Shur (Bible)

Shur (Hebrew: שור, romanized: Šūr, sometimes rendered in translations as Sur) is a location mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible.

James K. Hoffmeier believes that the 'way of Shur' was located along the Wadi Tumilat — an arable strip of land to the east of the Nile Delta, serving as the ancient transit route between Ancient Egypt and Canaan across the Sinai Peninsula.^[1]

When Hagar ran away from Sarai (Abram's wife, her owner), "the Angel of the Lord found her ... by the well in the way to Shur" (Book of Genesis, Genesis 16:7, KJV).

Shur is also mentioned in 1 Samuel 15:7 — "Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt."^[2] According to the Book of Exodus (Exodus 15:22–23), Marah is located in the "wilderness of Shur".

Easton's Bible Dictionary (1893) says that Shur is "a part, probably, of the Arabian desert, on the north-eastern border of Egypt, giving its name to a wilderness extending from Egypt toward Philistia (Gen. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; Ex. 15:22). The name was probably given to it from the wall which the Egyptians built to defend their frontier on the north-east from the desert tribes. This wall or line of fortifications extended from Pelusium to Heliopolis."

References

1. James K. Hoffmeier, "Major Geographical Issues in the Accounts of the Exodus". In Israel: Ancient Kingdom Or Late Invention? Daniel Isaac Block, ed. B&H Publishing Group, 2008 ISBN 0805446796
2. Bible, New Living Translation

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Shur". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.