Bible Commentaries

Numbers 34:2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this [is] the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, [even] the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)

Ver. 2. This is the land that shall fall.] It is God that assigns us our quarters, and cuts us out our several conditions, "appointing the bounds of our habitation." [Acts 17:26] This should make us rest contented with our lot, and, having God our portion, say howsoever, as David did, "The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places." [Psalms 16:6] It is what our Father sees fit for us.

Numbers 34:3 Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward:

Ver. 3. Then your south quarter shall be.] Judea was not above two hundred miles long, and fifty miles broad; not near the half of England by much, but far more fertile, called, therefore, Sumen totius orbis. And yet England is, for good cause, counted the western granary; the garden of God, whose valleys are like Eden, whose hills are as Lebanon, whose springs are as Pisgah, whose rivers are as Jordan, whose walls is the ocean, whose defence is the Lord Jehovah. ^(a)

Numbers 34:6 And [as for] the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.

Ver. 6. The great sea.] Commonly called the Mediterranean Sea, betwixt which and the Jews lay the Philistines; as now betwixt the Church and the Turk lies the Pope and his followers, Italy being the mark that the Turk shoots at. Lo, a sweet providence of God!

Numbers 34:8 From mount Hor ye shall point out [your border] unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:

Ver. 8. Unto the entrance of Hamath.] Called Hamath the great, [Amos 6:2] affecting haply to be held the greatest village, as the Hague in Holland doth, and remains therefore unwalled.

Numbers 34:12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.

Ver. 12. It shall be at the salt sea.] That is, the Lake of Sodom, called also Asphaltites, and the Dead Sea. Josephus saith, that an ox, having all his legs bound, will not sink into the water of this sea, it is so dense.

Numbers 34:17 These [are] the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Ver. 17. E1eazar the priest.] Pointing to the High Priest of the new covenant, by whom we have entrance into the promised inheritance, whither he is gone before to prepare a place for us, and hath told us, that in his "Father’s house are many mansions," room enough.