river of egypt Summary and Overview

(1.) Heb. nahar mitsraim, denotes in Gen. 15:18 the Nile, or its eastern branch (2 Chr. 9:26). (2.) In Num. 34:5 (R.V., "brook of Egypt") the Hebrew word is "nahal", denoting a stream flowing rapidly in winter, or in the rainy season. This is a desert stream on the borders of Egypt. It is now called the Wady el-'Arish. The present boundary between Egypt and Israel is about midway between this wady and Gaza. (See Num. 34:5; Josh. 15:4, 47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7; Isa. 27:12; Ezek. 47:19. In all these passages the R.V. has "brook" and the A.V. "river.")

1. The Nile. #Ge 15:18| [NILE] 2. A desert stream on the border of Egypt, still occasionally flowing in the valley called Wadi-l-'Areesh. The centre of the valley is occupied by the bed of this torrent, which only flows after rains, as is usual in the desert valleys. This stream is first mentioned as the point where the southern border of the promised land touched the Mediterranean, which formed its western border. #Nu 34:3-6| In the latter history we find Solomon's kingdom extending from the "entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt," #1Ki 8:65| and Egypt limited in the same manner where the loss of the eastern provinces is mentioned. #2Ki 24:7|

RIVER OF EGYPT This phrase is found five times in the English Bible, and is the translation of two Hebrew terms. 1. Nahar Mizraim, rendered "river" in Gen 15:18, and usually denoting a perennial stream; hence it perhaps refers to the Nile, and to the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, as the eastern limit of the territory promised to Abraham, but which his posterity never occupied, possibly because of its desert character. 2. Nahal Mizraim. Num 34:5; Josh 15:3-4, Josh 15:47; 1 Kgs 8:65; 2 Kgs 24:7. This phrase does not denote a perennial stream, but usually a torrent bed, either partially or totally dry in summer, and having a running stream only in the rainy season. Nahal, therefore, exactly corresponds with the Arabic word wady, for which we have no English equivalent. Hence "Nahal Mizraim," or "torrent of Egypt," is generally used in Scripture to designate the old boundary between Palestine and Egypt, and is identified with the modern Wady el-Arish, which drains the great central basin of the desert, between the passes of Jebel et-Tik and Sinai. The various wadies of this region unite in one, but without forming a perennial stream, and the torrent-bed reaches the Mediterranean about 40 miles south-west of Gaza, and nearly midway between the Red Sea and the eastern branch of the Nile.

(1) Nehar Mitsraim (Genesis 15:18); "the Nile". (2) Nahal Mitsaim (Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:3-4; Joshua 15:47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7); "the torrent of Egypt": see above nahal, "a stream flowing rapidly in the rainy season, then drying up", inapplicable to the sluggish Nile ever flowing. The Rhinocorura or Rhinocolora (so Septuagint of Isaiah 27:12) on the sea coast, a wady and torrent running into the sea two or three days' journey from the nearest branch of the Nile. Now wady el Arish. Though not in Egypt, it was the last torrent of any raze on the way toward Egypt from the N. In Joshua 13:3, "from Sihor which is before Egypt," the same torrent is marked as Israel's southern boundary, as the entering in of Hamath is the northern (Numbers 34:5; Numbers 34:8). The Nile was not "before" (i.e. east of) Egypt, but flowed through the middle of the land; so 1 Chronicles 13:5. Shihor, "the black river," is the Nile's designation in Deuteronomy 23:3; Jeremiah 2:18.