Numbers 34 explained: Drawing the Borders of Canaan

The southern border (vv. 1-5)

The line runs west from the bottom of the Dead Sea, past a steep pass whose name means "scorpions" and the desert oasis of Kadesh Barnea, to a seasonal stream usually linked with El Arish in northern Sinai. Several of these places can no longer be located with certainty.

The western and northern borders (vv. 6-9)

The west is simply the Mediterranean coast, while the north runs inland toward the region of Hamath, in what is now Lebanon or Syria. This Mount Hor is probably not the one where Aaron died but a peak in the Lebanon mountains, and scholars are unsure of the exact line.

The eastern border (vv. 10-12)

From the far north the line comes down to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, then follows the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. This is the clearest stretch, and it seems to place the lake and river inside the tribes' land.

Land for nine and a half tribes (vv. 13-15)

Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh had already been given land east of the Jordan (see chapter 32), so this territory is for the rest. It is to be shared out by lot, a kind of drawing straws that was seen as leaving the choice to God.

Leaders who will divide it (vv. 16-29)

Eleazar the priest and Joshua will oversee the work, helped by one named leader from each of the ten tribes receiving land here. Caleb is the one familiar name, one of the two scouts who years earlier had urged Israel to trust God and enter the land (chapters 13 and 14).

Key verse: Numbers 34:2

Where Christians differ

Christians differ over whether this land promise still applies to the Jewish people and the land today, or has been fulfilled or widened into a larger hope through Jesus.

Something to think about

What makes a place feel like it truly belongs to someone, and who should get to decide that when others already live there?