In the name of God what have we done?

Is this the map of what God intended in Genesis and Joshua?

One of the most controversial issues in the world for the last 100 years has been which land “belongs” to the Jewish people in what is now called Israel. The roots of that issue lie at the heart of the conflicts that have risen since 1945 and still today leave Gaza as little more than a prison camp for more than a million people. So what land did God “give“ the Jewish people and do those promises of 5000 years ago still apply today?

In Genesis 15:18 and Joshua 1:4 we are told that the promised land was to include:

From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

This would be part Egypt and Syria, all of Jordan, all of modern Israel, the West Bank and Gaza strip plus large sections of Saudia Arabia and Iraq.

Many scholars believe this is a good estimation of the land that was given to each of the tribes.

And then in Chapters 13 to 19 of Joshua each of the tribes is allotted a section of land for their people to settle on permanently. There is some squabbling over the allocation, but every tribe is given an area which belongs to them.

The land they were actually given was much smaller than the land described in Genesis and the start of Joshua. So we can conclude one of two things – God had changed his mind over the extent of the Promised Land boundaries or there was expansion to come at a later date. Well as we will see when we get to the story of Solomon, the expansion went on and by the time Solomon died his expanded kingdom was pretty close to being the land that was described in Genesis and Joshua.

So the land was given by God to the Jewish people and this section of Joshua lays out exactly who was given what across the 12 tribes. So should this have any bearing on us today?

My view is that the whole theology of the Promised Land has been deliberately misunderstood to serve the purposes of those who want to justify war, land grabs and permanent separation of those who now live in that area of the Middle East.

The boundaries of King Solomon’s kingdom extended well beyond the land that Joshua allocated to the tribes of Israel.

For the radical Jews, the concept of the Promised Land is simple. God gave them the land and they are entitled to take it back. Mainstream Jewish thinking today concludes that the Promised Land was given to all Jews including converts and their descendants. When someone converts to Judaism they become “ben Avraham” – a child of Abraham and therefore subject to the promise.

For many Christians, especially within the evangelical end of the US churches, the Promised Land and Israel’s existence are promises of God that signify the approach of the second coming of Jesus. In fact, there was much celebrating among some groups of Christians as Israel expanded its borders over the last 70 years, as this was the promise of God at work in their view.

So should we as Christians today be content with happens in Israel? Should we be happy to see walls built to separate people? Should we be happy to see land taken from Palestinian families that have farmed it for hundreds of years?

Well I personally do not think we should. I think it is time to rethink our relationship with the Promised Land and what is done in its name.

Firstly, if we look at all the descendants of Abraham, we include Isaac and Ishmael. The moment we include in Ishmael we include the forefathers of the Prophet Muhammad. So from that perspective, most followers of Islam today are also entitled to consider the Promised Land as theirs too. Of course, most literal scholars of Judaism and Christianity choose to only allow the promise to pass through Isaac – but the Bible wording and God’s intention is not so clear.

Second, the Jewish view is that all converts to following the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are blessed by living under the promise of the Promised Land. Given that Jesus was a Jew and he came to fulfil the law that was handed out to Moses on Mount Sinai, then Christian converts too should be considered as Sons of Israel and therefore entitled to live in the Promised Land.

Given these two points, it is no surprise that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have Jerusalem as one of their most important religious cities. All believe that they some claim to some or all of the city’s boundaries and the artefacts and religious sites contained within it.

So what should we do today? Should we fight Israel’s “right” to extend its borders to the original boundaries as won by King Solomon? Or should the Jews be scattered to the four corners of the globe as the teachers of radical Islam believe?

I personally think it is time move on from the concept of a Jewish only Promised Land and see a wider view of the home for all descendants and converts to those who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This will not be achievable through a single Jewish state that pushes all those who call themselves Palestinian out beyond the borders that King Solomon won 3000 years ago.

Creating a Republic of Utopia where Jew, Christian and Muslim live side by side in harmony may be the long term conclusion of the thoughts above, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon. We therefore need to conclude that a two state solution that fairly represents those who are currently resident in the area needs to be pursued. A fully formed and supported Palestinian state that can sit alongside an Israeli state is the only tenable solution from our current position. And the only way to achieve that is for radical followers of Judaism, Islam and Christianity to move on from their exclusive and polarising views.

So my prayer for the peoples of the not-so Holy Land is as follows.

So for those Palestinians – many who are Muslim and some who are Christian too – who have lived in refugee camps since the day they were born, may they find hope and peace in a Palestinian home.

May those Jews who live in fear of attack and reprisal in the land of Israel find true peace and security that is only possible when all peoples in the area are treated with compassion and justice.

And may Christians move on from the mistaken world view that Israel expanding its borders in Israel is a good thing but it has been prophesied as something that will happen before Jesus returns.

May we all seek to nourish and encourage all that brings life and hope across the region.

Notes

The maps are taken from the following article that provides a Jewish interpretation of what the Bible says are the geographic boundaries of Israel.