Integral to any discussion of the modern state of Israel as My People/Not My People, we must ask, “How do nation-states form?” There are several ways:
Theologically, the Land of importance to the modern nation-state of Israel is grounded in a forever promise given by God to Abraham many thousands of years ago. It remains as the only example of Promised Land of God… ever known to be given as an inheritance …or recorded to exist. The only one. If you believe in the God of the Bible, this promise endures. There is no expiration date on an eternal God’s forever promises.
No one authoritatively promised (or could!) the US, Germany, Russia, or Venezuela, etc. their lands. But, when God gave the Land as a promise to Israel, He was specific. The boundaries were identified, and it was promised as an inheritance forever. (see Genesis 13:15; 15). The Ottoman conquests from the 1500s did not invalidate that land grant because it was God’s land to give and to promise.
Historically, some other nations like the US, Germany, etc. got (or lost) their lands because wars were fought, and the winner takes all or makes treaties. Those boundaries are subject to ongoing wars, agreements, invasions, and national defense. National boundaries are subject to these things because wars of man and manmade boundaries are limited by human nature.
The Promised Land was promised by God, dependent upon His eternal nature and His forever promise and yet, wars had to be fought. In our study of My People/Not My People as history proclaims them, this is where we are.
Moses has died and Joshua (one of two faithful spies) takes over leadership. Joshua 1:10 “So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 ‘Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.'”
There’s going to be war…conquest…to secure the Promised Land from Canaanite inhabitance and transfer possession to the tribes of Israel by God’s mandate of war. Importantly, God was not going to drive out the Canaanites in one quick act. Exodus 23:29
There were two and a half tribes which weren’t inheriting west of the Jordan. Those east of the Jordan were still bound under the command of Moses.
Joshua 1:12 “But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 ‘Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you after he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15 until the LORD gives them rest, as He has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.’”
16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.”
Questions for further thought:
Do you think the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, might have wanted to avoid helping since they were already living in their own land east of the Jordan?
What is it about God’s mandate made them obey the command of Moses which originated with God? What does their obedience say about their being My People?
Today the land east of the Jordan River that had belonged to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh is under the sovereign ownership of Jordan and Syria.
In fact, the full land outlined in Genesis 15:18-21 includes areas currently part of Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. In Joshua chapters 15-19, there are allotments by tribe, the My People of Scripture. They largely correspond to the area of the modern nation-state of Israel.
What is the difference between the wars to claim the promise of God through My People’s conquest of land inhabited by Canaanites (Not My People), little by little, as opposed to ethnic cleansing or genocide? We will address this subject more in the next installment.