and the border shall go to Ziphron, and shall end at Hazar-enan. This shall be your north border.
Numbers 34 sets out the four sides of the land Israel was about to enter. Verse 9 closes the northern line with two place names, and today nobody can locate one of them. Why does God dictate a survey in such detail, and what does a fixed border say about His gift?
The God who led Israel through the desert now marks out where their home begins and ends. One writer ties the two together, then adds what Israel did with the gift — and what still lies ahead.
Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The same hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their habitation. Sadly, they never took possession of the land as given by God. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took only a part, and that for a time. But thank God, the moment is coming when the descendants of Abraham will enter on the full and everlasting possession of that fair inheritance, from which they are for now shut out.
The second name in this verse turns up again centuries later in the prophets, as the same corner of the same land.
The north-eastern boundary of the promised land, both in the past and in the future. Numbers 34:9-10; Ezekiel 47:17; Ezekiel 48:1. Mr. Porter has identified it with Kuryetein. That lies about sixty miles east-north-east of Damascus, and it has plentiful springs — which is what "Enan" seems to imply.
We can no longer place every site on this northern line. Even so, one writer measures the line against Solomon's later kingdom.
Numbers 34:9-11 also gives the north border. We cannot trace some of the places, yet this much is clear: the border did not reach as far as the land Solomon held. For a moment Solomon's rule looked ahead to the possession Israel will yet inherit under Christ.
So the line here falls short of the whole promise. One writer explains why, and what a larger border depended on.
Even now, as He gives them the bounds of their inheritance, we find nothing like the full extent of the land promised to them. That promise ran "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). Their bounds at this time touched neither the Red Sea nor the Euphrates. The reason is plain. They were going into the land under a legal covenant. God was not bringing them in according to the fullness of divine grace, as He yet will. If they continued in His covenant, God would enlarge their borders... even to the full extent of the original promise; but this depended upon what never took place. Men taunt Israel now with how small the land is — barely the size of Wales. That smallness does not show what grace has assigned them as their portion. It shows only that they could not make good their claim to it.
A border does two things at once. It encloses, and it excludes. One writer reads even the place names in this chapter as more than geography.
The land, cleansed of idolatry, is described by its borders: north, south, east and west. Here again each name carries a thought. Each helps to mark the great lines of separation between the inheritance of the people of God and what this world has as its portion.
Israel's territory was no safe island. The same writer traces the whole line round, and names what lay outside it.
It belongs to this book to mark out at least the limits of Israel's territory. That territory lies surrounded by foes, and open to influences which are truly hostile, though not always openly so. The line of separation must run all the way round: from the south-east border of the salt sea to the river of Egypt and the great sea, then round Lebanon, and by the Jordan back to the salt sea.
Our own inheritance has limits too. One writer names what sets them, and the two opposite mistakes we make with them.
In glory our own inheritance will be much larger than it is now. Yet we are told the limits of our present inheritance. The truth of the Word of God marks its bounds, and that truth allows us no fanciful interpretations, and no additions made up by our own minds. To hold in practice what God has given us will take all our time and spiritual energy. So it would be folly to try to add to what God gives. On the other hand, it is spiritual laziness to neglect taking possession of what God has given.
- Drawn — the border is God's own line, set by the same hand that had led every step of the desert journey.
- Named — Hazar-enan, the place of springs, marks the north-east corner here and in Ezekiel's future border. Some of the other sites can no longer be traced.
- Limited — this line stops short of the Euphrates promise. Israel entered under a covenant of law, not yet in the fullness of grace.
- Defended — the line runs right round a land ringed by foes. It divides God's people's portion from the world's.
- Yours to take — do not invent more than God gave, and do not leave unclaimed what He did give.
And ye shall mark out for you as eastern border from Hazar-enan to Shepham
Numbers 34 records God Himself tracing the outline of Israel's inheritance. This verse starts the eastern side of that line. Why does God fix any limits at all, and why this line?
One writer ties the map of the land to the journey that led there, then notes with sorrow what Israel did with the gift:
Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The same hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their home. Sadly, they never took possession of the land as God gave it. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took only a part, and that for a time. But the moment is coming when the seed of Abraham will enter on the full and everlasting possession of that fair inheritance, though for now they are shut out of it.
Trace this eastern border and it shows who was left outside it:
Notice where the eastern border was to run. It began at the east side of the sea of Chinnereth — the Lake of Galilee. From there it ran down the Jordan to the east side of the salt sea. So it left out the portion of the two and a half tribes.
Those tribes had settled on the far side of the river. When the same boundaries appear again in Ezekiel's vision of the restored land, their arrangement does not survive:
In Numbers and in Ezekiel alike, the Jordan forms the eastern line. The settlement of the two and a half tribes east of the river was a departure from the original plan. The final arrangement gives it no place at all: every tribe receives its inheritance west of the Jordan.
One writer reads the ground along this border as a deliberate marker:
It is another thing to have our portion in this world. Just here, between Canaan proper and the Gilead district, fertile as Gilead may be, God has dug deep the trench of the Jordan valley as a memorial. In it the fast-falling river of death drops into the sea of judgment, and no stream passes out of that sea or returns! Salt and so barren, and as if under the curse of God, that sea lies, a real "pit," more than thirteen hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea.
These bounds fall well short of the land God had promised earlier. One writer explains why:
Even now, when God gives them the bounds of their inheritance, we find nothing like the full extent of the land promised them, which was "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). Their bounds at this time touched neither the Red Sea nor the Euphrates. The reason is plain. They were going into the land under a covenant of law, not brought in according to the fullness of divine grace, as one day they will be. If they kept His covenant, God would enlarge their borders to the full extent of the original promise. But that depended on something that never happened. Even the bounds given here, which included Philistia, Tyre and all Lebanon, they have never yet held — though for one gleam of coming glory David's kingdom reached the Euphrates.
Commentators differ on how far to press these place names. One finds meaning in every one of them:
The land, cleansed of idolatry, is described in its borders — north, south, east and west. Here again each name carries a thought that helps mark the grand dividing lines between the inheritance of the people of God and what this world has as its portion.
Another agrees in principle but will not guess at the names. He draws a practical lesson from having limits at all:
In glory our own inheritance will be much larger than it is now. Yet Scripture tells us the limits of our present inheritance, for the truth of the Word of God marks its borders. That truth leaves no room for fanciful interpretations or for additions we make up in our own minds. To live out in practice what God has given us will take all our time and spiritual energy. So it would be folly to try to add to what God gives. On the other hand, it is spiritual laziness to neglect taking possession of what God has given.
- Given — the boundary is God's line. The hand that guided the wilderness journey fixes the bounds of their home.
- Drawn — the eastern line runs from the Lake of Galilee down the Jordan to the salt sea. That trench, where a river of death falls into a sea nothing flows out of, stands as a marker.
- Outside — that line leaves out the two and a half tribes east of the river. Ezekiel's later map gives their choice no place at all.
- Smaller — these bounds fall far short of the full promise, because Israel entered under a covenant of law. Grace will one day give Abraham's seed the whole land.
- Yours — occupy what God gives. Adding to your inheritance is folly; neglecting to take it is laziness.
and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall strike upon the extremity of the sea of Chinnereth eastward;
This verse traces one short stretch of Israel's eastern border. The line drops from Shepham past Ain. Then it touches the shoulder of a lake we know better by another name. Two questions sit inside the survey line: who drew it, and why did Israel never live inside it?
God chose every campsite of the desert years. Now He measures out the land where the wandering ends.
Numbers 34 gives the boundaries of the inheritance, as drawn by the hand of Jehovah. The very same hand which had guided their wanderings here fixes the bounds of their dwelling. Sadly, they never took possession of the land as God gave it. He gave them the whole land, and gave it for ever. They took only a part, and that for a time. But thank God, the moment is coming when Abraham's descendants will enter the full and everlasting possession of that beautiful inheritance, from which they are shut out for now.
The border does not stop at the lake. It keeps going down along the Jordan, and that leaves land some of Israel's tribes had already chosen outside the line.
Numbers 34 assumes that the people have arrived in the land as victors and taken possession. So it sets out the borders of the land, and how they were to divide it. Notice where the eastern border ran. It started at the east side of the sea of Chinnereth — the Lake of Galilee — and went down the Jordan to the east side of the salt sea. So the portion of the two and a half tribes was not included in it.
One writer sees a message in the landscape itself.
Gilead may be fertile. Even so, right here between Canaan proper and the Gilead district, God has dug deep the trench of the Jordan valley as a memorial. In that trench the fast-falling river of death drops into the sea of judgment, and out of that sea no stream passes or returns. That sea lies salt and barren, as if under God's curse — a real "pit," more than thirteen hundred feet below the Mediterranean.
Under its older name, the lake almost disappears from the Old Testament record.
This beautiful lake is a striking natural feature of the north of Palestine. The Old Testament mentions it only three times. Each time it calls the lake the Sea of Chinnereth, and each time the subject is the division of the land of Israel among the tribes (Num. 34:11; Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:27).
The name itself carries a picture. One writer ties it to what God made man for.
Chinnereth means "harp." The name suggests music, with man as the instrument under God's hand. In Israel the harp expressed joy and praise, not mourning; and this is what God made man for.
The list of place names does more than mark out real estate.
The land, so cleansed, is described in its borders — north, south, east and west. Here again each name carries a thought which helps to mark out the great dividing lines between the inheritance of the people of God and what this world has as its portion.
Even this modest frontier was more than Israel ever held. It also fell short of what God promised Abraham.
Even now, when God gives them the bounds of their inheritance, we find nothing like the full extent of the land promised to them. That promise ran "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). Why the difference? They were going into the land under a legal covenant, and not brought in according to the fullness of divine grace, as one day they will be. If they kept His covenant, God would enlarge their borders, even to the full extent of the original promise. But that depended on what never took place. People taunt Israel today with the narrowness of the land — scarcely the size of Wales. That narrowness does not show what grace has assigned them as their portion. It only shows their inability to make good their claim to it. Even the bounds given here, which took in Philistia, Tyre and all Lebanon, they have never yet held.
- Drawn. The hand that guided every stage of the desert march sets the border here. Guidance and inheritance come from the same God.
- Down. The eastern line falls from the lake along the Jordan to the salt sea. The land the two and a half tribes chose for themselves lies outside the map God drew.
- Named. Chinnereth is the Lake of Galilee under an older name. The Old Testament names it only three times, always in connection with dividing the land.
- Narrowed. Israel never held even these limits, which took in Philistia, Tyre and all Lebanon. Obedience would have widened them to the Euphrates, and that obedience never came.
- Coming. God gave the land for ever. Mackintosh looks on to a day when Abraham's descendants enter the full and lasting possession they have so far only tasted.