There were promises made to Abraham regarding inheritance of the land to his descendants:
Gen. 15:18:: In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, to your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Some will say here that this promise is to Abram and by extension all of his descendants include Ishmael’s descendants and by extension some of the Arabs who live in this area today. This might be true but I would point out that Isaac is the child of promise, not Ishmael.
Gen. 17:19:: God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Gen. 17:20:: as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
In verse 23 Abraham takes all the male children, including Ishmael his son, and circumcises them.
I have heard several people say that the modern people group known as Palestinians are not even native to this region. Many Palestinians are ethnically of the peoples from Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Others are from groups of people in other middle eastern countries. I recently attended a peace movement conference where the speakers mentioned that both Jews and Palestinians have claim to the same land known as Israel or Palestine. A wider definition includes much of Trans-Jordan. These claims create tension if neither group wants to abandon nationalistic ideals. I will look at the land from a biblical perspective, not ignoring current social and cultural aspirations.
— The narrow definition
Further promises were given hundreds of years later to Moses and the children of Israel:
Num. 34:2-12:: Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries.
‘Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of the Salt Sea;
The Wilderness of Zin is part what today is called the Negev Desert. Modern Israel stretches south of this east-west line of the Dead Sea and Wilderness of Zin all the way down to Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba. Part of what is defined as the Wilderness of Zin could be included in what is called the Sinai today. Part of the Negev includes the Arabah. In the highlands of Israel there are many refuges for birds near the modern kibbutz town called Sede Boker (herding field).
3:‘your border shall turn from the southern side of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon;
Ascent of Akrabbim is a general name given to the ridge containing the pass between the south of the Dead Sea and Wilderness of Zin. It is a steep climb from the Dead Sea. The name Akrabbim means scorpion for there was at one time many scorpions in this area. Joshua 14:7 says I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land so this promised area includes where the spies were sent out to survey the promised land. Hazar Addar’s location is a bit uncertain but most likely a location 60-70 miles SW of the Dead Sea. Addar mean glorious. Azmon is a location on the south western border of this promised land.
‘the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea
The Brook of Egypt is not the Nile River. It is a dried up wadi in the Sinai Pennisula that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
‘As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.
‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to Mount Hor;
There are at least two locations mentions for Mount Hor. One is in the southern area and another on the northern area of Isreal. Even Mount Hermon has been mentioned as the mountain on the northern side.
Hor means mountain so the name is ambiguous but Aaron is said to have been buried there (Numbers 33:38). I think Aaron was buried at the southern location, the northern one probably being a mountain in eastern Lebanon. In the south there is a mountain near to Petra, Jordan called in Arabic Jabal Hārūn (Aaron’s Mountain),
‘from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward Zedad;
Hamath is probably a city in west-central Syria. The Wycliff Bible Encyclopedia places Zedad at 65 miles northeast of Damascus as the most likely location of that city so you could envision Damascus, Syria as part of this land and owned by Israel up to but not including Zedad.
When we look at the geography of Lebanon, the mountains of Lebanon and the anti-Lebanon Mountains lie from side to side. Between these two mountains lies a relatively spacious plain, spread north and south. This is the Becca Plain, the Becca Valley, which the Lebanese call Sahel Bekaa. In the Bible, there is a place called ‘Hammath Entrance’, which is located in the Bekaa Valley. In the 10th century BC, during the reign of King David and King Solomon, they were able to occupy territory to the entrance of Hamath (1 Chr 13:5, 1 Kings 8:65, 2 Chr 7:8).
‘the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.
Both Ziphron and Hazar Enan are northeast of Damascus.
‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham;
Hazar Enan means village of springs and is likely near the foot of Mount Hermon, but remember Mount Hermon is really a cluster of mountain ranges near to the Syria/Lebanon border which is 100 km (62 mi) long and 30 km (19 mi) wide.
‘the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth;
Shepham means fence keeper and is a border between two unequal realms. I have to wonder if Hazar Enan and Riblah were unequal realms.
Riblah is where King Zedekiah was taken and there his eyes were put out and sons killed before transporting him to Babylon. Chinnereth is an old name depicting the Sea of Galilee.
Ain means eye or spring of water. Between the meaning of Hazar Enan and Ain I have to wonder if much of this has to do with the headwaters of the Jordan River (probably not since headwaters at south end of Hermon mountains). Remember this river starts before the Sea of Galilee within the Mount Hermon range. It’s headwaters are the Dan, Banias, Iyon, and Hasbani springs.
Dan is a tribe missing from the list of tribes to inherit the promised land in Revelation 7. There are various reasons given in one of the sources I reference below. Also, the Danites did not like their original location near the coastal city of Joppa and so relocated much of their populance to the land of Laish or Leshem (Joshua 19:47). Tel Dan is now a nature preseve in the upper Galilee.
These regions are hitting the news these days. Israel has recently bombed Iranian convoys near the historical pagan city known as Baalbek, meaning spring of Baal. This city in at the Lebanon/Syria border in the Beqaa Valley. Joel Rosenburg wrote his bestseller Damascus Countdown in 2013, a chilling novel about the destruction of Damascus. Even in the somewhat parallel text of Ezekial 47 it is said that Joseph shall have two portions, indicating even by then the tribe of Dan has been excluded.
You might be interested in the fact that Hezbollah controlls territory in both Lebanon and Syria. Maps I have seen suggest much of the land between the Golan and Damascus is controlled by Hezbollah. Back in 1982 there was a major escalation in this area as Israel fought against Syria and the PLO, and before Hezbollah was started. In 2006 there was also a 34 day conflict in this area against Hezbollah. I do not know to what extent current fighting will escalate. South of Lebanon and Syria is the state of Jordan.
‘the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”
The Jordan River continues past the Galilee Sea and down into the Dead Sea. It is here where many, including John the Baptist baptised people. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and (eastern) Manasseh east of the Jordan river are still in the list in Revelation. These tribes are basically the modern state of Jordan but are not within greater Israel, in the narrow definition.
I need to mention before closing to re-interate even in the narrow definition of Greater Israel that Palestinian lands such as Gaza and the West Bank are included in that defitions. Lukud founder Menachem Begin did not annex Gaza and the West Bank since it would turn Israel into a bi-national state. Many of the Jews do not want a bi-national state but a Jewish state. I think there is inertia on both sides: most Palestinians do not want to be part of Israel, even if granted full citizenship with voting rights. The Settler Program in the West Bank seems to pull in land from Judea and Samaria without granting any Palestinians citizenship. We normally hear about rejection of a Palestinian State and never much mentioned about Palestinian citizenship of a greater Israel.
Next week I will talk, God willing, about the wider definition of greater Israel and the ramifications it holds for securing (or ending) Middle East peace.
Ezekiel 47:13-20:: Thus says the Lord GOD: “These are the borders by which you shall divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions.
“You shall inherit it equally with one another; for I raised My hand in an oath to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance.
“This shall be the border of the land on the north: from the Great Sea, by the road to Hethlon, as one goes to Zedad,
“Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim (which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), to Hazar Hatticon (which is on the border of Hauran).
Sibraim is a few miles NW of Damascus
Berothah is probably a few miles south of Baalbek
Hauran is a region of southern syria/northern Jordan
“Thus the boundary shall be from the Sea to Hazar Enan, the border of Damascus; and as for the north, northward, it is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
“On the east side you shall mark out the border from between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, along the Jordan, and along the eastern side of the sea. This is the east side.
“The south side, toward the South, shall be from Tamar to the waters of Meribah by Kadesh, along the brook to the Great Sea. This is the south side, toward the South.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_Palestinians
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zin_Desert
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-places/wilderness-wanderings-where-is-kadesh/
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Mount-Hor
https://www.openbible.info/geo/modern/m951680/sadad
https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Shepham.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/tribe-Dan-missing-144000.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FM4UBp8hS4
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2016-12-04/ty-article-magazine/tribe-of-dan-sons-of-israel-or-of-greek-mercenaries-hired-by-egypt/0000017f-f2fa-d497-a1ff-f2fac60a0000