Theme: Israel
THE PROMISED LAND

The Jezreel valley is known for several wars, fought by Israel. In Judges, chapter 4, Barak descended from mount Tabor with 10.000 men and defeated a great enemy. In Judges 7 Gideon fights the enemy. Both Barak and Gideon are mentioned in Hebrews 11, verses 32-43, because they became heroes in battle and drove their enemies away because of their great faith in the living God.

But the Bible also tells us of the great war of the end times, where the enemy will come against Israel to destroy it. Revelations (16:16-21) give us an explicit description of how the Lord will deliver His people.

The Jezreel valley was the first territory in the Palestine of that time that was purchased by Zionist leaders in the beginning of the 1900s. The Arab land owners were more than happy to get rid of what were, at the time, uninhabitable swamps. However, after having drained the ground, Jewish pioneers have planted around 25 million trees of the years.

“Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people.” (Joel 2:18). This is where Israel’s enemies miscalculate:
1. The Promised Land of Abraham’s is God’s land.
2. The Promised son Isaac is the ancestor of the Jewish people, which are God’s people.

Genesis 12:3: “And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you.” Genesis 21:12: “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Genesis 25:5-6: “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.”

Genesis 13:14-15 and 17-18: Abraham is made to see the land that God wanted to be his. Abraham had been given the land by God, and therefore he could pass it on to Isaac.

Genesis 26:18: “And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham.” When Isaac started digging wells and water came forth, the enemy, who had not cared about the well and had even destroyed them, started arguing with Isaac. Verse 20: "The water is ours". Isaac called these places Esek and Sitnah “because they strove with him”

Israel’s enemies have not changed. They do nothing themselves, but when Israel makes something to bloom, envy displays, and then the words resound: "[This] is ours."

The land God promised Abraham

God makes a promise about a land for His chosen people, Israel:

For Abraham: Genesis 12:7: “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto your seed will I give this land.” 13:15: “For all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed for ever.” 15:7: “I am the Lord that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.” 15:18: “Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” 17:8: “And I will give unto you and to your seed after you, the land wherein you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”

For Isaac: Genesis 26:3-4: “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father; and I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

For Jacob: Genesis 28:10-15: “The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed; And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

For Moses: Numbers 34: “When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof…” Deuteronomy 34:4: “…the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob.”

For Joshua: Joshua 1:1-4: “From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.” Ezekiel 47:13 and 48:29: “This is the land which you shall divide by lot.”

The fixed borders

To the north: At Lebanon (Deuteronomy 11:24 and Joshua 1:4)
To the west: the Mediterranean (the Great Sea) (Exodus 23:31, Deuteronomy 11:24 and 34:2, Joshua 1:4 and 13:3)
To the south: The creek of Egypt (Numbers 34:5, Joshua 13:3)
To the east: the Great River, Euphrates (Genesis 15:18, Joshua 1:4)

Deuteronomy 11:24: “Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.”