Numbers 34:1-15--Boundaries of the Land

Numbers 34:1-15
English Standard Version

Boundaries of the Land
34 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders), 3 your south side shall be from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall run from the end of the Salt Sea on the east. 4 And your border shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon. 5 And the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and its limit shall be at the sea.

6 “For the western border, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western border.

7 “This shall be your northern border: from the Great Sea you shall draw a line to Mount Hor. 8 From Mount Hor you shall draw a line to Lebo-hamath, and the limit of the border shall be at Zedad. 9 Then the border shall extend to Ziphron, and its limit shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern border.

10 “You shall draw a line for your eastern 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 go down and reach to the shoulder of the Sea of Chinnereth on the east. 12 And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and its limit shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around.”

​13 Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. 14 For the tribe of the people of Reuben by fathers' houses and the tribe of the people of Gad by their fathers' houses have received their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh. 15 The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.”

---

First, I'll start off by saying that I don't exactly agree with the heading here in the ESV as we've already talked about the boundaries of the land that the LORD gave to the people and all the peoples that He had commanded them to conquer--that land is much larger, but there was only a portion of that promised to each of the 12 Tribes and the families that existed at this time.  To me that means that there was always supposed to be room for growth.  The promise here was made to these original families that the land that was known as Canaan would be their eternal inheritance.  It's also important here to notice that God is only talking to the 10 tribes that haven't already chosen their inheritance.  Moses has already set boundaries for them in a separate passage (see Numbers 32:  33-42).

It's hard to imagine these boundaries as we don't know all their names, but most Bible maps (in the back of many Bibles) and Bible atlases do a good job with this map.  I'll also put a map at the end of this blog for you to show you, but it's what we generally think of as "The Promised Land."  And, yes, these boundaries differ from the map that I included in my blog on June 26th, 2021 (the main difference is that map is not speaking of the land that would be allocated/apportioned to the 12 tribes at the end of the conquest--this passage is specifically focused in on the land of Canaan.  That's not to say that Canaan was the totality of the land that would belong to the nation of Israel or maybe I should say that their dominion and influence were meant to extend beyond the regions of where their citizens specifically lived.

I hinted at why I think this is the case in my last statement, but why promise more land than what you need for your people (actually a lot more land)?  I think it was God's intent for other nations to want to come under His authority and be a part of the promise of Genesis 12:3,


Genesis 12:3
English Standard Version
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So, I think God gave addition room not promised specifically to the Jews to show that it was always His intent for their to be God-fearing Gentiles.  I think there will be a day when the center of authority in Jerusalem will extend its reaches far beyond the geographical boundaries of the land of Canaan and that other nations and peoples will desire to be a part of that kingdom--maybe they become citizens or maybe they just pay tribute and are more of a territory or protectorate.  Here are some verses in the Bible that talk about the boundaries of the nation of Israel:  https://www.openbible.info/topics/promised_land_boundaries.

Ultimately though we know that there will be a King of Kings and Lord of Lord who will have His capital city in Jerusalem (the New Jerusalem) and He will reign over all creation, and His kingdom will be a kingdom that has no end.  Currently, we already live in a place where the Kingdom is not limited by geographical boundaries or limited only to ethnic Israel as there are remnant of people from every tribe, tongue, nation and people group that will be part of those around the throne in heaven singing praise to the King of Kings.

However, that future Kingdom is not what this promise means....God has promised His people a physical land and physical inheritance among the nations and has designated this as the place where all the attention of the world would be focused and that all His people would be gathered during their pilgrimage feasts so that no one should have been able to miss the coming of Jesus.  People of nations great and small had to come through this exact parcel of land to do business.