Migdol
Migdol is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Sinai in modern-day Egypt. Known today as Tell el Herr. It appears across 2 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Migdol, meaning "tower" or "fortress" in Semitic languages, refers to an Egyptian border fortification that appears at two critical junctures in Israel's history. In Exodus 14:2, God commands Moses to have the Israelites camp before Migdol, between the sea and Pi-hahiroth, just before the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. This positioning was part of God's strategic plan to make Pharaoh believe the Israelites were trapped, drawing him into pursuit and setting the stage for the great deliverance at the sea. Migdol appears again in Jeremiah 44:1 and 46:14, where it is listed among the Egyptian cities where Jewish refugees settled after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, against the explicit warnings of Jeremiah. In Ezekiel 29:10 and 30:6, Migdol serves as a geographic marker for the extent of judgment upon Egypt, from Migdol to Syene (Aswan), representing the full sweep of the land from north to south. The site thus frames both Israel's liberation from Egypt and the tragic return of disobedient exiles to that same land of bondage.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Migdol is commonly identified with Tell el-Herr (also known as Tell el-Heir), located in the northeastern Sinai near the ancient route from Egypt to Canaan known as the Way of Horus. Excavations by French teams under Dominique Valbelle beginning in 1986 uncovered a substantial fortress with multiple occupation phases spanning from the Late Period through the Persian and Ptolemaic eras. The site revealed impressive mudbrick fortification walls, granaries, and administrative buildings consistent with an Egyptian border garrison. However, some scholars distinguish between multiple sites called Migdol, noting that the Exodus reference may point to a different, earlier fortification. The name was common for Egyptian border towers, and several candidates exist along the eastern Delta frontier.
Verse Appearances (2)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]