Lexical Summary Yagur: Yagur Original Word: יָגוּר Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Jagur Probably from guwr; a lodging; Jagur, a place in Palestine -- Jagur. see HEBREW guwr NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom gur Definition a city in S. Judah NASB Translation Jagur (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs יָגוּר proper name, of a location a southern city of Judah, towards Edom Joshua 15:21. Topical Lexicon Name and Meaning Jagur (יָגוּר, Strong’s 3017) appears once in Scripture as the name of a town allotted to Judah. Though the precise nuance of its Hebrew root is debated, the sense of “sojourning” or “dwelling” harmonizes with its border-settlement role. Geographical Setting Jagur is listed among the southernmost towns of Judah “toward the border of Edom in the Negev” (Joshua 15:21). The cluster that includes Kabzeel and Eder frames Judah’s frontier along the arid, rolling wilderness that gives way to Edom’s highlands. Modern proposals place Jagur near the Wadi el-‘Arish watershed, roughly 20–25 km north-north-west of present-day Aqaba. Its location makes it one of the last inhabited sites before the desert expanse, a position of strategic oversight for trade and defense. Biblical Context Joshua 15 catalogs Judah’s inheritance after the conquest. The inspired writer moves from broad boundary descriptions (Joshua 15:1-12) to detailed city lists (Joshua 15:21-63). Jagur appears in the first subsection, which records thirty-six Negev towns. This meticulous record testifies that every promise “not one word… failed” (Joshua 21:45). Even seemingly minor villages such as Jagur are memorialized because God assigns concrete places to a concrete people. Historical Significance Border towns like Jagur guarded caravan routes leading from the Arabah to Hebron and Bethlehem. They served as relay points for patrols, staging areas for shepherding, and refuges for travelers. In later monarchic periods, fortified complexes replaced some of these early settlements, but the original allotment lines continued to mark tribal identity. Jagur’s survival in the text preserves the memory of Judah’s earliest foray into the Negev and underscores Israel’s southern outreach, which foreshadows later interactions with Edom (2 Samuel 8:14) and the Nabateans. Archaeological and Topographical Considerations Survey teams have suggested Khirbet el-Gur or Khirbet en-Nuwei‘mah as candidates, citing pottery from Iron I strata (ca. 1200–1000 BC). The sparse material culture—a handful of stone-built dwellings, cisterns, and grain-grinding installations—matches a modest agrarian-pastoral community described in Joshua. The lack of monumental architecture is consistent with a town whose chief value lay in territorial presence rather than urban influence. Theological and Ministry Insights 1. Faithfulness in Details: The Spirit-given record of Jagur assures believers that God notices every settlement and every family (Matthew 10:29-31). He is as faithful in small inheritances as in great victories. Summary Though Jagur occupies only a line in the biblical narrative, its lone mention opens a window onto Judah’s Negev frontier, the reliability of divine promises, and the everyday faithfulness required of God’s people in out-of-the-way places. In honoring Jagur, Scripture honors every believer who serves quietly at the borders yet remains vital to the heritage of the kingdom. Forms and Transliterations וְיָגֽוּר׃ ויגור׃ veyaGur wə·yā·ḡūr wəyāḡūrLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Joshua 15:21 HEB: קַבְצְאֵ֥ל וְעֵ֖דֶר וְיָגֽוּר׃ NAS: were Kabzeel and Eder and Jagur, KJV: were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, INT: were Kabzeel and Eder and Jagur 1 Occurrence |
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