Numbers 34:1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying— Having given, in the foregoing chapter, a strict charge to the Israelites, how they should treat the inhabitants of the land of Canaan; the Lord proceeds to describe to them the bounds of the land, as it had been promised to Abraham; thereby to let them know where to stop their conquests, and to prevent them from making any encroachments upon their neighbours. This chapter would have begun more properly at the 50th verse of the last; a division which, in future times, may be made, more consistently with the 1st verse of that chapter. There is no way by which the sacred geography can be well understood, but by the inspection of a correct and proper map; and none, perhaps, will be found superior to those of Calmet, who has accurately considered the subject. See his Comment and Dictionary.

Numbers 34:3. Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin— Though by the land of Canaan is sometimes understood the whole land of promise possessed by the twelve tribes; yet the signification is here and commonly restrained to the country west of Jordan. Moses himself has made this distinction, Deuteronomy 2:29. The south bounds were to end at the east point of the Salt or Dead Sea, running by the borders of Idumea, to the most northern point of the river Nile, (Numbers 34:5.) and so to the Mediterranean Sea westward, and along by the wilderness of Zin, (Numbers 34:4.) meeting the eastern bounds towards the river Jordan. See Genesis 14:3.Joshua 15:2; Joshua 15:2.

Numbers 34:6. The great sea— The Jews call the Mediterranean the great sea, in opposition to the lake of Gennezareth, and the Asphaltic lake, called, the one, the sea of Galilee, the other, the Salt or Dead Sea.

Numbers 34:11. The coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah— The eastern bounds ran from the head of Jordan, along the whole course of that river, taking in the lake Cinnereth, or the sea of Galilee, or Tiberias, and so to the Dead Sea, till it meets with the south bounds, in the borders of Edom. Shepham and Riblah were two places near Jordan, along which river the eastern limits went. By Shepham, some of the Jewish interpreters understand Apamea, a city of Mesopotamia; and by Riblah, Daphne of Syria, in the suburbs of Antioch. But Bochart shews, that the land of Canaan never extended to these places. See his Can. lib. 1: cap. 16. Ain signifies a fountain, i.e. of Jordan, for this river had more sources than one. It seems to have been thus understood by the LXX and the Vulgate. The lake Cinnereth was so called, according to Chitraeus, from the Hebrew cinnor, a harp, or lute, because it was in that shape; but Reland derives the name from a canton or village of the same name, situated upon this lake, and in the tribe of Naphtali. See his Palaest. illust. tom. 1: cap. 39. We have been but brief upon this subject, as we shall have occasion to speak more fully respecting the Holy Land, its boundaries and division among the tribes, upon the fourteenth and following chapters of Joshua. In the mean time we refer our readers to Bochart's Canaan, the Univ. Hist. vol. Num 2:8 vo. p. 381 and to Dr. Shaw's Travels.

Numbers 34:13. This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot— The land of Canaan, properly so called, was bounded on the south by the high mountains which separated it from Arabia, and screened it from the burning winds that blow from that quarter, after having traversed the desarts; on the west, by the Mediterranean sea, whence blew refreshing gales; on the north, by mount Libanus, which guarded it from the cold northern blasts; and on the east, by the fine champaign countries watered by the Jordan, particularly about Jericho, abounding with palm-trees, and a prodigious increase. See Lowman on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, p. 38, 39. It is repeated here, that this is the land which they should inherit, that they might not extend their desires beyond the bounds of God's gracious grant to them.