Judæa, Wilderness of. A wild and desolate region extending from the hill-country near Jerusalem southeast to the Dead Sea, and averaging about 15 miles in breadth. Matthew 3:1. It is a limestone country, rough and barren, with only patches of grass. It seems never to have had many inhabitants, and no cities. The traditional scene of the temptation of Christ is in this district, on a high mountain behind Jericho, very desolate, and now infested with beasts and reptiles. See Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13.