south

The south direction has more names than all other directions. Because they are all biblical and used in different connotations, we’ll dedicate a separate entry to each pair. The common word for the south that is used today is ‘da•rom.’ It is a biblical direction as well.

Da•rom in the Bible is mostly used for general south, but not a geographical south direction.

‘And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate;’

Da•rom is the term for southern Israel which includes mostly desert terrains, such as the Negev. It borders with the Gaza Strip, which is currently governed by the Hamas terrorist group. The south is also the border with the countries Egypt and Jordan.

The Philistines were the bitter enemy in the biblical era. They dwelt in the da•rom, mostly where Gaza is located today.

Another Biblical direction for the south is Ne•gev. It is named after the largest region of southern Israel.

“And they ascended by the south, and came to Hebron”