Shur (Bible)

Shur is a location mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. When Hagar fled from Sarai (Abram's wife), the angel of the LORD found her by the fountain in the way to Shur." (Genesis 16:7).

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

Easton's Bible Dictionary on Shur – An enclosure; a wall, 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 Ge 16:7 20:1 25:18 Ex 15:22 1 Sm 15:7 27:8 The name was probably given to it from the wall (or shur) 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.

Scholars believe 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 Egypt and Canaan across the Sinai.^[2]

References

 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.