Numbers 34:16

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, SAYING,_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

16_And the Lord spake unto Moses. _The question here arises, if the Israelites were to divide the land among themselves by lot, wherefore was the authority of the judges required, as if there was anything for them to decide? But if we consider what has been lately shown, that reference was to be had, in the distribution of the land, to the numbers in every tribe, it was requisite for two purposes, — first, that God might show by His decree the districts respectively assigned to them; and, secondly, that their dimensions might be proportionate to the number of their occupants. For the casting of lots was still necessary, because many would have been averse to the sea-coast, or would have preferred the center of the land to its extremities, or would have been unwilling to be banished to the mountains; in short, they would have contended with each other beyond measure in murmurings and stri...

16-29 God here appoints men to divide the land to them. So sure must they feel of victory and success while God fought for them, that the persons are named who should be intrusted with the dividing of the land....

Of the representatives now selected through Moses beforehand, who were all princes, i. e. heads of chief families, in their respective tribes (see Numbers 13:2), Caleb alone, of the tribe of Judah, is otherwise known to us (see Numbers 13:4 ff). The order in which the tribes are named is peculiar to this passage. If they be taken in pairs, Judah and Simeon, Benjamin and Dan, Manasseh and Ephraim, Zebulun and Issachar, Asher and Naphtali, the order of the pairs agrees with the order in which the allotments in the Holy land, taken also in couples, followed each other in the map from south to north....

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,.... At the same time that he gave him the bounds of the land of Canaan, which was to be divided between the nine tribes and a half; and that this might be done in the most impartial manner, and to the satisfaction of them all, he gave orders to Moses: SAYING; as follows....

10. INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE CONQUEST AND THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND Chapter S 33:50-34 _ 1. Command to drive out the inhabitants of the land (Numbers 33:50)_ 2. The division of the land (Numbers 34:1) 3. The names of the men who shall divide the land (Numbers 34:16) The extermination of the Canaanites is first of all demanded. Everything of idolatry was to be destroyed. The land was to belong to a holy people who belong to Jehovah, therefore the Canaanite with his abominations had to be driven out of the land. “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, those that ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and shal

THE NAMES OF THE COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO DIVIDE THE LAND (from P). Joshua and Caleb are represented as surviving to enter Canaan, in accordance with Numbers 14:30....

Ten princes were appointed to superintend the allotment of the land, one from each of the nine and a halt tribes who settled west of the Jordan. In supreme command are Joshua and Eleazar, the successors of Moses and Aaron as the civil and religious beads of the nation....

AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, &C.— To make the foundation of the Hebrew government solid and lasting, the wisdom of their lawgiver declared, as an essential branch of their constitution, that the territory should be equally divided; so that the whole six hundred thousand should each have a full property in an equal part of it; and that every man should hold his estate as a freehold in chief, immediately from God himself, without any tenure of service to any great man whatsoever; and that this tenure should be unalienable from the family in which it was originally settled, and should descend by an indefeasible entail in perpetual succession. Lowman, p. 41. Though this division of the land was to be made by lot, Numbers 34:13 yet it was fit that there should be some persons to oversee the business; the management of it, therefore, is ordered, with great propriety, to be in the hands of t

C. ALLOTMENTS ASSIGNED TO TRIBAL LEADERS vv. 16-29 TEXT Numbers 34:16. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 17. These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. 18. And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance. 19. And the names of the men are these: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20, And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23. The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24. And the prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25. And the princes of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the so