Old Testament Commentary - Numbers 34

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 34 Moses specifies borders of Israel's inheritance in Canaan, and names princes of tribes who shall divide the land.
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of ^aCanaan; (this is the ^bland that shall fall unto you for an ^cinheritance, even the land of Canaan ^dwith the coasts thereof:)		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
3 Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of ^aZin along by the ^bcoast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt ^csea eastward: 4 And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon: 5 And the border shall ^afetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and ^bthe goings out of it shall be at the sea.
6 And as for the ^awestern border, ye shall even have ^bthe great ^csea for a border: this shall be your west border. 7 And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: 8 From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:
9 ¶ And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan: this shall be your north border. 10 And ye shall point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham: 11 And the ^acoast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of ^bthe sea of Chinnereth eastward: 12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the ^asalt ^bsea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.
13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the ^aland which ye shall ^ainherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 14 For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the ^ahouse of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their ^binheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: 15 The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan ^anear Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.
16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 17 These are the names of the men which shall divide the ^aland unto you: Eleazar the priest, and ^bJoshua the son of Nun. 18 And ye shall take one ^aprince of every ^btribe^a, to divide the land by inheritance.	18^a take one prince of every [remaining] tribe Now this ought to be clearly qualified as being one prince of every remaining tribe, being that Reuben and Gad had their inheritances east of Jordan and this list of princes includes only those who are the princes ot the tribes who had inheritances west of Jordan. Thus there are only ten such princes listed next in this listing of 'every prince of every tribe'.
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 prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi.
28 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 29 These are they whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.