The Promised Land
Thomas Allen
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: (Genesis 15:18)
God promised to give the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (Exodus 3:8 and 17), i.e., the land that became Palestine, to Abraham’s descendants. Zionists claim that this promise has never been fulfilled. Many Zionists claim that the promised land includes all the territory between the Euphrates and the Nile. That is, it includes not only Palestine, but also Iraq and Syria west of the Euphrates, Lebanon, Jordan, northwest Saudi Arabia, and Egypt east of the Nile. Moses describes the promised land in Numbers 34:1-12.
According to Joshua, God gave the Israelites all the land that He had promised to Abraham:
So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war. (Joshua 11:23)
And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. (Joshua 21:43)
Thus, the Abrahamic land promise was fulfilled in Joshua’s lifetime.
While Joshua claims that God’s land promise to Abraham was fulfilled in his lifetime, Zionists contend that the promise remains unfulfilled. Some Zionists contend that before the Abrahamic land promise is fulfilled, modern-day Israel must occupy all of Palestine. To fulfill this promise, other Zionists assert that Israel must occupy all the land between the Euphrates and the Nile.
Who do you believe: today’s Zionists or Joshua?
Furthermore, Jews using Genesis 15:18 to justify God giving them Palestine is one of today’s greatest ironies. It is ironic because so few Jews may be descendants of Abraham. Nearly all of today’s Jews are descendants of the people of the extinct Khazar Empire. (The Khazar Empire covered what is now southeastern Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, and northeast Kazakhstan.) Moreover, unlike the Jews, most Palestinians may be descendants of Abraham.
What some commentators have written about Genesis 15:18 and Joshua 11:23 and 21:43 follows:
– Halley: God promised the descendants of Abraham the land of Canaan.[1]
– Gore: The land promised to Abraham’s descendants was not achieved until the peak of Solomon’s reign.[2]
– Holmes: Joshua conquered the land described in Deuteronomy.[3]
– A. Clarke: The southwestern border was not the Nile but was the Sichor River on the border of Egypt near the Isthmus of Suez. The Abrahamic land promise was fully accomplished during the reign of David and Solomon. Whatever land in Canaan that the Israelites did not occupy paid tribute to prove their submission.[4]
– L. Clarke: The Israelites occupying all the land between the Nile and Euphrates was never more than a dream.[5]
– Mann: The extent of the promised land was idealized and was approximately achieved during the reigns of David and Solomon. Moreover, the River of Egypt refers not to the Nile but probably to the brook of Egypt.[6]
– Smith: All the land that God had promised the Israelites, Joshua took.[7]
– MacDonald: The Nile probably means the Wadi el-Arish, a small stream south of Gaza.[8] Further, Joshua’s stating that Israel occupied all the land that God had promised Abraham’s descendants from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates should not be understood literally; it means that the land that Joshua divided among the Israelites fulfilled God’s promise to give the Israelites the land on which they walked.[9]
Endnotes