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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 34:1-15

We have here a particular draught of the line by which the land of Canaan was meted, and bounded, on all sides. God directs Moses to settle it here, not as a geographer in his map, merely to please the curious, but as a prince in his grant, that it may be certainly known what passes, and is conveyed, by the grant. There was a much larger possession promised them, which in due time they would have possessed if they had been obedient, reaching even to the river Euphrates, Dan. 11:24. And even so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 34:5

And the border shall fetch a compass ,.... Not go on in a straight line, but turn about: from Azmon unto the river of Egypt ; the river Nile, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra seems to deny that that river is meant: and some think that Rhinocolura, which flows into the Mediterranean sea, is meant; or the "valley of Egypt", Casiotis, which divided Judea from Egypt, as follows: and the goings out of it ; not of the river, but of the border: shall be at the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 34:6

And as for the western border ,.... Of the land of Canaan: you shall even have the great sea for a border ; and no other, meaning the Mediterranean sea, which lies west of the land of Judea; Aben Ezra calls it the Spanish sea: it has the name of "great", in comparison of some in the land of Canaan, as the salt sea, and the sea of Tiberias: this shall be your west border ; namely, the Mediterranean sea. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 34:5

The river of Egypt - The eastern branch of the river Nile; or, according to others, a river which is south of the land of the Philistines, and fails into the gulf or bay near Calieh. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 34:6

Ye shall even have the great sea for a border - The Mediterranean Sea, called here the Great Sea, to distinguish it from the Dead Sea, the Sea of Tiberias, etc., which were only a sort of lakes. In Hebrew there is properly but one term, ים yam , which is applied to all collections of water apparently stagnant, and which is generally translated sea. The Greek of the New Testament follows the Hebrew, and employs, in general, the word θαλασσα , Sea, whether it speaks of the Mediterranean,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Numbers 34:3-5

The southern boundary commenced at the Dead Sea. The broad and desolate valley by which the depressed bed of that sea is protected toward the south, is called the Ghor. A deep narrow glen enters it at its southwest corner; it is called Wady-el-Fikreh, and is continued in the same southwestern direction, under the name of Wady el-Marrah; a wady which loses itself among the hills belonging to “the wilderness of Zin;” and Kadesh-barnea (see Numbers 13:26 note), which is “in the wilderness of Zin,”... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Numbers 34:4-6

Numbers 34:4-6. From the south to Kadesh-barnea Rather, shall extend on the south to Kadesh-barnea westward. Unto the river of Egypt That is, the Nile. Not that the Jews did really extend their territories so far as the Nile; but thus far they were allowed to extend them. The goings out of it shall be at the sea The Midland or Mediterranean sea, called the sea, emphatically, and (Numbers 34:6,) the great sea, in opposition to the sea of Galilee, and the Dead sea, which are indeed... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Numbers 34:1-29

Plans for the division of Canaan (33:50-34:29)As Canaan was to become the land of Yahweh’s people, all the former inhabitants and all trace of their religion had to be removed. Failure to do this would bring trouble for Israel (50-56).Moses then gave the boundaries of the land that Israel was to occupy. The southern boundary went from the Dead Sea through Kadesh-barnea to the Brook of Egypt, which it followed to the coast. The western boundary followed the coast along the Mediterranean Sea. The... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Numbers 34:5

river. Hebrew. nachal, a wady; not nahar, a river. Here used of "Sihor", and called the river of Egypt. Compare Genesis 15:18 , where it is nahar = the Nile. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Numbers 34:6

"And for the western border, ye shall have the great sea and the border thereof: this shall be your west border."The western border required no further description. The Mediterranean Sea was the western border of the Holy Land. Strangely enough, the children of Israel were never able to possess that seacoast. Not even in the glorious reigns of David and Solomon did the land of the Philistine belong to Israel. As we noted in Numbers 32, the settlement of a very large part of Israel east of... read more

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