“All the land from the desert and the Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River — all the land of the Hittites — and on to the Great Sea in the west will be your territory.”-Joshua 1:4
In verse 4, God provides a general definition of the territory He intended Israel to inherit for all time.
It starts from the southern most area pointing to an area called the “desert” or the “wilderness”.
This territory is KADESH and it was located in the southeastern part of Canaan.
Next we’re introduced a piece of real estate referred to as “The Lebanon” and yup it’s referring to the modern nation of Lebanon we’re all aware of today.
That’s right folks.
Lebanon is part of the Promised Land and belongs to Israel.
In terms of boundary lines, in the northeastern side lies the Euphrates River and stretching across the eastern boundary was the Jordan River.
On the westside we have the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
Out of all the boundaries explained, the northern border is the only one that is a bit hazy and not clearly explained.
Onward.
The verse referring to “the land of the Hittites” has cause for much debate and confusion in academic circles.
During the Biblical era, the Hittites were a dominant and rich civilization that covered much of modern day Turkey (north of Lebanon).
So what’s all the ruckus among scholars about?
Basically, most scholars don’t believe that “all the land of the Hittites” is referring to modern day Turkey.
And to be honest with you, they may have a point.
The reason is because it is simply a well-proven historical fact that the Hittites had established multiple settlements that were sprawled all throughout the Land of Canaan.
Many experts believe it is these outposts that Scripture is referring to when it says “all the land of the Hittites”.
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