Números 34

Números 34

Spurgeon - He cast out the heathen also before them, or "he drove out the nations." Not only were armies routed, but whole peoples displaced. The iniquity of the Canaanites was full; their vices made them rot above ground; therefore, the land ate up its inhabitants, the hornets vexed them, the pestilence destroyed them, and the sword of the tribes completed the execution to which the justice of long provoked heaven had at length appointed them. The Lord was the true conqueror of Canaan; he cast out the nations as men cast out filth from their habitations, he uprooted them as noxious weeds are extirpated by the husbandman. And divided them an inheritance by line. He divided the land of the nations among the tribes by lot and measure, assigning Hivite, Perizzite, and Jebusite territory to Simeon, Judah, or Ephraim, as the case might be. Among those condemned nations were not only giants in stature, but also giants in crime: those monsters of iniquity had too long defiled the earth; it was time that they should no more indulge the unnatural crimes for which they were infamous; they were, therefore, doomed to forfeit life and lands by the hands of the tribes of Israel. The distribution of the forfeited country was made by divine appointment; it was no scramble, but a judicial appointment of lands which had fallen to the crown by the attainder of the former holders. Psalm 105:11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance,” Comparison of Promised Land with the promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21 (Source: Thomas Constable) THE BORDERS OF THE PROMISED LAND OF CANAAN Note the map above which shows in light grey the area of land originally promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:18-21+ with the considerably smaller land for which we have the borders given by God here in Numbers 34.