Numbers 34:11

Verse 11. Sephama, or Apamea. Targum.—Rebla. Septuagint “Bela, or Asbela.” Bible.—S. Jerom understands Antioch, near which was the fountain of Daphnis, or Daphne, a word which is inserted in the Targum, though it be not found in Hebrew. But Antioch did not lie on the eastern borders, and this fountain may be the same place as Enan, verse 9.—Against. Hebrew “on the east side of Ain, or the fountain.” Calmet.—Cenereth. This is the sea of Galilee, illustrated by the miracles of our Lord. Challoner.—The line was not drawn to this lake of Genesareth, or of Tiberias, as it was likewise called, but comprised a large territory lying to the east of it, ( Calmet.) and given to the tribes of Manasses, Gad, and Ruben, which inhabited the country east of the Jordan and of the Salt Sea. Bible.—Eastward: the Septuagint insinuate, “to the south, leaving the sea of Cenereth on the east.”—The fountain of Daphnis may probably be that near the Semechonite lake, through which the Jordan runs. Josep. Bel. iv. 1. It may have received the title of Daphnis, from the laurels with which it is adorned, like the suburbs of Antioch. Bonfrere. Menochius.—It appears that Moses has only in view, the nine tribes for which a provision was not yet made; and their eastern limits extend from Emath, down the Jordan to the Dead Sea, so as to comprise no part to the east of that river, which was already given to their brethren; (see verse 13, 15, 29,) and thus the observation of Calmet, respecting the countries east of Cenereth, will be rather inaccurate, as the line must run through that sea, following the course of the Jordan. These were properly the eastern limits of Chanaan, which country comprised all between Egypt and Idumea, as far as Sidon and Mount Libanus, being bounded by the Jordan on the east. The other three tribes were hemmed in on the north and east by the mountains of Hermon, Basan, Galaad, and Arnon; beyond which, the nations about Damascus, and the descendants of Ammon, Ismael, and Moab dwelt, in Syria and the desert of Arabia, so that the latter country was the eastern boundary of the promised land, taken in its utmost extent. Bible.—The respective limits must naturally vary, when we speak of the whole or a part only. D. Tirinus.