Numbers 34:2. This is the land. It was proper to fix the line of the boundaries to prevent war for aggrandizement. It reached from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, as in Joshua 1., and mount Lebanon, and was circumscribed south and east by the desert; yet they never properly possessed more than from Dan, the colony in the north-east, Judges 7., to Beersheba. The nations that surrounded them were indeed made tributary to some of the kings of Judah, but never dispossessed of their country.
Numbers 34:5. The river of Egypt, is thought to have been the small river which divided Egypt from Philistia.
Numbers 34:6. The great sea. The Mediterranean is here, and in Daniel, called the Great sea, in comparison of the sea of Sodom, and of Galilee.
Numbers 34:8. The entrance of Hamath, in the defiles of mount Lebanon. The Assyrian armies entered here.
Numbers 34:11. The sea of Chinnereth. This is mentioned in Joshua 12:3; Joshua 13:27; Joshua 19:35. The city of Chinnereth is mentioned among the fortified towns. It is written Gennesaret in Matthew 14:34, and is mostly called the sea of Galilee.
REFLECTIONS.
The original boundaries of Israel's Theocracy, extended from the river, or brook, entering Egypt, to the Euphrates. The seven devoted nations only were to be either cut off or expelled. Edom and other small nations were to be tributary, which David carried into full effect. It is for dividing the soil of the seven nations, that fourteen commissioners were now appointed. Joshua and Eleazar, two disinterested men, were appointed presidents of this commission. They were instructed to measure and divide the land into fair proportions, then to ballot the districts to the tribes; and lastly, to vary the proportions of land to the number of people in each of the tribes. It is well for our temporal affairs to be judiciously arranged. But the christian can best say, the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. The Lord is a satisfying portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him.