(Numbers 33:50) And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, (51) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, (52) Then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their pictures, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places.'"
This was to be the Israelites' last station in the plains of Moab before crossing over the Jordan River into their promised land. The Lord gave Moses instructions to give to the Israelites when they had crossed over Jordan and entered the land of Canaan. They were to drive out all the inhabitants from before them. The original word translated as "drive out" means "occupy" or "take possession", but can also mean "cast out, consume, destroy". The Israelites were also to destroy all the inhabitants' pictures and statues of idolatry and all their high places of worship.
(53) "'And you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess.'"
Once the Israelites had destroyed all the symbols of idolatry and driven out the inhabitants, they were to take possession of their land and dwell in it, for God had given that land to them.
(54) "‘And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falls; according to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit.'"
When they took possession of the land, it was to be divided among the remaining tribes, as Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh had taken as their inheritances land on the current side of the Jordan. The land was to be divided by casting lots so that God was the one who actually determined which tribe got which portion of land for its inheritance. Part of His determination was that larger portions would go to larger tribes, and smaller ones would get smaller possessions.
(55) "‘But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass, that those which you let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which you dwell.'"
God warned that if they did not do as He had said and drive the inhabitants completely out of their land, then those who remained would be very troublesome and distressing to them and would continually harass them.
(56) "'Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do to you as I thought to do to them.'"
Additionally, besides what the inhabitants who remained would do to them, God Himself would do to the Israelites what He had intended for the Canaanites; He would deliver them into the hands of their enemies to drive them out of their promised land. If the Israelites allowed some Canaanites to stay, they would surely mingle with them and fall into their pagan ways. This is a good illustration of what sin does to us. If we neglect to stay pure and drive sin out, sin will eventually drive us out and away from God's promise of eternal life for our souls.
(Numbers 34:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Command the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, that is, the land of Canaan to its boundaries), (3) Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom, and your south border shall be eastward to the outermost coast of the Salt Sea.'"
The Lord continued speaking to Moses, telling him what to say to the Israelites. When they came into the land of Canaan, that land He had promised them as their inheritance, they were to observe the boundaries as He commanded. The Lord Himself determined the boundaries of their promised land of Canaan. The southern portion of their land was to extend from the wilderness of Zin, which is said to be Kadesh in particular, along the border of Edom eastward to the outermost coast of the Dead Sea. The map below shows the approximate boundaries of the promised land. I say "approximate" because as Adam Clarke stated in his Commentary on the Bible, the exact boundaries could only be precisely known by an actual survey.
(4) "'And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and continue to Zin, going forth from the south to Kadesh Barnea, and shall go on to Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon.'"
The following map that shows a more detailed view of the southern border comes from www.bible.ca:
From this map, we see that verse 4 discusses the southeast corner of the border from Kadesh Barnea to Addar and Azmon westward, following the ascent of Akrabbim, up through the wilderness of Zin on the eastern border.
(5) "'And the border shall turn from Azmon to the river of Egypt, and the end of it shall be at the sea.'"
The southwestern boundary would be from Azmon turning northward and following the River of Egypt and ending at the Mediterranean Sea.
(6) "'And as for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your west border.'"
The western border of their promised land would be the Mediterranean Sea.
(7) "'And this shall be your north border: from the Great Sea you shall point out for you mount Hor; (8) From mount Hor you shall point out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be to Zedad; (9) And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your north border.'"
The northern border was to run westward from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor. This was not the Mount Hor on which Aaron died. The word "hor" is actually a word for mountain. From this Mount Hor the border was to run eastward to Hamath, then to Zedad, on to Ziphron, and ending at Hazar Enan. This northern border can be seen on the first map above.
(10) "'And you shall point out your east border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; (11) And the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend and shall reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth; (12) And the border shall go down to Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’”
The eastern boundary of the promised land of Canaan was to go from Hazar Enan southward to Shepham. It would then curve westward to Riblah, past Ain, to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth, and then downward along the Jordan River, ending at the Dead Sea. Thus the Lord ended the entire description of Israel's boundaries.
Matthew Henry, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, made an interesting observation. The border began and ended with the Dead Sea, then called the Salt Sea. "This was the remaining lasting monument of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That pleasant fruitful vale in which these cities stood became a lake, which was never stirred by any wind, bore no vessels, was replenished with no fish, no living creature of any sort being found in it, therefore called the Dead Sea. This was part of their border, that it might be a constant warning to them to take heed of those sins which had been the ruin of Sodom..."
(13) And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, “This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe.'"
Moses told the people that the land with its boundaries described above was the land that they would inherit by lot, that is, nine and a half tribes would inherit this land by lot--Judah, Simeon, Benjamin, Dan, Ephraim, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the other half tribe of Manasseh.
(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, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. (15) The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”
Moses explained that the two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and a half tribe of Manasseh had already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho in the promised land of Canaan. Their inheritance lay from the Jordan River eastward.
(16) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (17) “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun."
The Lord then told Moses that the men who would divide the land would be Eleazar the priest and Joshua. Matthew Henry made a noteworthy observation: "The principal commissioners...were Eleazar and Joshua...typifying Christ, who, as priest and king, divides the heavenly Canaan to the spiritual Israel; yet, as they were to go by the lot, so Christ acknowledges the disposal must be by the will of the Father..."
(18) “And you shall take one prince of every tribe to divide the land by inheritance. (19) And the names of the men are these: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh."
A prince from each of the remaining tribes was chosen to represent their particular tribe and would witness the drawing of lots and would see to it that their tribe took possession of their inheritance according to the lot. The prince of the tribe of Judah was to be Caleb.
(20) "And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud."
The Lord designated Shemuel, the son of Ammihud, to be the representative prince from the tribe of Simeon.
(21) "Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. (22) And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli.
From the tribe of Benjamin the Lord designated Elidad to receive the lot for his tribe; and from the tribe of Dan He assigned Bukki.
Because Blogger limits the number of labels each post may have, and I feel all these names are equally important, I will continue this study in the next post:
The Borders of the Promised Land, Part 2
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