Numbers 34: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

34:1-29 Chapter 34 gives the borders of the land of Canaan, which Israel was to settle according to the guidelines in 26:52-56. Ever since the call of Abraham (Gen 12:1-7), the Promised Land of Canaan had stood at the heart of the Old Testament story. Though an entire generation of Hebrews died in the wilderness because they refused to believe the report of the faithful spies (Num 13), God had reaffirmed his promise of land (33:53). Here, God reviewed the plan and identified the boundaries of the Promised Land in an idealized form (cp. Josh 13–19; Ezek 47–48). Old Testament Israel did not possess the exact extent of the territory described here (though it came close in the days of David and Solomon; e.g., 2 Sam 24:1-9), but these borders describe the region of Canaan as generally defined by Egyptian texts dating 1500–1200 BC (the period of the Hebrew invasion). The region actually occupied by Israel changed from time to time.

Verse 3

34:3-5 Portions of the southern boundary of Canaan were familiar to Israel from earlier experiences in the wilderness of Zin on the northwestern edge of Edom (see chs 13–14). This southern frontier ran east to west in an arc from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Verse 4

34:4 From the southern end of the Dead Sea, the boundary ran through Scorpion Pass toward Zin (cp. 13:21). The southernmost point was Kadesh-barnea (cp. 13:26). Hazar-addar and Azmon are unknown.

Verse 5

34:5 The Brook of Egypt (not to be confused with the Nile) designates the wadi that separates the land of Canaan from Egypt; it drains toward the Mediterranean Sea (cp. 1 Kgs 8:65). In Old Testament times, Israel exercised little control over this southern coastal region.

Verse 6

34:6-9 The natural western boundary of Canaan was the Mediterranean coast (34:6). The northern boundary began at the Mediterranean and ran eastward to Mount Hor somewhere in the Lebanon range (not the place of Aaron’s death, 20:22-29). • Lebo-hamath: Cp. 13:21; 1 Kgs 8:65; Amos 6:14.

Verse 11

34:11 Sea of Galilee: Its eastern edge (literally shoulder) is the ridge that rises rather abruptly from its eastern shoreline.

Verse 12

34:12 The natural eastern border of Canaan followed the Jordan River down to the Dead Sea. As part of the Great Rift Valley, the Jordan and the Dead Sea were formidable, though not impassable, barriers. This boundary excluded the lands east of the Jordan that were occupied by Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Those settlements were not part of Canaan per se and stood outside the Promised Land as originally defined.

Verse 13

34:13-15 you are to divide . . . by sacred lot: Cp. 26:55-56. Because of the settlement of two and a half tribes (Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh) in Transjordan (cp. 32:33), Canaan was to be divided among the nine and a half remaining tribes.

Verse 16

34:16-29 Eleazar (the high priest) and Joshua (the political leader) were to divide the land among the remaining tribes. The ten tribal leaders who would help them are listed in 34:19-28.

Verse 19

34:19-28 Caleb son of Jephunneh is the only tribal leader who appears elsewhere in Numbers (13:6, 30; 14:6-38). Nearly all of the older generation had already died during the wilderness period (Num 26:63-65), but the two faithful spies were still leading their people.

Verse 3

your south quarter—The line which bounded it on the south is the most difficult to trace. According to the best biblical geographers, the leading points here defined are as follows: The southwest angle of the southern boundary should be where the wilderness of Zin touches the border of Edom, so that the southern boundary should extend eastward from the extremity of the Dead Sea, wind around the precipitous ridge of Akrabbim ("scorpions"), thought to be the high and difficult Pass of Safeh, which crosses the stream that flows from the south into the Jordan—that is, the great valley of the Arabah, reaching from the Dead to the Red Sea.

Verse 5

river of Egypt—the ancient brook Sihor, the Rhinocolura of the Greeks, a little to the south of El-Arish, where this wady gently descends towards the Mediterranean (Jos 13:3).

Verse 6

the western border—There is no uncertainty about this boundary, as it is universally allowed to be the Mediterranean, which is called "the great sea" in comparison with the small inland seas or lakes known to the Hebrews.

Verse 7

north border—The principal difficulty in understanding the description here arises from what our translators have called mount Hor. The Hebrew words, however, Hor-ha-Hor, properly signify "the mountain of the mountain," or "the high double mountain," which, from the situation, can mean nothing else than the mountain Amana (Sol 4:8), a member of the great Lebanon range (Jos 13:5).

Verse 8

entrance of Hamath—The northern plain between those mountain ranges, now the valley of Balbeck (see on Num 13:21).

Zedad—identified as the present Sudud (Eze 47:15).

Verse 9

Ziphron—("sweet odor").

Hazar-enan—("village of fountains"); but the places are unknown. "An imaginary line from mount Cassius, on the coast along the northern base of Lebanon to the entering into the Bekaa (Valley of Lebanon) at the Kamosa Hermel," must be regarded as the frontier that is meant [VAN DE VELDE].

Verse 10

east border—This is very clearly defined. Shepham and Riblah, which were in the valley of Lebanon, are mentioned as the boundary line, which commenced a little higher than the sources of the Jordan. Ain is supposed to be the source of that river; and thence the eastern boundary extended along the Jordan, the sea of Chinnereth (Lake of Tiberias), the Jordan; and again terminated at the Dead Sea. The line being drawn on the east of the river and the seas included those waters within the territory of the western tribes.

Verse 13

The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan—The conquered territories of Sihon and Og, lying between the Arnon and mount Hermon, were allotted to them—that of Reuben in the most southerly part, Gad north of it, and the half Manasseh in the northernmost portion.

Verse 16

names of the men . . . which shall divide the land—This appointment by the Lord before the Jordan tended not only to animate the Israelites faith in the certainty of the conquest, but to prevent all subsequent dispute and discontent, which might have been dangerous in presence of the natives. The nominees were ten princes for the nine and a half tribes, one of them being selected from the western section of Manasseh, and all subordinate to the great military and ecclesiastical chiefs, Joshua and Eleazar. The names are mentioned in the exact order in which the tribes obtained possession of the land, and according to brotherly connection.

Next: Numbers Chapter 35