Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark. The state of Palestine in regard to enclosures is very much the same now as it has always been. Though gardens and vineyards are surrounded by dry stone walls or hedges of prickly-pear, the boundaries of arable fields are marked by nothing but by a little trench, a small cairn, or a single erect stone placed at certain intervals. It is manifest that a dishonest person could easily fill the gutter with earth, or remove these stones a few feet, without much risk of detection, and enlarge his own field by a stealthy encroachment on his neighbour's. This law, then, was made to prevent such trespasses in the land which the Israelites were about to occupy; because when the country came to be divided among the tribes, and the families composing them had their respective patrimonies allotted, the leaders of the nation would at the first set the boundaries, which at no future period it would be lawful to alter or remove.