Chapter Thirty-Four

The boundaries of the land of promise. The appointment of men to divide the land into portions.

Numbers 34:1. And the Lord said to Moses, saying: Numbers 34:2. Command the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its borders: The boundaries are drawn only for western Transjordan (Canaan); eastern Transjordan was occupied by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh by virtue of personal permission from Moses (Num 32:1).

Numbers 34:3. Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of the Salt Sea, The southern boundary of the promised land is established as the Wilderness of Zin, Edom, the stream of Egypt (the present-day wadi Wadi el-Arish), at the mouth of which the ancient city Rhinocolura (modern El-Arish) was built.

Numbers 34:6. As for the western boundary, the Great Sea shall be your boundary; this shall be your western boundary; The Mediterranean Sea is established as the western boundary.

Numbers 34:7. Now your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall draw your line to Mount Hor; Numbers 34:8. From Mount Hor you shall draw a line to the entrance of Hamath, and the boundary shall extend to Zedad; Numbers 34:9. Then the boundary shall go to Ziphron, and its limit shall be at Hazar-Enan. This shall be your northern boundary. The northern boundary: Mount Hor (probably one of the elevations of Lebanon (the LXX and Slavonic call it ορος, a mountain) and Hamath (a mountain pass and a city on the Orontes River in Coele-Syria, between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon). Zedad, according to commentators, is the present-day Sedada; Ziphron is the present-day Zyphran. The former is located near the Hamathite mountain pass, the latter near Damascus.

Numbers 34:10. And your eastern boundary you shall draw from Hazar-Enan to Shepham; Numbers 34:11. And the boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; and the boundary shall descend and reach to the side of the Sea of Chinnereth on the east; Numbers 34:12. And the boundary shall go down to the Jordan, and its limit shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to all its boundaries on every side. The eastern boundary is established as the Jordan River and the Salt (Dead) Sea. Chinnereth is the Sea of Galilee. Num 34:16-29. Concerning the division of the land among the tribes see Josh 13-21.