Numbers 13:21 - Exposition

From the wilderness of Zin. The extreme southern boundary of the promised land ( Numbers 34:3 , Numbers 34:4 ; Joshua 15:1 , Joshua 15:3 ). There seems to be but one marked natural feature which could have been chosen for that purpose—the broad sandy depression called the Wady Murreh, which divides the mountain mass of the Azazimeh from the Rakhmah plateau, the southern extremity of the highlands of Judah. The plain of Kudes communicates with it at its upper or western end, and maybe counted a part of it. Unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath. Septuagint, ἕως ροὸβ εἰσπορευομένων αἰμάθ . Hamath, now Hamah, was in Greek times Epiphaneia, on the Orontes, outside the limits of Jewish rule. The southern entrance to it lay between the ranges of Libanus and Anti-libanus (see note on Numbers 34:8 ). The Rehob here mentioned is not likely to have been either of the Rehobs in the territory of Asher ( Joshua 19:28-30 ), but the Beth-rehob further to the east, and near to where Dan-Laish was afterwards built ( 18:28 ). It lies on the route to Hamath, and was at one time a place of some importance in the possession of the Syrians ( 2 Samuel 10:6 ).