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It is difficult to determine, with any degree of
accuracy, the former limits of Palestine, especially as there are apparently
several contradictions in this respect in the holy Scriptures. For instance, it
is said in Genesis 15:18, "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river
of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Again, in Exodus 23:31, "and from the desert unto the
river" (Euphrates); and again "from the
river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be."
So, also, Joshua 1:4, "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the
great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites, and unto the
great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast." In Numbers
34., however, where the precise boundary of Palestine is laid down by divine
authority, we do not find that it was to extend from the Red Sea to the
Euphrates; the most southerly points are עצמן Azmon, and קדש ברנע Kadesh-Barnea, and the most
northerly, the Mount Hor הר ההר and no mention is
made of the Red Sea on the one or the Euphrates on the other side.
To
reconcile this contradiction, I would offer the following suggestion: The
promise of the extended boundary of Palestine is only a future prediction, and
merely a reward held out in case the Israelites would live according to the will
and the commandments of God, in which case they should become powerful, and so
numerous that they should be compelled by their large population, gradually to
extend their boundaries to the widest given limits; as we read in Exodus 23:30,
31: "By little and little I will drive them out before thee, until thou be
increased and inherit the land; and I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea unto
the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river." The Red Sea
and the Euphrates are accordingly indicated as the utmost points, which the
Israelites should acquire in their most flourishing condition. But when their
boundaries were fixed for them at their first entrance into Palestine (Numbers
34.), these were determined in due proportion to their numbers, their
population; because from the paucity of their numerical strength they were not
able to take possession of, to inhabit, and to people fully the wide extent of
land from the Red Sea to the Euphrates, which points should become the
boundaries* of their country at a later period, when their population had
sufficiently increased; and, indeed, under the reign of David and Solomon (and
afterwards under Herod) the boundaries of Palestine extended thus far, although
only for a very short period. But when the Israelites were, at a later period,
through the mercy of God, permitted to return to their former country from their
exile to Babylon by the permission of Cyrus (כורש) King of Persia, after Palestine had been a desolate waste for seventy years,
they were not able to take possession of the whole of the land after its former
dimensions; but the small number of the returning exiles were only empowered to
occupy a small portion of Palestine, which accordingly was comprised within
narrower and different limits from any of the preceding ones. We have,
accordingly, three different boundaries of the land of Israel at three different
periods.
*To
this, likewise, refers the passage of Deuteronomy 19:8,9, "And if the Lord thy
God enlarge thy coast as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all
the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers: then shalt thou add
three cities more for thee (for cities of refuge) besides these three," which
would, accordingly give us nine such cities, to wit, three east of Jordan, three
in Palestine proper, and three in the new territory between that and the
Euphrates.
I.
The promised limits from the Red Sea to the Euphrates.
II.
Those of the conquest by Joshua from Azmon and Kadesh-Barnea at the south, to
Hazar-Enan and the Mount Hor at the north, as they are described in Numbers 34.
III.
Those which were established when the Israelites returned from their exile under
Ezra and Nehemiah, when the most northern points of their possessions were
Chezib and Akko,* as I shall show more particularly hereafter.
*
This will explain for us the passage in Shebiith vi. § 1 (as also Challah iv.
§ 8), which says that there are three different districts with reference to the
laws relating to the seventh or release year, when in Palestine proper it was
not permitted to sow or to reap. The country, taken possession of by the
returning exiles, is given as to Chezib, whereas that conquered by Joshua is
described from Chezib to the river, and from the same point to Amana,
אמנהwhich, according to my view, is as follows: the
Chezib here mentioned, is the Achzib of Joshua 19:29, or the village three hours
(about 8 miles) distance north of Akko, now called Al Zib. Amanah is the Mount
Hor, the most northerly point of Palestine, of which I shall speak more
circumstantially hereafter. The river here spoken of cannot be easily
determined. For it is not possible that the Euphrates is here understood, since,
as already said, the Israelites under Joshua never penetrated that far,
wherefore it cannot be taken as the boundary of their possessions. Maimonides,
and the author of the Kaphtor Vapherach think it to be the Wady al Arish
(see farther down concerning the River of Egypt נחל
מצרים); but this stream is at the southwest
corner, and here reference is made to a northern point. But it appears to me
that the river spoken of here is the Pharpar of 2 Kings 5:12; in Arabic Fidjeh,
which takes its course from the village Dar Kanon, which I suppose to be
identical with Chazar-Enan, for Chazor is in Arabic Dar "dwelling;"
Enan is easily corrupted into Kanon; the place, therefore, is the most
northeasterly of Palestine proper (Numbers 34:9). Now this little stream runs
from the north to the south, and forms measurably the northeastern boundary of
the land of Israel, and as the Amanah is the northwestern, so is the Pharpar or
Fidjeh, the northeastern limit.
The
passage in Gittin, fol. 8a, "How far does Palestine extend? from
Amanah southward, belongs to Palestine, from that point northward, does not
belong to it," refers, according to my opinion, to the country conquered by
Joshua; but where the boundary points are given by Achzib, Zib, and Akko,
I take the same to refer to the boundaries of the returned exiles under Ezra.
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