(2.) The land described by Moses in Num. xxxiv. r-I 2 is much more limited in extent than that pro mised to Abraham. He calls it the Land of Canaan—the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance' (ver. 2). Its boundaries are defined with great precision. On the south the border reached from Kadesh-bamea in the Arabah, on the confines of Edom, across the wilderness of wandering,' to the torrent ± of Egypt, doubtless that now known as Wady el-Arish. The Great Sea was its western border. The northern is thus defined : 'And this shall be your north border ; from the great sea ye shall point out for you Mount Hor ; from Mount Hor ye shall point out unto the en trance of Hamath ; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad ; and the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan' (vers. 7-9). The interpretation of this passage has given rise to much controversy. Dr. Keith argues with considerable force and learning that Mount Hor, or, as it is in the Hebrew, Hor nh), is Mount Casius, and that the chasm of the Orontes at Antioch is the entrance of Hamath.' This view, however, is rendered al together untenable by more recent researches, and especially by the discovery of the sites of Riblah and Zedad (but see Keith's Land of Israel, pp. 92-105). Dr. Kitto, on the other hand, following Reland (Pal. ii8, seq.), Bochart (Opera, i. 307), and Cellarius (Geogr., ii. 464, seq.), locates this northern border-line near the parallel of Sidon, making some peak of southern Lebanon Mount Hor, and the lower extremity of the valley of Code-Syria the entrance of Hamath.' The writer of this article considers both these views erroneous. He had opportunities of survey ing the whole region with the view of solving this geographical puzzle, and discovering the northern border as defined by Moses. He believes that he has been successful. The land, or kingdom of Hamath, is the great plain which extends on both banks of the Orontes from the city of Hamath up to the great fountain near Riblah. The en trance of Hamath' is the entrance from the Great Sea, from the west (vers. 7, 8). Here there is but one entrance, and no traveller can fail to see it. The range of Lebanon runs parallel to the sea coast from the plain of Acre to a point oppo site the plain of Hamath ; there it terminates abruptly. A few miles to the north the range of Bargylus begins and runs in the same line to Antioch. Between the two is a pass or gap, which forms the natural and indeed the only entrance to Hamath from the sea and the western coast. To this day natives sometimes call it Bab Hama, The door of Hamath.' This view is corroborated by several incidental notices in Scripture. A comparison of Ezek. xlvii. 15 with verse zo, and Num. xxxiv. 7, 8, shows that the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad' (from the sea), was identical with the entrance of Hamath.' Now the site of Zedad is the village of Sudud, which lies in the plain due east of the pass between the Lebanon and Bargy lus ranges [ZEDAD]. And further, the territory of Hamath was included in the land described by Moses (Num. xxxiv. 8-11), and by Ezekiel (xlvii. 15-2o) : and the entrance to Hamath' is one of the marks of its northern border ; consequently, to place it in the parallel of Sidon, or at the base of Mount Hermon, is manifestly inaccurate, for this is far south of Hamath. Again, that portion of the country not subdued by Joshua, and yet included in the description of Moses, extended from Baal gad under Mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath,' embracing the land of the Giblites and all Anti-Lebanon (Josh. xiii. 5 ; cf. Judg. iii. 3) ; that is, all the two ridges of Lebanon from their southern to their northern extremities (cf. I Kings viii. 65 ; 2 Chron. vii. 8 ; 2 Kings xiv. 25). Van de Velde appears to make the northern end of Code-Syria, where that valley opens upon the plain of Hamath, the entrance of Hamath' (Tra vels, ii. 470) ; and Stanley adopts the same view (Sin. and Pal., 399). But this is inadmissible, be cause (a), This is not, and could not be the en trance of Hamath from the sea, though it may be from Palestine ; (b), This opening of the valley of Code-Syria is considerably to the south of Riblah, Zedad, and Ziphron—all of which were within the promised land ; and (c), The valley of Coele-Syria adjoins the extreme southern border of Hamath (see HAMATH ; Porter's Damascus, ii. 354; Robin
son, B . R., iii. 568).
The settlement of the entrance of Hamath' fixes the position of Mount Hor. Hor Ha-Har must be the northern and culminating peak of the Lebanon range near the cedars. And this is em phatically the mountain as seen from the sea, or from the western coast. The northern border, therefore, beginning at the sea, apparently at or near the mouth of the river Eleutherus, ran east ward to the northern peak of Lebanon ; thence it swept round through the pass, and extended north east to Hamath ; then it turned south-east by Ziphron (Zifran), and Zedad (Sudud), to Hazar enan (Kuryetein).
The east border has some well-known landmarks —Riblah, the Sea of Chinnereth, and the Jordan to the Dead Sea (Num. xxxiv. to-12). The line ran down the valley of Coele-Syria and the Jordan, thus excluding the whole kingdom of Damascus, with Bastian, Gilead, and Moab. It would seem, however, that the country east of the Jordan was excluded by Moses, not because he regarded it as beyond the proper boundaries of the land of Israel, but because it had been already apportioned by him to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (xxxii. 1-33 ; xxxiii. 50-54)• The Israelites were never in actual possession of all this territory, though David extended his con quests beyond it, and Solomon for a time exacted tribute from its various tribes and nations. The southern seabord, and a large section of the Shephelah, remained in the hands of the warlike Philistines. The Phoenicians held the coast-plain north of Carmel ; and the chain of Lebanon, from Sidon northward, continued in possession of the Giblites and other mountain tribes (Judg. iii. 1-3). It is worthy of note that the sacred writer, when reckoning up the regions still to be conquerLd, was guided not by the words of the Abrahamic covenant, but by the description of Moses (Josh. xiii. 2-6). And the reason why this whole ]and was not given to the Israelites is plainly stated. The Lord kept some of the aboriginal inhabitants in it for the purpose of chastising the criminal slothfulness, and the thoughtlessness and rebellion of his people (Judg. iii. 4 ; see Masius and Keil, ad loc.) Such, then, is the land described by Moses ; but the name Palestine was never given to so extensive a region.
(3.) The boundaries of the land allotted by Moses and "oshua to the twelve tribes are given in the fol lowing passages—those of the land east of the Jordan in Num. xxxii. and Josh. xiii. 8-32 ; on the west side in Josh. xv..xix.
The south border was identical with that de scribed by Moses (c£ Num. xxxiv. 3-5 ; Josh. xv. 2-4). The west border was also the same ; the possessions of the western tribes reaching in every instance to the sea (Josh. xv. I I ; xvi. 3, 8 ; xvii. 9, to • xix. 29). The north border had Zidon as its landmark on the coast. Thence it was drawn south-east across Lebanon, probably along the line of the ancient Phoenician road by Kulaat esh Shukif to Ijon and Dan (Josh. xix. 28 ; I Kings xv. zo) ; thence it passed over the southern shoulder of Hermon, and across the plateau of Haurin to the northern end of the mountains of Bashan (Num. xxxii. 33 ; Deut. iii. 8-14 ; Josh. xii. 4-6). The only landmark on the east border is Salcah (Josh. xii. 5 ; xiii. 1I ; Deut. iii. to). From Sal cah it appears to have run south-west along the border of the Arabian Midbar to the bank of the river Arnon (Josh. xii. I, 2). Here it turned west ward, and followed the course of the river to the Dead Sea, thus excluding the territory of Moab and Edom.
The country allotted to the tribes was thus con siderably smaller than that described by Moses ; and it was not more than one-third the extent of that given in covenant promise to Abraham. And even all allotted was never completely conquered and occupied. The Philistines and Phoenicians still possessed their cities along the coast (Judg. i. 19, 31) ; some of the northern tribes held their mountain fastnesses (ver. 33) ; and the Geshurites and Maachathites continued in their rocky strong holds in Bashan (Josh. xiii. 13).