Jesus and the Land

How the New Testament transformed 'holy land' theology

Gary Burge

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780281059522
• eBook ISBN: 9780281065387
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Jesus and the Land will help Christians to form a biblical view about modern-day claims to the land in Israel-Palestine. Examining what the New Testament says about the idea of land being 'holy', this guide is accessible and non-technical.

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The biblical heritage

Walter Brueggemann is correct when he suggests that land might be the central theme of biblical faith. “Biblical faith is the pursuit of historical belonging that includes a sense of destiny derived from such belonging.” And if this is so, he continues, land might be a way of “organizing biblical theology.”¹ Brueggemann invites us to think carefully about (biblical) Israel’s experience with land along three trajectories: land promised, land possessed, and land lost. And in each of these categories we can discover the magnificent opportunities found in God’s grace and covenant, Israel’s historical struggles to possess this land in righteousness – to become the sort of people God intends – and the judgment that falls on Israel in the exile when all is lost. The exile crisis of the sixth century BC is not simply a crisis of land loss, it is the loss of life and hope and meaning when Israel (through its sin) no longer can live in the place of promise.

The interest of the Old Testament however falls on one land, “the land,” the “promised land,” which is different from every other land. Ezekiel refers to it as the center of the earth (38.12) and Jerusalem as the center of this center (5.5). Hence in all of creation, this land is set apart, for as we shall see, God has unique purposes for it and will describe it as his own.

The Old Testament promise

In Genesis, land is a gift from God from the beginning of creation. The appearance of “dry land” (Gen. 1.9) is set in contrast to the chaotic sea (Ps. 104.5–9). In creation, land can welcome life, land can provide safety and refuge (Jonah 1.9), it represents a place where all people, and in particular the descendants of Abraham, can anchor their culture and nation. In this sense, land is already seen as a gift of creation in Genesis. It is a place God carves out of the world that holds the chaos of the seas at bay.

A variety of Hebrew terms represent the ideas of land in its more nuanced uses: there are open fields, orchards, pasture land, desert land, and dry land. A very common noun is ’adama, which refers to the agricultural qualities of land, as soil or fields (Gen. 2.7; 3.19; Prov. 12.11). But without doubt the most common term is

, and while a precise distinction may be uncertain,

often represents land as geographical or political territory. This is the “land of heritage” (Gen. 11.28; Jer. 22.10). It is used for tribal territories as well as the nations who live there (e.g. “the land of Canaan”).

The original call of Abraham in Genesis 12.1–3 promises that he will be the father of a great nation, and yet no promise of land is heard until Genesis 13.14–17 when Abraham scans the country he enters for the first time. The formal promise of land is given its full shape in Genesis 15.18–21, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’” The promise is repeated in Genesis 17.7–9 and then it is repeated again for his descendants Isaac (Gen. 26.2–4) and Jacob (Gen. 28.13–15). In each case four themes are clear: (a) Abraham will receive land as an everlasting possession; (b) Abraham’s posterity will become a great nation in this place; (c) this promise is directly tied to the covenant; and (d) all of the people of the earth will be blessed by this promise. This promise of land and progeny is held up in the Old Testament as a remarkable gift of grace to Abraham and his descendants.

The Promised Land is always portrayed as a good land. When Moses talks about it after Israel’s departure from Egypt he calls it a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Exod. 3.8, 17; 13.5; Lev. 20.24; Num. 13.27). Then when he nears the land from the east and tries to describe it to the Israelite tribes, he contrasts it with the land of Egypt. This will not be a place where irrigation (as in Nile systems) will be possible. This land will be a “land of hills and valleys, watered by the rain from the sky.” Therefore it is a land under the direct care of God. It is “a land that the LORD your God looks after. The eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year” (Deut. 11.11–12).

While it will be a good land, it will not be an easy land. This will be a land that demands faith. Far from being paradise, this is a land that will hone a people. For instance, without a central river system, agriculture must rely on God, who supplies the land with water through rainfall. Culturally the land will not be empty but will be filled with Canaanites (and others) who will tempt Israel to compromise its unique commitment to God. And politically, armies moving from Egypt to Mesopotamia will run through this land as if it were a highway and Israel will be forced to decide whether its security will be found in local treaties and alliances or in God, who promises to sustain its welfare.

The Old Testament presents two “maps” of where this land is located. Numbers 34.1–12 defines this land as “the land of Canaan” extending from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea (east to west) and from the “Brook of Egypt” to Hamath. These are the geographic parameters of ancient Canaan. This view is confirmed when Joshua 5.10–12 describes Israel’s crossing of the Jordan as entry into “the land.” Hence lands east of the Jordan river are excluded.

Deuteronomy 11.24 adds a larger expanse to the promise. It extends these boundaries and includes both sides of the Jordan (excluding Moab and Ammon) as well as northern reaches all the way to the Euphrates (so Gen. 15.18–21). Hence by this account, when Israel crosses the Arnon river (in Transjordan) its struggle for “the land” begins. This second map is viewed by many scholars as a later vision for political geography that may have come from the politically expansive era of the united monarchy.

But the center of this promise is certainly the hills west of the Jordan river. The promise focuses on the regions near Jerusalem, and when extended north and south, a claim can be made for the Promised Land that runs “from Dan to Beer-sheba” (Judg. 20.1).

The covenant and the land

In each reiteration of the promise, the land is linked to the covenant. For example, Genesis 17.8 records the land promise and this is followed in 17.9 with a reminder about covenant fidelity: “God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.’” In other words, the land is not a possession that may be enjoyed without reference to God. Possessing this land is contingent on Israel’s ongoing faithfulness to God and obedience to his law. The land therefore is a by-product of the covenant, a gift of the covenant. It is not a possession that can be held independently.

Both Leviticus and Deuteronomy warn Israel in stark terms about the conditional nature of this promise. Leviticus 18.24–30 warns about defilement with the culture of the Canaanites. If Israel embraces such unrighteousness, “the land will vomit you out for defiling it as it vomited out the nation that was before you.” Leviticus 20.22–26 connects this theme to ritual holiness in the same way, “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them, so that the land to which I bring you to settle in may not vomit you out.” The impression given is that the land itself can suffer abuse and be defiled. As sinners were ejected from the camp of Israel, so too, Israel can be ejected from the land of God.

Before Israel enters the land under Joshua’s leadership, Deuteronomy records Moses’ final words of encouragement and warning to the people.

When you have had children and children’s children, and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. The LORD will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the LORD will lead you.

(Deut. 4.25–27)

The severity of these words is stunning. This land is not simply a gift the giver has forgotten. It is a gift that has expectations for covenant holiness and justice. God is watching this land. He has personal expectations for this land. It is a land that should evoke memories of his own holiness.

God’s remarkable interest in this land can be explained by one undergirding theme. In a profound sense, Israel never “owns” the land of promise. God owns this land. Leviticus uses this idea to explain why the land cannot be sold permanently to others, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants” (Lev. 25.23). Israel here is viewed as a tenant in this land, an alien, a renter. The recipient of a gift for use. But not a landlord. Israel must hold this land loosely, because God will determine the tenure of its occupants.

The Old Testament reinforces this notion of God’s ownership of the land in a variety of ways. The land was not to be considered “private property,” but was something distributed by God. The division of land was done by casting lots (Num. 26.55) thus making land use God’s decision. The trustees of this use were the tribes, never individuals (Num. 36.3; Josh. 17.5). This “loose ownership” can be seen in the provisions for the jubilee year in Leviticus 25. No land could be bought or sold permanently – every 50th year the land had to return to the users God had declared in the beginning. God continues to exercise divine oversight to how this land is held.

Moreover the harvests of Israel were understood in light of God’s ownership. First crops and first animals belonged to God and so were offered in sacrifice (Lev. 27.30–33; Deut. 14.22; 26.9–15). The command to “keep the Sabbath” was observed not only by Israel but by the land itself (Lev. 25.2). Here the land is personified as if it were living in a relationship with God, as if it too were living under covenant obligations.

Deuteronomy 12.9 refers to the land as a place of rest for Israel – but it is also a place of rest for God (Ps. 95.11; Isa. 66.1). “Resting place” refers to the place where God’s presence dwells. In the wilderness narratives it is the place where God pauses (Num. 10.33) or dwells (Ps. 132.8).

Each of these themes underscores the same idea. This land is rightly called holy land because it belongs to a holy God (see Zech. 2.16, Heb. ʾadmat haqqodesh). This land is set apart. No other land shares this quality. Other land is “unclean land” (Amos 7.17) and yet this land is his. Numbers 35.34 makes this explicit: “You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.”

The possession and loss of land

The seriousness of living in the land of promise can be seen following Joshua’s campaigns. He immediately takes the Israelite tribes north to the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim and requires that they recommit themselves to the covenant (Josh. 8.30–35). Following their breathtaking successes at Jericho and Ai, Israel’s first duty is to renew loyalty to the covenant where their privileges of using the land are anchored. Joshua’s rededication reinforces the idea (above) that covenant and land are inseparable and if land is held while the covenant is spurned, the warning read out on that day would fall on the nation.

The contingency of life in the land can be seen clearly in Judges, where each generation must work out the depth of their commitment to the covenant. And when their commitment fails, they experience the near-loss of tribal territory through war. At the end of the book, two troubling stories bring stark case-studies of this loss. The tribe of Dan indulges in breathtaking religious corruption (Judges 17—18) by instituting their own priesthood. Benjamin indulges in remarkable moral corruption (19—21) when a Levite’s concubine is sexually abused and killed. In both cases, Dan and Benjamin put in jeopardy their privileges of living in the land. In each case, the theological message is the same: land and righteousness are inextricably linked.

The Old Testament continues with an array of stories showing how land-use and covenant righteousness cannot be separated. When David wishes to acquire land for God’s temple in Jerusalem, he treats with righteousness Ornan the Jebusite (who owns the threshing floor David wants). This promised land, this land in Jerusalem, was owned by an “alien” and yet it “belonged” to Israel through promise. David does not take this land by force but purchases it at a steep price (600 shekels of gold, 1 Chronicles 21).

King Ahab presents the opposite position. He covets land in the verdant Jezreel valley held by a vineyard owner named Naboth. Ahab and Jezebel conspire to kill him in order to steal his land. And their unrighteousness is uncovered and condemned by none other than Elijah: “Hav...

Table of contents

• Cover page
• About the Author
• Title-page
• Imprint
• Table of contents
• Dedication
• Map
• Introduction
• 1. The biblical heritage
• 2. Diaspora Judaism and the land
• 3. Jesus and the land
• 4. The Fourth Gospel and the land
• 5. The book of Acts and the land
• 6. Paul and the promises to Abraham
• 7. Developments beyond Paul
• 8. Land, theology, and the Church
• Notes
• Further reading
• Search items of biblical and ancient texts