Egypt Brook or River of

Egypt Brook Or River Of.

This is frequently mentioned as the southern limit of the Land of Promise (Ge 15:18; 2Ch 7:8; Nu 24:5; Jos 15:4). SEE BROOK. Calmet is of opinion that this was the Nile, remarking that Jos 13:3 describes it by the name of Sihor, which is the true name of the Nile (Jer 2:18), "the muddy river ;" and that Am 6:14 calls it the river of the wilderness, because the eastern arm of the Nile adjoined Arabia, or the wilderness, in Hebrew Arabah, and watered the district by the Egyptians called Arabian. In answer to this, it is said that this stream was the limit of Judaea toward Egypt, and that the Sept. (Isa 27:12), "unto the river of Egypt," render "to Rhinocorura," an interpretation which is adopted by Cellarius, Bochart, Wells, and others, although that is the name of a town certainly not adjacent to the Nile. SEE NILE. Besides, it is extremely dubious whether the power of the Hebrew nation extended at any time to the Nile, and, if it did, it was over a mere sandy desert. But, as this desert is unquestionably the natural boundary of the Syrian dominions, no reason can be given why the political boundary should exceed it. Most geographers, therefore, understand by "the River of Egypt" the modern Wady el-Arish, which drains the middle of the Sinaitic desert; a few, however, take it to be the brook Besor, between Gaza and Rhinocorura. (See Jos 15:47.) SEE EGYPT.