Numbers 34:12

12 Then the border will go down along the Jordan River. It will come to an end at the Dead Sea. " 'That will be your land. And those will be its borders on every side.' "

Numbers 34:12 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 34:12

And the border shall go down to Jordan
A well known river to the east of the land of Canaan:

and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea;
the sea of Sodom; and though all sea water is generally salt, this was remarkably so, through the great quantity of bitumen and nitre in it; hence it was called Asphaltites; thus as the description of the borders of the land began with the salt sea, ( Numbers 34:3 ) , it ends with it:

this shall be your land, with the coasts thereof round about:
which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, was thus bounded, Rekamgea (or Kadeshbarnea) on the south, Taurus Urnanus (by which he interprets Mount Hor) on the north, the great sea on the west (i.e. the Mediterranean sea), and the salt sea on the east.

Numbers 34:12 In-Context

10 " 'For your eastern border, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham.

11 The border will go down from Shepham to Riblah. Riblah is on the east side of Ain. From there the border will continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee.

12 Then the border will go down along the Jordan River. It will come to an end at the Dead Sea. " 'That will be your land. And those will be its borders on every side.' "

13 Moses gave the people of Israel a command. He said, "Use lots when you give out the land. Each tribe will have its own share. The LORD has ordered it to be given to the nine and a half tribes.

14 "The families of the tribes of Reuben and Gad have already received their shares. The families of half of the tribe of Manasseh have also received their share.