JESHIMON . This word, derived from a Heb. root meaning ‘to be waste or desolate,’ is used either as a common noun (= ‘desert,’ ‘wilderness’) or (with the art., ‘ the Jeshimon’) as a proper name ( Numbers 21:20; Numbers 23:28 , 1Sa 23:19; 1 Samuel 23:24; 1 Samuel 26:1; 1 Samuel 26:3 ). In the latter usage the reference is either to the waste country in the Jordan valley N. of the Dead Sea and east of the river (so apparently in Numbers), or to the eastern part of the hill-country of Judah on the western shore of the Dead Sea ( Song of Solomon 1:1-17 Samam.).