Numbers 34:5

34:5 The Brook of Egypt (not to be confused with the Nile) designates the wadi that separates the land of Canaan from Egypt; it drains toward the Mediterranean Sea (cp. 1 Kgs 8:65). In Old Testament times, Israel exercised little control over this southern coastal region.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which was Nilus, or as some think, Rhinocotura.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

river of Egypt--the ancient brook Sihor, the Rhinocolura of the Greeks, a little to the south of El-Arish, where this wady gently descends towards the Mediterranean (Jos 13:3).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. The river of Egypt] The eastern branch of the river Nile; or, according to others, a river which is south of the land of the Philistines, and fails into the gulf or bay near Calieh.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(5) And the border shall fetch a compass . . . —Although the exact spots of some of the places which determined the southern border have not been positively ascertained, there seems, on the whole, very little doubt that the boundary line ran along the valleys which form a natural division between the cultivated land and the desert, from the Arabah on the east to the Mediterranean on the west, the Brook of Egypt—i.e., the Wady-el-Arish—forming the western boundary until it reached the sea.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. the brook of Egypt] Heb. ‘the naḥal of Miẓraim.’ A.V. ‘the river of Egypt’ gives the erroneous impression that the Nile is meant. The name is that of a wady or torrent, now called Wâdy el-‘Arîsh, which rises in the centre of the Sinaitic peninsula, and flows northward into the Mediterranean about 50 miles S.W. of Gaza. It is possible that Miẓraim here denotes not Egypt proper, but the tract on the east of Egypt. The name Muẓur is frequently applied to the latter in Assyrian inscriptions.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the border shall fetch a compass,.... Not go on in a straight line, but turn about:

from Azmon unto the river of Egypt; the river Nile, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra seems to deny that that river is meant: and some think that Rhinocolura, which flows into the Mediterranean sea, is meant; or the "valley of Egypt", Casiotis, which divided Judea from Egypt, as follows:

and the goings out of it; not of the river, but of the border:

shall be at the sea; the above sea, called in the next verse the great sea; all the Targums render it to the west.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Egypt. Many suppose the rivulet of Rinocorura is meant. (Menochius) --- But it seems more probable that the Nile, the only river of Egypt, or the eastern branch of it, where Pelusium stands, is designated. There is no proof that the former rivulet belonged to Egypt; and though some assert that the Hebrews never dwelt to the west of it, the territory was so barren, that nothing may be said respecting that affair. We find, however, that under Solomon they inhabited as far as the river of Egypt; (1 Paralipomenon xiii. 5., and 3 Kings viii. 65,) and if they had not, God’s promise entitled them to that part of the country; as well as to that which extends to the great river Euphrates, though they perhaps never took possession of it. See Genesis xv. 18., and Josue xiii. 3. Pelusium is commonly reckoned the frontier town of Egypt, Ezechiel xxx. 15. (Stabo xvi.) In another place, the promised land extends from Emath to the torrent of Egypt, (1 Kings viii. 55,) or of the desert, Amos vi. 15. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The river of Egypt, called Sihor, Jos 13:3, which divided Egypt from Canaan. See Gen 15:18.

The sea; the midland sea, called the sea emphatically; whereas the other seas there, as they are called, are indeed but lakes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The river of Egypt, or "brook (ljn) of Egypt." Septuagint, ceima roun Aiguptou . It was a winter torrent which drained the greater part of the western half of the northern desert of the Sinaitic peninsula. It was, however, only in its lower course, where a single channel receives the intermittent outflow of many wadys, that it was known as the "brook of Egypt," because it formed the well-marked boundary between Egypt and Canaan. (cf. 2Ch_7:8, and Isa_27:12, where the Septuagint has ewv Rinokorourwn , from the name of the frontier fort, Rhinocorura, afterwards built there) So far as we are able to follow the line drawn in these verses, it would appear to have held a course somewhat to the south of west for about half its length, then to have made a southerly deflection to Kadesh, and from thence to have struck north-west until it reached the sea, almost in the same latitude as the point from which it started.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The river of Egypt - Called Sihor, Josh. xiii, 3, which divided Egypt from Canaan. The sea - The midland sea, called the sea emphatically, whereas the other seas, as they are called, are indeed but lakes.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

והיו תוצאותיו הימה AND ITS GOINGS OUT SHALL BE AT THE SEA i.e. at the western boundary, because the southern border does not extend any more west of there and further on.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.