the 曠野 you refer is actually a kinda desert at southern Israel.
its dry, low rainfall, rocky, plain terrain, at some point hilly,
however some hardy plants and grass can still survive ( explaining
sheep sherpard activity )
pls refer the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/desert.html
http://www.negev.org/About/negev_desert.htm