As in previous studies, we will
look at definitions, scriptures, lexical, and
commentary evidence for the purpose to glorify
God in how we live. What does the Bible say
about boundaries and borders? Are there modern
day applications that we can learn from
biblical boundaries and borders?
“Thou shalt not remove thy
neighbour's landmark, which they of old time
have set in thine inheritance, which thou
shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy
God giveth thee to possess it.” (Deuteronomy
19:14)
From Matthew
Henry's Concise Commentary on
Deuteronomy 19:14:
“19:14 Direction is given to fix
landmarks in Canaan. It is the will of God
that everyone should know his own; and that
means should be used to hinder the doing and
suffering of wrong. This, without doubt, is a
moral precept, and still binding. Let every
man be content with his own lot, and be just
to his neighbours in all things.” (1)
“And I will set your border from
the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and
from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I
will give the inhabitants of the land into
your hand, and you shall drive them out before
you.” (Exodus 23:31 ESV)
“And the children of Israel heard
say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the
children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh
have built an altar over against the land of
Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the
passage of the children of Israel.” (Joshua
22:11)
“Some remove the landmarks; they
violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.”
(Job 24:2)
From Gill's
Exposition of the Entire Bible on Job
24:2:
“Some remove the landmarks,
anciently set to distinguish one man's land
from another, to secure property, and preserve
from encroachments; but some were so wicked as
either secretly in the night to remove them,
or openly to do it, having power on their
side, pretending they were wrongly located;
this was not only prohibited by the law of
God, and pronounced an accursed thing,
Deuteronomy 19:14.” (2)
“These are the (boundaries by
which you shall divide the land for
inheritance among the twelve tribes of
Israel.” Ezekiel 47:13)
“The princes of Judah are like
those who move boundary markers; I will pour
out my fury on them like water.”(Hosea
5:10 CSB)
From John
Gill's Exposition
of
the Entire Bible on Acts 17:26:
“All these are appointed times,
and determined by the Creator and Governor of
the world:
And the bounds of their
habitation; where men shall dwell, and how
long they shall continue there the age or
distinct period of time, in which every man
was, or is to come into the world, is fixed
and determined by God; nor can, nor does
anyone come into the world sooner or later
than that time; and also the particular
country, city, town, and spot of ground where
he shall dwell; and the term of time how long
he shall dwell there, and then remove to
another place, or be removed by death. And to
this agrees the Ethiopic version, which
renders the whole thus, “and hath appointed
his times, and his years, how long they shall
dwell”; see Deuteronomy 32:8 to which the
apostle seems to refer.” (3)
Walls
Thesaurus for
Walls
Wall, partition, divider, dam,
embankment, dike, ditch, bank, levee,
stockade, fence, stone wall, drywall, stone
fence, parapet, retainer, rampart, bulwark,
palisade, fort, cliff, barricade, floodgate,
sluice gate, paling
“The LORD our God also helped us
conquer Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Gorge,
and the town in the gorge, and the whole area
as far as Gilead. No town had walls too strong
for us.” (Deuteronomy 2:36 NLT)
“All these cities were fenced
with high walls, gates, and bars; beside
unwalled towns a great many.” (Deuteronomy
3:5)
“Solomon made a marriage alliance
with Pharaoh King of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s
daughter and brought her into the city of
David until he had finished building his own
house and the house of the LORD and the wall
around Jerusalem.” (1Kings 3:1 ESV)
“And he [Asa] said to Judah, “Let
us build these cities and surround them with
walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is
still ours, because we have sought the LORD
our God. We have sought him, and he has given
us peace on every side.” So they built and
prospered.” (2Chronicles 14:7 ESV)
"Now it came to pass,
when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the
Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that
I had builded the wall, and that there was no
breach left therein; (though at the time I had
not set up the doors upon the gates)."
(Nehemiah 6:1)
"So the wall was finished in the twenty and
fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two
days. And it came to pass, that when all our
enemies heard thereof, and all the the
heathen that were about us saw these things,
they were much cast down in their own eyes: for
they perceived that this work was wrought of our
God." (Nehemiah 6:15-16)
From Ellicott's Commentary for English
Readers on Nehemiah 6:15-16:
"(15, 16) - Thefinishing of the wall is
recorded in the simplest manner: first, with a
formal specification of the date and time; then
in its effect upon the enemies, and as
redounding to t he glory of God." (4)
"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is
like a city that is broken down, and without
walls." (Proverbs 25:28)
"In that day shall this song be sung in the land
of Judah; we have a strong city; salvation will
God appoint for walls and bulwarks." (Isaiah
26:1)
"A day for the building of your walls! In that
day, the boundary shall be far extended." (Micah
7:11 ESV)
From Matthew Poole's Commentary on
Micah 7:11:
"These words are variously expounded, but the
plainest and most suiting with the letter and
history to me seems to be this:
In the day that thy walls are to be built, O
Jerusalem, the days shall certainly come, that
thy walls, overthrown and razed by the
Babylonians, shall be rebuilt; which was first
in part fulfilled under Cyrus, but more fully
under Darius Hystaspes, and Darius Longimanus,
who commissioned Nehemiah to repair the walls of
Jerusalem." (5)
"Blessed are they that do his commandments that
they may have right to the tree of life, and may
enter in through the gates into the city. For
without are dogs, and sorcerers, and
whoremongers, and murders, and idolaters, and
whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Revelation
22:14-15)
Regarding the city, we
see here in Revelation, a city that has gates
also has walls.
Dictionaries -
Easton's
Bible
Dictionary - Wall
“Cities were surrounded by walls,
as distinguished from “unwalled villages”
(Ezekiel 38:11; Leviticus 25:29-34). They were
made thick and strong (Numbers 13:28;
Deuteronomy 3:5). Among the Jews walls were
built of stone, some of those in the temple
being of great size (1 Kings 6:7 ; 7:9-12 ;
20:30 ; Mark 13:1 Mark 13:2). The term is used
metaphorically of security and safety (Isaiah
26:1; 60:18; Revelation 21:12-20). (See
FENCE.)” (6)
The following
from
Torrey's New Topical Textbook on walls
is excellent:
Designed for separation - Ezekiel
43:8, Ephesians 2:14
Designed for defense - 1Samuel
25:16
MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE
Of cities - Numbers 13:28
Of temples - 1Chronicles 29:4;
Isaiah 56:5
Of houses - 1Samuel 18:11
Of vineyards - Numbers 22:24;
Proverbs 24:31
Frequently made of stone and wood
together - Ezra 5:8, Habakkuk 2:11
Were probably often strengthened
with plates of iron or brass - Jeremiah 15:20;
Ezekiel 4:3
OF CITIES
Often very high - Deuteronomy
1:28; 3:5
Strongly fortified - Isaiah 2:15;
25:12
Had towers built on them -
2Chronicles 26:9; 32:5; Psalms 48:12; Solomon
8:10
Houses often built on - Joshua
2:15
Were broad and places of public
resort - 2Kings 6:26 2Kings 6:30; Psalms 55:10
Were strongly manned in war -
2Kings 18:26
Kept by watchmen night and day -
Solomon 5:7; Isaiah 62:6
Houses sometimes broken down to
repair, and fortify - Isaiah 22:10
Danger of approaching too near
to, in time of war - 2Samuel 11:20 2Samuel
11:21
Were battered by besieging armies
- 2Samuel 20:15; Ezekiel 4:2 Ezekiel 4:3
Adroitness of soldiers in scaling
alluded to - Joel 2:7-9
Sometimes burned - Jeremiah
49:27; Amos 1:7
Frequently laid in ruins -
2Chronicles 25:23; 36:19; Jeremiah 50:15
Destruction of, a punishment and
cause of grief - Deuteronomy 28:52; Nehemiah
1:3; 2:12-17
The falling of sometimes
occasioned great destruction - 1Kings 20:30
The bodies of enemies sometimes
fastened on, as a disgrace - 1Samuel 31:10
Custom of dedicating - Nehemiah
12:27
Idolatrous rites performed on -
2Kings 3:27
Instances of persons let down
from - Joshua 2:15; Acts 9:24 Acts 9:25;
2Corinthians 11:33
Small towns and villages were not
surrounded by - Leviticus 25:31; Deuteronomy
3:5
OF HOUSES
Usually plastered - Ezekiel
13:10; Daniel 5:5
Had nails or pegs fastened into
them when built - Ecclesiastes 12:11; Isaiah
22:23
Liable to leprosy - Leviticus
14:37
Often infested with serpents -
Amos 5:19
Could be easily dug through -
Genesis 49:6; Ezekiel 8:7 Ezekiel 8:8; 12:5
The seat next, was the place of
distinction - 1Samuel 20:25
Hyssop frequently grew on -
1Kings 4:33
MIRACLES CONNECTED WITH
Falling of the walls of Jericho -
Joshua 6:20
Handwriting on the wall of
Belshazzar’s palace - Daniel 5:5 Daniel
5:25-28
ILLUSTRATIVE
Of salvation - Isaiah 26:1; 60:18
Of the protection of God -
Zechariah 2:5
Of those who afford protection -
1Samuel 25:16; Isaiah 2:15
Of the Church as a protection to
the nation - Song of Solomon 8:9 Song of
Solomon 8:10
Of ordinances as a protection to
the Church - Solomon 2:9; Isaiah 5:5
Of the wealth of the rich in his
own conceit - Proverbs 18:11
(Brazen,) of prophets in their
testimony against the wicked - Jeremiah 15:20
(Bowing or tottering,) of the
wicked under judgments - Psalms 62:3; Isaiah
30:13
(Of partition,) of separation of
Jews and Gentiles - Ephesians 2:14
(Daubed with untempered mortar,)
of the teaching of false prophets - Ezekiel
13:10-15
(Whited,) of hypocrites - Acts
23:3” (7)
Comments and
observations:
Do walls work?
There are at least 77 walls or
fences around the world many that have been
built after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon.
(8)
Great Wall of
China
More than 13,000 miles long, the
Great Wall of China is often called the
longest feat of human engineering. The “Great
Wall” is more than 2,000 years old and it took
more than 1 million workers to build. The
original purpose was to prevent incursions
from barbarian nomads in the Third Century
B.C.
Israel-West
Bank
Israel constructed a 400-mile
wall in the West Bank in 2002 after a wave of
attacks by Palestinian insurgents. Its 20 feet
high, concrete wall topped with barbed wire
Israel’s
Southern Immigration Border
Construction on the wall began in
2010 and finished in 2013, costing US$400
million for the relatively small 150-mile wall
Saudi Arabia
In 2014, Saudi Arabia built a
550-mile-long wall with Iraq, a response to
the rise of the Islamic State militants
sweeping across parts of that country.
Morocco
A 1,700-mile sand wall fortified
and surrounded by millions of land mines was
built by Morocco in 1975 along disputed,
ungoverned territory on its border with
Western Sahara.
In conclusion:
Boundaries and borders are
approved and sanctioned by God.
God “fixed the borders of the
peoples” (Deuteronomy 32:8 ESV) and defined
the borders of the Promised Land (Numbers
34:1-15; Ezekiel 47:13-23).
Boundaries or landmarks help
preserve property integrity for the owners. In
addition to private property owners, this
would include individual states and national
boundaries.
We are to watch for those who
would harm us and defend ourselves (Exodus
22:2–3; Nehemiah 4:14; Esther 8:11; Proverbs
25:26; Luke 11:21).
Walls are necessary for defense
and national security. In the modern world,
walls are augmented by technology such as
satellites, drones equipped with cameras,
private security forces, police, and military
personnel.
Transcendent or divine walls
serve to draw boundaries between God’s people,
and those outside of Christ’s Church. These
spiritual walls would include church
membership and privileges such as the Lord’s
Supper to the exclusion of non-believers. It
illustrate, in some churches, you have the
doctrine of the fenced communion table. In
most conservative churches you have control or
guarding of who participates in communion.
Metaphorically speaking there is a wall.
The Bill of Rights is a bulwark,
or a “wall,” metaphorically speaking, against
the fed gov and state intrusions.
“And he made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of
the earth, having determined allotted periods
and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
(Acts 17:26 ESV)
Notes:
1.Matthew Henry, Concise
Commentary, Deuteronomy, (Nashville,
Tennessee, Thomas Nelson), p. 330.
2.John Gill, Exposition
of the Old and New Testaments, Job, (Grace
Works, Multi-Media Labs), 2011, p. 500.
3.John Gill, Exposition
of the Old and New Testaments, Acts,
(Grace Works, Multi-Media Labs), 2011, p. 468.
4.Charles John Ellicott,
Bible
Commentary for English Readers, Nehemiah,
Vol.3, (London, England, Cassell and Company),
p. 493.
5.Matthew Poole's Commentary
on the Holy Bible, Micah,
(Peabody, Massachusetts, Hendrickson
Publishers, 1985) p. 955.
6.Easton's Bible Dictionary is in the public
domain and may be freely used and distributed.
7.Torrey, R.A., Reverand,
The New
Topical Text Book, “Entry for 'Walls,”,
1897.
8.USA TODAY Published
5:01 a.m. ET May 24, 2018
“To God,
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and “heirs
according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28,
29)
Mr. Kettler
has previously published articles in the
Chalcedon Report and Contra Mundum. He and his
wife Marea attend the Westminster, CO, RPCNA
Church. Mr. Kettler is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against attacks,
titled: The Religion That Started in a Hat.
Available at: http://www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com
For more study:
Immigration and
Libertarianism
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/07/hans-hermann-hoppe/immigration-and-libertarianism/
The biblical case for
closed borders
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/23/biblical-case-closed-borders/
The Biblical Case for
a Big, Beautiful Border Wall
https://christianpatriotdaily.com/articles/the-biblical-case-for-a-big-beautiful-border-wall/
Excerpt:
“The Bible
is filled with examples of walls that are
presented as a positive symbol of law and
order. Our word for “city,” from the Latin cititas
means a walled, protected space. The Hebrew qiryah,
used to denote the cities in the Bible, has
the exact same meaning. The people inside the
walls were protected and allowed to prosper in
peace. Cities where the walls have been torn
down or reduced to rubble were unprotected and
the result was chaos, lawlessness and misery.
The victims of crime at the hand of illegal
immigrants in so-called “sanctuary cities” can
attest to this chaos, but still our Congress
does not listen.”
The Bible and Borders
is an excellent treatment border walls for
personal and national security https://carm.org/can-christians-support-border-security-open-borders
What Does Scripture
Actually Say About Our Borders?
Excerpt:
“Do you
have locks on your doors? How about on your
car? Got a fence so your kids can play safely?
Do you have passwords on your computers? How
about your bank accounts? Do you protect your
credit card numbers? Your Social Security
number? How about your medical records? Do you
think curbs, guardrails and traffic lines are
a good idea, or should people be able to drive
anywhere and any way they want? How about
security borders at the airport—necessary or
optional?” Read more,
https://www.charismanews.com/politics/opinion/72205-what-does-scripture-actually-say-about-our-borders
Building walls may
have allowed civilization to flourish
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/10/wall-mexico-trump-book-talk-news/