SUR (Heb. Šûr "Wall"). - Desert crossed by the Israelites after a three days' march following the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 15:22), called in Num. 33:8 the desert of Etham. It is probably to be located west of el-'Ariš.

It seems that it derives its name from the fortified frontier of the isthmus of Suez (the wall par excellence: Egyptian ḥtm), or more specifically from a locality ḥtm n T'rw (fortress of Taru or of Zalu) situated at Tell Abû Sejfeh, a few km. east of the Suez Canal and of the village of el-Qanṭarah. S. would be the Hebrew transcription of the Egyptian ḥtm. Perhaps, however, the name of the desert came from the wall-like form presented by the er-Râḥah range to the east of the plain.

On the road to S. the Angel of the Lord found Hagar in flight (Gen. 16:7); Abraham passed through it in descending into Egypt (ibid. 20:1). The name returns in the expression "from Havilah as far as S. opposite Egypt" or "on the frontier of Egypt" (I Sam. 15:7; 27:8) and indicates the residence of the descendants of Ishmael and of Amalek.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, I, Paris 1933, p. 434; B. Ubach, La Biblia. Ilustració pels monjos de Montserrat. XXIV, H. Montserrat 1934, p. 70.

Donato Beldi

@incollection{ec11_sur_ebr_sur_muraglia, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Sur (Ebr. ŠÛr « Muraglia »)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1580}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/sur-ebr-sur-muraglia} }

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