Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 34:10-12

Albert Barnes Commentary

Numbers 34:10-12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes Commentary

Numbers 34:10-12

1798–1870
Presbyterian
SCRIPTURE

"And ye shall mark out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham; and the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall go down, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward; and the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the goings out thereof shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to the borders thereof round about." — Numbers 34:10-12 (ASV)

Shepham, the first point after Hazar-enan, is unknown. The name Riblah is interpreted by some as Har-bel, that is, “the Mountain of Bel;” the Har-baal-Hermon of Judges 3:3. No more striking landmark could be identified than the summit of Hermon, the southernmost and by far the loftiest peak of the whole Antilibanus range, rising to a height of 10,000 feet, and overtopping every other mountain in the Holy Land. Ain, meaning the fountain, is understood to be the fountain of the Jordan; and it is in the plain at the southwestern foot of Hermon that the two most celebrated sources of that river, those of Daphne and of Paneas, are located.

The “Sea of Chinnereth” is better known by its later name of Gennesaret, which is supposed to be only a corruption of Chinnereth. The border ran parallel to this sea, along the line of hill about 10 miles further east.