These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.
The Lord commanded to divide the inheritance ... in the land of Canaan. The boundaries of the promised land are fully stated in the following passages of Scripture besides the present chapter: Genesis 15:18-21; Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 1:6-8; Deuteronomy 11:24; 2 Samuel 8:3; 1 Kings 4:21-24; 1 Chronicles 8:1-6; 1 Chronicles 9:26; and it is observable, that while in all these the Euphrates is spoken of as the eastern limit, the Jordan is expressly named here (Numbers 34:12) as the boundary on the east. Also, the southern border is traced in this chapter by an irregular curve from the Dead Sea to the river of Egypt; whereas in Exodus 23:31 the inheritance of Israel is described as extending southward to the Red Sea. But there is no discrepancy; because, while Canaan proper-the promised land-was comprised within the former boundaries, their acquisitions by conquest were permitted to extend as far as the latter. Within the narrower limits lay the country destined for the Israelites; but they were allowed to possess the larger region east of the Jordan, which for the most part was pasture-land. Accordingly, the country between the Mediterranean on the west and the Jordan on the east was counted 'the holy or consecrated land' (Joshua 22:25); and the accessions to the Hebrews, won by force of arms over the enemies who provoked them, never, even in the palmy days of David and Solomon, extended further than the Euphrates on the east, and the Red Sea on the south.