The Desert Shur

"And Moses led Israel onward" (Exodus 15:22). This is what is written: "Do you thus requite the LORD?" (Deuteronomy 32:6). Rabbi Shesha, the son of Rabbi Abba, used to write the heh below and the lamed above, as if to say: Woe! Do you thus requite the LORD, after all the miracles He performed for you, that He split the sea for you into twelve splits, and sank the Egyptians in the sea, while one of His hands was sinking them and one of His hands was rescuing you, as it is said: "Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, Your right hand, O LORD" and so forth (Exodus 15:6). He brought you up from the sea and gave you their silver and their gold and everything that was upon their horses, which were adorned with silver and gold; and He sustained you forty years and did not leave you even for a single hour. How many enemies came against you, yet He did not leave you to flee, but rather He would fell them before you and guard you. And not from your enemies alone, but even from the serpents and from the scorpions; and He gave light before you, as it is said: "And the LORD went before them by day" (Exodus 13:21). You forgot all these miracles that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed with you, and the image of Micah passed with you through the sea, and you set aside the words of the Torah and busied yourselves with other matters. "To the wilderness of Shur" (Exodus 15:22). We do not find that there is a wilderness whose name is Shur. And what is the wilderness of Shur? Rabbi Yitzhak said: By the merit of Abraham, with whom I spoke and to whom I said: "And also the nation whom they shall serve" and so forth (Genesis 15:14), concerning whom it is written: "And he dwelt between Kadesh and Shur" (Genesis 20:1). Rabbi Avin says: What is the wilderness of Shur? That Israel desired to make in it rows upon rows and banners upon banners. Another interpretation: The wilderness of Shur is the wilderness of Kuv. They said of the wilderness of Kuv that it is eight hundred parasangs and full of serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions. Rabbi Abba once related before our master: One time a man passed through this wilderness of Kuv and saw a serpent sleeping, and it was as thick as the beam of an olive press. He saw the serpent, but it did not see him; out of the great terror that entered him he was startled and his hair fell out, and they used to call him "the plucked one." This is what Moses said to Israel: "Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness" (Deuteronomy 8:15). Rabbi Yose bar Hanina said: We do not know to whom he applies "great," whether to the Holy One, blessed be He, or to the wilderness. Rather, Moses said to them: Great and terrible is God, whom you used to provoke while walking through that wilderness which is full of serpents and scorpions and fiery serpents and famine, yet He led you through it in peace; and not only that, but the serpents and the fiery serpents would crouch before them so that Israel would not be terrified by them. Another interpretation: What is the wilderness of Shur? Rather, until Israel went out of Egypt the world was a wilderness; once they went out, the world became a wall. Another interpretation: Until Israel received the Torah the world was made a wilderness; once they received the Torah, the world became a wall. These are the words of Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rabbi Simon. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In time to come, so will I do for Zion, which is a wilderness, as it is written: "Zion has become a wilderness" (Isaiah 64:9); and in time to come I will be a wall for her, as it is said: "And I will be for her, says the LORD, a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory within her" (Zechariah 2:9).