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Similar Battle of Refidim, Mount Horeb, Plagues of Egypt | ||
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, KJV).
Shur is also mentioned in I Samuel 15:7 "Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt." 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.