Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BOUNDARY

(Heb. gĕḇûl)

In the Deuteronomistic perspective, boundary making is associated with the sacral apportionment of the land of Israel (cf. Joshua, where Heb. gĕḇûl, “boundary,” “territory,” is used primarily of land allotment and tenure). Land division was predicated on lineage categories, proceeding from distribution among the tribes, to distribution among kin-groups, and then to distribution among extended families. The resulting assignments of land were to be permanent inheritances. Accordingly, one must not move a neighbor’s boundary marker (Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28; 23:10). Prophets decried a blatant disregard of such laws, as Israel’s emerging state systems outpaced and eroded its older lineage-based understandings of land boundaries (e.g., 1 Kgs. 21:17-19; Mic. 2:1-5; cf. Hos. 5:10).

In priestly traditions, boundary making is further associated with demarcating the holiness of cultic areas. These traditions stress the temple mount as sacred space (Ezek. 43:12). Early texts such as Exod. 19:12, 23 establish this principle, but it is reemphasized in Ezekiel’s ideal arrangements for the temple. In Ezekiel new tribal borders and definite gradations of holiness surround and protect the temple.

The function of boundaries in establishing sacred space is related to their role in biblical cosmogony. The demarcation of a cultic center and the organization of the rest of life around it archetypically symbolize the structure of the created universe. Thus the temple on Mt. Zion forms the nexus of the cosmos — the organizing center that emerged when God first differentiated the elements of the world (e.g., Ps. 74:12-17; 104:5-9; Jer. 5:22). This primeval boundary making is extended to include God’s demarcation of the nations (Deut. 32:8; Acts 17:26).

Stephen L. Cook

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BOUNDARY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)