After leading the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert for forty years, Moses climbed up Mount Nebo and peered out across the Jordan River. He saw the Promised Land and it was good. Today the phrase “promised land” more often refers to a goal that we believe will bring happiness. And we refer to the land Moses was looking at as the Holy Land, which begs the question…
Is Israel the Holy Land? The Holy Land is the space between the eastern edge of the Jordan River Valley and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It spans south through the Sinai Peninsula and north to Lebanon and Syria. Better put… modern Israel. This definition also includes parts of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Christians sometimes refer to Christian tours through Turkey, Greece, Italy, Jordan, and Egypt as Holy Land tours. And there are other locations in the Middle East that Muslims consider holy, such as Medina and Mecca. But when we hear the phrase Holy Land, it means Israel.
Why is Israel the Holy Land?
Israel is the Holy Land because it is where God interacted with His people. This is fact and history for nearly 2/3 of the world’s population (Jews, Christians, and Muslims).
For Jews, the Holy Land has meaning because significant events in the course of God’s relationship with them occurred there. Both before and after the exile to Egypt and exodus.
This relationship plays out in the first 5 books of the Old testament. What Jews call the Pentateuch. In the 6th book, The Book of Joshua, the story of the Israelite conquest of the Promised Land is told.
Christians consider Israel the Holy Land because of it’s Old Testament history. But also because it’s where Jesus conducted his ministry and died for our sins on the cross.
Jesus was and is the next step in the relationship God has with His people. Even though we do not apply spirituality to these locations, they are the Holy Land because of what happened there.
In Islam, Jerusalem is where the profit Mohammad supposedly ascended to heaven to pray with the former prophets. Muslims call Jerusalem Al-Quds, which is literally translated to The Holy. Even if we, as Christians, reject the teachings of Islam, Muslim reverence for Jerusalem says something about God.
Whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, or none of the above, something of immense importance happened in this land.
What were the original boundaries of the Promised Land?
In Exodus 23:31 God tells Moses, “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River” (NIV). So, pretty much today’s states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and parts of Egypt.
In the ancient world, borders were not much of a thing. Boundaries were set by city walls and terrain features. Both the desert and the sea were considered to be equally treacherous. And mountains, ridge lines and rivers were impediments to invading armies.
When the Israelites eventually settled in the Promised Land, they didn’t fill in that whole area. What the borders of the State of Israel encompass today is roughly where Joshua and the 12 tribes settled. With the exception of the 2 and a half tribes that remained east of the Jordan River.
Why didn’t the ancient Israelites settle everything God gave them? Because what they did settle was enough. Plus, the land was filled with Canaanites, Philistines, and other pagan people groups. It was advantageous to stay close in order to survive.
Ultimately, the Israelites weren’t able to drive out the entirety of pagan societies from the land. And foreign invasions were a consistent problem.
Who were the Canaanites?
In the Bible, the Promised Land is often referred to as the Land of Canaan. And the people of the land were called Canaanites. Though it would be a stretch to refer to them as a single ethnic group with a unified name. Or even a claim to the land as a kingdom would have.
What scholars know about the Canaanites mostly comes from research done on the societies Canaanites dealt with. For the most part, they were not a single society. They had no unified kingdom but rather distinct and separate cultures. They also worshiped different and opposing deities. Like Dagon, who is mentioned in Judges and 1 Samuel.
Other Canaanite deities include Ashtoreth and Baal-Zebub.
Calling someone a Canaanite back then was akin to calling someone European today. Or African. It included a large swath of varying communities. Except the term also brought with it a connotation of paganism.
For context before we move on, Joshua lead the Israelites into the Promised land in the late 15th century BCE.
Who were the Philistines?
The Philistines were not Canaanites, but they lived in Canaan. Dr. Carl Rasmussen notes, in his Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, that in the 12th century BCE, a new people group arrived. This is roughly the time of the Judges. Rasmussen states that Egyptian sources called this group the Sea People.
Based on Archaeological evidence, the Sea People traveled by sea from what we know today as Greece. Like the Canaanites, they weren’t a single people group. They were many and they landed in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and southern Turkey.
The Egyptians defeated their invaders and sent them packing. This group moved north by land and sea into Canaan. Other groups from the Lebanon/Turkey/Syria invasion moved south into Canaan.
Though there were several groups within the Sea People, the most significant and treacherous were the Philistines.
The Philistines mainly settled along the coast at Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron.
What happened to the Canaanites and Philistines?
In essence, these societies dissipated over time as a result of invasions.
Throughout the conquest of the Promised Land and into the period of the Judges (14th and 15th centuries BCE) the Canaanites were the main adversary. It’s no surprise though that these people groups did not last long due to their fractured nature.
When the Sea People arrived, it was pretty much game over for the Canaanites. By the time of the united kingdom under the rule of King Saul and then King David, the Canaanites were a historical talking point.
In fact, after the book of Judges, when there is mention of the Canaanites, its in reference to the past. And usually a sinful past.
Although the Philistines were much more unified, they too have a hazy transition into history.
Starting in the 8th century BCE, during the time of the divided kingdom, invaders from the east began to conquest the land. (Note: the Israelite kingdom split when Solomon died in the 10th century BCE.)
The Assyrian invasions under the leadership of Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, and Sennacherib were brutal and devastating. The Philistines, who lived on the coast and in the plains, were extremely susceptible to attacks.
By this time the Israelites were split into two kingdoms. The southern kingdom, made up of the tribe of Judah. And the northern kingdom, made up of the remaining Israelite tribes.
The northern, or Israelite, kingdom was at risk as much as the Philistines were. It was basically the gateway into the Promised land. In the book A Biblical History of Israel (Provan, Long, and Longman) the authors state that Tiglath-Pileser III is “regarded as the rod that broke Philistia.”
It’s clear in the Bible that the Assyrian invasions were the beginning of the end for the Philistines and the northern kingdom. Where these people ended up is unclear.
There is no record of the aftermath available like there is for the Kingdom of Judah. Which is basically everything in the Old Testament after the book of Lamentations.
What was the land called before the State of Israel?
For almost 2,000 years, up until the recognition of the State of Israel in 1948, the region was benignly known as Palestine. I say benignly, because today the name Palestine conjures up political and religious strife. And even resentment.
After the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 2nd century CE, the Romans were done with the Province of Judea. And the so-called Jewish troublemakers. Rome looked to rebrand the region.
The Romans renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina and called the land the Province of Syria Palaestina. The name was derived from the population that had lived in the region 900 years before, the Philistines. To the Romans, anything that was not Jewish in nature was welcomed.
Over the years the name went through many iterations, and by the 20th century CE it was Palestine. And the people residing in it were Palestinians, including Jews.
Obviously today, Palestine and its people, the Palestinians, refer to the group of Muslims who live within the borders of the State of Israel.
