PALESTINE: LAND OF WHOM? 

THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE

We would like to give a short answer, but the Bible requires a very careful reflection. And we cannot fly over it, because only a solid knowledge of the Scriptures can help us to take a healthy and balanced view of Israel. In the Terra compromessa  editorial, which we advise you to read, we reiterated that the only land worth conquering, for Jews and Palestinians, it is the Kingdom of Christ, the prince of peace. We cannot hide, however, our embarrassment at seeing, on social media, the publication of geographical maps aimed at showing that "the Jews were there before the Arabs".

How are things really, according to the Word of God?

In particular, we want to know:

- What is the land that God promised Israel?

- Was there anyone on that land before it was taken over by Israel?

- Did anyone else come to that land after the end of the Israelite kingdoms? Are the "usurpers" the Arabs?

- Who's really eligible for that land?

First, people tend to ignore that there is a fundamental difference between:

a. the land that God promised to all the seed of Abraham, and that is,

- to Ishmael, son of Hagar

- to Isaac, son of Sarah

- to the children of Keturah

b. the land that God promised to the descendants of Isaac alone (Israel)

Let's take a look at the map below. As we read in Genesis 10, after the universal flood the earth was populated by the descendants of Shem (Arabian peninsula, southern Mesopotamia), Cam (Africa and central Mesopotamia, up to the Persian Gulf) and Japheth (islands of nations, Europe/Asia). The Camites, however, were cursed by Noah because of the outrage against him by his son Ham: they would be slaves of Shem (Gen 9:24). Let us remember that.

Curiously, the portion of the Semites seems to be the smallest of the three, and, of the promised land to the entire seed of Abraham, Israel represents no more than 0.05%; this scheme, however approximate, will help us better understand the actual proportions between all three parts.

What is, at this point, the land that God has destined for Israel?

Let's take the biblical references. Ever since his friendship with Abraham, from Ur of the Chaldeans (Gen 11:28), God repeatedly renews to him the promise of a descendants as numerous and of a land on which to dwell in a stable and perpetual way.

Initially, God refers to the land of Canaan; when Abraham arrives, however, he does not find a virgin land, but a village inhabited by someone: the Canaanites. "(...) They arrived at the village of Canaan and Abram crossed the country to the locality of Shechem, near the Oak of More. Then the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, «To your seed I will give this land», Gen 12:4-7; also 17:8.

Again, in Genesis 13:12-17, God invites Abraham to embrace with his gaze and walk through Canaan, the promised land. All this, however, seems to clash with the other promise, that of a descendant as numerous as the stars of heaven and the dust of the earth (Gen 13:15; 15:5), promise also addressed to Hagar, concubine of Abraham (Gen 16:10). Elsewhere, even God promises "nations" to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph (Gen 17:4-6; 17:16; 18:18; 22:18; 25:23; 26:4; 27:29; 35:11; 48:19), but also to Hagar (Gen 21:13). Such large numbers are incompatible with a land with limited borders, as we shall see.

Then, after the sacrifice of the animals, God repeats his promises to Abraham: "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abraham, saying: «I give to your seed this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates; the Chenei, the Chenizei, the Cadmonei, the Hittites, the Ferezei, the Refaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Ghirgasei and the Jebusites»", Gen 15:18-21. This time, however, as we can see, it is clear that the land promised to the descendants of Abraham is considerably larger: from the Nile River to the Euphrates River. Not just Canaan anymore.

That the people of God knew very well that the land to be conquered was the only Canaan, is clear in Numbers 34:1-12, where the boundaries of this land are defined: "And the LORD said to Moses, Give this order to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall be your inheritance: the land of Canaan. Your southern border shall begin at the desert of Sin, near Edom; so shall your southern frontier depart from the far end of the Dead Sea, to the east; this frontier shall turn to the south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass through Sin-Barnea; then it will continue towards Cazar-Addar and pass through Asmon. From Asmon the frontier will turn to the torrent of Egypt and will end at the sea. Your frontier to the west will be the Mediterranean Sea: that will be your western frontier. This will be your northern frontier: starting from the Mediterranean Sea, you will draw a line to Mount Or; from Mount Or, you will trace it in the direction of Amath and the end of the frontier will be at Zedad; the frontier will continue to Zifron and end at Cazar-Enan: this will be your northern frontier. You will draw your eastern frontier from Cazar-Enan to Sefam; the frontier will descend from Sefam to Ribla, east of Ain; then the frontier will descend and extend along the sea of Genèsaret, east; then the frontier will descend along the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your country with its borders all around»".

Israel was to occupy only Canaan. Why? Because the rest of the territory would be occupied by the descendants of Ishmael, had with Hagar, and by the sons of Keturah, divided according to the various tribes, that is, by "all" the descendants of Abraham.

In Genesis 25, it is written that the Ishmaelites dwelt from Avila to Sur, the strip of land that lies between the Nile and the Red Sea, even going to Assyria, that is, Mesopotamia. They lived "in front of their brothers" (v.18), precisely because, presumably, all the other descendants of Abraham were in the Arabian Peninsula, beyond the Red Sea.

As for the sons of Abraham and Keturah, only Midian and a few other tribes have been identified with certainty, but their localization is, of course, between the Arabian Peninsula and the southeast of the Nile. Jesus appointed the Queen of the South who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon (Mt 12:42; 1 Kings 10:1-13): it may be a reference to the legendary kingdom of Seba in present-day Ethiopia.

The land touched by Israel, Canaan, which coincides with today's Palestine, is really small to imagine that it can contain myriad people. His conquest, among other things, had to be accomplished militarily by Israel, while it was not so for the other descendants of Abraham: all this has a spiritual significance, because God used Israel to carry out the judgment on the Hamites who lived there, for the curse of Genesis 9:24 to be fulfilled; however, victory was only guaranteed when the chosen people walked in holiness.

In the editorial Terra compromessa, we clarified that the promises of multiplication are explained by the fact that true Israel is the offspring of Abraham by faith, and not by ethnicity; therefore, as written in Romans 4:13, Abraham "is heir to the world", and not heir to a tiny piece of land, and the promised land of the redeemed is abundant life in Christ and in the Kingdom, provided you follow him fully.

Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge of the Epistle to the Romans and the Pentateuch meant that the aggressive expansionism of Israel was tacitly approved, even by Christians. Even the current configuration of the State of Israel, established in 1948, is a "generous" interpretation of the boundaries traced in Numbers 34: as you can see, the southern borders have been "stretched" to the Red Sea to have an outlet to the sea, which was not foreseen by the Scriptures (the southern border follows the Dead Sea-Sin-Kadesh Barnea-Mediterranean Sea line). From the map below, you can also see how Israel has expanded progressively over the years, without even respecting the political boundaries agreed in 1947, to the total ruin of the Palestinians, increasingly marginalized.

Now be careful. In the first chapter of Deuteronomy and Joshua, there seems to be a contradiction: Moses and Joshua, in fact, are invited by God to take possession of the land from the desert to Lebanon and the Euphrates River. Since Moses was prevented from entering the promised land through disobedience, God seems to have extended Joshua's boundaries farther north and south. However, throughout his life, Joshua focused only on the conquest of Canaan; King David himself would later establish the kingdom on the basis of the boundaries drawn in Numbers 34, interested not in expanding into the region, but rather in recovering the two and a half tribes left east of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh). This detail confirms that David did not pursue the goal of a "greater Israel," an ideology that is very present in modern Zionism.

And after the end of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah? Who invaded the "promised land"? The Arabs?

In spite of so many reconstructions that you see going crazy on social media, we must remember that, before the Arabs, followed, in order, the following invasions:

722 BC: Assyrians

586 B.C.: Babylonians

538 B.C.: Persians

333 B.C.: Macedonians

323 BC: Seleucids

140 B.C.: Hasmoneans

47 B.C.: Romans

395: Byzantines

611: Persians

636: Arab

When the Arabs arrived, in short, the demographic substratum of Israel was already largely "contaminated" by the presence of other ethnic groups, who had introduced in Palestine their habits and customs. There is no nation in the world that has not received influences from other peoples, languages and cultures!

The Orthodox Jews, unlike the Zionists, accept the condition of "exile" as an inexorable fact, prescribed by God and predicted by the prophets, and have no claim on earth. Moreover, they claim that, before Zionism was operative, different ethnic groups coexisted in Palestine, in a collaborative and peaceful way; however, following the mass return of the Jews, caused by Zionist propaganda, the situation has degenerated, because Israel has become an occupying subject, and the worst is that it has done so by manipulating the message of the Torah. But Christians should reason with the discernment of the Word!

In summary, we can outline our conclusions as follows:

1. Before the conquest by Israel, in the land of Canaan there were the Canaanites, descendants of Ham.

2. The land promised to Israel is a small part of the land promised to all the seed of Abraham.

3. The seed promised to both Isaac and Ishmael is too numerous to be contained in a land bounded by borders, and indeed has spread throughout the world.

4. The conquest of Canaan had a spiritual sense, still valid, but it is not a perpetual authorization to occupy and kill.

5. The boundaries drawn by God for Israel did not also include the strip leading to the Red Sea, and therefore do not coincide with the current boundaries of the State of Israel

6. The Arabs cannot be defined as usurpers, since they have been preceded by other peoples.

7. It is not in God's interest that the Jews get a very small piece of land at the price of so much blood, but rather that they convert and inherit salvation together with their Palestinian brothers.

God bless us all!