“Adonai spoke to us in Horev. He said, ‘You have lived long enough by this mountain. Turn, get moving and go to the hill-country of the Emori and all the places near there in the ‘Aravah, the hill-country, the Sh’felah, the Negev and by the seashore — the land of the Kena‘ani, and the L’vanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.”-Deuteronomy 1:6-7
Today you’re going to get a nice little geography lesson of those places in the land of Canaan Moses specifically commanded the Israelites to take over.
Let’s get started.
First we have…
THE HILL COUNTRY OF THE AMORITES
In the Complete Jewish Bible, this territory is called “the hill-country of the Emori“.
This area is absolute KEY to understanding the hotbed of geo-political friction currently taking place in the Middle East with Israel dead center of this conflict.
Why?
Because in today’s terms, the “hill country of the Amorites” is called “The West Bank“.
That’s right folks.
The very first area Moses called the Israelites to take over was the very territory the Jews and Palestinians are currently fighting over.
This area was to become the heartland of Israel.
In fact, following King Solomon’s reign when Israel was split into two separate kingdoms (Ephraim in the North and Judah in the South), the West Bank was the area that overlapped both of these kingdoms.
When HASHEM speaks about “the mountains of Israel“, He is referring to this area.
This mountainous region is a very fertile area with plenty of water and has a comfortable, cool, and breezy climate.
Next, Moses called out…
THE LAND OF THE ARABAH
This is another area very rich, fertile, and stunning in its beauty.
Located mainly north of the Dead Sea, this territory covers all of the Jordan Valley and its surrounding hills.
Onward.
Next up we have…
THE SHEPHELAH
This area runs alongside the Mediterranean Seacoast and in terms of trade and travel was of major strategic importance because of its many ports and harbors.
There were many sea routes connecting the Shephelah to the south all the way to the Mediterranean Islands and stretching north all the way to the area we now call Turkey.
Next up we have…
THE NEGEV
Located south of the mountain regions, this mainly desert area which stretches all the way to the Sinai Peninsula is where the famous sites of Beersheva and Kadesh-Barnea are located.
Incidentally, in Hebrew, you would never pronounce “Negev” as “NeJev” with a “j” sound.
It is pronounced Ne-Gev with a sharp “g” sound as in “god” or “grape“.
Finally we have the…
THE LAND OF THE CANAANITES & LEBANON AS FAR AS THE GREAT RIVER
The first thing you need to know is that the Great River here is referring to the Euphrates River.
It is NOT referring to the Nile River.
Because of this fact, what you’ll notice is that the land God promised to the Israelites stretches out to the north much farther than is commonly realized.
Now here’s another FACT a lot of people don’t typically realize.
The Promised Land ALSO INCLUDES BOTH MODERN DAY SYRIA AND LEBANON!!!
That’s right.
The Euphrates River flows through Syria before it reaches all the way to Turkey and…
…during the reigns of both King David and King Solomon, modern day Syria and Lebanon were part of Israel.
To be accurate however, part of the northern seacoast which became Phoenicia was NOT included in Israel’s holdings.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention that in Scripture, Lebanon can also sometimes go by the name LEBO-HAMATH.
There are two major takeaways I want you to get from today’s post.
FIRST, if Israel had PRECISELY followed HASHEM’s instructions concerning what parts of the land they were supposed to conquer, we would not be experiencing the horrible Israeli-Palestinian conflict we have today.
Instead of fighting over scraps of territory, Israel would have in their possession ALL of the promised land…
…from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River…
…and stretching from the edge of the Sinai Peninsula all the way up to the southern border of modern day Turkey.
This is a lot more than what Israel currently holds today.
SECOND, I’m not sure if you realized it but Israel does not have an imperialistic history that is so characteristic of the gentile nations.
For example, the British Empire’s territorial holdings in its heyday were guided by nothing less than imperialistic ambition…
…and a greedy desire to seize control of as many natural resources as it could.
I would say the same thing goes for pretty much any other power-seeking nation who through the use of military force and colonization seeks to increase its power.
In this sense, I believe it’s a mistake to apply the words “imperialism” and “colonization” to Israel.
Israel’s mission was to simply inhabit the land the Creator of the Universe commanded them to live in.
And the boundaries of this piece of land were specifically defined in Scripture.
Once Israel was settled in their land, they just wanted to live in peace and worship their God.
God never commanded them to go hog wild and try to take over the whole world like Islam for instance.
In fact, as I mentioned in an earlier post, God has already ordained certain lands and areas for the goyim (the gentiles) to live in.
Not only has HASHEM set aside and defined the boundaries of land for the gentiles to live in, He will also enforce their right to keep their land.
In other words, if Israel was to attempt to take more than what HASHEM commanded, that would have been a no-no.
I would really like to say this to the UN.
Israel has their land.
The gentiles have theirs.
Leave Israel alone.
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