Whose house I have made the wilderness,.... Appointed that to be his place of residence, as being agreeable to his nature, at a distance from men, and in the less danger of being brought into subjection by them. Such were the deserts of Arabia; where, as Xenophon n relates, were many of these creatures, and which he represents as very swift: and Leo Africanus o says, great numbers of them are found in deserts, and on the borders of deserts; hence said to be used to the wilderness Jeremiah 2:24;
and the barren land his dwellings; not entirely barren, for then it could not live there; but comparatively, with respect to land that is fruitful: or "salt land" p; for, as Pliny q says, every place where salt is, is barren.
n De Expedition. Cyri, l. 1. o Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752. p מלחה "salsuginem", Montanus; "salsuginosam terram", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. q Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7.