Numbers 34:1-15
The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. 3 Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of the Salt Sea; 4 your border shall turn from the southern side of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; 5 the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.
6 ‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.
7 ‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward Zedad; 9 the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.
10 ‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; 11 the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth; 12 the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’”
13 Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: “This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to 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 the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. 15 The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”
The boundaries of each inheritance were established within the overall promised land of Canaan by the LORD and communicated through Moses. It is vital to understand that no man decided this promised land nor the boundaries within it for these people. It was God alone who gave Israel this kingdom on earth and it cannot be taken away from them with the excuse that they stole it from the inhabitants which God had judged for their idolatry and immorality and then taken it away from them to give to His own. The modern day argument that the land was not from Israel therefore falls flat before the throne of God in His sovereignty as King of kings who owns the entire world and every nation on it. The borders were set in the beginning and then within those limits was divided by lots to the tribes of Israel by name as He decided and deeded to them. In the kingdom of God in Christ to come after the entirety of earth is judged, the people of the Lord will be allotted places (John 14:2-3, Matthew 25:34, 1 Peter 1:4) in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12, 21:2-3) brought down from heaven to earth for our inheritance with Him, and those rejecting the gospel will be like the former inhabitants of Canaan who worshipped false gods and loved their temporal loves and kingdoms more than the eternal. Thanks be to God for His grace and our inheritance in Christ Jesus, His Son and the one who has granted us a place in His new Kingdom on Earth of the heavenly land promised to us by faith in His work and person who promised these things. These are our appointed places in the promised heavenly land which we will one day receive as our inheritance in Jesus Christ.
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