Landmark
“Border, boundary”
Summary
Boundary stones marking property lines; removing them was strictly forbidden in biblical law.
☩Protection of Inheritance
The command 'Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance' (Deuteronomy 19:14) protected property boundaries. Moving landmarks was included among the curses pronounced from Mount Ebal: 'Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark' (Deuteronomy 27:17). This law preserved family inheritances assigned by lot in Joshua's division of the land.
☩Prophetic Condemnation
The prophets condemned those who violated this command. Hosea accused Israel's princes of being 'like them that remove the bound' (Hosea 5:10). Job listed moving landmarks among the crimes of the wicked (Job 24:2). Proverbs warned against removing 'the old landmark' or entering 'into the fields of the fatherless' (Proverbs 23:10). Moving landmarks represented theft, oppression of the weak, and contempt for God's established order.
Related Verses7 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Landmark," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Landmark," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).