Bede : And Abram journeyed, going and still progressing towards the south. The southern region, from where the sun is accustomed to shine more ardently upon the world, mystically demonstrates the fervor of love by which the hearts of the elect, lest they become sluggish in the appetite and desires for lowly things, are always inflamed by the Sun of righteousness shining from above, namely Christ. Thus Abraham, desiring to see and know the land he was to receive as a possession, indeed proceeded in human curiosity, going and still progressing towards the south: but in mystical significance, he showed that he, ascending from strength to strength, and like all the elect, always made progress in divine love until he is granted to see the God of gods in Zion. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Jerome : (Verse 9) And Abram, setting out, went into the desert; and famine came upon the land. And in the present and in many other places, for desert, it is written in Hebrew. Therefore, we should take note of this. — Hebrew Questions on Genesis