Bible Dictionary
CHAMPAIGN
Champaign means a broad, flat, open region. In biblical usage it can describe the Arabah or other wide valleys and plains, including the Jordan valley and the plains of Moab.
Definition
Champaign means broad, flat, open country. In biblical terminology it may translate words for the Arabah, a definite valley or plain, or for wide, open valleys generally.
Biblical Usage
The Arabah may denote the Jordan valley from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, or the valley southward to the Gulf of Akabah. Scripture also speaks of the plains of Jericho and Moab. A related term describes wide valleys such as those of Jericho, Megiddo, and Lebanon.
Historical Background
The Jordan valley is now called the Ghaur, while Arabah is chiefly applied to the valley south of the Dead Sea toward the Gulf of Akabah. The Hebrew term for a wide valley may survive in the name al-Biqa‘.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sham-pan', sham'-pan (`arabhah, biq`ah): A champaign is a flat open country, and the word occurs in De 11:30 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "the Arabah") as a translation of `arabhah, for which the King James Version has in most places "the plain," and the Revised Version (British and American) "the Arabah," when it is used with the article and denotes a definite region, i.e. the valley of the Jordan from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea (De 2:8; 3:17; 4:4:9; Jos 3:16; 8:14; 11:16; 12:1,3,1; 2Sa 2:29; 4:7; 2Ki 14:25; 25:4; Jer 39:4; 52:7), and also the valley running southward from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah (De 1:1). Eze 47:8 has for ha-`arabhah "the desert," the King James Version margin "plain," the Revised Version (British and American) "the Arabah." The plural is used in Jos 5:10; 2Ki 25:5, "the plains of Jericho," and in Nu 22:1; 26:3, "the plains of Moab." Elsewhere `arabhah is rendered in English Versions of the Bible "desert" or "wilderness" (Job 24:5; 39:6; Isa 33:9; 35:1,6; 40:3; 41:19; 51:3; Jer 2:6; 17:6; 50:12). At the present day, the Jordan va lley is called the Ghaur (compare Hebrew `ur, "to dig," me`arah, "cave," and Arabic magharah, "cave"). This name is also applied to the deltas of streams flowing into the Dead Sea from the East, which are clothed with thickets of thorny trees and shrubs, i.e. Ghaur-ul-Mezra`ah, at the mouths of Wadi-Kerak and Wadi-Beni-Chammad, Ghaur-uc-Cafiyeh, at the mouth of Wadi-ul-Hisa. The name "Arabah" (Arabic al-`Arabah) is now confined to the valley running southward from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah, separating the mountains of Edom from Sinai and the plateau of at-Tih.</p><p>See ARABAH.</p><p>Eze 37:2 the King James Version margin has "champaign" for biq`ah, which is elsewhere rendered "vale" or "valley." Biq`ah seems to be applied to wide, open valleys, as: "the valley of Jericho" (De 34:3), "the valley of Megiddo" (2Ch 35:22; Zec 12:11), "the valley of Lebanon" (Jos 11:17). If Baal-Gad be Ba`albeq and "the valley of Lebanon" be Coele-syria, the present name of Coele-syria, al-Biqa` (plural of buq`ah, "a low, wet place or meadow"), may be regarded as a survival of the Hebre w biq`ah.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>