Brook of Egypt
Description
The Brook of Egypt is mentioned six times in the Old Testament (Nu 34:5 ; Jos 15:4 ,47; 1Ki 8:65; Isa 27:12 ); once, Ge 15:18, by another word, nahar. The Brook of Egypt was not an Egyptian stream at all, but a little desert stream near the borderland of Egypt a wady of the desert, and, perhaps, the dividing line between Canaan and Egypt. It is usually identified with the Wady el 'Arish of modern geography.
The Brook of Egypt comes down from the plateau et Tih in the Sinai peninsula and falls into the Mediterranean Sea at latitude 31 5 North, longitude 33 42 East. Its source is at the foot of the central mountain group of the peninsula. The upper portion of the wady is some 400 ft. above the sea. Its course, with one sharp bend to the West in the upper part, runs nearly due North along the western slope of the plateau. Its whole course of 140 miles lies through the desert. These streams in the Sinai peninsula are usually dry water-courses, which at times become raging rivers, but are very seldom babbling "brooks." The floods are apt to come with little or no warning when cloudbursts occur in the mountain region drained.
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River of Egypt
(1.) Heb. nahar mitsraim, denotes in (Gen 15:18 ) the Nile, or its eastern branch (2Chr 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 Palestine is about midway between this wady and Gaza. [See (Num 34:5 ; Josh 15:4 ; 15:47; 1Kings 8:65; 2Kings 24:7; Isa 27:12 ; Ezek 47:19 ). In all these passages the R.V. has "brook" and the A.V. "river"].
EBD - Easton's Bible Dictionary