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· 15 Jun 2021

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The Promised Land

#spirituality
Before the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the superpowers proposed different options for establishing the Jewish people, which was a real headache for Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. British, Soviets, Americans and Germans, among others, proposed different places to settle the Hebrews, although they were all thousands of kilometers from Palestine, the only true Promised Land that God offered Abraham.

The land of honey and milk

It is difficult to narrow down the boundaries of the Jewish country if we stick to the sacred texts. According to Exodus (23:31), God sets the boundaries of the Promised Land “from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines and from the desert to the Euphrates River”. Ha-Aretz Ha-Muvtajat or Ard al-Mi'ad ('land of honey and milk' in Arabic), seen from a purely geographical approach, spans the Middle East from the Suez Canal to the western part of Iraq. Also in Genesis (15:18) we find this definition when Yahweh promises Abraham: “I will give this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates”. However, in the fourth book of Tanach — and the Old Testament — there is already a much more precise dimension of the boundaries of such wonderful lands:

When you have entered the land of Canaan, this will be the land that will fall into your inheritance, and these will be its boundaries: you will have the southern side from the desert of Zin to the border of Edom, and its boundary will be at the end of the Salt Sea, towards the east. This boundary will surround you from the south to the ascent of Acrabim, and pass to Zin; it will extend from the south to Cades-Barnea, continue to Hasar-Adar and pass to Asmon. It will surround this boundary from Asmon to the torrent of Egypt and end in the sea. The western boundary will be the Great Sea; this limit will be the western boundary. The northern boundary will be this: from the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor. From Mount Hor you will draw a line to the entrance of Hamat, and follow that boundary until Zedad. Then it will continue to Zifron and end in Hazar-Enan. This will be the northern boundary. As a border to the east you will draw a line from Hazar-Enan to Sefam. This limit will fall from Sefam to Ribla, east of Ain. The limit will continue to fall and reach the coast of the Cineret Sea in the east. Then you will descend this limit to the Jordan and end in the Salt Sea: this will be your land with the boundaries that surround it.