A Promise with Borders

Numbers 34 turns the promise of land into a map. Yahweh said, When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance. The south border ran from the wilderness of Zin by Edom, past Kadesh Barnea, to the brook of Egypt. The west border was the great sea. The north border went from the sea to Mount Hor in the north and on to Hazar Enan. The east border came down to the sea of Chinnereth and the Jordan, ending at the Salt Sea. Some of these places are uncertain today.

God concluded, This shall be your land according to its borders around it. The promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:18 was taking concrete shape. Moses explained that this land was for the nine tribes and the half-tribe, because Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.

Finally, God named the men to divide the land. Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun led, with a prince from each of the ten tribes, including Caleb for Judah. The chapter closes: These are they whom Yahweh commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. Israel's land was a real gift, but Hebrews 11:16 says God's people ultimately desire a better country, a heavenly one.