Shur

Genesis 16 and 7, and the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid, whence camest thou and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarah.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself unto her hands.

Hagar, who herself was of Egyptian origin, chose an Egyptian wife for her son, and Ishmael settled in the wilderness of Paran, Genesis 21 verse 21.

They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt as you go toward Assyria, Genesis 25 verse 18.

He had twelve sons and one daughter.

The Bible lists Ishmael's sons in Genesis 25 verses 13 to 15.

Later, Ishmael's daughter married Esau, Isaac's son, as indicated in Genesis 28 verse 9 and Genesis 36 verse 3.

The region of Havilah where Ishmael's descendants lived was in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula.

Shur was a desert region between Beersheba in the Negev Desert and Egypt.

Isaiah 60 verse 7 mentions the descendants of Nebajoth and Kedar as sheep breeders.

And he says, "If you think you're perfect, just walk on out.

Just go that way." But Genesis 16:7-8 says, "The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.

And he said, 'Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?' She said, 'I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.'" Let's break this down a little bit.

So Hagar is Egyptian, right? And she's at a spring on the way to Shur, toward Egyptians' northeastern frontier.

So she's heading towards Egypt.

Appears to be heading back toward where she came from.

Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Gessites, and the Amalekites.

For these were the inhabitants of the land from of old as far as Shur to the land of Egypt.

So these guys are plundering lands.

These are Philistine lands.

I'm gonna start verse seven.

"The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness along the road to Shur.

The angel said to her, 'Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from and where are you going?' 'I'm running away from my mistress Sarai,' she replied.

The angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.' Then he added, 'I will give you more descendants than you can count.'" Now she's having an encounter with the Lord.

Once the Kenites had gone, Saul attacked.

The text tells us that he smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

It was a sweeping campaign across a wide stretch of desert country, from the east toward the borders of Egypt in the west.

By every outward measure, it was a great success.

Because you rejected.

You are rejected.

The victory over Amalek, the sweep from Havilah to Shur, the monument at Carmel, the captive king, the great herds of cattle.

In a single sentence, all of it lost its shine.

So the Canaanites departed from among the Amalekites.

And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

Now listen, he began doing what God told him not to do, took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

But so, and the people spared Agag and the animals, the sheep, the cows, the fatlings, the big ones, the lambs, all that was good.

And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

And the firstborn bare a son and called his name Moab the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

And the younger, she also bare a son and called his name Benammi the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar.

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister.

So maybe good to read the entire section.

Now, the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

And he said, Hagar, Sarah's maid.

Where have you come from and where are you going? And then she explains, you know, I'm fleeing.

And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

The angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

And he said to Hagar, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai.

The angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

What do we need? Well, firstly, the visitation of God, verse 7.

The visitation of God.

And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

Now, to me it's of interest that of the three individuals involved, it was only Hagar who received a special visitation from the Lord.