Numbers 34

Nu 34:1-29.

THE

BORDERS OF THE

LAND OF

CANAAN.

2. this is the . . . land of Canaan--The details given in this chapter

mark the general boundary of the inheritance of Israel west of the

Jordan. The Israelites never actually possessed all the territory

comprised within these boundaries, even when it was most extended by

the conquests of David and Solomon.

3-5. your south quarter--The line which bounded it on the south

is the most difficult to trace. According to the best biblical

geographers, the leading points here defined are as follows: The

southwest angle of the southern boundary should be where the wilderness

of Zin touches the border of Edom, so that the southern boundary should

extend eastward from the extremity of the Dead Sea, wind around the

precipitous ridge of Akrabbim ("scorpions"), thought to be the high and

difficult Pass of Safeh, which crosses the stream that flows from the

south into the Jordan--that is, the great valley of the Arabah,

reaching from the Dead to the Red Sea.

5. river of Egypt--the ancient brook Sihor, the Rhinocolura of

the Greeks, a little to the south of El-Arish, where this wady gently

descends towards the Mediterranean

(Jos 13:3).

6. the western border--There is no uncertainty about this

boundary, as it is universally allowed to be the Mediterranean, which

is called "the great sea" in comparison with the small inland seas or

lakes known to the Hebrews.

7-9. north border--The principal difficulty in understanding the

description here arises from what our translators have called mount

Hor. The Hebrew words, however, Hor-ha-Hor, properly signify "the

mountain of the mountain," or "the high double mountain," which, from

the situation, can mean nothing else than the mountain Amana

(So 4:8),

a member of the great Lebanon range

(Jos 13:5).

8. entrance of Hamath--The northern plain between those mountain

ranges, now the valley of Balbeck

(see on

Nu 13:21).

Zedad--identified as the present Sudud

(Eze 47:15).

9. Ziphron--("sweet odor").

Hazar-enan--("village of fountains"); but the places are

unknown. "An imaginary line from mount Cassius, on the coast along the

northern base of Lebanon to the entering into the Bekaa (Valley of

Lebanon) at the Kamosa Hermel," must be regarded as the frontier that

is meant [VAN DE VELDE].

10-12. east border--This is very clearly defined. Shepham and

Riblah, which were in the valley of Lebanon, are mentioned as the

boundary line, which commenced a little higher than the sources of the

Jordan. Ain is supposed to be the source of that river; and thence the

eastern boundary extended along the Jordan, the sea of Chinnereth (Lake

of Tiberias), the Jordan; and again terminated at the Dead Sea. The

line being drawn on the east of the river and the seas included those

waters within the territory of the western tribes.

13-15. The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their

inheritance on this side Jordan--The conquered territories of Sihon

and Og, lying between the Arnon and mount Hermon, were allotted to

them--that of Reuben in the most southerly part, Gad north of it, and

the half Manasseh in the northernmost portion.

16-29. names of the men . . . which shall divide the

land--This appointment by the Lord before the Jordan tended not

only to animate the Israelites faith in the certainty of the conquest,

but to prevent all subsequent dispute and discontent, which might have

been dangerous in presence of the natives. The nominees were ten

princes for the nine and a half tribes, one of them being selected from

the western section of Manasseh, and all subordinate to the great

military and ecclesiastical chiefs, Joshua and Eleazar. The names are

mentioned in the exact order in which the tribes obtained possession of

the land, and according to brotherly connection.