Shupham, shuphamites, shuppim

See MUPI'I.M and Shei'HUPHAM. SHUR (■»=> ; LXX usually lovp, but Gn 25" ZonjX, 1 S 15' AcTffoi'p, 27' a confused doublet -\toD/j ■.•treixiff- liivuv). — The name of a place, or district, on the N.E. border of Egypt. It is mentioned Gn 16' (where the angel hnds Hagar ' by the fountain on the way to Shur'), 20' (Abraham dwelt ' between Kadesli and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar'), 25" (the Ishmaelites dwelt 'from I;Iavilah — prob. N.E. Arabia — unto Shur that is in front of — i.e.

east of —Egypt' ; cf. 1 S 15' 27»), and Ex 15=^ (where the Israelites, after the passage of the Red Sea, go out into ' the wilderness of Shur,' t.e. the wilderness bordering upon it). The ' way to Shur ' was no doubt the principal caravan route leadin" from Uebron and Beersheba into ECTpt, and liaving close to it (Gn 16'^) the well Beer-Iahai-roi. Though the general position of Shur is thus clear, the precise meaning of the expression is, however, uncertain.

A line of fortresses, if not, as others think, an actual wall (anhu), had been built at a very early date, as a defence against invaders from the East ; * and as the Heb. -f.-j means a wall, it has been often thought that this is what the term denotes.t Others, starting from the same meaning of ' Shur,' have supposed it to denote a long range of white clift's, running parallel with the coast, some 12-14 miles E.

of the Gulf of Suez, now called Jebel er-Rrdiah, which at a distance presents the appearance of a wall (so F. W. Holland in Recovery of Jems, ail ; Porter in Kitto, iii. 1079 f.; Palmer, Desert of Exodus, i. 38 f., and others) : it is said, indeed, that this range is still called by the Arabs Jebel es-Sftr (Rowlands in "Williams' Holy City, i. 465). It is, however, some objection to both tlie.se views that i-c' is an Aramaic (Ezr 4'^- "• '") rather than a Heb. word (it occurs in Heb.

only in poetry, and there but rarely, Gn 49", Ps 18-'»=2 S 22^"), and also that it has not the art. (as is usual with topographical terras possessing an appellative force, e.g. ■iJTiCi I'-tj'C). The most important of the border fortresses referred to above was Ta-ru (Tor), the Selle of the classical writers, often mentioned as the starting- point of military expeditions (Ebers, I.e. 80 f. ; Maspero, I.e. 75 [map], 201 ?!. 4, and esp. Struggle of the Nations, 122f., 370, 371 i.

;t Erman, 537), now tell Aba-S6feh, 20 miles S. of Port Said ; and \V. M. Miiller (PSBA x. [1888], 476, As. u. Eur. 102) would identify this fortress with Shur, supjiosin" 'Shur '(wall) to be its original name, represented in Egyp. by Ja-ru {Ior).i S. R. DRIVER.