3). Description of The Land To Be Inherited ( Num 34:1-15 ).

Having commanded the purifying of the land by the driving out of its inhabitants and their gods, the land in mind is now delineated. This was not just some vague notion, it was a grand plan.

Analysis.

a Command concerning the inheritance of the land which will fall to them (Num 34:1-2).

b Description of the south quarter (Num 34:3-5).

b Description of the western border (Num 34:6).

b Description of the northern border (Num 34:7-9).

b Description of the eastern border (Num 34:10-12).

a This is the land which they are to inherit by lot as Yahweh has commanded (Num 34:13-15).

Chapter 34 Delineation of the Land To Be Possessed and the Names of Those Who Will Divide It Up Once It Is Possessed.

The land of Canaan was in general a recognised entity in the ancient world. For long periods it came under the control of Egypt to the south who considered that they had rights over it. When they were strong those rights were exercised. Thus in the Amarna letters Egypt expected to be kept in touch with affairs and were regularly called on to give assistance, and their idea of Canaan corresponds with the description here. Interestingly a later 12th century BC text of Pharaoh Merenptah actually mentions the presence of Israel in the land, boasting that he had got rid of them, ‘Israel lies desolate, its seed are no more’. But they had simply retired to the hills awaiting his departure.

While its exact borders were nowhere mentioned it is made quite clear that it occupies pretty much of what is described here.

Num 34:1

‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’

Again we are assured that we have Moses’ words given by Yahweh.

Num 34:2

“ Command the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land which shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its borders.”

When they came into the land of Canaan the land that they were to possess was clearly specified. The delineations are much larger than was actually achieved, but that was due to disobedience. Because they failed Yahweh the Canaanites survived as far as Byblos, well to the north, the area from which had previously come the Ugaritic texts.

Description Of The South Quarter ( Num 34:3-5 ).

Num 34:3-5

“ Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the border of Edom, and your south border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward, and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim (‘scorpions’), and pass along to Zin. And its goings out shall be southward of Kadesh-barnea; and it shall go forth to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon; and the border shall turn about from Azmon to the Wadi of Egypt, and its goings out shall be at the sea.”

Compare Jos 15:2-4. They were not to possess any of the land of Edom (‘along by the border of Edom’ – compare Deu 2:5). The boundary then goes from the bottom of the Salt Sea (the Dead Sea) across to the Great Sea, (the Mediterranean Sea), passing to the south of Kadesh Barnea (possibly Ain el Qudeirat) which was to be included in the land, and reaching ‘the Wadi of Egypt’ (Wadi el-Arish). The Negeb provided good pasture land, and by judicious use of groundwater could be, and regularly was at times, irrigated.

Num 34:6

“ And for the western border, you shall have the great sea and the border. This shall be your west border.”

The Western border was the Great Sea, the Mediterranean itself.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Boundaries of Canaan

v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

v. 2. Command the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan, (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts [boundaries] thereof, that is, the land of your inheritance, the Land of Promise, shall have the following boundaries,)

v. 3. then your south quarter, the general southern boundary, shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, in the southeastern corner, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the Salt Sea eastward, the extreme southeastern corner of the Dead Sea;

v. 4. and your border shall turn from the south, that is, bend southwards in Israel’s favor, to the ascent of Akrabbim, the mountains on the northeastern boundary of Edom, and pass on to Zin, along the border of the desert; and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, to include this station, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon, farther toward the east;

v. 5. and the border shall fetch a compass (turn toward) from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea, for the brook of Egypt would form the boundary on the southwest, 1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 24:7.

v. 6. And as for the western border, ye shall even have the Great Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, for a border; this shall be your west border.

v. 7. And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor; this mountain, probably in the Anti-Lebanon range, was to determine the extent of the country toward the north.

v. 8. From Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath, on the boundary of the kingdom of that name, in the valley of the Orontes, 2Ki 14:25; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad, toward the northeast;

v. 9. and the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan, a village noted for its abundant springs, between Palmyra and Damascus; this shall be your north border.

v. 10. And ye shall point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham;

v. 11. and the coast shall go down from Shepham to Biblah, on the east side of Ain, in the borders of the land of Hamath, 2Ki 23:33; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side, literally, “the shoulder,” of the Sea of Chinnereth, later called the Sea of Galilee, eastward, thus striking this body of water on the northeastern shore;

v. 12. and the border, skirting the lake on the eastern side, shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be At the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea, both the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan thus being included within the boundary of Canaan proper. This shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. “This land of Canaan was still now to be distributed by lot, as the land of the inheritance in the narrower and stricter sense. Still, the inheritance of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, the east Jordan region, was included. For here it treats specially of that part of the inheritance which was yet to be conquered and distributed. ” (Lange. )

v. 13. And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the Lord commanded to give unto the nine tribes and to the half tribe;

v. 14. for the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers have received their inheritance, to be definitely assigned to them after they had fulfilled the condition which they had accepted, Num 32:28-33, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

v. 15. The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan, near Jericho eastward, toward the sun-rising, this expression being used to denote the entire kingdom of the Amorites, as well as Bashan and Gilead. Every new message of the Lord made the possession of the land of Canaan surer in the minds of the people, and was intended to inspire them with greater eagerness to possess their inheritance.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Num 34:1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying Having given, in the foregoing chapter, a strict charge to the Israelites, how they should treat the inhabitants of the land of Canaan; the Lord proceeds to describe to them the bounds of the land, as it had been promised to Abraham; thereby to let them know where to stop their conquests, and to prevent them from making any encroachments upon their neighbours. This chapter would have begun more properly at the 50th verse of the last; a division which, in future times, may be made, more consistently with the 1st verse of that chapter. There is no way by which the sacred geography can be well understood, but by the inspection of a correct and proper map; and none, perhaps, will be found superior to those of Calmet, who has accurately considered the subject. See his Comment and Dictionary.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

TWELFTH SECTION
Determination of the Boundaries of the Land of Israel. List of the Men appointed to Distribute it for the Individual Tribes

Num 34:1-29

1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) 3Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: 4And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of1 Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon: 5And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at 6the sea. And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border: 7And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: 8From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:

9And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan: this shall be your north border. 10And ye shall point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham: 11And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the 2side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: 12And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about. 13And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the Lord commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 14For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: 15The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward 16, 17the sunrising. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. 18And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. 19And the names of the men are these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Amihud. 21Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28And the prince of the tribe of the 29children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

[Num 34:3. The denotes the starting point, from the extreme point of the salt sea.A. G.]

[Num 34:5. , turned.A. G.]

[Num 34:7. , from , to mark or delineate, but with the added idea of irregularity. The wavy, shaken line reaching from one point to another. . Sept.: the mountain of the mountain, i.e., the great mountain.A. G.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The lawgiver now passes in the most logical method, to define the limits of the land which Israel should regard as its inheritance, so that it should not seek to go out beyond these limits and found a world empire (2 Samuel 24), nor rest within these boundaries until it has acquired and occupied all the territory within them. The foundation for this direction is contained in Gen 15:18-21; Exo 23:31and their actual application of them is related in Joshua 13. sqq. It is assumed that the east Jordan region belongs within these limits.

1. Num 34:2. The inheritance is defined generally as the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof, or according to its boundaries.

2. Num 34:3-5. The southern boundary. The general description. The southern limit is the wilderness of Zin. The added clause along by the coast (side) of Edom represents this line as a somewhat extended one, which, like the desert of Zin itself, stretches by the side of Edom southwards below the Dead Sea. The more detailed description indicates a line drawn from the east to the west, beginning at the southern point of the eastern salt or dead sea, and from this point bending southwards in Israels favor () to the heights of Akrabbim, thence inward in a curve through the wilderness of Zin, enclosing Kadesh-Barnea (the thirty-eight years camping ground), stretching onwards by the unknown places, Addar and Azmon, turns to the river of Egypt (Rhinocolura), and down this to the Mediterranean sea. Keil holds that the border turned (, Num 34:4) at the heights of Akrabbim and then went in a straight line from east to west. The line seems to be more fully described in Joshua 15. (from Kadesh-Barnea to Hezron, ascending farther to Addar, Karkan, Azmon). For the brook of Egypt see 1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 24:7; 2Ch 7:8; Isa 27:12. [While we cannot identify certainly all the localities here mentioned, the general direction of the south border, and even its more special features as here defined are in strict accordance, as Palmer (The Desert of the Exodus) says, with the natural geographical limits of the country. The Edom along which the border lay is plainly not the Edom east of the Arabah, but the region south of the wilderness of Zin, and which still bears the name of Seir or Sen among the Arabs. The limits of the south quarter which reached to the wilderness of Zin were defined by a line starting from the southern extremity of the Dead sea, and running southwards up the Ascent from the Ghorwhether this ascent was up the Wady El-Fikreh, which opens into the Ghor nearly at its south-west corner, or a pass opening into the Arabah still lower down, perhaps the wady Murreh, is uncertainalong the Arabah to the south of the Azazimeh mountains, turning to Gadis (Kadesh), round the south-east of that mountain plateau, from the west of which it shall extend (taking in all the fertile valleys at the foot) as far as wady El Arish,(the brook of Egypt), running northward to the Mediterranean. The Hazar-Addar here corresponds probably to Hezron and Addar in Jos 15:3-4, the two places lying so close to each other that they are here named together. Hazar-Addar is probably, though from geographical rather than etymological considerations, to be sought in Ain-el-Kudeirat on the northern side of the ridge which here forms the natural demarcation between Canaan and the Desert. The fountain is still the source of fertility to the neighboring fields. Bib. Com.A. G.]

3. The western border, Num 34:6. The great sea, Deu 3:16 and Joshua. But it was the sea with its border or territory set over against Canaan, so that this did not reach throughout to the sea.

4. The northern limit, Num 34:7-9. The general description. A line was to be drawnsomewhat undefined, howeverfrom the sea on the west to Mount Hor on the east. That this mountain cannot lie in northern Phnicia, as Knobel thinks, perhaps Mount Casius to the southwest of Antioch on the Orontes, is evident from the fact, that on that supposition a line would have to be drawn northwards, and not from west to east. Mount Hor therefore must be sought to the eastward. It is more probably a western spur of Anti Lebanon than of Lebanon, and is perhaps Hermon. From Mount Hor onwards the line is more exactly defined. At first it crosses obliquely the repeatedly mentioned way to Hamath, in the direction of Zedad. That cannot mean until one comes to the town Hamath, is clear, as Keil holds from the fact that Hamath (the present Epiphanius on the Orontes) never belonged to Canaan. [Keil holds that in all the passages in which Hamath is so referred to, Jos 13:5; Jdg 3:3; 1Ki 8:65; 2Ki 14:25, etc., it denotes not the town, but the kingdom of Hamath named from its capital, and refers to 2Ch 8:4, where Solomon is said to have built store cities in Hamath as the proof of his position. How far this kingdom may have extended southward in the time of Moses, we do not know.A. G.] Zedad lies southward from Hums or Emesa, or between Hums and Damascus. This description involves an important curve northward in the boundary, since it passes over the scarcely known Ziphron (Eze 47:16, Zifran) to Hazar-Enan, the fountain-court, which some conjecture is found in Bekaa. This character of the boundary seems to be intimated in the . The boundary crosses the roadway from Hamath to Ziphron, and then goes from Ziphron to Hazar-Enan. The whole description would thus seem to show that the line ran far up into the region of Anti-Libanus, while the main part of the line from the sea to Mount Hor is not more clearly defined. Jos 11:17 names besides as of special importance Baal-gad, which lay in the valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. We may observe that Moses probably did not possess the most exact knowledge of these northern regions. [It is much better to acknowledge our own ignorance, and wait for the light which geographical researches are sure to cast upon these questions than to impute ignorance to Moses.A. G.] The main line from the sea to the mountain lay clearly in his mind; and besides, the special places in Anti-Lebanon along the great caravan mountain were known to him. [The northern border, especially in its northeastern portion, is involved in some obscurity, which, however, is fast disappearing. It is well nigh certain that the Mount Hor here referred to cannot be, as Lange conjectures, Hermon. The name denotes the whole western crest of Lebanon, to some point of which the line from the sea would be drawn. Porter, Giant Cities of Bashan, pp. 307324. Standing on the top of the ruined citadel at Hums, I saw on the western side of the plain a great opening or pass through the mountains. On its southern side the ridge of Lebanon rises abruptly to a height of ten thousand feet, and on its northern the lower ridge of Bargylus terminates in a bluff-promontory. Between the two lies the only opening from the land of Hamath to the coast of the Mediterranean. This is unquestionably the entrance of Hamath. From Mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath. Afterwards, both when sailing along the Syrian coast, and when standing on the plain of Phnicia, I saw with still more distinctness this remarkable pass. I saw then how graphic was the description of Moses. From the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor. It was there before methe majestic northern peak of Lebanon, the loftiest mountain in Syria, its glittering crown encircled by a halo of silvery clouds. The pass between Lebanon and Bargylus is the only opening from the coast into the land of Hamath. From the entrance the border-line was drawn northeast to Hamath, then south-east by Ziphron about three miles east of Aretheusa, through Zedad, the present Sudud, about eight hours east of Hums, to Hazar-Enan. This place, which was the northeastern point in the land, must have been a place marked by abundant springs. It was a village of fountains. Porter identifies this place with the present Kuryetein, lying about six miles southeast from Sudud, and about midway between Palmyra and Damascus. Here are copious fountainsthe only ones of any note in the whole of that vast arid region. Keil places Hazar Enan near the fountain of Lebweh, at what Robinson regards as the water-shed between the Orontes and the Leontes. The fountain is large, and furnishes the finest water, springing at different points from underneath a broad piece of coarse gravel. He urges in favor of this locality, that it is incredible that the line should have run so far to the north, embracing a country which never really belonged to the kingdom of Israel, and that the more southern line agrees better with the eastern boundary. It is no real objection, however, to the larger limits, that they were actually never reached permanently by the Israelitish power, since the original grant extends even to the Euphrates, Gen 15:18; Exo 23:31, on condition that the people should be faithful and obedient. The conditions were not fulfilled, and hence the whole land granted was not occupied. So far, therefore, we may take Porters location of the northern boundary as the correct one.A. G.]

5. The eastern border, Num 34:10-12. From Hazar-Enan to Shepham. From that point the line descends from the mountains southwards to Riblah to the east of Ain, and going down still further, strikes the east side of the sea of Chinnereth. Still further it runs down to the Jordan, and thence along that river to the Dead Sea. Shepham and Riblah (to be distinguished from the Riblah in the land of Hamath) cannot be precisely located. But Riblah lies east of Ain, and is supposed to have been brought to light in the great fountain Neba Anjar at the foot of Anti Lebanon (Robinson, Researches, Vol. IV., p. 498). [Robinson, however, identifies Riblah here with the Riblah in Hamath and which appears in the later history. Porter also: Has my reader ever remarked the accuracy of Biblical topography even in the minutest details? Moses speaks of Riblah on the east side of Ain, or of the fountain. Ten miles west of Riblah is the great fountain of the Orontes, which I also visited, and which is to this day called by all the people in the neighborhood El Ain, the fountain. For the opposite side, see the Bib. Com., which, however, to sustain its theory, resorts to the violent supposition, that there is no Riblah in the text; and laying aside the Masoretic pointing, constructs a word which will favor its theory, p. 782.A. G.] It is noteworthy that the sea of Galilee is not the boundary, but is enclosed within it, as belonging to the Holy Land, as even the Jordan also. [The description, howeverpressed upon the shoulder of the seaseems to imply that while the border had not run along the Jordan previously, it now rested upon the north-eastern shore of the sea of Galilee, and then skirted that sea, and so down the Jordan. The heritage of the two tribes and a half belonged to the Holy Land, though not included within these bounds. We are not to limit the land to less than that which was actually occupied, nor are we to exclude from it regions which may never have been permanently occupied.A. G.] This land of Canaan was still now to be distributed by lot, as the land of the inheritance in the narrower and stricter sense. Still the inheritance of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, the east Jordan region, was included. For here it treats specially of that part of the inheritance which was yet to be conquered and distributed.

[Num 34:15. On this side Jordan near Jericho, literally, on this side of the Jericho Jordan. The expression here is remarkable, because applied here, not as elsewhere to a limited space, but to the whole territory of the two and a half tribes. It is, too, geographically more accurate than would have been the simple phrase: on this side of the Jordan, for the Jordan did not divide the western and eastern tribes throughout the whole of its course. That the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali was not bounded by the Jordan on the east may be inferred from the sites of some of the Naphtalite cities (Jos 19:36; Jos 19:38), as well as from the assertion of Josephus (Antiq. V. 22). Bib. Com., p. 783.A. G.]

Num 34:16-29. The appointment to distribute the land. To the two leaders of the people and who therefore represented the people, a prince from each of the tribes was added, to whom the special interests of the tribes were entrusted. [The positions of the several inheritances seem to be determined by lot; but their dimensions were proportioned to the wants of the tribes to which they fell. Keil, p. 258. The list of tribes in the order named corresponds, with some exceptions, to the situation of the territory which the tribes received in Canaan, reckoning from the south to the north. There are some singular omissions in the enumeration. The phrase of the children, or sons, does not occur with reference to Judah and Benjamin; and the word prince, which describes the distributors chosen from the several tribes, does not appear with reference to Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. Hirsch suggests as an explanation, that as the phrase tribe of the children represents the idea of the unity of the tribe as composed of the individual , the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, on whose borders the national sanctuary was to be established, are not thought of as a unity made up of the individual members of the tribe, but as belonging to the entire community, a branch of the whole nation, and so representing its unity. So also as the sanctuary represented the dominion of God and His law, no prince appears for these tribes, nor even for Simeon, whose inheritance lay enclosed in that of Judah.A. G.] The names of those appointedall of them unknown to us save Calebare Caleb, attacker, seizer; Furst, Ges., dog-barker; Shemuel, heard of God, asked; Elidad, loved of God (Theophilus); Bukki, reverer of Jehovah [Ges. poured out of Jehovah]; Hanniel, grace of God; Kemuel, assembly of God; Elizaphan, whom God shields or hides; Paltiel, whom God rescues; Ahihud, friend of union [brother, friend of Jews]; Pedahel, whom God redeems or saves.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

The pre-determination of the boundaries of Canaan in a certain measure reflects the limitations of the Old Testament. In this narrow, consecrated space, should the people attain its full greatness, not with faint hearts neglect the possession granted to them, but also not to overleap its bounds and seek to found a world-empire (2 Samuel 24). The division of the land among the tribes is so ordered that it is partly to be decided by lot or the decree of God, and partly by the considerations of human righteousness, the sense of duty, as these are always the two factors which work and secure a righteous distribution of human property.

[The distinction between the grant and the actual possession, and that distinction as grounded, not in any failure on the part of God, nor in any want of power on the part of Israel, to subdue and occupy the land to its widest limit, but to the want of obedience, Jdg 2:20-23; Jos 23:13-16; Lev 26:32-34. The geographical and historical relations of the land.A. G.]

HOMILETICAL HINTS

Arrangements for the land of Canaan. Its division. The Mosaic system has imprinted itself upon the land of Canaan. The indefiniteness of the northern and eastern boundaries may be regarded as an evidence of the Mosaic antiquity of the narrative. Israel itself must restrict itself and its outlines within the most determinate limits externally, in order to its spiritual conquest of the world. This self-restriction re-appears in the New Testament directions in a spiritual sense. The evil condition of a church, which seeks to extend itself indefinitely as to its outward size and numbers, while as to its inward qualities, its spiritual life, it is dead, and indeed falling into dissolution. How indeed in the last instance what purports to be an angelic renunciation of the world, becomes truly a demonic seeking of the world. The executors of the Mosaic testament with respect to Canaan: all is clear, definite, public, righteous. The confessional legacy-hunting of every kind is directly the contrary.
[Wordsworth: Almighty God describes the limits of the promised land, and thus declares that it is He who is the Lord of all the earth; that all nations are His feudatories and vassals, and hold their territories from Him who sets the borders of the earth, and determines the bounds of their habitations (Act 17:26). Henry: Their borders are set then 1. That they might know whom they were to dispossess, and how far the commission given them (Num 33:53) extended. 2. That they might know what to expect, the possession of themselves. How little a share of the world God often gives to His own people! Public affairs should be so managed as not only to give their right to all, but if possible, to give satisfaction to all that they have right done them.A. G.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Chapter contains the relation of the boundaries of the land of Canaan according to the LORD’S appointment of it: and the persons whom the LORD commissioned to fix the boundaries.

Num 34:1

This is not the least interesting Chapter we meet with, if we read it with a spiritual eye of discernment; for much of the Gospel is contained in it. Let the Reader, in the opening of it, observe, that GOD pointed out the bounds of his people’s inheritance upon earth, even before they were called upon to take possession of them. And can the Reader suppose that the heavenly inheritance of his people is not already ascertained and known? And is not JESUS gone before to take possession of it in their name? Sweet thought to a troubled soul, is the assurance that in this life all our bounds are fixed; and a sure mansion is prepared in that which is to come. Compare Deu 32:8 with Joh 14:23Joh 14:23 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Boundaries

Num 34:1-12

Life is marked all over with boundary lines. Two different views may be taken of such lines, that is to say, in the first place they may be regarded as limitations and partial impoverishments, or, in the next place, they may be regarded as defining rights and liberties, possessions and authorities. Thus, the low view or the high view may be taken of everything in life. Men will work according to their imagination their noblest faculty. Where that is dull, everything will be dull; even God could not sow stars in the leaden firmament of a dull imagination. Where that noblest faculty is alive, bright, daring, devout, all labour will be rest, all pain will be a pledge of reward nobly won. So, we may make the boundaries of life cages, prisons, very serious and depressing limitations; or we may accept those boundaries as a pledge, a seal of inheritance, standards and lines to be appealed to when our claim to stand in the lineal sonship of God is questioned or disputed. Very subtle and delicate things are boundaries oftentimes. They are invisible. Are not all the greatest things invisible, as well as the best and most delicate and tender? Show the line of love. There is no line to show. It is at this point that conscience comes into active play. Where the conscience is dull, or imperfectly educated, or selfish, there will be much dispute about boundaries; but where the conscience is sanctified by the power of the Cross and is alive with the righteousness of God, there will be no controversy, but large concession, noble interpretation, willingness to give, to take, to arrange and settle, without the severity of the law or the cruelty of the sword. Sometimes we say, Let a certain line be imagined. We put imaginary lines upon the very globe itself; the points of the compass cannot touch the lines, yet they are there, present to the spiritual sight, quite open and intelligible to the sanctified conscience. And rights of an imperial and enduring kind are based upon what may be called imaginary lines. Sometimes we are brought very near to the territories of others; it requires more than the naked eye to distinguish between mine and thine in some cases; the approach is very close; the naked eye could see no difference. There are men who have nothing but a naked eye, nothing but a naked hand; they have not the lens of heaven, or the touch that breaks the few loaves into a great feast; rough, heartless men, seizing everything, but enjoying nothing, slaves of their own cupidity. Many a controversy may arise as to boundary in this matter, because the lines do appear to run into one another: a sword could not divide them; the finest edge ever made by most skilled workers in iron could not part them asunder; but there is a sword that can do so not iron or steel, but the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, written in the book and set in the heart, a wonderful tone that gives vision to conscience, the marvellous perception which is a miracle of God in the intellectual and moral constitution of human nature.

What differences there are in boundaries! We read of one, in the seventh verse, whose boundary was “from the great sea”; in the twelfth verse, “the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea.” There is so much sea in some people’s limited possession. What a boundary is the inhospitable sea! We cannot cut it up into acres, and lay it out; we cannot sow it with wheat, and reap the harvest, and enjoy the bread; it is to most of us but a spectacle great, melancholy, unresponsive, pitiless; a liquid emblem of cruel death. Is not this the case with many men? They know they have great possessions, but their greatness is not the measure of their value. A little garden-plot would be to some men more valuable, for purposes of living, than the freehold of the Atlantic. Sometimes men are born to great estates that have nothing in them boundless nothings; a proprietorship of infinite bogs and wastes and unanswering sterilities; sand that cannot be ploughed, water that cannot be sown with seed, and bogs that cannot be built upon. Contrast with such allotments the words of music which you find in the fifteenth verse: “toward the sunrising.” That is an inheritance worth having! The morning sun blesses it: early in the morning all heaven’s glory is poured out upon it with the hospitality of God; whatever is planted in it grows almost instantly; the flowers love to be planted there; all the roots of the earth would say, Put us in this place of the morning sun, and we will show you what we can do in growth and fruitfulness; give us the chance of the sun, and then say what we really are. We cannot all have our estates “toward the sunrising”; we cannot wholly cut off the north and the north-east the shady side of the hill: somebody must be there. Does God plant a tabernacle in such sunless districts? Is there any temple of God in the north-lands, where the storm blows with a will and the tempests seem to have it all their own way, rioting in their tumultuous strength, and, as it were, accosting one another in reduplications of infinite thunderings and roarings of whirlwinds? Even there God’s footprint may be found. Even a little may be so held as to be much. Quite a small garden may grow stuff enough for a whole household. Gardens like to be cunningly handled, lovingly arranged, quite embraced with love; then the least plot of land looks up smilingly, and says, You have treated me to the best of your ability; if there had been more sun, we should have been as good as any other land in the world; still, let us be friends; till me, culture me, sow me with seed, do what you can for me, and my answer shall be the brightest answer of love that is in my power to return. Yield not to dejection. Some must live in the north; some must be towards the bleak quarter. Is it not possible for us to have joy in the recollection of the fact, that brothers of ours are living in the south, and that on their gardens, if not on ours, the morning looks with benediction and heavenliness and approbation?

We cannot get rid of boundaries. Never listen to those who talk about equality simply because you have no time to waste. Equality is impossible. If we were all equal one day, we should all be unequal before the sun went down. Let us listen only to the truly reasonable in this matter. There is something better than outward and nominal equality, and that is an intelligent appreciation of the fact that there must be differences of personality and allotment and responsibility, and that in the end the judgment will be divine in its righteousness. We find boundaries in gifts of all kinds. “Why do you not paint a picture for the Royal Academy?” Suppose a great artist put this inquiry to me, I should reply, “Nothing would give me much greater pleasure that is of an intellectual kind.” Then the artist may say, “Why do you not realise your ideal of high enjoyment? “I answer interrogatively, “How can I?” He replies cordially, “I will find the canvas, I will mix the colours, I will supply the brushes now what hinders you to be baptised, and to rise an artist?” Why talk about equality? I would rise an artist in a moment, if I could, but it is impossible; my brother must be artist: enough for me I may be but preacher. So I say to him, “Why do you not preach?” He says, “I would like to.” “Then why do you not? I will find the church and a pulpit and a Bible why not be baptised, and rise a Voice?” He cannot: it is not born in him; another good gift of God is his, and it is a great gift; and it is not becoming in us that we should put our gifts in hostile opposition to one another, as if one were a gift of God and another a gift of some lower power. All boundaries and divisions and distributions are divine, and the acceptance of them is itself a religion. Why not write a book of exactly the same quality as Paradise Lost ? here is ink enough; what hindereth me to be baptised for poetic honours and Miltonic renown? I have as much right to the six-and-twenty letters of the alphabet as any poet whose brows were ever covered with bays and coronals. That is true. The poorest man is born to own as much of the sun as he can get hold of; the feeblest cripple may wave his crutch in the face of the heavens, and claim all the landscape; but we are limited, distributed, set in our places. One star differeth from another star in glory: one man differeth from another man in mental scope and force. Why rebel? Why call God’s attention to the fact that my boundary on the one side is nothing but a great sea, and I have not a piece of south-looking land in all my little estate? And why aggravate my discontent by pointing to the largeness of my brother’s inheritance, and the sunniness of the aspect which his dwelling-house commands? There is a better policy a noble and devout emotion which says, Not my will, thou great boundary-maker, thou God of allotment and distribution, but thine be done. The tortoise may beat the hare; the poor widow may do more excellently than all the rich men in the city. As for being little, Jesus took a “little child,” and set him in the midst of the disciples and said, This is the standard of greatness; it were better for a man that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Look for the bright spots; add up all the excellences; totalise the attractions of the situation; and it is wonderful how things add up when you know how to add them.

So we have boundaries in general character. Sometimes, one man is nearly as good as another. Sometimes the son is almost mistaken for the father, in point of genuine excellence, benevolence, and thorough goodness of soul; still, he is not his father; he never will be so princely and so good, because there is not so much of him to work upon; he is a less man altogether. Why are not men equal in good, equal in power of prayer, equal in willingness in the direction of self-sacrifice? Why is it hard for some men to pray? Why do they fall down in some pitiable fit if they try to pray aloud and in the hearing of others? That miracle never can be wrought. Suggest to some men that they should pray in public, and instantly they reply in expressions of wonder too profound for words. Who made these differences? Are all these things indications of chance, haphazard, mere experiment, without reason for a centre or probability for an issue? What if the attentive eye should see the divine hand in all these appointments, and, recognising that hand, should touch it reverently and say to it, O hand of the Lord, arrange everything for me: be my hand: when I write, take hold of my hand with thine, and let us write together; and when war comes upon me, let thine hand be outstretched in my protection and defence!

Boundary is disciplinary. Who would not like to add just one more shelf to his library, and could do it if he were at liberty to take the books from another man’s study? Who does not desire to have just the corner plot to make the estate geometrically complete, and would do it if the owner of the plot were not looking? But to retire within your own boundary! to have nothing but a ditch between you and the vineyard you covet! Who is stopped by a ditch? To have nothing but one thin, green hedge between proprietorship actual and proprietorship desired! Why not burn the hedge, or transfer it? “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him,” saith the proverbs, of Solomon. To be kept within our own lines, to build our altar steadily there, and to bow down at that altar, and confess that “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” and that, whether a man has much or little, he may be God’s child, God’s servant, and Christ’s apostle; that is the highest discipline, and it is possible to every man.

Boundaries are suggestive. Every boundary, rightly-inter-preted, means: Your last estate will be a very little one a grave in the cemetery, a tomb in the silent place. Does it come to this, that the man who wanted acres a thousand in number doubled lies down in six feet, or seven, by four? Can a carpenter measure him for his last house? Does there come a time when a man steals quietly upstairs with a two-foot measure, and afterwards hurries out to build for him in the eventide his last dwelling-place? It is impossible to exclude this thought from all our best reasoning. There is no need to be mawkish, sentimental, foolishly melancholy about it; but there is the fact, that there is an appointed time to man upon the earth, as well as an appointed place to man upon the earth, and that he is the wise man who looks at that certain fact and conducts himself wisely in relation to it. Men have the power of closing their eyes and not seeing the end, but to close the eyes is not to destroy the inevitable boundary. Even the grave can be made beautiful. A man may so live that when he is laid in his grave other men may go to see the tomb, and bedew it with tears, and even stoop down and touch it with a loving hand as if it were a living thing.

Then comes the other thought immediately upon this gloomy one, saying, The man is not there: he is risen; he has entered the boundless land, where every man may have as much as he can receive, and still feel that he has not begun to realise the infinite possibilities of immortal life. Our Christian contention is, that any man who lives under the inspiration of all these thoughts is living a wise life; he can defend himself by reasoning without a flaw, by eloquence noble, persuasive, dignified. There is the difficulty of living up to this ideal; there is the blessed satisfaction of knowing that we never can live up to it. Let us take comfort in our inability as well as in our ability. Who can overtake his prayers? When the mocker says, Could the suppliant live his prayers, he would be a noble man, it is he, not the suppliant, who talks irrationally and foolishly. Our prayers are our impossible selves: our prayers are the selves we would be if we could. To have our life set in their direction is itself a conquest; and that conquest is possible to all of us. Poor life! Some seem to have nothing; they wonder why they live; their bread is bitter; and as for the water they drink, there is hardly enough of it to touch the fire of their thirst; they think they do not want much, and they suppose they could do with a good deal more than they have. Who is right the distributing God or the receiving man? In whose hand does ail this business lie? The Christian doctrine is, that it lies in the hands of God, and that he will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly; and the motto he has written upon his broad heavens is this: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you;” and they are the mighty preachers voices sent from eternity who can read that writing, pronounce it accurately, and so utter it as to bring men to thought, to reason, to prayer.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

IX

ISRAEL’S SIN AND PHINEHAS’ ACT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND OTHER THINGS

Numbers 25-36

The twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers on many accounts is one of the most remarkable chapters of the Old Testament. In its notable character it is equal to the chapters on Balaam. Here are the children of the Promised Land with their pilgrimage ended. They have reached the banks of the Jordan. They are encamped there just over against Jericho. Nothing to do but go over and possess the land when God tells them. Just at this time Balak, the king of Moab, brings Balaam to curse them by divinations. Having failed in that, he makes the horrible suggestion that the Moabitish and Midianitish women be used as instrumentalities to cause Israel to sin and go into idolatry. Among the women mentioned was a princess, daughter of one of the five kings of Midian. They did what they did under the prompting of their religious instruction and they succeeded.

Very many of the people were seduced from their allegiance to God and not only sinned in a bodily respect but sinned in idolatrous worship and the heads of the people did not interfere to stop it. A plague went out from God on account of it. Moses, discovering the fearful demoralization of the people, gives the commandment that all the heads of the tribes shall be hanged up, either for active participation in this matter or for not using their authority to repress this very great disloyalty to God. It is as when a regiment has rebelled through connivance of its officers. There is the responsibility of leadership in a case of this kind and in military matters any officer, no matter bow high his grade, who would stand idle and see his troops go into rebellion without an effort to stay it, would be shot by the most summary process of court martial.

So Moses commands the leaders to be killed and hung up in the sight of the people. Whoever was hanged on a tree was accursed. Having disposed of the chiefs, he ordered the judges, you remember when two sets of seventy were appointed to help Moses in administrative and judicial affairs, to put to death every man who had committed a sin in that way. But the plague did not stop, though the chiefs of the nation were hanging on a tree, all the judges punishing every man with death, all the people weeping before the tabernacle. “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe.”

Just at this time a son of one of the princes of the tribes comes openly into the camp with a princess of one of the five kings of Midian, in the sight of Moses and Eleazar; in sight of the weeping people; in full view of the dead hanging up and others dying, and brings his irreligious debauchery right into the very presence of God. Whereupon Phinehas, son of Eleazar, without command from anyone, without being especially appointed officer, in his holy wrath for God’s sake and bearing in his heart that indignation against sin that God bears, and God says of him, “Having my zeal,” takes a spear and goes into the tent and thrusts both of them through and kills them.

The most remarkable part of the transaction is in what God says. He uses language just like he uses when he said Abraham believed in Jehovah and it was counted to him for righteousness. As Abraham’s faith was counted to him for righteousness, the zeal of Phinehas so perfectly expressed God’s wrath against sin that it is reckoned unto him for eternal righteousness.

But that is not the strangest part of it, but that this display through Phinehas of the wrath of God against sin made an atonement for his sin. You strike a use of the word “atonement” there which stalls the commentators and theological seminary professors. Offhand I am going to give you my explanation of it. It is the most remarkable scripture in the Bible. Surely atonement for sin cannot be made which does not placate the wrath of God against sin.

A good many sentimentalist preachers tell you that the sole object of Christ’s work was to reconcile men to God, that God was already reconciled and did not have to be placated. This scripture is unquestionably the strongest in the Bible to show that Christ’s sacrifice was both toward God and toward men, toward God in that the sinner’s bodily and spiritual death for sin took place and otherwise there could have been no atonement. Hence Phinehas, in a very high sense, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The everlasting priesthood is promised to him. The covenant of peace is promised to him.

When we come to the study of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will see an expression in the casting out of the money-changers from the temple, where Jesus takes a scourge and scourges out of God’s house those who are defiling that house, whereupon it is stated that the scripture was fulfilled, “The zeal for thy house shall eat me up.” Such a shame against the sanctity of that house must be punished or it can never be forgiven. There must be a penal sanction to law. We see it repeated again when he comes to cleanse the temple the second time, and then when he comes to die that death of the cross, under the wrath of God, forsaken of the Father, unsaved from the sword of divine justice, unsaved from the lion, Satan, who goeth about to devour, unsaved from the bite of the serpent, that is, to placate by expiation the death penalty of sin. Now, Phinehas could in a typical way represent that.

What was the use for these people to come there and weep before the tabernacle with such an impious, presumptuous, daring sin committed right in the presence of God and nobody rebuking it? It wouldn’t do simply to hang a few of the officers. It wouldn’t do for the judges to put one or two, here and there, to death. There had to be some signal, sudden, utter display of divine wrath and that was furnished by Phinehas. If Phinehas had had a motive that was not exactly correspondent to God’s idea of wrath against sin, he would have been a murderer.

The only trouble about it is that men began to imagine long afterwards that they stood in the place of Phinehas and could kill those whom they thought to be violators of the law, and with inferior motives and without an express sanction of God, they committed sin. The case of Phinehas in that respect stands alone. Samuel, when he hacked to pieces the king, David when he said that the seven sons of Saul must be hanged on a tree to make atonement, represent somewhat the idea But it is not said with reference to them that it was imputed to them for righteousness.

In the case of Jesus, instead of striking the sinner that committed the sin, Jesus let God strike him after the sinner’s sins had been put on him. “Save me from the sword; save me from the lion. If it be possible let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” There never could have been any forgiveness of sin that was not based upon a penal sanction. The justice of God must be vindicated in some way. People will tell you that you are not punished because you have sinned but to keep other people from sinning. But sin is demerit and merits death. “The wages of sin is death.” And that death must come to the sinner himself, or it must come to the one upon whom his transgressions have been laid. See Psa 106:28-31 .

We turn now to Numbers 26-27 and include with them Num 36 . In this case you have the second numbering of the people. They are just ready to enter the Holy Land, and with the exception of the death of Moses, which came as a result of another principle, there is fulfilled the death threatened to all the grown men that came out of Egypt. This great sin committed on the banks of the Jordan was by the new generation and 24,000 of them perished in the plague. They did not number quite so many as in the first enumeration; then 603,550, now only 601,730. The only thing worthy of mention you can do for yourself. Take the numbers for each tribe as given in the two enumerations and put them down opposite each other. Some you will find have increased. The tribe of Simeon with others has fearfully decreased. You have the reason, viz.: this tribe suffered more than any other in this plague.

This enumeration is not merely for war, but the basis of the land allotment. The tribe which has the most men will get the most land. The daughters of a certain man who died want to know if their name is to perish in Israel and they are to be without inheritance. They are to have their father’s inheritance, and in Num 36 it shows how to safeguard the father’s part of the inheritance to the tribe, by permitting them to marry only in their own tribe.

In this chapter is the announcement to Moses that on account of his sin he is to die. He asks that a successor be appointed and Joshua is appointed. We come to the Numbers 28-29, which are upon one point unlike any other chapters. While they refer to a great many things in the previous books of Exodus and Leviticus, there is nothing like those two chapters anywhere else. They commence at the beginning of the year and show what offerings are to be made day by day, week by week, moon by moon, year by year, seventh year by seventh year, and Jubilee by Jubilee. These chapters constitute the basis of the poem of Keble, “The Christian Year,” as it is called by the Episcopalians, derived from the Old Testament, a matter that Paul condemns thus in the letter to the Colossians: “Ye observe months, days, weeks, seasons; touch not, taste not, handle not.” God nailed all that system to the cross of Christ.

The only thought in Num 30 that needs to be dwelt on is the bringing up of the vow question again. If a daughter makes a vow before she has attained to full age, it cannot be exacted of her, if her father does not sanction it. A wife cannot make a vow without her husband’s sanction. This chapter discusses the principle upon which the exceptions are made, and you can read it.

Num 31 is devoted to the war against Midian. God commanded Moses to make a holy war against Midian, who, acting on the suggestion of Balaam, had through their chief women brought about this great sin, when Israel had committed no provocation. This war is unlike other wars because of the number. Only 1,000 men from each tribe, or 12,000, are sent out to conduct the war. A priest, not a general, commands them. They suffer no loss. The destruction wrought is God’s destruction. God has condemned Midian for their awful sin and they are smitten. The spoils of the war are devoted to God because it was God’s war, not man’s. Everybody that looks at it will say that it was God’s war.

As they were encamped by the Jordan and ready to pass over, it was intensely important that they leave the rear safe. Midian is smitten clear to the Euphrates. Sihon and Og had been destroyed and Moab and Ammon and Edom are incapable of war. A vast portion of territory lying on the east of the Jordan is captured. That brings us to Num 32 . This captured land is the best pasturage in the whole country; two tribes and a half express the desire that they be allotted that eastern portion. Moses is very indignant because he understands that they mean this, that while the whole nation has captured this territory these tribes propose to stay over here and leave the other tribes to capture the remainder of the country. But they explain that they simply wanted to safeguard their women and children and villages and send their army on across the Jordan to fight with the others. So the allotment is made to Reuben, Gad, and one-half of the tribe of Manasseh.

In Num 33 there is only one thing to which your attention needs to be called. That chapter is devoted to the whole itinerary from Egypt to the Jordan. God tells Moses to impress one fact upon the minds of the people: “No terms can be made with these inhabitants of the land, for the territory was originally yours when the division was made in the days of Peleg, after the flood. But they took possession of the country.” God has not cast them out because their iniquity was not full. But their iniquity is full now and they are going to be cast out and “you are the executors of the divine will and if you leave corners around I give you warning that they will be thorns in your side forever. When you make war they will rise up in your rear. When you relax in watchfulness, they will lead you into sin.”

I preached a sermon on that once, in which I took the matter spiritually thus: Take a Christian who is regenerated, but he stops trying to expel the old inhabitants. He says, “I am all right if I am a Christian. That is enough.” He does not continue his war against the sinful nature. A large part of him he does not seek to bring under subjection through sanctification. Then he is going to have a thorn in the flesh. Say you take an occasional spree. Whenever you quit making a fight on the lower nature, you are going to be badly fooled. By careful analysis anyone can find out his weak point. Woe to the man who does not make war on that besetting sin. I do not say he will be lost in hell, but he will get some hard falls and be badly hurt.

Num 34 is devoted to a description of the border. You can take a map and trace it out. No particular skill is required.

Num 35 is devoted to two points well worthy of special study. It is a provision for the forty-eight Levite cities who were to have no part of the land for an inheritance, and also for the six cities of refuge; three east of the Jordan and three west. You ought carefully to note the purpose of these cities of refuge and how the roads are to be kept open.

QUESTIONS

1. Having failed to turn Jehovah against Israel by divination, how did Balaam turn Israel against Jehovah?

2. What penalty did Jehovah visit upon them and how many died?

3. What two efforts were made to stay the plague and the results?

4. What act of presumption was committed just at this time, the act of Phinehas and the result?

5. Expound the remarkable reference to Phinehas and particularly bring out the atonement idea in connection with his zeal.

6. Give result of second census. How many tribes had fewer than at first? Why the great difference in the tribe of Simeon?

7. What question came up respecting Zelophehad’s daughters and how settled?

8. Give the law of inheritance in Israel.

9. What announcement here made to Moses and his request?

10. What specially qualified Joshua for this place?

11. Describe the ceremony of the appointment and what the signification of the laying on of hands?

12. Try your hand on forming the calendar for the Jewish Holy Year.

13. What exceptions here to the law of vows previously given?

14. The war against Midian the character of it, why made, how unlike other wars and what was done with the spoils?

15. Give an account of the settlement of the territory east of the Jordan.

16. What terms were they to make with the inhabitants of the land?

17. What was the penalty for violating this command?

18. What right did the Israelites have thus to deal with the inhabitants?

19. Apply the case of these people in their new relation to the individual Christian.

20. Bound the Land of Canaan as promised to Israel. (See Atlas.)

21. What provision was made for the Levites in the land?

22. How many cities of refuge? Name and locate them. What was their purpose?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

spake. See note on Num 1:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 34

So as we move into chapter thirty-four, we find the borders of the land described now. In the south, the border of the land was to go down into the Sinai as far as Kadesh Barnea the place where they had come; south from Hebron-or no, actually down around south of Beersheba coming into the land down into the desert. The Mediterranean was to be the border on the west side. On the north side, the mountains of Lebanon at about Achor or Accho, that mountain range of Lebanon that comes around was to be the border on up to Mount Hermon. You’ll find in-if you want to read it carefully here there is the mention of Ain, which means fountains, which no doubt is a reference to the headwater of the Jordan River at the base of Mount Hermon. So that whole upper, what they call the Hula Valley, was to be Israel’s, bordered on the west side by the mountains of Lebanon. Much the border that they have today with Lebanon was the border that was described here in the Bible.

Now the uppermost area in the upper Hula Valley near where the Jordan River begins it’s-or coming out of the Mount Hermon there is where the city of Dan was built. Dan occupied the northern most part of the Hula Valley. And then coming on down around the Sea of Galilee, the tribe of Naphtali. And you can get a good Bible map and you can see how the tribes were apportioned in the land but the boundaries of the land are given to us here in chapter thirty-four.

This is the land that God promised to Abraham and this is the land that now belonged to these people. It was theirs; God had given it to them. There was only one thing, they had to go in and take it; they had to go in and possess it, even as God has given to you so many rich and precious promises and all you have to do is step in and claim them. Just go in and take that which God has promised to you by faith.

So the heads of the tribes are listed again in the latter portion of the chapter.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

One of the terms of the charge already considered, that the people should possess the land and that it should be divided equitably, was now enlarged upon. The division was to be according to divine arrangement and choice. It must be based as to amount on the comparative needs of the tribes. The divisions given were for those who would pass over into the land beyond Jordan according to the divine purpose. Reuben and Gad and the half- tribe of Manasseh were to have no part in that inheritance. Thrice over the words are repeated in reference to them, they have received.” They had made their own choice and it was now ratified. Long after, they were the first to be captured and carried away in the breakup which ensued upon the sin of the whole of the people.

While the arrangements for division were divine, human instruments were appointed to see them carried out. These were the priest Eleazar and the princes of the tribes.

Among these one name arrests our attention. It is Caleb, the man who, with Joshua, forty years earlier had believed in the possibility of doing the; will of God in face of difficulties. Now, after the long period of disciplinary experiencing, he was appointed with Joshua again to take oversight of the partition of the land according to the divine plan.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

the Borders of the Promised Land

Num 34:1-18

Here are set out the borders of the Promised Land, which were never fully reached in the days of Israels occupation, except perhaps for one brief period in Solomons glorious reign. Gods ideal for His people far exceeded their realization of it. But is it not always so! Does not His peace pass understanding? Is not His joy unspeakable and full of glory? Does not the love of Christ pass knowledge? Jesus Christ is our inheritance; let us possess our possessions. Let us follow on to know the Lord; and remember that there is an allotted space for each of us in Christ, to which no other soul has a right.

It is a great honor to be chosen to divide the lots. Year by year we ought to set forth the believers rights in Christ, that a divine discontent may urge to higher heights and deeper experiences.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Reciprocal: Num 34:13 – This is the land Hab 3:6 – and measured

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Num 34:1-2. God here directs Moses, and he is ordered to direct Israel, concerning the line by which the land of Canaan was to be bounded on all sides. Its limits, or bounds, are described, 1st, To guide and bound them in their wars and conquests, that they might not seek the enlargement of their empire, after the manner of other nations, but be contented with their own portion. 2d, To encourage them in their attempt upon Canaan, and assure them of their success. There was a much larger possession promised them, if they were obedient, even to the river Euphrates; and even so far the dominions of Israel did extend in Davids and Solomons time, 2Ch 9:26. But this, which is properly Canaan, lay in a very little compass. It is but about a hundred and sixty miles in length, and about fifty in breadth. This was that little spot of ground, in which alone, for many ages, God was known! But its littleness was abundantly compensated by its fruitfulness; otherwise it could not have sustained so numerous a nation.

See how little a share of the world God often gives to his own people! But they that have their portion in heaven, can be content with a small pittance of this earth.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Num 34:2. This is the land. It was proper to fix the line of the boundaries to prevent war for aggrandizement. It reached from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, as in Joshua 1., and mount Lebanon, and was circumscribed south and east by the desert; yet they never properly possessed more than from Dan, the colony in the north-east, Judges 7., to Beersheba. The nations that surrounded them were indeed made tributary to some of the kings of Judah, but never dispossessed of their country.

Num 34:5. The river of Egypt, is thought to have been the small river which divided Egypt from Philistia.

Num 34:6. The great sea. The Mediterranean is here, and in Daniel, called the Great sea, in comparison of the sea of Sodom, and of Galilee.

Num 34:8. The entrance of Hamath, in the defiles of mount Lebanon. The Assyrian armies entered here.

Num 34:11. The sea of Chinnereth. This is mentioned in Jos 12:3; Jos 13:27; Jos 19:35. The city of Chinnereth is mentioned among the fortified towns. It is written Gennesaret in Mat 14:34, and is mostly called the sea of Galilee.

REFLECTIONS.

The original boundaries of Israels Theocracy, extended from the river, or brook, entering Egypt, to the Euphrates. The seven devoted nations only were to be either cut off or expelled. Edom and other small nations were to be tributary, which David carried into full effect. It is for dividing the soil of the seven nations, that fourteen commissioners were now appointed. Joshua and Eleazar, two disinterested men, were appointed presidents of this commission. They were instructed to measure and divide the land into fair proportions, then to ballot the districts to the tribes; and lastly, to vary the proportions of land to the number of people in each of the tribes. It is well for our temporal affairs to be judiciously arranged. But the christian can best say, the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. The Lord is a satisfying portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Numbers 33 – 34

The first of these sections gives us a wonderfully minute description of the desert wanderings of the people of God. It is impossible to read it without being deeply moved by the tender love and care of God so signally displayed throughout the whole. To think of His deigning to keep such a record of the journeyings of His poor people, from the moment they marched out of Egypt until they crossed the Jordan – from the land of death and darkness to the land flowing with milk and honey. “He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.” He went before them, every step of the way; He travelled over every stage of the wilderness; in all their afflictions He was afflicted. He took care of them like a tender nurse. He suffered not their garments to wax old, or their feet to swell, for these forty years; and here He retraces the entire way by which His hand had led them, carefully noting down each successive stage of that marvellous pilgrimage, and every spot in the desert at which they had halted. What a journey! What a travelling companion!

It is very consolatory to the heart of the poor, weary pilgrim to be assured that every stage of his wilderness journey is marked out by the infinite love and unerring wisdom of God. He is leading His people by a right way, home to Himself; and there is not a single circumstance in their lot, or a single ingredient in their cup, which is not carefully ordered by Himself, with direct reference to their present profit and their everlasting felicity. Let it only be our care to walk with Him, day by day, in simple confidence, casting all our care upon Him, and leaving ourselves and all our belongings absolutely in His hands. This is the true source of peace and blessedness, all the journey through. And then, when our desert wanderings are over – when the last stage of the wilderness has been trodden, He will take us home to be with Himself for ever.

“There with what joy reviewing

Past conflicts, dangers, fears-

Thy hand our foes subduing,

And drying all our tears-

Our hearts with rapture burning,

The path we shall retrace,

where now our souls are learning,

The riches of Thy grace.”

Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The selfsame hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their habitation. Alas! they never took possession of the land as given of God. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took but a part, and that for a time. But, blessed be God, the moment is approaching when the seed of Abraham shall enter upon the full and everlasting possession Of that fair inheritance, from which they are for the present excluded. Jehovah will assuredly accomplish all His promises, and lead His people into all the blessings secured to them in the everlasting covenant – that covenant which has been ratified by the blood of the Lamb. Not one jot or tittle. shall fail of all that He has spoken. His promises are all Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. All praise to the father, and unto the Son, and to the holy Spirit!

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Num 34:1-15 (from P). The Boundaries of Israels Possessions in Canaan.These, as here set forth, are ideal rather than actual, since the area described never wholly belonged to Israel. The S. border extends from the S. end of the Dead (the Salt) Sea in a SW. direction, having Edom on the SE., and following probably the Wdy el Fikreh (in which was the ascent of Akrabbim) to Kadesh (Ain Kdis); there it turns NW. and follows partly the brook of Egypt (Wdy el Arsh) to its mouth. The W. border is formed by the Mediterranean (the great) Sea, the shore of which was never possessed by Israel, though Joppa in the second century B.C. was captured by the Maccabees. The N. border extends from the mouth of the Nahr el Kasimyeh (6 miles N. of Tyre) to Mt. Hor (quite distinct from the Mt. Hor of Num 20:22, and probably a spur of Lebanon), and crossing the gorge leading to Hamath reaches its easterly termination at Hazarenan (probably near Banas, close to the sources of the Jordan). The E. border apparently runs in an easterly course to the eastern margin of the sea of Chinnereth (Gennesaret), and thence follows the Jordan to the Dead Sea. Many of the localities named are unidentified.

Num 34:6. Omit, and the border thereof.

Num 34:15. The description beyond the Jordan . . . eastward represents the point of view of a writer residing on the W. of the Jordan.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

BOUNDARIES OF ISRAEL’S INHERITANCE

(vs.1-15)

The Lord now defines the boundaries of the land that Israel was to inherit at the time. For the area then was made smaller than it will be in Millennium, when it will extend from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River (Gen 15:18). There is no doubt that all the names and places involved in these boundaries have spiritual significance, but we can only pass them over through lack of needed intelligence.

Yet though in glory our own inheritance will be much larger than at present, we are told now the limits of our present inheritance, for it is bounded by the truth of the Word of God which does not allow us fanciful interpretations or additions concocted by our own minds. To actually possess in practice what God has given us will require all our time and spiritual energy, so that it would be folly to try to add to what God gives. On the other hand, it is spiritual laziness to neglect taking possession of what God has given.

LEADERS IN THE DlVIDING OF THE LAND

(vs.16-29)

Eliezer and Joshua were signified now as being over the work of dividing the land. Eliezer mentioned first speaks of priestly grace, while Joshua stands for firm authority, both of which are vitally important. Then a leader from each tribe was chosen, so that there was an orderly arrangement designed by the Lord.

In the Church of God today the Lord designs no less an order among His people, not by official appointment, but the vital power of the Spirit of God who dwells in every believer personally and in the Church collectively. Thus, in 1Co 12:1-31 we are told of diversities of gifts in the body of Christ, yet working by the Spirit’s power in wonderful unity. “One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills” (v.11).

Worship today also is to be by the Spirit of God (Php 3:3) and “in 1Co 14:1-40 shows an assembly locally coming together for ministry, with each brother free to be led by the Spirit of God as to what part to take. At the end an appeal is made to every conscience, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (v.40). This will certainly be true where there is submission of heart to the Lord to allow the Spirit of God to lead, for His order is far better than any order of pre-arrangement.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

A preview of the land ch. 34

God then instructed Moses regarding the extent of the Promised Land and how to divide it among the remaining tribes.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The borders of the land 34:1-15

Moses described the boundary of the land from south (Num 34:3-5) to west (Num 34:6) to north (Num 34:7-9) to east (Num 34:12). This boundary encompassed the territory the people would divide among the nine and one-half tribes. This was not the same territory promised to Abraham but was what God gave the Israelites at their entrance into the land. If they had been obedient to Him, He would have eventually enlarged their borders to include the whole area promised to Abraham. Even though they disobeyed God He still enlarged their border beyond the boundaries given here later in their history though not yet to the extent promised Abraham.

". . . on any estimate and interpretation, the ’Canaan’ that was the inheritance given to Israel was larger and more extensive than they were ever able to possess, even in David’s and Solomon’s time." [Note: Philip, p. 340.]

Some of the sites mentioned are still unknown to archaeologists. Hamath (Num 34:8) was a kingdom and a city, the capital of the kingdom. This reference is probably to the kingdom since there is no biblical record that the city of Hamath ever belonged to Israel.

The land included within these boundaries was about 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, about 7,500 square miles. It was the approximate size of New Jersey. One hundred fifty miles is the distance from Dallas to Bryan, Texas. Fifty miles is the distance from West Fort Worth to East Dallas.

"God is portrayed elsewhere in the Pentateuch as one who apportions the boundaries of all the nations (Genesis 10; Deu 32:8), and here he is shown doing the same for his own people." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 420.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

THE WAY AND THE LOT

Num 33:1-56; Num 34:1-29

1. THE itinerary of Num 33:1-49 is one of the passages definitely ascribed to Moses. It opens with the departure from Rameses in Egypt on the morrow after the passover, when the children of Israel “went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.” The exodus is made singularly impressive in this narrative by the addition that it took place “while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them.” The Divine salvation of Israel begins when the dark shadow of loss and judgment rests on their oppressors. The gods of Egypt are discredited by the triumph of Jehovahs people. They can neither save their own worshippers nor prevent the servants of another from obtaining liberty.

From Rameses, the place of departure, to Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab, forty-two stations in all are given at which the Israelites pitched. Of these about twenty-four are named either in Exodus, in other parts of the Book of Numbers, or in Deuteronomy. Some eighteen, therefore, are mentioned in this passage and nowhere else. Of the whole number, comparatively few have as yet been identified. The Egyptian localities, at least Rameses and Succoth, are known. With the exit from Egypt, at the crossing of the Red Sea difficulty begins. Our passage says that the Israelites went three days journey into the wilderness of Etham; Exodus calls it the wilderness of Shur. Then Marah and Elim bring the travellers, according to chapter 33, to the Red Sea, the Yam Suph. Ordinarily, this is supposed to be the Gulf of Suez, alongside which the route would have lain from the day it was crossed. There are, however, the best reasons for believing that this “Red Sea” is the eastern gulf, the Elanitic, as it must be Num 14:25, where, after the evil report of the spies, the Divine command is given: “Tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.” From this identification of the Yam Suph many things follow. And one is the rejection of the ordinary opinion regarding the position of Sinai. The mountain of the law-giving is always described as situated in Midian. Now, Midian is beyond Elath, on the eastern side of the Yam Suph, not in the peninsula between the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah. Elim and Elath, or Eloth, appear to be names for the same place, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. We have therefore to look for Sinai either among the southern hills of Seir or those lying more southward still, towards the desert. In Deborahs song (Jdg 5:4-5) occur the following verses:

“Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir, When Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yea, the clouds dropped water; The mountains flowed down at the presence of the Lord, Even yon Sinai at the presence of the Lord. the God of Israel.”

In the same direction the “Prayer of Habbakkuk” points: {Hab 3:3; Hab 3:7}

“God came from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of His light I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction, The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.”

The tradition which places Sinai in the south of the peninsula between the two gulfs “is of later origin than the lifetime of St. Paul, and can claim no higher authority than the interested fancies of ignorant cenobites. It throws into confusion both the geography and the history of the Pentateuch, and contradicts the definite statements of the Old Testament.” So the most recent inquiry.

If Mount Sinai was somewhere to the south of Edom, the journey thence to Kadesh by way of Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, localities mentioned both in Num 11:11 ; Num 11:33, may have had other stations; and these may be named in Num 33:19 of our passage and onward. But identification of the places is exceedingly doubtful till we come to Ezion-geber, in the Arabah, and Mount Hor. Deu 10:1-22 places the scene of Aarons death at Mosera, which seems to be the same as Moseroth, and is there given along with other stations named in the itinerary-Bene-jaakan, Gudgodah (Hor-haggidgad), Jot-bathah. And this seems to prove that these localities were in or near the Arabah, Moseroth being in the region of Mount Hor. But where Kadesh is to be found between Rithmah and Moseroth, and under what name, it is impossible to say. Keil argues for Rithmah itself. Palmer reckons twenty stations to the first arrival at Kadesh. His map, however, shows a Mount Sheraif, which may be the same as Shepher, not far from Gadis, which he identifies with Kadesh. For the rest we are left in great ignorance, relieved only by this, that at the most there are but eighteen stations given, more probably thirteen, for the whole thirty-seven years between the first arrival at Kadesh and the death of Aaron at Mount Hor; and five or six of these were on the Arabah. During the whole of that long period there were only a few removals of the tabernacle, and those apparently within a limited area near Kadesh.

A list of names with only three historical notes appears a singular memorial of the forty years. Time was, no doubt, when the places named were all well known, and any Israelite desiring to satisfy himself as to the route by which his forefathers went could make it out by help of this passage. To us the interest of the subject is partly the same as that which might have been found by a Hebrew, say, of the time of Hezekiah, for whom the verification of the wilderness journey might be a help to faith. But the impossibility of identifying the localities shows that there are matters in the history of Israel which are of no particular importance now. There is more danger in seeking to gratify mere curiosity, than profit in any possible discoveries. Why should not the mountain of the law-giving be hid in the shadows as well as the grave in which Moses was laid? Why should not the places at which Israel encamped be to us mere names, since, if we could identify them, it might only be to add fresh difficulties instead of clearing away those that exist? The Israelites who entered Canaan had not seen all the way by which Jehovah led His people. When they crossed the Jordan, present duty was to engage them, not the mere names that belonged to the past. They were to forget the things behind, and stretch forward to the things which were before. And duty is the same still. Our backward glance, especially on the actual path from one spot of earth to another by which men have gone in trial and anticipation, must not hinder the efforts called for by the circumstances of our own time. The way of the desert, especially, may well lie half obliterated in the distance, since we know the spiritual fruit of the dealings of God with Israel, and can bear it with us as we follow our own road.

The ideas of change and urgency are in our passage. The wilderness journey was taken by a people on whom Divine influences had laid hold, who of themselves would have remained content in Egypt, but were not suffered, because God had some greater thing in store for them. The urgency throughout was His. And so is that which we ourselves feel hurrying us from change to change, from place to place. We may not be in the wilderness, but in a spot of shelter and comfort; and it may be no house of bondage, but a vantage-ground for generous effort. Even when we are thus happily settled, as we imagine, the call comes, and we must strike our tents. At other times our own anxiety anticipates the command. But we know that always, whether we pass into sterner conditions of life or escape to more pleasant circumstances, the times and changes that happen to us are of Gods appointing, that His providence urges us toward a goal. And this means that our reaching the goal must be by His way, although properly we endeavour to find it for ourselves.

The number of the stations at which Israel encamped in the course of forty years can scarcely be taken as representing the number of changes from dwelling to dwelling any pilgrim through this world shall have to make. But if we think of halting-places and movements of thought, we shall have a fruitful parallel. From the twentieth to the sixtieth year-may we not say?-is the time of journeying that takes the mind from its first freedom to comparative rest. Not far on the Divine law-giving impresses itself on the conscience; and hence a direct road may appear to lead into the peace of obedience. But the stations successively reached, Kibroth-hattaavah, Hazeroth, Rithmah, and the rest, represent each a peculiar difficulty encountered, a barrier to our steady progress towards the settled mind. St. Paul indicates one he found when he says: “I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Another halt is imposed when it is found that the law appears to forbid what is according to nature; still another when obedience requires separation from those who have been valued friends and pleasant companions. These hindrances left behind as the soul, still confiding and hopeful, is urged on towards the goal, a great trial like that of Kadesh follows. We are not far from the frontier of promise; and anticipations are formed of many delights for heart and life. Is not obedience to bring felicity, an easy salvation from doubt and fear? But it becomes plain that there are enemies to faith and peace beyond the border as well as in the region already crossed. Complete conformity to the Divine will has not been achieved. Will it ever be achieved? We begin to doubt the result of law-keeping. There is perhaps a backward look to Sinai, implying a question whether God spoke there, or beyond Sinai, to the old traditional way of life. And so another term of difficult inquiry begins.

In this way many find themselves held for a long period of middle life. Their minds move from one point to another without seeming to make any progress. But neither does rest come. It is seen that partial obedience, a measure of nearness to the perfection once dreamed of, will not suffice. Then arises the question whether obedience can ever save. There is return almost to Sinai itself, at least to a place from which its peak is seen and the mind is confirmed as to the inexorability of law. So the urgency of the Divine will is felt, and the way is fixed. If the soul would make its own way into peace, it is driven back. For, perhaps, it would have the difficulty solved by taking the way of a Church, accepting a creed-as Israel would have passed through the territory of Edom. This also is forbidden. Trusted helpers fall by the way, as Aaron died at Hor, and there is sorrowful delay. But movement is enforced; and, finally, it is by a road that reveals Sinai and the law in quite another aspect, showing vital faith, not mere obedience, to be the means of salvation, our progress is made. Round the borders of Edom, not by trust in creed or Church, but by confidence in God Himself, the soul must advance. Then strength comes. Point after point is reached and passed. Self-righteousness, pride, and Phatisaism-Amorites of the mountain land-are overcome. At length through the faith of Christ peace is found, the peace that is possible on this side of the river.

It is our high privilege to be urged and led on thus by Him who knows the way we should take, who tries us that we may come forth purified as gold. Without Divine pressure we should content ourselves in the desert and never see the real good of life. So many lose themselves because they will not admit that to be of the truth is necessary to salvation. There is a way of thinking, or rather refusing to think, of spiritual verities which keeps the soul unaware of the purpose God would carry into effect, or indifferent to it. The mind refuses its duty; and in the midway of life the spiritual goal fades from view. To guard against this taking place in the case of any one is the office of the Gospel ministry. If evangelical preaching does not keep thought awake and attentive to Divine inspirations, if it does not speak to those who are in every stage of perplexity, at every possible camping-ground, it fails of its high purpose.

2. Commandment is given that when the Israelites pass over Jordan they shall use effectual means for establishing themselves as the people of Jehovah in Canaan. They are, for one thing, to drive out before them all the inhabitants of the land. Nothing is here said of putting them all to the sword; only they are not to be left even in partial occupation. The plan of Israels settlement in its new territory requires that it shall be subject to no alien influence, and shall have the field entirely to itself for the development of customs, civilisation, and religion. And in this there is nothing either impossible or, as the ideas of the time went, strange and cruel. We do not need to take refuge in the command of God and defend it by saying that He had absolute right over the lives of the Canaanites. The tides of war and population were continually flowing and receding. When the Israelites reached Canaan, they had the same right as others to occupy it, provided they could make their right good at the point of the sword. Yet for their own special consciousness the command given by Moses in Jehovahs name was most important. It was only as His people they were to advance, and as His people they were to dwell separate in Canaan.

To drive out all the inhabitants of the land was, however, a difficult task; and even Moses might not intend the order to be literally obeyed. We have seen that he did not require the destruction of the Midianites to be absolute. In the wars of conquest in Canaan cases of a similar kind would necessarily arise. When a tribe was driven out of its cities many would be left behind, some of whom would conceal themselves and gradually venture from their hiding-places. The command was general, and could scarcely be supposed to require the putting to death of all children. And again, as we know, there were fortresses which for a long time defied attempts to reduce them. The Israelites were not so faithful to God that Moses could expect their success to be insured by supernatural aid. It is the constant purpose they are to have in view, to sweep the land clear of those presently in occupation. As they establish themselves, this will be carried out; and if they fail, allowing any of the tribes to remain, these will be as pricks in their eyes and as thorns in their sides:

The will of God that Israel, called to special duty in the world, was to keep itself separate, is here strongly emphasised. It was the only way by which faith could be preserved and made fruitful. For the Canaanites, already civilised and in many of the arts superior to the Hebrews, had gross polytheistic beliefs imbedded in their customs, and a somewhat elaborate cultus which was observed throughout the whole land. “Figured stones,” which by their shape or incised emblems conveyed religious ideas; molten images, probably of bronze, like those found at Tel el Hesy, which were for household use, or of a larger size for tribal adoration; “high places” crowned by altars and sacrificial stones, were especially to be destroyed. The tendency to polytheism required to be carefully guarded against, for the gods of Canaan represented the powers of nature, and their rites celebrated the fruitfulness of earth under the lordship of Baal or Bel, and the mysterious processes of life associated with the influence of Astarte, the moon. The divinities of Egypt also appear to have had their worshippers; and, indeed, the mixed population of the land had drawn from every neighbouring region symbols, rites, and practices supposed to propitiate the unseen powers on whose favour human life must depend. Israel could prosper only by rejecting and extirpating this idolatry. Allowed to survive in any degree, it would be the cause of physical suffering and spiritual decay.

The command thus ascribed to Moses was again one which he must have known the Israelites would find difficult to carry out, even if they were cordially disposed to obey it. The sacred places of a country like Canaan tend to retain their reputation even when the rites fall into disuse; and however expeditiously the work of sweeping away the original inhabitants might be done, there was no small danger that knowledge of the cult as well as veneration for the high places would be learned by the Hebrews. The command was made clear and uncompromising so that every Israelite might know his duty; but the difficulty and the peril remained. And as we know from the Book of Judges and subsequent history, the law, especially in regard to the demolition of high places, became practically a dead letter. Jehovah was worshipped at the ancient places of sacrifice; and so far were even pious Israelites of the next few centuries from thinking they did wrong in using those old altars, that Samuel fell in with the custom. It was true in regard to this commandment as it is with regard to many others, -the high mark of duty is presented, but few aim at it. Expediency rules, the possible is made to suffice instead of the ideal. There is reason to believe, not only that the images and stone symbols of Canaan were venerated, but that Jehovah Himself was worshipped by many of the Hebrews under the form of some animal. And the Canaanites became to those who fraternised with them as pricks in their eyes. Spiritual vision failed; faith fell back on the coarse emblems used by the old inhabitants of the land. Then the vigour of the tribes decayed and they were judged and punished.

3. The boundaries of the land in which the Israelites were to dwell are laid down in chapter 34; but, as elsewhere, there is difficulty in following the geography and identifying the old names. The south quarter is to be “from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom”-that is to say, it is to include the region of Zin near Kadesh and extend to the mountains of Seir. The “ascent of Akrabbim” is apparently the Ghor rising southwards from the Dead Sea. The line then runs along the Arabah for some distance, say fifty miles, across by the south of the Azazimeh hills and of Kadesh Barnea towards the stream called the river or brook of Egypt, which it followed to its debouchment in the Mediterranean. The western boundary was the Mediterranean or Great Sea for a distance of perhaps one hundred and sixty miles. The northern boundary is exceedingly obscure. They were to keep in view a “mount Hor” as a landmark; but no two geographers can be said to agree where it was. The “entering in of Hamath” is also a locality greatly disputed. Most likely it was some well-known part of the road leading along the Leontes valley to that of the Orontes. If we take the mount Hor here indicated to be Hermon, a line running west and striking the Mediterranean somewhere north of Tyre would be a natural boundary, and would correspond fairly with the actual partition and occupation of the country. It is certain, however, that both the Philistines and Phoenicians, especially the latter, were so strongly established in the southern and northern parts of the seaboard that any attempt to dispossess them was soon discovered to be futile. And even in the limited central range from Kedesh Naphtali to Beersheba the settlement was only effected gradually.

The Canaan of the Divine promise marked out, yet never fully possessed, is a symbol of the region of this life which those who believe in God have assigned to them, but never entirely enjoy. There are boundaries within which there is abundant room for the development of the life of faith. It is not, as the world reckons, a district of great resources. As Canaan had neither gold nor silver, neither coal nor iron mines, as its seaboard was not well supplied with harbours, nor its rivers and lakes of great use for inland navigation, so we may say the life open to the Christian has its limitations and disabilities. It does not invite those who seek pleasure, wealth, or dazzling exploits. Within it, discipline is to be found rather than enjoyment of earthly good. The “milk and honey” of this land are spiritual symbols, Divine sacraments. There is room for the development of life in every branch of study and culture, but in subordination to the glory of God, and for the testimony that should be borne to His majesty and truth.

Many of us affect to despise so narrow a range of thought and endeavour, and persist in believing that something more than discipline may be looked for in this world. Is there not a proper kingdom of humanity better than any kingdom of Cod? May not the race of men, apart from any service paid to an Unseen God, attain dignity of its own, power, gladness, magnificence? It is supposed that by rejecting all the limitations of religion and refusing the outlook to another life the united labour of men will make this life free and this earth a paradise. But it remains true that men must limit their hopes with regard to their own future here as individuals and the future of the race. We must accept the boundaries God has fixed, on one side the swift Jordan, on the other the Great Sea. There are seemingly rich fields beyond, wide regions that invite the tastes and senses, but these are no part of the souls inheritance; to explore and reduce them would bring no real gain.

The range that lies open to us as servants of God, and affords ample space for the discipline of life, is often not used and therefore not enjoyed. When people will not accept the inevitable fixed limits within which their time and vigour can be occupied to the best advantage, when they look covetously to districts of experience not meant for them, as Israel did at certain periods of her history, their life is spoiled. Discontent begins, envy follows. Where in seeking and reaching moral gains, purity, courage, love, there would have been a continual sense of adequate result and encouraging prospect, there is now no gain, no pleasure. The appointed lot is despised, and all it can yield held in contempt. How many there are who, with a full river of Divine bounty on one side their life, and the great ocean of the Divine faithfulness ebbing and flowing on the other, with the pastures and olive-groves of the Word of God to nourish their soul, with access to His city and sanctuary, and an outlook from summits like Tabor and Hermon to a transfigured life in the new heavens and earth, speak nevertheless with scorn and bitterness of their heritage! They might be reaching “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” but they remain graceless and discontented to the end. Israel, understanding its destiny and using its opportunities aright, might well say-and so may every one who knows the truth as it is in Jesus Christ-“the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” But this gladness of heart has its root in believing content. The restricted land is full of Gods promise: “Thou maintainest my lot.” The security of Jehovahs word encompasses the man of faith.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary