Numbers 34:5

_AND THE BORDER SHALL FETCH A COMPASS FROM AZMON UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT, AND THE GOINGS OUT OF IT SHALL BE AT THE SEA._ River of Egypt - the ancient brook Sihor, the Rhinocolura of the Greeks, a little to the south of El-Arish, where this wady gently descends towards the Mediterranean (Joshua 13:3). Dr. Hales ('Sac. Chron.,' vol. 1:, pp. 413, 414) and others suppose that the reference rather is to the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, (cf. 'Herodotus,' b. iii., ch. 5:) The southern boundary line, as traced in this passage, ran in an irregular curve between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea on the east, through the places here mentioned, to the river of Egypt on the west. But this curvature cannot be exactly described, although the important discoveries of Rowlands in the Negeb have contributed much to illustrate its course (see also Osborn's 'Palestine,' p. 392; Allen's

1-15 Canaan was of small extent; as it is here bounded, it is but about 160 miles in length, and about 50 in breadth; yet this was the country promised to the father of the faithful, and the possession of the seed of Israel. This was that little spot of ground, in which alone, for many ages, God was known. This was the vineyard of the Lord, the garden enclosed; but as it is with gardens and vineyards, the narrowness of the space was made up by the fruitfulness of the soil. Though the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, yet few know him, and serve him; but those few are happy, because fruitful to God. Also, see how little a share of the world God gives to his own people. Those who have their portion in heaven, have reason to be content with a small pittance of this earth. Yet a little that a righteous man has, having it from the love of God, and with his blessing, is far better...

Verse Numbers 34:5. _THE RIVER OF EGYPT_] The eastern branch of the river Nile; or, according to others, a river which is south of the land of the Philistines, and fails into the gulf or bay near _Calieh_....

The southern boundary commenced at the Dead Sea. The broad and desolate valley by which the depressed bed of that sea is protected toward the south, is called the Ghor. A deep narrow glen enters it at its southwest corner; it is called Wady-el-Fikreh, and is continued in the same southwestern direction, under the name of Wady el-Marrah; a wady which loses itself among the hills belonging to “the wilderness of Zin;” and Kadesh-barnea (see Numbers 13:26 note), which is “in the wilderness of Zin,” will be, as the text implies, the southernmost point of the southern boundary. Thence, if Kadesh be identical with the present Ain el-Weibeh, westward to the river, or brook of Egypt, now Wady el-Arish, is a distance of about seventy miles. In this interval were Hazar-addar and Azmon; the former being perhaps the general name of a district of Hazerim, or nomad hamlets (see...

AND THE BORDER SHALL FETCH A COMPASS,.... Not go on in a straight line, but turn about: FROM AZMON UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT; the river Nile, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra seems to deny that that river is meant: and some think that Rhinocolura, which flows into the Mediterranean sea, is meant; or the "valley of Egypt", Casiotis, which divided Judea from Egypt, as follows: AND THE GOINGS OUT OF IT; not of the river, but of the border: SHALL BE AT THE SEA; the above sea, called in the next verse the great sea; all the Targums render it to the west....

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

NUMBERS 34:1 (from P). THE BOUNDARIES OF ISRAEL'S POSSESSIONS IN CANAAN. These, as here set forth, are ideal rather than actual, since the area described never wholly belonged to Israel. The S. border extends from the S. end of the Dead (the Salt) Sea in a SW. direction, having Edom on the SE., and following probably the Wâ dy el Fikreh (in which was the ascent of Akrabbim) to Kadesh (Ain Kâ dis); there it turns NW. and follows partly the brook of Egypt (Wâ dy el Arî sh) to its mouth. The W. border is formed by the Mediterranean (the great) Sea, the shore of which was never possessed by Israel, though Joppa in the second century B.C. was captured by the Maccabees. The N. border extends from the mouth of the Nahr el Kasimî yeh (6 miles N. of Tyre) to Mt. Hor (quite distinct from the Mt. Hor of Numbers 2

RIVER. Hebrew. _nachal,_. wady; not _nahar,_. river. Here used of "Sihor", and called the river of Egypt. Compare Genesis 15:18, where it is _nahar =_ the Nile....

_the brook of Egypt_ Heb. -the _naḥal_of _Miẓraim_." A.V. -the river of Egypt" gives the erroneous impression that the Nile is meant. The name is that of a wady or torrent, now called _Wâdy el--Arîsh_, which rises in the centre of the Sinaitic peninsula, and flows northward into the Mediterranean about 50 miles S.W. of Gaza. It is possible that _Miẓraim_here denotes not Egypt proper, but the tract on the east of Egypt. The name _Muẓur_is frequently applied to the latter in Assyrian inscriptions....

TO THE ASCENT OF AKRABBIM— Or to _Maaleh-akrabbim,_ as it is rendered, Judges 15:3 which signifies, according to Bochart, _the mount of scorpions;_ so called from the multitude of those creatures found there. See Deuteronomy 8:15 and Hieroz. lib. 4: cap. 29. Hence that tract adjoining to Idumea is called _Arabatine,_ Genesis 5:3. Hazar-addar is, in the Vulgate, _the village of Addar;_ which seems justified by Judges 15:3 where it is simply called Addar. _The river of Egypt_ means, as we have explained it, Numbers 34:3 _the Nile;_ a