Series: Dog Daze
Genesis 12:1-3 ESV
Exodus 3:17 ESV
Deuteronomy 28:1-6 ESV
Joshua 1:2b-7 ESV
Amos 9:15 ESV
Joshua 1:4 ESV
The land, sometimes referred to as “real estate” often 'means' something and is a prized possession.
It’s no surprise that one of the elements God promised Israel was land.
Early on they were promised land. In Genesis 12:1-3 we are told, “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
But because of famine, the Sons of Jacob (called Israel) ended up in Egypt and we recall it was Moses who led them out of Egypt to “the land”.
THE Land came to be called as the land flowing with milk and honey. It was the land promised to Israel when they came out of Egypt. In Exodus 3:17 we read, “I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey."’
And so Israel left Egypt and they wandered and waited, looking for the land.
For forty years they wandered and waited.
It was about the land…well among other things, but they were promised the land flowing with milk and honey.
In Deuteronomy 28:1-6 God told Israel, “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
The blessing was connected to the land and the land was connected to the blessing.
It was the land they fought to possess.
After Moses died in Joshua 1:2b-7 we are told God said to Joshua, “arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”
Over and over again God reminded Israel of the promise of the land.
The promise was for the land and the promise was about the land.
And so it’s no surprise that God spoke to the Prophet Amos about the land in the 8th Century B.C.
In Amos 9:15 the prophet wrote, “I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,”says the Lord your God.”
The promise of the land that was given to Israel is still a struggle today.
The land…Holy Land is cherished in our hearts. In Joshua 1:4 the land promised is described as stretching, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.”
Some scholars believe Golgotha where Christ was crucified is ancient Mt. Moriah, the Temple that Solomon built, and the place where Abraham took his son Isaac to prepare for his sacrifice.
We do not know for certain today, but who knows what the future holds?
As archeologists skills and equipment improve from century to century, questions we have today will be answered. It is possible (and very like God) to perform miracles that span across centuries. The land where Jesus was crucified is Holy and at the appointed time God will reveal everything.
Spiritual Practice: Consider
Are Golgotha and Mt. Moriah one and the same?
In God, Deborah
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