Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

In almost all cases in the Bible, $XWR [Shihor] and $WR [Shur] seem to have 
the same meaning:  “the northeast border of Egypt”.
 
1.  $XWR = “the northeast border of Egypt”
 
$XWR (Shihor) is alternatively spelled $XR or $YXWR.  The root seems clearly 
to be $XR.  In its entry for $XR, HALOT says that $XR means “to become black”
, and in its entry for $XWR, HALOT says that $XWR means “blackness”.  
Logically, it would seem that all of $XR, $XWR and [though denied by HALOT] 
$YXWR 
mean “black”.
 
As noted in my prior post, the ancient Egyptians always called their country 
by the name “Black”, that is, Kemet or km.t, meaning “the Black Land”, 
reflecting the Egyptians’ proud claim that the “black”, fertile soil of Egypt 
along the Nile River was the best soil on earth.  It would thus make perfect 
sense 
for the Bible on occasion to use a Hebrew word for “black” -- $XR, $XWR or 
$YXWR -- to reference either “Egypt” or “the northeast border of Egypt”.
 
The Bible uses $XWR (with various spellings, noted above) to mean “the 
northeast border of Egypt” at Joshua 13: 3, I Chronicles 13: 5, and Jeremiah 
2: 18, 
in all three cases explicitly paired with the word “Egypt”.  The only other 
Biblical use of $XWR is more literal, at Isaiah 23: 3, which refers to the 
seed 
of $XR and the harvest of the Nile River.   
 
2.  $WR usually = “the northeast border of Egypt”
 
Five of the six Biblical references to $WR (Shur) seem to refer to “the 
northeast border of Egypt”.  That is clearly the case at Genesis 25: 18 and I 
Samuel 15: 7;  27: 8, where $WR is explicitly paired with the word “Egypt”.  
It 
appears to be the same usage at Genesis 16: 7, although the word “Egypt” is 
not 
used there.  (Logically, Hagar would be expected to head southwest in the 
direction of the northeast border of Egypt in running away from Sarah’s harsh 
treatment in southern Canaan, since Hagar had grown up in Egypt.)  At Exodus 
15: 
22, we see a reference from the other side, as it were.  It seems to mean 
that 
in leaving Egypt, heading east, the Israelites were in the wilderness once 
they had gotten “beyond” the northeast border of Egypt, into the Sinai 
Desert.  
The wilderness “of” $WR/Shur there seems to be referring to the wilderness 
that, in leaving Egypt, lies immediately “beyond” (east of) the northeast 
border of Egypt.
 
The traditional claim that $WR means “wall” has long been questioned.  Even 
the 100-year-old BDB calls it “dubious”:  “Oft. supposed to denote properly 
the ‘wall’ or line of fortresses built by Egyptian kings across the isthmus 
of 
Suez;  but dub.”  Yet HALOT, believe it or not, semi-embraces the old “wall” 
view:  “There are three possibilities for the meaning of the word” $WR, the 
first two of which are based on “wall”, and the third of which is simply, 
without any explanation at all:  “designates a region in the northeastern 
part of 
Egypt”.  HALOT is very careful never to mention the word “black” here, even 
as HALOT sets forth three different, competing views of the derivation of 
$WR. 
 
 
There is no wall in front of Egypt, or at the border of Egypt proper, or on 
the way to Egypt.  The pharaohs never built a wall of fortresses across the 
Sinai or across the isthmus of Suez.  Nor is there any famous wall in Egypt.  
A 
meaning of “wall” does not make sense here.  By sharp contrast, a meaning of “
black” makes perfect sense, for as noted above, the Egyptians themselves 
called their own country “Black”, proudly referring to the fertile “black” 
earth 
along the Nile River.
 
Is $WR a shortened form of $XR/$XWR, with all such words meaning “black”, 
and referencing the northeast border of Egypt?
 
3.  $WR = $XWR = “black” = “the northeast border of Egypt”
 
Given the apparent identity of meanings, it seems that $WR is simply a 
shortened, abbreviated form of $XWR or $XR, with all such words literally 
meaning “
black”, and referencing the northeast border of Egypt.  But how then account 
for the heth/X being dropped in $WR?  HALOT, in commenting on $XR meaning “
become black”, is helpful here, when it notes:  “Samaritan $RYR (develops 
from 
$XRYR)”.  Thus per HALOT, the heth/X could be dropped in some forms of $XR.  
Accordingly, it seems that $WR and $XWR/$XR could well be different forms of 
the 
same word.
 
There is no Shur or Shihor or $WR or $XWR in the secular history of the 
ancient world.  But everyone in the ancient Near East knew that the 
Egyptians’ name 
for their own country was “Black”, referring to the fertile “black” earth 
along the Nile River.  The Egyptians proudly called their own country 
km.t/Kemet, meaning “Black” or “the Black (earth) place”.  The most logical 
Hebrew 
word in the world to refer to the border of Egypt is thus $XR or $XWR, based 
on 
the Hebrew word for “black”.  And as discussed in this post, $WR seems, in 
most cases, to be simply a shortened form of $XWR.
 
$XWR means, and in all but one case $WR likewise means, “the northeast border 
of Egypt”:  the northeast border of the place that was world famous for its 
fertile “black” earth along the Nile River.
 
The foregoing analysis is, however, unanimously denied by all Western 
scholars, who simply cannot bear the thought that the Hebrews occasionally 
referred 
to Egypt by referencing the fertile “black” soil along the Nile River for 
which Egypt was world-famous.  But honestly, does anyone agree with HALOT’s 
startling claim that $XR at Isaiah 23: 3 is not a Hebrew word at all, but 
rather is 
a Hebrew rendering of the  E-g-y-p-t-i-a-n  words for “pond of Horus”?  (No 
one in secular history ever referred to Egypt as “pond of Horus”, for 
heaven’s 
sake, and any pond of Horus in secular history would likely have been in 
southern Egypt anyway, nowhere near the northeast border of Egypt being 
referenced.)  And why would $WR be thought to reference a non-existent “wall” 
on the 
northeast border of Egypt?  Even BDB calls that age-old view “dubious”.  Why 
do 
scholars embrace these completely non-historical explanations of Biblical 
geographical terms?  Logic dictates that $XWR and $WR mean “black”, and 
reference the northeast border of Egypt by referring to the fertile “black” 
soil 
along the Nile River for which Egypt was world-famous.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

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