Israel
Content
The Land of Israel (Hebrew: רֵא ל
יְשר א
רֵא ררץ י שʼÉresṣ Yiśrāʼēl, Eretz Yisrael) is one of several names in
the Bible for of an area of indefinite geographical extension in the Southern Levant. Related
biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land,
the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between biblical
passages, with these specifically in Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47. Nine
times elsewhere in the Bible, the settled land is referred as "from Dan to Beersheba".
These biblical limits for the land differ from the borders of established historical Israelite and later
Jewish kingdoms; over time these have included the United Kingdom of Israel, the Hasmonean
Kingdom, and the Herodian Kingdom, which at their heights ruled lands with similar but not
identical boundaries. According to Shlomo Sand, the term connoted originally Samaria and
adjacent areas in proximity of the northern kingdom of Israel, excluding Judea, and only took wing
in rabbinical literature as a more general term after the fall of the Temple, perhaps in reaction to
the growing prominence of Babylonian Judaism.[1] The current State of Israel (Hebrew: מדייננ ת
ש
רֵא ל
יְשר א
י
,
Medīnat
Yisrā'el)
and
the
Israeli-occupied
territories,
would
also
have
similar
but
not
ש
identical boundaries.
The Jewish religious belief that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people is based
on the Torah, particularly in the books of Genesis and Exodus, as well as in the later Prophets.[2]
According to the Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by God to the descendants of
Abram; the text is explicit that this is a covenant between God and Abram for his descendants.[3]
Abram's name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son
Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. This belief is not shared
by most adherents of replacement theology (or supersessionism), who hold the view that the Old
Testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of Jesus.[4] Christian Zionists dispute this
assertion and state that one cannot separate the Old and New Testaments as God himself
doesn't change.
The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel. It often
surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank, which coincides with the biblical
areas of Judea and Samaria
The term "Land of Israel" is a direct translation of the Hebrew phrase ( ֵארץ ישרֵא לEretz Yisrael),
which is first used in 1 Samuel 13:19, following the Exodus when the Israelite tribes were already
in the Land of Canaan. According to Anita Shapira, the term "Eretz Yisrael" was a holy term,
vague as far as the exact boundaries of the territories are concerned but clearly defining
ownership.[6] The sanctity of the land (kedushat ha-aretz) developed rich associations in
rabbinical thought,[7] where it assumes a highly symbolic and mythological status infused with
promise, though always connected to a geographical location.[8] Nur Masalha argues that the
biblical boundaries are "entirely fictitious", and bore simply religious connotations in Diaspora
Judaism, with the term only coming into ascendency with the rise of Zionism.[9]
The name "Israel" first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name given by God to the patriarch
Jacob (Genesis 32:28). Deriving from the name "Israel", other designations that came to be
associated with the Jewish people have included the "Children of Israel" or "Israelite". The first
definition of the promised land calls it "this land". (Genesis 15:13–21) The land is promised to
Abraham's descendants at (Genesis 17:8)[10] while in Deuteronomy 1:8, it is promised explicitly
to the Israelites.
A more detailed definition is given in Numbers 34:1–15 for the land explicitly allocated to nine and
half of the Israelite tribes after the Exodus. Here, the land Canaan has its boundaries defined.
The expression "Land of Israel" is first used in a later book, 1 Samuel 13:19. It is defined in detail
in the exilic Book of Ezekiel as a land where both the twelve tribes and the "strangers in (their)
midst", can claim inheritance,[11] and also by the Gospel of Matthew.
Brook of Egypt[edit]
The border with Egypt is given as the Nachal Mitzrayim (Brook of Egypt) in Numbers and
Deuteronomy, as well as in Ezekiel. Jewish tradition (as expressed in the commentaries of Rashi
and Yehuda Halevi, as well as the Aramaic Targums) understand this as referring to the Nile;
more precisely the Pelusian branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi—a view supported by
Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Saadia Gaon identified it as the "Wadi of El-Arish", referring to the
biblical Sukkot near Faiyum. Kaftor Vaferech placed it in the same region, which approximates
the location of the former Pelusian branch of the Nile. 19th century Bible commentaries
understood the identification as a reference to the Wadi of the coastal locality called El-Arish.
Easton's, however, notes a local tradition that the course of the river had changed and there was
once a branch of the Nile where today there is a wadi. Biblical minimalists have suggested that
the Besor is intended.
Genesis gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Mitzrayim – nahar in Hebrew denotes a large river,
never a wadi.
Southern and eastern borders[edit]
Only the "Red Sea" (Exodus 23:31) and the Euphrates are mentioned to define the southern and
eastern borders of the full land promised to the Israelites. The "Red Sea" corresponding to
Hebrew Yam Suf was understood in ancient times to be the Erythraean Sea, as reflected in the
Septuagint translation. Although the English name "Red Sea" is derived from this name
("Erythraean" derives from the Greek for red), the term denoted all the waters surrounding Arabia
—including the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, not merely the sea lying to the west of Arabia
bearing this name in modern English. Thus the entire Arabian peninsula lies within the borders
described. Modern maps depicting the region take a reticent view and often leave the southern
and eastern borders vaguely defined. The borders of the land to be conquered given in Numbers
have a precisely defined eastern border which included the Arabah and Jordan.
יְשר א
רֵא ררץ י שʼÉresṣ Yiśrāʼēl, Eretz Yisrael) is one of several names in
the Bible for of an area of indefinite geographical extension in the Southern Levant. Related
biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land,
the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between biblical
passages, with these specifically in Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34 and Ezekiel 47. Nine
times elsewhere in the Bible, the settled land is referred as "from Dan to Beersheba".
These biblical limits for the land differ from the borders of established historical Israelite and later
Jewish kingdoms; over time these have included the United Kingdom of Israel, the Hasmonean
Kingdom, and the Herodian Kingdom, which at their heights ruled lands with similar but not
identical boundaries. According to Shlomo Sand, the term connoted originally Samaria and
adjacent areas in proximity of the northern kingdom of Israel, excluding Judea, and only took wing
in rabbinical literature as a more general term after the fall of the Temple, perhaps in reaction to
the growing prominence of Babylonian Judaism.[1] The current State of Israel (Hebrew: מדייננ ת
ש
רֵא ל
יְשר א
י
,
Medīnat
Yisrā'el)
and
the
Israeli-occupied
territories,
would
also
have
similar
but
not
ש
identical boundaries.
The Jewish religious belief that the area is a God-given inheritance of the Jewish people is based
on the Torah, particularly in the books of Genesis and Exodus, as well as in the later Prophets.[2]
According to the Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by God to the descendants of
Abram; the text is explicit that this is a covenant between God and Abram for his descendants.[3]
Abram's name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son
Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. This belief is not shared
by most adherents of replacement theology (or supersessionism), who hold the view that the Old
Testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of Jesus.[4] Christian Zionists dispute this
assertion and state that one cannot separate the Old and New Testaments as God himself
doesn't change.
The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel. It often
surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank, which coincides with the biblical
areas of Judea and Samaria
The term "Land of Israel" is a direct translation of the Hebrew phrase ( ֵארץ ישרֵא לEretz Yisrael),
which is first used in 1 Samuel 13:19, following the Exodus when the Israelite tribes were already
in the Land of Canaan. According to Anita Shapira, the term "Eretz Yisrael" was a holy term,
vague as far as the exact boundaries of the territories are concerned but clearly defining
ownership.[6] The sanctity of the land (kedushat ha-aretz) developed rich associations in
rabbinical thought,[7] where it assumes a highly symbolic and mythological status infused with
promise, though always connected to a geographical location.[8] Nur Masalha argues that the
biblical boundaries are "entirely fictitious", and bore simply religious connotations in Diaspora
Judaism, with the term only coming into ascendency with the rise of Zionism.[9]
The name "Israel" first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name given by God to the patriarch
Jacob (Genesis 32:28). Deriving from the name "Israel", other designations that came to be
associated with the Jewish people have included the "Children of Israel" or "Israelite". The first
definition of the promised land calls it "this land". (Genesis 15:13–21) The land is promised to
Abraham's descendants at (Genesis 17:8)[10] while in Deuteronomy 1:8, it is promised explicitly
to the Israelites.
A more detailed definition is given in Numbers 34:1–15 for the land explicitly allocated to nine and
half of the Israelite tribes after the Exodus. Here, the land Canaan has its boundaries defined.
The expression "Land of Israel" is first used in a later book, 1 Samuel 13:19. It is defined in detail
in the exilic Book of Ezekiel as a land where both the twelve tribes and the "strangers in (their)
midst", can claim inheritance,[11] and also by the Gospel of Matthew.
Brook of Egypt[edit]
The border with Egypt is given as the Nachal Mitzrayim (Brook of Egypt) in Numbers and
Deuteronomy, as well as in Ezekiel. Jewish tradition (as expressed in the commentaries of Rashi
and Yehuda Halevi, as well as the Aramaic Targums) understand this as referring to the Nile;
more precisely the Pelusian branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi—a view supported by
Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Saadia Gaon identified it as the "Wadi of El-Arish", referring to the
biblical Sukkot near Faiyum. Kaftor Vaferech placed it in the same region, which approximates
the location of the former Pelusian branch of the Nile. 19th century Bible commentaries
understood the identification as a reference to the Wadi of the coastal locality called El-Arish.
Easton's, however, notes a local tradition that the course of the river had changed and there was
once a branch of the Nile where today there is a wadi. Biblical minimalists have suggested that
the Besor is intended.
Genesis gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Mitzrayim – nahar in Hebrew denotes a large river,
never a wadi.
Southern and eastern borders[edit]
Only the "Red Sea" (Exodus 23:31) and the Euphrates are mentioned to define the southern and
eastern borders of the full land promised to the Israelites. The "Red Sea" corresponding to
Hebrew Yam Suf was understood in ancient times to be the Erythraean Sea, as reflected in the
Septuagint translation. Although the English name "Red Sea" is derived from this name
("Erythraean" derives from the Greek for red), the term denoted all the waters surrounding Arabia
—including the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, not merely the sea lying to the west of Arabia
bearing this name in modern English. Thus the entire Arabian peninsula lies within the borders
described. Modern maps depicting the region take a reticent view and often leave the southern
and eastern borders vaguely defined. The borders of the land to be conquered given in Numbers
have a precisely defined eastern border which included the Arabah and Jordan.
