Numbers 34:3

“Then your south quarter, etc.] Or border of the land; which, as Jarchi observes, was from east to west: shall be from the wilderness of Zin; which is Kadesh, where Miriam died, (<042001>Numbers 20:1 33:36), and if this Kadesh was Kadeshbarnea, as Dr. Lightfoot seems to have proved f484, from whence the spies were sent, that was clearly on the south of the land of Canaan, for they were bid to go up their way southward, (<041317>Numbers 13:17), and so Kadeshbarnea is hereafter mentioned, as being in the southern border: the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, “from the wilderness of the palm trees of the mountain of iron;” there is a smaller palm tree, which by Jewish writers is called Zin, of…”

“your south quarter--The line which bounded it on the south is the most difficult to trace. According to the best biblical geographers, the leading points here defined are as follows: The southwest angle of the southern boundary should be where the wilderness of Zin touches the border of Edom, so that the southern boundary should extend eastward from the extremity of the Dead Sea, wind around the precipitous ridge of Akrabbim ("scorpions"), thought to be the high and difficult Pass of Safeh, which crosses the stream that flows from the south into the Jordan--that is, the great valley of the Arabah, reaching from the Dead to the Red Sea.”

“The southern boundary commenced at the Dead Sea. The broad and desolate valley by which the depressed bed of that sea is protected toward the south, is called the Ghor. A deep narrow glen enters it at its southwest corner; it is called Wady-el-Fikreh, and is continued in the same southwestern direction, under the name of Wady el-Marrah; a wady which loses itself among the hills belonging to “the wilderness of Zin;” and Kadesh-barnea (see Numbers 13:26 note), which is “in the wilderness of Zin,” will be, as the text implies, the southernmost point of the southern boundary. Thence, if Kadesh be identical with the present Ain el-Weibeh, westward to the river, or brook of Egypt, now Wady…”

“Your fourth quarter - Which is here described from east to west by divers windings and turnings, by reason of the mountains and rivers. The salt sea - So called from the salt and sulphurous taste of its waters. Eastward - That is, at the eastern part of that sea, where the eastern and southern borders meet. Numbers 34:4”

“34:3-5 Portions of the southern boundary of Canaan were familiar to Israel from earlier experiences in the wilderness of Zin on the northwestern edge of Edom (see chs 13–14). This southern frontier ran east to west in an arc from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.”

“south quarter: Exo 23:31; Jos 15:1-12; Eze 47:13, Eze 47:19-23 salt sea eastward: The lake Asphaltites, Dead sea, or Salt sea, is, according to the most authentic accounts, about 70 miles in length, and 18 in breadth. Viewing this sea from the spot where the Jordan discharges its waters into it, it takes a south-easterly direction, visible for ten or fifteen miles, when it disappears in a curve towards the east. Its surface is generally unruffled, from the hollow of the basin in which it lies scarcely admitting the free passage necessary for a strong breeze. it is, however, for the same reason, subject to whirlwinds or squalls of short duration. The mountains on each side are apparently…”

“The southern boundary is the same as that given in Jos 15:2-4 as the boundary of the territory of the tribe of Judah. We have first the general description, "The south side shall be to you from the desert of Zin on the sides of Edom onwards," i.e., the land was to extend towards the south as far as the desert of Zin on the sides of Edom. על־ידי, "on the sides," differs in this respect from על־יד, "on the side" ( Exo 2:5; Jos 15:46; Sa2 15:2), that the latter is used to designate contact at a single point or along a short line; the former, contact for a long distance or throughout the whole extent (= כּל־יד, Deu 2:37). "On the sides of Edom" signifies, therefore, that the desert of Zin…”