The borders of Israel. Here is a thought...

...what if the modern Nation State actually agreed that they would not seek to ever exceed the ACTUAL, BIBLICAL borders that they were granted in the first part of Numbers 34?

We hear a lot about Israeli settlements, and the difficulties for regional (even global) peace that this has caused.

Well, I was reading in the Bible this morning (as I do most mornings) and came across a passage in the first part of Numbers Chapter 34 that actually gives very specific borders with actual PLACE NAME landmarks for the land that God said He was giving to the people of Israel.

Here is an excerpt from the New International Version of the first few verses of Numbers 34:

Boundaries of Canaan
"1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 “Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries:
3 “ ‘Your southern side will include some of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. Your southern boundary will start in the east from the southern end of the Dead Sea,
4 cross south of Scorpion Pass, continue on to Zin and go south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon,
5 where it will turn, join the Wadi of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.
6 “ ‘Your western boundary will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This will be your boundary on the west.
7 “ ‘For your northern boundary, run a line from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor
8 and from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath. Then the boundary will go to Zedad,
9 continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary on the north.
10 “ ‘For your eastern boundary, run a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham.
11 The boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Galilee.
12 Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. “ ‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’ ”

I've often argued (and still will) that a dangerous variant of extreme Zionism is a reason for a lot of conflict, and that the adherents believe that Israel was granted practically the entire Middle East in Genesis. Well, I have some good news and some bad news...

The good news is that this land laid out in Numbers 34 is a LOT, LOT less than the entire Middle East. The bad news is that even though the total land area is about the same size as modern day Israel (or was, before a big chunk of the Negev was ceded back to the Arabs in 1948) much of it includes the entire modern nation state of Lebanon. (Uh oh.)

Have a look at one website's depiction of the land area using the know locations of some of the ancient landmarks:

(Image source: https://thewholedangthing.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/numbers-34-the-borders-of-israel/)

Here is a modern map of the current state of Israel:

(Image source: wikipedia.)

You don't suppose we could talk to Lebanon about moving to the southern Negev--the ancient Land of Edom, and call it a day?

I didn't think so.

Oh well.