Endearment in the Wilderness

First of all, let’s stipulate that the midbar in Sefer B'midbar, the fourth of the five Books of Moses which we have just finished reading, is not necessarily a desert.  It is, foremost, a wilderness—as Webster's Dictionary says, "a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings," which may not be on account of its aridness.  In our introduction to the theophany of the burning bush, for instance, "Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law and priest of Midian; he led the sheep into the midbar, arriving at the divine mount, at Horeb." (Exodus 3:1)  Moses would have been a pitiable shepherd (and, hence, a poor choice for a leader) had he brought his flock to pasture in a desert.  A greater likelihood is that he led them to a place that provided adequate pasturage because it was uninhabited by others and, therefore, uncontested.  Indeed, Rashi (1040-1105) comments that Moses chose the midbar "to distance himself from theft, lest they pasture in private property."