... up into eternal life." [1502] Through desire for this my soul thirsted within me,
and my parched ground longed to be flooded with the fulness of your river. ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter xxv a d 394.htm

The Heath in the Desert and the Tree by the River
... we are like the prickly shrub in the desert, whatever good may be around us; and
if we do recognise and act upon it, whatever parched ground may seem to ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture h/the heath in the desert.htm

Hymns on the Nativity. Hymn i. This is the Day that Gladdened Them ...
... The type that the Holy Ghost figured to-day its meaning was [explained.] He
came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. ...
/.../ephraim/hymns and homilies of ephraim the syrian/hymns on the nativity hymn.htm

The Devil, Since He Emulates the Truth, Has Invented Fables About ...
... tongue of the stammerers shall be distinct: for water has broken forth in the
wilderness, and a valley in the thirsty land; and the parched ground shall become ...
/.../chapter lxix the devil since he.htm

Of the Erythræan Sibyl, who Pointed in a Prophetic Acrostic at ...
... Dried at the source, no river's rushing sound. Shall soothe, no fountain slake the
parched ground. Around, afar, shall roll the trumpet's blast,. ...
/.../pamphilius/the life of constantine/chapter xviii of the erythraean sibyl.htm

February 13. "Thy Prayers are Come up for a Memorial Before God" ...
... the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated
evaporation of months at last bursts in floods of rain upon the parched ground. ...
/.../simpson/days of heaven upon earth /february 13 thy prayers are.htm

Blessings of Christ's Universal Reign.
... 3 Celestial streams shall gently flow; The wilderness shall joyful be; Lilies
on parched ground shall grow; And gladness spring on every tree; ...
/.../adams/hymns for christian devotion/289 blessings of christs.htm

The Redeemer's Return is Necessitated by the Present Degradation ...
... And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water:
in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and ...
/.../pink/the redeemers return/vii the redeemers return is.htm

Subtopics

Parched

Parched Corn Grain

Parched Ground

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