1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Lesson 7: Geography Study Concerning the Scriptures,   The Borders and Geopolitical Districts of the Promised Land

Exodus 23:29-31,  I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.  And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

The Borders of the Promised Land

Show the Promised Land overlaid with the borders of Modern Nations

Western Border – Num. 34:7-9, Ezek. 47:20

Border easiest to define for it is the Mediterranean Sea

Numbers 34,  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ²Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) ³Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: ⁴And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: ⁵And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. ⁶And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. ⁷And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: ⁸From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: ⁹And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border. ¹⁰And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: ¹¹And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: ¹²And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.

Ezekiel 47:20, The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.

Northern Border – Num. 34:7-9, Josh. 19:17-39, Ezek. 47:15-17, 48:1-7

Appears to stretch to the edges of the Lebanan and Anti-Lebanon Mountains. 

The actual border followed the course of the el-Kabir valley from the Mediterraean to the vicinity of the Lake of Homs, then south to the outer flanks of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, (area of Lebo-Hammath) then east to the Syrian desert (at Zedad), where it essentially followed the fringes of the desert to the area of Mt. Hauran (Jebal Druze).

Numbers 34:7-9,  And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: ⁸From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad: ⁹And the border shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazarenan: this shall be your north border.  

Ezekiel 47:15-17,  And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;  Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

Eastern Border – Num. 34:10-12, Josh. 13:8-13, Ezek. 47:18

The eastern border should be extended east to the fringes of the Syrian desert wastelands, roughly approximating a line that could be drawn from the region of Mt. Hauran (end of the northern border) to the wilderness of Kedemoth.  This includes the land occupied by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Mannaseh.

Num. 34:10-12, And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: ¹¹And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward: ¹²And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.

Ezek. 47:18,  And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.

Southern Border – Num. 34:3-5, Josh. 15:1-4, Ezek. 47:19, 48:28

There are four known points along the southern border. 

The Dead Sea, Wilderness of Zin, Kadesh-barnea, and the River of Egypt.

Traditionally the River of Egypt has been equated with the Nile or the Wadi-el-Arish, a major drainage system in the western Nebeb and southern Philistia that courses some 145 miles before emptying into the Mediterranean approximately 50 miles southwest of Gaza.

Num. 34:3-5, Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: ⁴And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: ⁵And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.

Ezek. 47:19,

Geopolitical Districts

Geopolitic – Districts or areas somewhat defined by the structure or geography of the earth. 

In early civilizations it was natural for peoples to be isolated from one another by natural boundaries such as rivers, lakes, seas, mountains, deserts or other wastelands. 

Peoples in these areas tended to be cohesive in that they shared the protection of these natural boundaries against their enemies. 

In fact these natural boundaries united them together because they were common to all people within that area. 

The Promised land throughout its early history was divided by natural boundaries and these natural boundaries dictated the political union of the peoples in these districts or areas. 

The Promised land was divided into two majors parts because of the Jordan River and the Jordan Rift Valley in which the river  was situated.

The area east of the Jordan, called this side of the Jordan, is named Cisjordan. 

Cis is a prefix occurring in words meaning on this side.

The area west of the Jordan, or across the Jordan is called Transjordan, trans meaning across.

Within Cisjordan and Transjordan there are natural barriers which caused this land to be divided into geopolitical districts.

Cisjordan, the area this side of the Jordan, was largely divided into four sections during the Old, Old testament times (prior to Christ).

These were Phoenicia (foh ni' kih uh), Galilee (Gal' ih leeee), Samaria (suh may' rih uh), and Judea ((Jew dee' uh). 

Phoenicia  is the slender tract (averaging about 20 miles) of coastland that stretched some 125 miles north of the promontory of Mt. Carmel to the river Eleutherus and was flanked on the east by the Lebanon mountains and on the the south by the Jezreel Valley and its accompanying mountains such as Mt. Carmel. 

So you see geography defined this area

Phoenicia (foh ni' kih uh) means, “purple” or “crimson,” which is a translation of Hebrew “Canaan,” the land of purple.”

Phoenicia contained great forest land which enabled the people to build ships and become the dominant seafaring nation of the area. 

It could be called the England of Antiquity.

The trade routes from all Asia converged on the Phoenician coast; the centers of commerce on the Euphrates and Tigris forwarded their goods by way of Tyre to the Nile, to Arabia, and to the west; and, on the other hand, the productions of the vast regions bordering the Mediterranean passed through the Canaanite capital to the eastern world.

The forests also provided timber for export, Phoenician cedars were the featured material of Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 5:8-10).

King Hiram of Tyre helped in the planning and building of the temple, casting for him all the vessels for the temple service, and the two pillars which stood in the front of the porch, and “the molten sea” (1 Kings 7:21-23).

Solomon also depended upon the Phoenicians for his building program throughout Israel and his merchant fleets.

Ahab married Jezebel who was a Phoenician woman who brought her god, Baal, with her to the marriage.

The Phoenician religion was akin to that of the Canaanites, featuring fertility rites of Baal.

The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors of alphabetic writing, however recent discovery of inscriptions in Southern Arabia has led some to the conclusion that the Phoenician alphabet was derived from the Mineans.

Don’t you suppose the word phonetics came from this land?

The name Phoenicia is not in the Old Testament since City-states rather than a central government dominated Phoenicia.

Leading cities were Tyre, Sidon, Byblos (maker of papyrus) (book)(Gebal), and Berytos (Beirut).

King Hiram of Tyre, friend of David and Solomon, established local rule between 981-947 B.C.. See Hiram.

The Phoenicians were able to take advantage of their location on the sea with natural harbors and their forests to establish far-flung trade.

There were two biblical miracles in Phoenicia (foh ni' kih uh),. 

It was on the coast at Zarephath in Phoenicia, that Elisha revived the dying son of a widow, 1 Kings 17:8-24, and in the region of Tyre and Sidon Jesus healed the Syro-Phoenician (Syro means Syrian) woman’s daughter, (Mark 7:24-30).

Mark 7:24-30,  And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. ²⁵For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: ²⁶The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. ²⁷But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. ²⁸And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. ²⁹And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. ³⁰And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

Persecution beginning with Stephen’s death, led the church to spread into Phoenicia (Acts 11:19; compare 15:3; 21:2-3).