Numbers 34

P. Numbers 34:1-15. The boundaries of Israelite possessions on the west of the Jordan. Numbers 34:16-29. The appointment of ten princes to superintend the allotment of the land. The eastern and western boundaries of the country are clearly defined. They are the R. Jordan and the ‘Great Sea,’ the Mediterranean. But the northern and southern limits are very uncertain, hardly any of the places mentioned having been identified. The Southern Border (Numbers 34:3-5) runs from the Salt Sea (i.e. the Dead Sea), along the border of Edom, to the Mediterranean through two known points, Kadesh-Barnea and the ‘Wady of Egypt’ (see on Numbers 34:5). The other places named are unknown.

The same names are found in a similar description of the southern border in Joshua 15:2-4, except that Hezron takes the place of Hazar-addar, Addar being given as a distinct spot, and an additional unknown place Karka is named. And in Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28 in the ideal picture of the boundaries of the future Israel four points are given to mark the southern border: Tamar (site unknown, but somewhere near the Dead Sea), Meriboth-Kadesh (= Kadesh-Barnea), ‘the Wady,’ and the Great Sea. The Northern Border (Numbers 34:7-12) is still more uncertain. It started from a point on the Mediterranean described as Mt Hor, passed by the ‘entrance of Hamath’ (see on Numbers 13:21) and Zedad (unknown), ran eastward as far as Hazar-enan (unknown), and then turned southward to the sea of Chinnereth. No such northern boundary is described in Joshua, but Ezekiel 47:15-17 coincides with Num. as regards the Great Sea, Zedad, and Hazar-enan, the last, however, being spelt Hazar-enon. It is probable that the boundaries here traced in P are, as in Ezekiel, ideal, and that the full extent of country which they imply was never actually possessed by Israel. This is certain as regards the west, for the Hebrews never held a single spot on the Mediterranean coast with the possible exception of Carmel, and, at certain periods, Joppa (see Hastings’ DB. i. 355 and ii. 755). Joppa was captured by Jonathan Maccabaeus in 148 b.c. (1Ma 10:76) and again by his brother Simon six years later (1Ma 12:33 f.; cf. 1Ma 14:5). For a fuller discussion than is here possible of the localities mentioned in this chapter the reader is referred to Gray, Numbers, pp. 454–462.

Numbers 34:3

3. your south quarter] your south sida. The word pe’âh frequently occurs in the ideal pictures of Ezekiel (chs. 41–48) always with this meaning. In earlier Heb. it denotes a ‘corner.’ eastward] i.e. on the east. The southern extremity of the Salt Sea is further denned in Joshua 15:2.

Numbers 34:4

4. the ascent of Akrabbim] i.e. the ‘Scorpion Pass.’ ‘From the Dead Sea the line indicated probably ran at first S.W. through the Wady el-Fiḳ ?reh, which is a natural boundary, and then, turning round the Jebel Madurah [see on Numbers 20:22], much more directly south to Ḳ ?adesh. The ascent of ‘Aḳ ?rabbim may be sought in one of the passes on the N. side of the Wady el-Fiḳ ?reh, and perhaps in particular in the Naḳ ?b el-Yemen, which starts just opposite the Jebel Madurah, or in the Naḳ ?b eṣ ?-Ṣ ?afâ’ (Gray).

Numbers 34:5

5. the brook of Egypt] Heb. ‘the naḥ ?al of Miẓ ?raim.’ A.V. ‘the river of Egypt’ gives the erroneous impression that the Nile is meant. The name is that of a wady or torrent, now called Wâdy el-‘Arîsh, which rises in the centre of the Sinaitic peninsula, and flows northward into the Mediterranean about 50 miles S.W. of Gaza. It is possible that Miẓ ?raim here denotes not Egypt proper, but the tract on the east of Egypt. The name Muẓ ?ur is frequently applied to the latter in Assyrian inscriptions.

Numbers 34:6

6. and the border thereof] These words should be omitted. The word εּ ?βְ ?αεּ ?μ (ϋgebhϋl ‘and a border’) may have been accidentally added as a doublet of the preceding ηַ ?βָּ ?γεֹ ?μ (haggβdhτl ‘the great’), which it somewhat resembles.

Numbers 34:7

7. mount Hor] This is, of course, quite distinct from the mountain of the same name in the neighbourhood of Edom (Numbers 20:22 ff., Numbers 33:38).

Numbers 34:11

11. the side of the sea] lit. ‘the shoulder of the sea.’ The word is a descriptive term referring to the mountain slopes on the N.E. of the lake; cf. Joshua 15:10. The sea or lake is that known in N.T. times as the Sea, or Lake, of Galilee.

Numbers 34:15

15. beyond the Jordan] The passage is written by some one on the west of the Jordan, which Moses never crossed.

Numbers 34:16-29

16–29. Ten princes were appointed to superintend the allotment of the land, one from each of the nine and a halt tribes who settled west of the Jordan. In supreme command are Joshua and Eleazar, the successors of Moses and Aaron as the civil and religious beads of the nation.