INTRODUCING.... The Land. The Pilgrim's Guide to the Bible No. 18

Canaan is an ancient name for the Holy Land – derived from the Canaanites, the non-Jewish tribes who lived there. The land was first given to Abraham in God’s covenant with him: ‘The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God’ (Genesis 17:8).

The promise is reiterated to Moses: ‘Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession,’ (Deuteronomy 32:49).

The land of Canaan has been at the centre of historical events throughout history. Abraham entered the land (Genesis 12); Jacob left the land to join his son Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 46); Moses led the nation back to the Promised Land (Exodus – Deuteronomy); Joshua conquered the land before dividing it between the twelve tribes (Joshua 14:1). In Joshua 24, we read that Joshua assembled all the tribes together at Shechem to renew their commitment to God. This was a poignant moment. At the end of his life, Joshua was bringing the nation back to its roots. Shechem is the very first place to be mentioned when Abraham first enters the Promised Land. It was here that Jacob returned home after his flight from Esau. It was near here that Joseph was sold into slavery, and now it is here that the nation re-affirms its covenant to the Lord God.

This event reminds us that the return to the Promised Land is of deep significance for the people of Israel. Having been slaves and nomads for as long as they could remember, there must have been great satisfaction in knowing that they could settle, and till the land, in a place which was theirs. Humans have an innate inner yearning to know where they come from and where they belong. But for the Hebrews the Promised Land has a still greater significance.

The land represents God's promise. 'Go to the land which I will show you', said the Lord to Abraham. They had a divine right to this land - it was theirs by promise.

The land represents God's presence. As the story of the OT develops, the land itself becomes an important symbol of God's presence. Jerusalem becomes the city of the Temple, where the Ark of the Covenant is located - God with His people.

God's promise, God's presence, these two themes could lead the people to conclude that the land is theirs for ever, to do what they want with, but there is another important element: the land belongs to God. The nation is tasked with stewardship. In Deuteronomy, they are given careful instructions on how to care for the land - they must not waste it or exhaust it. Every seventh year must be a fallow year, to give the land a chance to restore itself. Every 50th year is to be a year of jubilee, when everything is to be re-distributed back to its original boundaries - the tribes, clans and families are to be restored to their own inheritance. The people have the lesson of gratitude drummed into them. As God has been good to them, so they should be good to others. Share your wealth because you know what it's like to be poor. God's ownership of the land is symbolically recognised each year by the offering of the 'first fruits' to Him.

What does this mean for us today? The Hebrew people have lived through three exiles – in Egypt, Babylon, and the Great Diaspora. Since 1948 they are back in the land of Canaan, but it remains a disputed territory. Two races claim it as their own: the Israelis, who claim that history is on their side, and the Palestinians, who claim an ancestry back to biblical times, and also claim that history is on their side. In the Middle East, memories go back a long way, as summed up by one Israeli commentator:

In America, they measure history in decades.

In Europe, they measure history in centuries.

In the Middle East, we measure history in millennia.

So whose land is it? Can there ever be a solution to this issue? Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peace makers.’ As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to stand for justice and righteousness. But how can we do so in such a complex situation?

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, lived 4000 years ago. Both Jew and Arab date their heritage back to him. In Jericho, a Canaanite city, there is evidence of human habitation dating back 9000 years. It is counted amongst the oldest cities on earth. Jews and Palestinians each have a long historical narrative.

Does the land belong to the Jews by virtue of divine right? The question we must consider is: to what extent does the Abrahamic covenant apply today?

We see the covenant worked out very graphically in the book of Joshua. But the first half of the Book of Joshua does make easy reading. Do we really believe that the covenant values of the New Testament – ‘love one another as I have loved you’ - justify widespread homicide and flagrant disregard for human rights? What did Jesus have to say about loving your enemies, and turning your cheek to those who smite you? We may justify Joshua by viewing it as a product of a long-forgotten culture, with very different mores and values from our own, but only the most blatant and bigoted nationalist can seriously believe that it is God’s will to remain on a permanent war footing with nothing but enmity between neighbours. Such a view is incompatible with our Lord’s teaching, and our understanding of the Christian approach to peace and reconciliation. So what is the peaceful solution?

Not just the New Testament but even a reading of the Old Testament imposes moral obligations upon the Hebrew nation. The prophets roundly condemn those who exploit the poor:

‘Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an overflowing stream.’ (Amos 5:24)

‘Disaster for those who plot evil; seizing the fields they covet, taking over houses as well; who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity’.(Micah 2:1-3, 3:9-11).

‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: You shed blood, yet you would keep possession on the land? You rely on your sword, you do abominable things...yet you would keep possession of the land?... Ezekiel 33:25-28

The Promised Land has not been given to the Israelites to be used selfishly or wantonly, but residency is conditional upon the worship of God, and faithfulness to Him. Alongside the blessing of the covenant goes the obligation of serving God. In the writing of Jeremiah, compassion for the alien is closely linked to concern for the widow and the orphan:

‘if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors for ever and ever (Jeremiah 7:6-7)

Solomon’s prayer of dedication upon the completion of the Temple includes the following intercession:

‘As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm - when he comes and prays towards this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place, and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house that I have built bears your Name.’ (2 Chron 6:32 - 33)

Even in the OT covenant, the prophets see Israel’s role as one of mediation between God and all the nations of the earth. The nation is called to proclaim His love to all nations. The prophets include countless oracles to the surrounding nations as well as to Israel, and often are sent to proclaim God’s love, or God’s justice to other nations. The content of their message varies according to the prevailing political and social situation, but the principle of proclaiming God’s word stands firm. This prophetic role to the world is picked up and expanded under the New Covenant. Simeon describes the infant Jesus as ‘a light to lighten the nations and to be the glory of thy people Israel’. The issue of land, therefore, cannot be divorced from the role of Israel in sharing God’s love to the world, which finds its ultimate fulfilment in the birth of the Messiah.

But the coming of Christ and His church raises another question: has the church replaced Israel, and become, in effect, the new Israel? Should we think of the church, in a spiritual sense, as fulfilling and supplanting the nation of Israel, and so apply the promises of the Old Covenant, in spiritual terms to the church? In effect, this is what the Emperor Constantine (or more precisely, his mother) did when he sought out the holy sites and called Israel ‘the Holy Land’ in the 4th Century AD. He gave physical expression to the spiritualisation of the concept of Israel as the church. Either wittingly or not, this has tended to be the approach of the church throughout most of its history. The move away from an exclusive Hebrew church and the rapid growth of a Gentile church in the early Christian centuries, and the deplorable rise of antisemitism, has tended to support this view. If the church is the new Israel, then there is no further need of or place for the Jews.

But what this approach ignores is the teaching of the church as being ‘grafted in’ to the true Israel. St. Paul tells his Gentile readers:

‘If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.’ (Romans 11:17-21)

In the first century, there was room for a Hebrew and a Gentile church. The two could coexist. Today, a Hebrew church is re-emerging. Often called ‘Messianic believers’, there are congregations of Jewish Christians in modern day Israel. After 2000 years of tension, Orthodox Jews regard this group with suspicion, with good cause. Much of the persecution of the Hebrews over the centuries has been carried out by the church, in the name of Christ. No wonder that Jews who accept Christ are perceived by their fellow countrymen as traitors! There is a need for humility and repentance on the part of Christians. Perhaps one of the greatest hopes for a solution to the present situation in Israel is for Hebrew and Palestinian followers of Christ to come together, and work as a force for reconciliation in the land.

But before we become too bogged down with the various religious groups, it should be remembered that modern Israel is primarily a secular state. Whilst Jerusalem may have great symbolic meaning for religious and secular Jews, the majority of modern Israelis are as secular as most Western communities. Issues of security and national identity are of far greater significance than merely as religious issues.

CONCLUSION:

In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine sought to establish a ‘Christian’ holy land. In the 12th and 13thcenturies, The Crusaders, for all that they were misguided in their methods, did the same. Christian Arabs have lived in the land since the time of Christ (Arabs are mentioned in the crowd who heard Peter’s sermon in Acts 2). We today, inherit the mixture of traditions that have been handed down to us: a land steeped in Jewish tradition, with a strong Christian presence, juxtaposed with a well-established Islamic community.

So we are left with the question: whose land is it? Christian; Muslim; Jewish religious; Jewish secular? There is no easy answer. Ultimately, the only solution must acknowledge the presence of both Jew and Palestinian. There can be no peace or security, until that point is reached.

Perhaps there can be no permanent peace without divine intervention, and we must wait for the coming of ‘The Day of the Lord’?

We must turn our attention to God and remind ourselves that all land belongs to him. We are merely the stewards, and ultimately, we will all be called to account for how we use the world that he has entrusted to us.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. (Psalm 24)

And with the Psalmist we must pray:

‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.’ (Psalm 122:6)