Masei | The Borders of Eretz Yisrael

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The Borders of Eretz Yisrael and the Princes who Took Possession of the Land

The Borders of Eretz Yisrael (Bamidbar 34:1-12)

And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying: Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land of Canaan, this shall be the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to the borders thereof. (Bamidbar 34:1-2)

The Torah speaks here of "the land of Canaan according to its borders."  Below it says that it is discussing the territories of the nine and a half tribes. This implies that the two and a half tribes that settled to the east of the Jordan were not in the land of Canaan. They were, however, within the borders promised to Avraham in the Covenant between the Parts, "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River":

And Moshe commanded the children of Israel, saying: This is the land wherein you shall receive inheritance by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe; for the tribe of the children of Reuven according to their fathers' houses, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers' houses, have received, and the half-tribe of Menashe have received, their inheritance; the two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sun-rising. (Bamidbar 34:13-15)

1) The Southern Border

Thus your south side shall be from the wilderness of Tzin close by the side of Edom, and your south border shall begin at the end of the Salt Sea eastward; and your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabim, and pass along to Tzin; and the goings out thereof shall be southward of Kadesh-Barnea; and it shall go forth to Chatzar-Adar, and pass along to Atzmon; and the border shall turn about from Atzmon to the Brook of Egypt, and the goings out thereof shall be at the Sea. (Bamidbar 34:3-5)

The southern border begins in the east at the southern tip of the Dead Sea (= Salt Sea), which in the past was further south than the southern tip of the Dead Sea today and reached close to Wadi Tzin, about five kilometers south of the present day Arava Junction. From there the border passes to the south of the ascent of Akrabim to Tzin, apparently the Roman ascent, which is to the south of the Mandatory ascent of Akrabim (the two are divided today by Wadi Gov). This may refer to what we today call Wadi Tzin or to the chain of mountains that are called the wilderness of Tzin, which includes the Chatzera range, the Chatira range, and up to the western Negev highland. The border passes to the south of Ein el Qudeirat, which, in my opinion, is Kadesh-Barnea,[1] as we have suggested elsewhere. The border continues west to two localities that have not been identified with certainty, Chatzar-Adar and Atzmon, until it reaches the Brook of Egypt; this is apparently Wadi el Arish, which crosses the northern Sinai from south to north.[2]

2) The Western Border

And for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your west border. (Bamidbar 34:6) 

This boundary seems simple. The border is the Great Sea – that is, the Mediterranean.[3] However, the following baraita claims that even part of the sea itself is included within the border:

What do we reckon as Eretz Yisrael and what do we reckon as foreign parts? From the top of the mountains of Amnon inwards is Eretz Yisrael, and from the top of the mountains of Amnon outwards is foreign parts. [For determining the status of] the islands in the sea, we imagine a line drawn from the mountains of Amnon to the Brook of Egypt. All within the line belongs to Eretz Yisrael and all outside the line to foreign parts. R. Yehuda, however, holds that all islands fronting the coast of Eretz Yisrael are reckoned as Eretz Yisrael, according to the verse of Scripture: "And for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your west border." [To determine the status of] the islands on the border line, we imagine a line drawn [due west] from Kapluria to the Ocean and another from the Brook of Egypt to the Ocean. All within these lines belong to Eretz Yisrael and all outside to foreign parts. (Gittin 8a)

According to the Sages, who reduce the maritime border by stretching a line from the mountains of Amnon[4] to the Brook of Egypt (Wadi el Arish or the eastern branch of the Nile), we approach the "economic waters" of the State of Israel, which include the great gas reserves Tamar, Livyatan, and Karish, and perhaps other reserves as well. They are located on the border of this strip.

3) The Northern Border

And this shall be your north border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor; from Mount Hor you shall mark out a line to the entrance to Chamat; and the goings out of the border shall be at Tzedad; and the border shall go forth to Zifron, and the goings out thereof shall be at Chatzar-Einan; this shall be your north border. (Bamidbar 34:7-9)

Mount Hor, according to the Targum Yerushalmi and the aforementioned Gemara in Gittin, is the mountains of Amnon in southern Turkey near the city of Antioch, referred to by the Turks as Ischandron. From there the border continues east by way of the city of Aleppo (Aram Tzova) to the western bend of the Euphrates (near the city of Maskena). The bend of the Euphrates, according to this, is the northeastern corner of the land of Canaan.

The Radbaz (end of responsum 1105) argues that Mount Hor is located south of Tripoli (Treblos) in northern Lebanon, almost 200 kilometers south of Antioch. According to this view, it seems that the border of the land of Canaan did not reach the Euphrates, whose western bend is found at a considerable distance north of there. According to this, the Euphrates remains the border of the land promised to Avraham, but not of the land of Canaan. 

Chamat is commonly identified with the large Syrian city of Chama, about forty kilometers north of Choms. "To the entrance to Chamat" may be identified in light of the different identifications of Mount Hor from the different directions of the city of Chamat. 

The city Tzedad, according to the borders set by the Radbaz, is generally identified with the place that bears that name to this very day in western Syria, not far from the northern section of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, about 115 kilometers east of the city of Jabal (Jobil) on the Lebanese coast. Chatzar-Einan is generally identified, according to this approach, with Keritin, about 30 kilometers southeast of Tzedad and about 100 kilometers west of Tadmor. There are also other identifications.

4) The Eastern Border

And you shall mark out your line for the east border from Chatzar-Einan to Shefam; and the border shall go down from Shefam to Rivla, on the east side of Ayin; and the border shall go down, and shall strike upon the slope of the Sea of Kinneret 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. (Bamidbar 34:10-12) 

Shefam and Rivla, on the east side of Ayin, should be located in my opinion southeast of Chatzar-Einan (Keritin). Several identifications have been suggested, but I have not found them convincing. By logic, the two places should be close to the main road leading today from Tadmor by way of Keritin (as mentioned, perhaps Chatzar-Einan) to Damascus, and from there to the Golan Heights, to the slope of the Sea of Kinneret in the Golan Heights,[5] and from there east of the Kinneret to the Jordan and the Dead Sea.

The Princes who Divided up the Land

And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying: These are the names of the men that shall take possession of the land for you: Elazar the priest and Yehoshua the son of Nun. And you shall take one prince of every tribe, to take possession of the land. And these are the names of the men: of the tribe of Yehuda, Kalev the son of Yefuneh. And of the tribe of the children of Shimon, Shemuel the son of Amihud. Of the tribe of Binyamin, Elidad the son of Kiselon. And of the tribe of the children of Dan a prince, Buki the son of Yogli. Of the children of Yosef: of the tribe of the children of Menashe a prince, Chaniel the son of Efod; and of the tribe of the children of Efrayim a prince, Kemuel the son of Shiftan. And of the tribe of the children of Zevulun a prince, Elitzafan the son of Parnakh. And of the tribe of the children of Yissachar a prince, Paltiel the son of Azan. And of the tribe of the children of Asher a prince, Achihud the son of Shelomi. And of the tribe of the children of Naftali a prince, Pedahel the son of Amihud. These are they whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan. (Bamidbar 34:16-29)

We discussed this section in our discussion of the sin of the spies and of the roles of the princes of the fathers' houses who were sent as scouts. The tribal princes in our parasha replace them in the next generation, at the time of Israel's entry into the land at the end of the forty years of their sojourning in the wilderness. In this context, we will add several comments.

The two people who take possession of the land are Elazar, the High Priest, and Yehoshua the son of Nun, the leader who will replace Moshe. Elazar seems to be responsible for the lottery, which is performed through the holy garments of the High Priest. The lottery brings the word of God, which comes here not by way of a prophet, but by way of a lottery – i.e., through the priest. Yehoshua, the leader, is responsible for the righteousness and judgment in the command, "To the more you shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer you shall gave the less inheritance" (Bamidbar 33:54). Both are needed in order to apportion the tribal territories of the people of Israel.

The tribal princess acquire the territories on behalf of their tribes and fathers' houses. The role of the princes is well-defined in the Halakha:

Rabba bar R. Huna said in the name of R. Gidel who said in the name of Rav: How do we know that when orphans [i.e., minors] come to divide their father's estate, the court appoints a guardian on their behalf, whether to their advantage or disadvantage? [You say,] To their disadvantage! Why? But [say thus]: To their [subsequent] disadvantage, but with the [original] intention that it shall be to their advantage. From the verse: "And you shall take one prince of every tribe" (Bamidbar 34:18). (Kiddushin 42a)

 A guardian is a kind of agent who is appointed on behalf of minor orphans to manage their affairs and buy and sell for them. Were his actions only to the benefit of the orphans, we could suffice with the halakhic principle that "one may act to the benefit of another person not in his presence." Were his actions defined as a disadvantage to the orphans, we would not allow him to act. The discussion is about acting to their subsequent disadvantage, but with the original intention that it should be to their advantage. In other words, the guardian's actions are liable to bring both loss and disadvantage to the orphans, but the loss is meant to benefit them in such a way that it appears like an advantage for them, and the bottom line in the end is benefit.

The law of a guardian authorizes the guardian to manage the orphans' affairs. It is derived from the authority of the tribal princes in our parasha, the princes acting as guardians for the members of their tribes. They negotiated on behalf of the various families, without the specific knowledge of those families, about receiving their family portion, despite the fact that by receiving their portion they lost the right to other portions, which have advantages (and disadvantages) over the portion that they received. The Torah gives legal backing to the princes’ decisions for each family.

This may be the Torah's intention in the prohibition:

You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess it. (Devarim 19:14)

The boundaries set up by those of old are the boundaries agreed upon by the tribal princes in our parasha, who dealt with the detailed boundaries that the lottery did not necessarily address. 

In my humble opinion,[6] this may also be the basis for the legal principle that "the law of the kingdom is the law." A king serves as a kind of guardian over all of his subjects, and he is permitted to collect taxes from them (that is to say, to work to their disadvantage) in order to manage his kingdom with them (roads, security, and the like). All this is benefit, so that in total this is disadvantage in order to bring advantage. The palace budget (within limits of honesty and reason) is also included in this category. According to this, the authority of a king is derived from the section dealing with the tribal princes found here. Other powers of the king of Israel (e.g., in the area of Torah and mitzvot) are derived from other places.