Numbers 34
by Pastor David Groendyk

A list of names and locations—what is there to gain from this chapter? Much indeed! Numbers 34 comes to us nearly at the end of a very long testimony describing how God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled. In Genesis 17:8, God said he would give all the land of Canaan to Abraham and his offspring as an everlasting possession. Hundreds of years later, that promise is coming to fruition. God sets the borders of the Promised Land in today’s chapter, but Israel isn’t even living there yet. Israel hasn’t even conquered Canaan, and God is divvying up the land. What grand statement by God that ought to give the Israelites great confidence and assurance. This chapter is far more than geographical minutiae; it is a pledge from Yahweh himself that he would surely conquer the enemy and give the land to his people as an inheritance.

This chapter also teaches us something about God’s generosity. If you wanted to, you could compare this list of names with the maps in the back of your Bible. Or I’m sure you could search for a map online. Many of these place names we can only speculate about their exact location, and yet, the testimony we have in Scripture of the size and general boundaries of Canaan match very well with other ancient documents. One reality is clear, though. This parcel of land is far larger than any other area of land Israel had ever settled or occupied before. God was not stingy in his promises. He wasn’t a minimalist. Israel had settled for hiking and camping in close quarters for many years, and before that they had been relegated to only a small region of Egypt. Now, they would live in a country so large they couldn’t even populate the whole thing! God had even said he wouldn’t wipe out their enemies all at once, because if he did, wild animals would take over the land since humans couldn’t populate it quick enough (Ex. 23:29). God is liberal with his gifts. How has he been liberal in his giving with you and/or your family? How can you spend some time thanking him today?

As multiple commentators note, however, as the borders of Canaan are defined here, we never see Israel occupy this land to its full extent. They’re never able to take over the land all the way to these exact boundary lines. Numbers 34 describes, then, the Promised Land not the Occupied Land. Why is that? Judges 1:19–35 recounts how the people failed to drive out fully all of the enemies because they became complacent. They didn’t see the need to devote them to destruction or kick them out. They were satisfied to make them forced labor. They weren’t zealous enough to do all that the Lord had spoken and commanded. The people, therefore, eventually forfeit the Promised Land in full. They tasted the promise, they tasted the good life, and they abandoned the Lord and his covenant.

A true grasp of God’s goodness to us should always drive us to be more fully devoted to him. We ought to be willing to obey him and be zealous for him at all costs, because we know that he’ll take care of us no matter the circumstances. Israel’s sin hounded them for generation after generation. They continually strayed from the Lord, and it cost them their inheritance. Will you let your own indwelling sin hound you? Are you more godly as a result of the good things God has given you, or are you more complacent? Does his goodness lead you to holiness and worship?