Boundaries of the Promised Land

 Read Genesis 15

In the just wondering category, have you ever wondered about what defines the Promised Land?

If you have followed history for the past 100 years, you know that Israel’s boundaries have moved more than once.  Sometimes this is the result of a war and sometimes a war results from moving the boundaries.

But what are the boundaries?

In this chapter of Genesis, we see them defined.

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, and others…”

So what is the wadi of Egypt?  Most would say the great river of Egypt, but that is the Nile, and it is well within Egypt.

What about to the great river—the Euphrates?  That river is north of what we think of today as Israel.  It’s north of Lebanon and into Syria.  We have never seen the kingdom of Israel stretch that far, have we?

Well, that’s just one account.  God could have refined these basic boundaries later.  He did.

I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.

So maybe the western boundary is the Red Sea and not the Nile River, but the eastern boundary still appears to be the Euphrates River. That’s a lot of territory that present-day Israel does not occupy today.

But if we go to Ezekiel, we see what is surely a prophetic dividing of the Promised Land among the 12 tribes for the land was already divided when Joshua entered the land following the time of slavery in Egypt.  In Ezekiel’s account, the Promised land goes north of Damascus. It goes all the way to the Euphrates.

We have seen the Israeli Army fighting in the Golan heights area, especially in the Yom Kippur War, but that doesn’t get close to the Euphrates River.

So why does no one ever bring this up?  Why does no one note the discrepancy?

Perhaps it is not a discrepancy of geography but of time.  It seems that Joshua may have never claimed all that God set aside for his people.

It seems that in the mid-20^th century, the land returned to God’s Chosen People was not the full amount described in Genesis or elsewhere in the Bible.

It could be that the entire Promised Land will not be delivered until the end of the age or perhaps in the millennial reign.

As we have seen much biblical prophecy fulfilled so far, so too is there much to be fulfilled. It’s food for thought.  Nothing in this line of discourse affects your salvation.  Nothing impacts your abundant life.  Nothing here upsets your right standing with God.  That is very much intact.

But for those who are interested in more than being a workman approved to rightly divide the word of God—that is to put God’s words into practice—this might prove an interesting course of study.

Our charge as Christians is to put the words of Jesus into practice, but for some of you, you might be called to study more.  Here is one of those tidbits that scholars don’t give too much attention.  So, if you have plenty of time on your hands, and you want to venture into an area that has not been over-explored, this invitation might be for you.

Let me know how it comes out.  I’m on to chapter 16.

Amen.