Exodus 23:31

God further promised a wide land area. It stretched from the Red Sea (probably the Gulf of Aqabah, the southeastern boundary) to the Mediterranean Sea (the western boundary). It also ran from the wilderness (probably the northeast edge of the Sinai wilderness, the southwest boundary) to the Euphrates River (the northeastern boundary; cf. Genesis 15:18). Some writers believed that this is a reference to the river that now forms the border between modern Lebanon and Syria. [Note: E.g., Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 447.] Yet in the Hebrew Bible "the river" usually refers to the Euphrates. Israel did not occupy all of this territory due to her disobedience to God.