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EGYPT, TORRENT VALLEY OF

A long wadi (or ravine) marking the God-ordained southwestern boundary of the Promised Land, that is, the “land of Canaan.” (Num. 34:2, 5; 1 Ki. 8:65; Isa. 27:12) While this torrent valley was not actually in Egypt, that nation’s domain apparently extended, at least in certain periods, up to that point. (2 Ki. 24:7) The abbreviated expression “the torrent valley,” used in defining the borders of the land of Israel in Ezekiel’s vision, apparently refers to this same ravine.—Ezek. 47:19; 48:28.

The torrent valley of Egypt is usually identified with Wadi el-ʽArish, which starts about 135 miles (217.2 kilometers) inland on the Sinai Peninsula, near Jebel et-Tih. It runs N until meeting the Mediterranean Sea at the town of el-ʽArish (Rhinocolura), ninety miles (144.8 kilometers) E of Port Said. In the summer it is nothing more than a dry bed. During the rainy season, however, when numerous tributaries pour into it, the Wadi el-ʽArish becomes a swollen torrent that tears at its banks, uprooting and sweeping even trees down in its turbulent course. This might allow for its identification as “the river of Egypt” in the boundary listing of the Promised Land at Genesis 15:18. See, however, SHIHOR.