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iran israel proxy conflict by topic demographics judaism leaders warfare zionism jerusalem related jewish history hebrew calendar archaeology museums maps travelogues israel portal v t e the land of israel hebrew אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל modern éretz yisra él tiberian ʾereṣ yīsrāʾēl land of jacob later known as israel is the traditional jewish name for an area of the southern levant related biblical religious and historical english terms include the land of canaan the promised land the holy land and palestine the biblical limits of the land of israel are outlined in ezekiel 47 13 20 and differ from the borders of established historical israelite and later jewish kingdoms including the united kingdom of israel the two kingdoms of israel samaria and judah the hasmonean kingdom and the herodian kingdom at their heights these realms ruled lands with similar but not identical boundaries jewish communities living in the land after the destruction of the temple in jerusalem defined the term as where jewish religious law prevailed and excluded territory where it was not applied 1 though land of israel is not used as a phrase in the torah 2 it is held that the area is a god given inheritance of the jewish people based on the torah particularly the books of genesis exodus numbers and deuteronomy as well as joshua and the later prophets exodus 6 4 i also established my covenant with them to give them the land of canaan where they resided as foreigners according to the book of genesis the land was first promised by god to abram s descendants the text is explicit that this is a covenant between god and abram for his descendants gen 15 18 21 niv on that day the lord made a covenant 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by most adherents of replacement theology or supersessionism who hold the view that the old testament prophecies were superseded by the coming of jesus 3 a view often repudiated by christian zionists as a theological error 4 evangelical zionists variously claim that israel has title to the land by divine right 5 or by a theological historical and moral grounding of attachment to the land unique to jews parkes james 6 the idea that ancient religious texts can be warrant or divine right for a modern claim has often been challenged 7 8 and israeli courts have rejected land claims based on religious motivations 9 during the league of nations mandate period 1920 1948 the term eretz yisrael or the land of israel was part of the official hebrew name of mandatory palestine official hebrew documents used the hebrew transliteration of the word palestine פלשתינה palestina followed always by the two initial letters of eretz yisrael א י aleph yod 10 page needed 11 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 referred to in official israeli discourse as the judea and samaria area 12 it is also mentioned in the 2018 nation state law 13 etymology and biblical roots the 3rd 6th century ce mosaic of rehob describes the geography and agricultural rules of the local jews of the era the term land of israel is a direct translation of the hebrew phrase ארץ ישראל eretz yisrael this phrase appears nowhere in pentateuch torah 2 but occasionally occurs in other parts of the bible 14 and is first mentioned in the tanakh in 1 samuel 13 19 following the exodus when the israelite tribes were already in the land of canaan 15 the words are used sparsely in the bible king david is ordered to gather strangers to the land of israel hag gêrîm ăšer bə ereṣ yiśrā êl for building purposes 1 chronicles 22 2 and the same phrasing is used in reference to king solomon s census of all of the strangers in the land of israel 2 chronicles 2 17 ezekiel although generally preferring the phrase soil of israel admat yiśrā êl employs eretz israel twice respectively at ezekiel 40 2 and ezekiel 47 18 16 according to martin noth the term is not an authentic and original name for this land but instead serves as a somewhat flexible description of the area which the israelite tribes had their settlements 17 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 18 the sanctity of the land kedushat ha aretz developed rich associations in rabbinical thought 19 where it assumes a highly symbolic and mythological status infused with promise although always connected to a geographical location 20 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 14 the hebrew bible provides three specific sets of borders for the promised land each with a different purpose neither of the terms promised land ha aretz hamuvtahat or land of israel are used in these passages genesis 15 13 21 genesis 17 8 21 and ezekiel 47 13 20 use the term the land ha aretz as does deuteronomy 1 8 in which it is promised explicitly to abraham isaac and jacob and to their descendants after them whilst numbers 34 1 15 describes the land of canaan eretz kna an which is allocated to nine and half of the twelve israelite tribes after the exodus 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 22 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 israelites the term land of israel γῆ ἰσραήλ occurs in one episode in the new testament matthew 2 20 21 where according to shlomo sand it bears the unusual sense of the area surrounding jerusalem 21 the section in which it appears was written as a parallel to the earlier book of exodus 23 biblical borders ezekiel 47 ezekiel 47 13 20 provides a definition of borders of the land of israel in which the twelve tribes of israel will live during the final redemption at the end of days the borders of the land described by the text in ezekiel include the northern border of modern lebanon eastwards the way of hethlon to zedad and hazar enan in modern syria south by southwest to the area of busra on the syrian border area of hauran in ezekiel follows the jordan river between the west bank and the land of gilead to tamar ein gedi on the western shore of the dead sea from tamar to meribah kadesh kadesh barnea then along the brook of egypt see debate below to the mediterranean sea the territory defined by these borders is divided into twelve strips one for each of the twelve tribes hence numbers 34 and ezekiel 47 define different but similar borders which include the whole of contemporary lebanon both the west bank and the gaza strip and israel except for the south negev and eilat small parts of syria are also included the following passages do not explicitly use the phrase land of israel genesis 15 genesis 15 18 21 describes what are known as borders of the land gevulot ha aretz 24 which in jewish tradition defines the extent of the land promised to the descendants of abraham through his son isaac and grandson jacob 25 the passage describes the area as the land of the ten named ancient peoples then living there more precise geographical borders are given in exodus 23 31 which describes borders as marked by the red sea see debate below the sea of the philistines i e the mediterranean and the river the euphrates the traditional furthest extent of the kingdom of david 26 27 genesis gives the border with egypt as nahar mitzrayim nahar in hebrew denotes a river or stream as opposed to a wadi exodus 23 a slightly more detailed definition is given in exodus 23 31 which describes the borders as from the sea of reeds red sea to the sea of the philistines mediterranean sea and from the desert to the euphrates river although the hebrew text of the bible uses the name the river to refer to the euphrates 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 numbers 34 main article tribal allotments of israel numbers 34 1 15 describes the land allocated to the israelite tribes after the exodus the tribes of reuben gad and half of manasseh received land east of the jordan as explained in numbers 34 14 15 numbers 34 1 13 provides a detailed description of the borders of the land to be conquered west of the jordan for the remaining tribes the region is called the land of canaan eretz kna an in numbers 34 2 and the borders are known in jewish tradition as the borders for those coming out of egypt these borders are again mentioned in deuteronomy 1 6 8 11 24 and joshua 1 4 according to the hebrew bible canaan was the son of ham who with his descendants had seized the land from the descendants of shem according to the book of jubilees jewish tradition thus refers to the region as canaan during the period between the flood and the israelite settlement eliezer schweid sees canaan as a geographical name and israel the spiritual name of the land he writes the uniqueness of the land of israel is thus geo theological and not merely climatic this is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world that sphere of existence that lies beyond the physical world known to us through our senses this is the key to the land s unique status with regard to prophecy and prayer and also with regard to the commandments 28 thus the renaming of this landmarks a change in religious status the origin of the holy land concept numbers 34 1 13 uses the term canaan strictly for the land west of the jordan but land of israel is used in jewish tradition to denote the entire land of the israelites the english expression promised land can denote either the land promised to abraham in genesis or the land of canaan although the latter meaning is more common the border with egypt is given as the nachal mitzrayim brook of egypt in numbers as well as in deuteronomy and 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 al arish of the coastal town 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 deuteronomy 19 deuteronomy 19 8 indicates a certain fluidity of the borders of the promised land when it refers to the possibility that god would enlarge your borders this expansion of territory means that israel would receive all the land he promised to give to your fathers which implies that the settlement actually fell short of what was promised according to jacob milgrom deuteronomy refers to a more utopian map of the promised land whose eastern border is the wilderness rather than the jordan 29 paul r williamson notes that a close examination of the relevant promissory texts supports a wider interpretation of the promised land in which it is not restricted absolutely to one geographical locale he argues that the map of the promised land was never seen permanently fixed but was subject to at least some degree of expansion and redefinition 30 2 samuel 24 on david s instructions joab undertakes a census of israel and judah travelling in an anti clockwise direction from gad to gilead to dan then west to sidon and tyre south to the cities of the hivites and the canaanites to southern judah and then returning to jerusalem 31 biblical commentator alexander kirkpatrick notes that the cities of tyre and sidon were never occupied by the israelites and we must suppose either that the region traversed by the enumerators is defined as reaching up to though not including them or that these cities were actually visited in order to take a census of israelites resident in them 32 from dan to beersheba further information from dan to beersheba the common biblical phrase used to refer to the territories actually settled by the israelites as opposed to military conquests is from dan to beersheba or its variant from beersheba to dan which occurs many times in the bible 33 division of tribes the 12 tribes of israel are divided in 1 kings 11 in the chapter king solomon s sins lead to israelites forfeiting 10 of the 12 tribes 30 and ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces 31 then he said to jeroboam take ten pieces for yourself for this is what the lord the god of israel says see i am going to tear the kingdom out of solomon s hand and give you ten tribes 32 but for the sake of my servant david and the city of jerusalem which i have chosen out of all the tribes of israel he will have one tribe 33 i will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped ashtoreth the goddess of the sidonians chemosh the god of the moabites and molek the god of the ammonites and have not walked in obedience to me nor done what is right in my eyes nor kept my decrees and laws as david solomon s father did 34 but i will not take the whole kingdom out of solomon s hand i have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of david my servant whom i chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees 35 i will take the kingdom from his son s hands and give you ten tribes 36 i will give one tribe to his son so that david my servant may always have a lamp before me in je...