King James Version
The Book of Numbers
Chapter 34
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Commentary
Numbers 34
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 Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)
3 Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea 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 Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon:
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.
6 And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea 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 Hazarenan: this shall be your north border.
10 And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham:
11 And the coast 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 the sea of Chinnereth eastward:
12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.
13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit 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 house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; 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 near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.
The names of the men who will divide the land
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 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.
Num 34:1-29 (KJV)
Much detail and strict instruction went into the dividing of the land that they had not yet conquered. I can almost glimpse the doubt in the People, even after they had already witnessed and experienced many mighty works wrought by God’s outstretched hand. They spent 40 years in the wilderness areas all around their Land of Promise, while they were being educated and reformed by God’s personal interaction with them. He literally hand-fed the People, and brought them from “as a new-born child” into a position of maturity. They even had all the makings of a great world leadership among nations. They had the One True God, not only as their spiritual focus, but also as a personal father and king. He desires that we have no authority beside Him. We have groveled and murmured for all of the generations about this very thing. Humanity wanted to have distance from God with the excuse that “God is too much for us to bear” or “lest we parish”. Now we have all of these little generals, and other, even simpler ranks of authority above us and all we want to do is complain about all of the corruption in ranks.
It seems assumable that there will always be bickering and murmuring as a result of some discontentment within us. God knows what is best, so He will go on ahead and carry out that which is best for us. Then we complain because something is happening that we do not understand, perhaps we misunderstand it to be a curse or a struggle, only to hinder God’s “best for us” yet again. There was a time or two that the Israelites did not that which would provoke the anger of God. These rare periods of time show us examples of how God will back us up fully when we are in harmony with Him. He doesn’t even make specifics upon our every step until we step out of line. That’s when He not only specifies our every step, but also sets forth a consequence that results in refinement, or improvement that the whole world takes note in.
This is true today. Any time I came back to the church after a long absence, it is only a matter of weeks before some of my friends express their gratitude and notice that I am improving. I notice that these times immediately follow times of refinement. Not always is refinement painful. Sometimes refinement can be adventurous and other times, hazardous. Never are we alone in this. You see, God wants to line up circumstances in our lives that will allow Him to perform many might works so that the whole world will know about Him. Sometimes these circumstances are painful and hazardous, and other times they are adventurous and exhilarating. They are always near to God and they always result in improvement, or refinement.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 12:27pm
