Numbers 34:18

_THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE MEN WHICH SHALL DIVIDE THE LAND UNTO YOU: ELEAZAR THE PRIEST, AND JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN._ Names of the men which shall divide the land. This appointment by the Lord before the passage of the Jordan tended not only to animate the Israelites' faith in the certainty of the conquest, but to prevent all subsequent dispute and discontent, which might have been dangerous in presence of the natives. The nominees were ten princes for the nine and a half tribes, one of them being selected from the western section of Manasseh, and all subordinate to the great military and ecclesiastical chiefs, Joshua and Eleazar. The names are mentioned in the exact order in which the tribes obtained possession of the land, and according to brotherly connection....

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 YE SHALL TAKE ONE PRINCE OUT OF EVERY TRIBE,.... That is, out of the nine tribes and the half, which are ten in all; of the tribes of Reuben and Gad none were taken, because they had had their inheritance granted them elsewhere; nor of the tribe of Levi, because they were to have no inheritance in the land: to divide the land by inheritance; who being men of honour, understanding, and probity, and naturally concerned for the good of the tribes to which they belonged, would take care that justice be done to each, and that no fraudulent methods were used in drawing the lot; and then take possession according to the lot, and impartially divide the portion assigned among the respective families in the tribes, according to their rank and numbers....

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

THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LAND OF PROMISE On the land and the tribes inhabiting it see on Numbers 13:21. 3-5. The southern border: this started from the S. extremity of the Dead Sea, here called the Salt Sea (Numbers 34:3), and proceeded in a SW. direction to the ascent of Akrabbim, i.e. 'of scorpions' (Numbers 34:4), a row of cliffs about 8 m. distant; thence it passed by way of Kadesh-Barnea to the River of Egypt, where it reached the Mediterranean Sea (Numbers 34:5). The 'River of Egypt' is not the Nile but a brook, now identified with the Wady el-Arish, flowing into the sea about 20 m. S. of Gaza. It is frequently mentioned