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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 34

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Give these instructions to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its borders, 3 your southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea, 4 and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, continue to Zin, and then its direction will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. 5 There the border will turn from Azmon to the Stream of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea. 6 “‘And for a western border you will have the Great Sea. This will be your western border. 7 “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath,⁠ and the direction of the border will be to Zedad. 9 The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border. 10 “‘For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11 The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Kinnereth. 12 Then the border will continue down the Jordan River and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’” 13 Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land that you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes, 14 because the tribe of the Reubenites by their families, the tribe of the Gadites by their families, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. 15 The two-and-a-half tribes have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, east of Jericho, toward the sunrise.” 16 The Lord said to Moses: 17 “These are the names of the men who are to allocate the land to you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. 18 You must take one leader from every tribe to assist in allocating the land as an inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 20 from the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud; 21 from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Kislon; 22 and from the tribe of the Danites, a leader, Bukki son of Jogli. 23 From the Josephites, Hanniel son of Ephod, a leader from the tribe of Manasseh; 24 from the tribe of the Ephraimites, a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan; 25 from the tribe of the Zebulunites, a leader, Elizaphan son of Parnach; 26 from the tribe of the Issacharites, a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan; 27 from the tribe of the Asherites, a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi; 28 and from the tribe of the Naphtalites, a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud.” 29 These are the ones whom the Lord commanded to divide up the inheritance among the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 34:8 and Ezekiel 47:15

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Numbers 34 traces the northern border of Canaan through rare landmarks like Lebo Hamath, Zedad, and Hazar Enan. Ezekiel follows the same border, drawing on the older description to map the restored land of its vision.

Passages

Numbers 34:8

Hebrew Bible
7 “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, and the direction of the border will be to Zedad. 9 The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Ezekiel 47:15

Hebrew Bible
15 “This will be the border of the land: On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to the entrance of Zedad; 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, as far as Hazer Hattikon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 The border will run from the sea to Hazar Enan, at the border of Damascus, and on the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

... 47:15-17. north border. Although the north border is described in great detail, none of the place names can be identified with any certainty. Thus, it is not possible to draw any boundary lines for Israel's northern frontier. There are, however, some affinities with the list in Numbers 34:7-9, a border that coincided with the northern limits of the land of Canaan, which was the name of the Egyptian controlled area of Syro-Palestine. Ezekiel uses general terms here to describe a territory rather than a boundary line. 47:18. east border. Like Numbers 34:10-12 Ezekiel excludes in his description of the east border the Transjordanian regions that had been occupied by Gad, Reuben, and one-half of Manasseh. Thus, the main border was the Jordan River running south from the Sea of Galilee until the Dead Sea... 47:20. west border. The western border, as in Numbers 34:6, is the Mediterranean Sea ...
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 728.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 34:8 and Ezekiel 47:15

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