Lesson 2—Why a Land? Why the Land of Israel?

Introduction

In our previous lesson we discussed the fears and hopes that accompanied Abraham in responding to the divine call to move to a new land. We read the story and analyzed its significance from the perspective of the one being called upon, namely Abraham.

In this lesson we want to shift the focus from the one being called upon to the One making the call, namely, God. We will try to explain, what possessed God to call upon Abraham to uproot himself and move to a new land? After we answer this question we can then proceed to another question: Of all the lands in the world why did He pick the Land of Israel in particular?

Go to the discussion board. What are some of the considerations in deciding on a place to live? To what extent should we take the following into account: A. our children, B. the community, C. religion?

In our text study we will try to see which of these, if any, played a role in God’s call to Abraham. Let’s return to Genesis chapter 12 and try to understand why God called upon Abraham to uproot himself and move to another land?

Text study 1

Read Genesis 12:1-3. How might this text help us answer our question?

Suggested Answer:

According to this text Abraham was called upon to move to a new land in order to receive a series of blessings. The question of course is, if God wanted to bless him why couldn’t he bless him where he was without requiring him to move to a new land?

Now, one way to look at it is to say that Abraham had to do something to earn the blessing. If he is put to a test requiring him to make a supreme sacrifice and uproot himself from his home and family just because God said so, then he will have proven his worthiness for the manifold blessings promised to him.

The problem with this approach is that it still does not explain why he is put to this particular test. If moving to the land has no intrinsic value but is merely a means to prove his worthiness for the blessing, God could have subjected him to any kind of test. Indeed, God could have asked him to do a series of jumping jacks or to stand on his head, to eat raw meat or to climb Mount Everest. Why did God require him specifically to move to a new land?

Furthermore, this approach doesn’t begin to address a question that many of us may have already asked. Why Abraham? Why was Abraham singled out from all other people to be the recipient of these grandiose blessings? Now although this question relates to the whole issue of chosenness which is beyond the scope of this lesson it would be helpful if we could gain some insight into this questions as well in our effort to explain the importance of the land.

The key to this question may be found in the opening formula of the promise. God begins: “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you…” In other words, a central feature of the blessing is “nationhood”. Now this idea requires some attention. Most of us today consider ourselves “Jews”, i.e., members of a particular religious faith, and “Americans” or “Canadians”, etc. For most of us there is no tension or contradiction between these terms; the one expresses a person’s religious affiliation and the other describes a person’s country of citizenship. Just as there are Christians and Moslems living in America so too there are Jews. Thus, many of us have no problem living in countries which we call our own while simultaneously adhering to our own particular religious faith and referring to ourselves as “American, or Canadian, Jews”. But what if being Jewish didn’t just imply a religious faith or even membership in a religious community but it meant also belonging to a “Jewish nation” or a “Jewish people”? Wouldn’t that imply that the Jews must live in a particular territory much as “American” and “Canadian” implies residence and citizenship in a particular land called “America” or “Canada”?

The fact that Abraham was promised that he was going to become “a great nation”, a national entity, makes the idea of a national territory absolutely indispensable. Thus, God didn’t ask Abraham to move to another land merely as a test of faith; rather He told him to go because only in a land that he could eventually call his own could the promise of nationhood be fulfilled.

But this approach still begs the question that we raised earlier, why Abraham? Why did God single out Abraham from among all other people and promise to make only him a great and blessed nation?

The answer to this question may already be found in Abraham’s response to the divine call that we studied last week. God singled Abraham out because God knew Abraham’s extraordinary character as exemplified in his faith in God and the lengths to which he was willing to go in following His command.

While all this may be true there is another idea that emerges from the following text that puts the blessings to Abraham and the land in a new light.

Text study 2- To be answered in chavruta

Read Genesis 18:16-23 and try to answer the following questions:

1. What is the subject of this entire section?
2. What is the subject of verses 17-19?
3. What are the similarities between verse 18 and Genesis 12:2-3?
4. How do these similarities help explain God’s decision to reveal His intentions to Abraham?
5. How does this help explain why Abraham was chosen to receive the blessings of nationhood and land in the first place?
6. How is God’s decision about informing Abraham justified by Abraham’s subsequent behavior?

Suggested answers:

1. This section is the story of the cities Sodom and Gomorrah. As many of us know, the citizens of these cities were corrupt, morally depraved and evil (see Gen. 13:13, 18:20 and 19:1-11). God therefore decided it was best to wipe these cities out completely.
2. Before destroying these cities God, as it were, deliberates with Himself. Should He, or should He not, reveal His intentions regarding Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham? On the one hand, it would seem, it is God’s role to deal with sinners. God does not need to consult with mankind before He goes about His business.  On the other hand, God has designs for Abraham that make it imperative that the latter know what is about to happen. It is these designs that offer a clue into the real meaning and significance of the election of Abraham.
3. One cannot overlook the parallel between the phrase “since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation” in verse 18 and “I will make you a great nation” in 12:2 and between the phrase “and all the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him” in the same verse and “all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you” in 12:3. In other words, the text here echoes the central promises made to Abraham in his first encounter with God.

4-5. God decides to tell Abraham about His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because Abraham’s was chosen from the very beginning because of his future contribution to mankind in situations such as this. In other words, God promised to make Abraham a great nation and a source of blessing to the nations of the world not merely for the benefit of Abraham but for the benefit of mankind. How was blessing Abraham going to help mankind? Because Abraham was destined to “instruct his children and his posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right”. It was in his personal commitment to the keeping the way of the Lord and doing what is just and right as well as his commitment to teaching these values to others that Abraham distinguished himself from everyone else. Now, if we keep in mind that Sodom and Gomorrah represent the antithesis of these values, the ultimate examples of corruption and moral depravity, Abraham had to be informed of their fate. Decisions, even decisions of God, regarding justice and morality are very much Abraham’s business. God couldn’t elect him for this purpose and then withhold critical information in a situation in which Abraham might be able to make a difference.

Let’s think for a moment about situations in which people are chosen. People can be chosen to receive a prize such as in a sweepstakes or a lottery. In these situations, since people are chosen primarily to receive prizes there is nothing wrong with choosing the recipients randomly. People may also be chosen to receive a reward for achievement, an Oscar, an Emmy or the Nobel Prize. These rewards are anything but random. They are in recognition of outstanding achievement in different fields of activity. Thus, the recipients are not singled out from other prospective candidates randomly but because of their unique accomplishments. Nevertheless, in this case they are still to chosen to receive an honor or a prize. A third situation is when people are chosen for a post or a position, such as the principle of a school, the executive-director of a firm or the president of a country. In this situation, they are not chosen primarily to receive an honor, a reward or a prize – although being chosen for these functions is often a great honor – but to fulfill a mission or achieve a goal for which they are uniquely qualified.

Now, it is possible to read Genesis chapter 12 and to suggest that the promises to Abraham are of the second type, prizes or rewards for great achievement. Thus, he was promised to become a great nation, to be blessed and a source of blessing, and to receive a land as a national homeland as a prize or a reward for his current or future accomplishments. This text, however, seems to suggest otherwise. The fact that God reasons “For I have singled him out, that (my italics) he may instruct…” implies that the purpose of singling him out was not to offer him a reward or a prize but to assign him a unique task and a particular mission, for which he alone was uniquely qualified. Abraham was promised that he would become a great and blessed nation and inherit a land of his own because God wanted Abraham’s unique qualities and characteristics to become the legacy of an entire nation. Thus the land is significant mot merely because it the “Promised Land” but because it is the land in which Abraham and his descendants are to fulfill their unique mission – the mission for which they were singled out from all other nations – in the world.

6. Remarkably, what is the first thing Abraham does upon hearing of God’s plan to destroy the two cities? “Will you sweep away the innocent (tzadik from the same root tz-d-k as “tzedakah”) along with the guilty? what if there should be fifty innocent within the city; will You then wipe out the place and not forgive it for the sake of the innocent fifty who are in it… shall not the Judge (“shofet”, from the same root sh-p-t as “mishpat”) of all the earth deal justly?” In other words, Abraham who was chosen, among other reasons, because of his commitment to doing what is right and just (in Hebrew “la’asot tzedakah umishpat”) challenges none other than God Himself about His commitment to these same values! Clearly, Abraham’s willingness to challenge God in the name of justice and righteousness (as opposed to the same Abraham who earlier followed God’s command without hesitation or delay when He told him to uproot himself and move to another land!) is testimony to his extraordinary character and his worthiness to lead a nation that will follow in his footsteps.  

Thus, we can summarize on the blackboard (Power Point)

Why a Land?

1. God promised to make Abraham “a great nation”
2. Nations are defined by the existence of a people in a particular territory
3. God therefore promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit a particular land – the Land of Israel – as their national territory
4. The promise of nationhood and land are not merely a prize or a reward but the necessary means through which Abraham and his descendants can fulfill their divine mission
5. Living in the Land of Israel has religious significance

The question that we have yet to address is why was the Land of Israel chosen from among the many lands in the world? Why didn’t God pick Hawaii or Switzerland (my personal favorites)?

Read the following text: Exodus 3:7-8, 16-18, and then go to the discussion board:

Why was the Land of Israel in particular chosen? How many of you have been to Israel? To which of these descriptions of the Land can you relate and to which is it difficult for you to relate? Why?

Suggested Answers

The first text appears in the context of God’s first revelation to Moses. God explains what it is that He wants and why He called upon Moses. God says that He has marked well the plight of His people in Egypt and has heeded their outcry from their suffering in Egyptian slavery. He has decided that the time has come “to bring them out of that land (i.e., Egypt) to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, thwqe Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.” Thus, we hear that the Land of Israel (not yet known as such) is described as a “good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey”.

The statement that the land (or anything for that matter) is “good” is relative. Now, it is difficult to dispute the unusual variety of landscapes and climates, from the warm weather in the coastal plains to the cooler weather in the highlands – including Jerusalem and Mount Hermon which is covered with snow throughout most of the winter and spring – to the arid landscape and hot climate of the Negev including the Dead Sea, the lowest spot in the world. In fact, the “hotspot” of most Israelis (as well as many Europeans) is the town of Eilat on the southern border which, believe it or not, is less than 200 miles or a four hour drive from Tel-Aviv and even less from Jerusalem. A few years ago it was snowing in Jerusalem and after just a 3 and 1/2 hour drive we were taking off our coats and enjoying 60-65 degree weather. In truth you don’t have to go as far as Eilat. When I lived in Jerusalem (and before I had children) I used to take a day or two off in the middle of the winter and drive from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Not only was it a stunning drive, as the landscape and the topography changed dramatically as I descended from the mountains to the lowest point on earth, but in less than 45 minutes I was taking off my coat and rolling up my sleeves! Having said all that, I have to admit that my perspective on Israel has changed ever since I started traveling during the summer to Switzerland. Although I still consider Israel to be “good” it isn’t quite as good in my eyes as it used to be.

Now “good” is one thing, but “spacious”? I am often amazed that when I travel for 2 and 1/2 hours from Efrat, just south of Jerusalem, to Haifa I am practically covering half the country. Do you know that in much of the center of the country there are barely 30 miles from east to west? Of course the description here refers not to the boundaries of the contemporary State of Israel but to the boundaries of the Promised Land as they are outlined in the Torah. Now although there are discrepancies in the biblical text and disputes among the commentators regarding the precise area that is included in the Promised Land, even the minimalist interpretation has boundaries that include most of the current State of Israel, some of Jordan, most of Lebanon and parts of Syria and Egypt. Thus, the Torah is describing a land that is certainly more spacious than the Land included in the current State of Israel.

“Flowing with milk and honey”? I have been living here for almost 20 years and I have yet to see honey and milk flowing anywhere. Although the “honey” almost certainly refers to the syrup produced from dates which are relatively plentiful in Israel it is hardly “flowing”. Of course, this is best understood as a metaphor for fertility and should not be understood literally. Indeed, this is the idea that is developed in the following text

Text study 3

Read Deuteronomy 8:7-9 and try to explain why the Land of Israel was singled out?

This text describes the unique features of the land beginning with a description of “streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill”, and continuing with a list of its special agricultural products, known in rabbinic literature as the “Seven Species” by which the Land of Israel was distinguished – “a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey…” It then describes its materials: “a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper”. Thus, it is most likely that it is to these distinctive features that our text, as well as the text in Exodus, refers when it describes the land as “good”. And it is most likely that it is these features that are alluded to in the metaphor “flowing with milk and honey”. 

Thus, we see that according to these two (and many other) texts the Land of Israel was singled out because it of its unique physical characteristics. I don’t know much about mine and copper but I can tell you that in Israel I have had some of the best figs and dates that I have ever eaten. Some of the breads are exceptional (I can’t eat American Pita bread after the “real” stuff I get here) and I have never seen pomegranates anywhere else,  and for those of you who haven’t tried them they are really delicious. Indeed, even the tomatoes and cucumbers are sweeter and tastier here. Nevertheless, I imagine that there are areas in the world that are more fertile, with more natural resources (Saudi Arabia or Kuwait to name two). Thus, if this were God’s sole criterion for choosing the Land of Israel we may ask, couldn’t God have found a better place?

There are two important things to say in response to this question:

1. The land was chosen for a particular people at a particular time. Abraham lived at a time and a place when travel was mostly by foot or by camel. He could not have been asked to go to a place to which he had no access. God may have asked Abraham to go to the most fertile land in his immediate vicinity.

Look at the following maps 4,5 and 43 and try to explain the difficulty with this answer.

It appears that Abram came from one side of an are known as the “Fertile Crescent” – the area shaped like a crescent which is particularly fertile – stopped in the middle and was then told by God to go to the area on the other side. Thus, while it is true that God could not have reasonably asked him to move to another continent, He could have asked him to move somewhere else along the Fertile Crescent!

2. The above texts that describe the bounty and goodness of the land are not taken from the story of Abraham’s journey to the land but from the story of the people who had been in Egypt. Coming from Egypt, the closest land along the Fertile Crescent is the Land of Israel. More importantly, the people were not just coming from Egypt; they were emerging from an extended period (400 years according to one account!) of bitter slavery and oppression in Egypt. Thus, the idea that God was going to free them from slavery and bring them to a good and fertile land where they will enjoy freedom and independence is nothing short of a dream come true. From the perspective of the Jews in Egypt, the Land of Israel can legitimately be described in such grandiose terms even if there may have been other lands that could rival it in richness and beauty. Support for this argument is the fact that nowhere in the Book of Genesis is the land described in these terms! Unlike the Jews in Egypt Abraham is never told anything about the physical characteristics of the land!

Which, of course, brings us back to our original question. If the Land of Israel was only one land along the Fertile Crescent why did God single it out in particular? Perhaps God did so because He knew that Abraham’s ancestors would be entering the land after suffering from Egyptian slavery (This raises all kinds of theological questions such as to what extent does God’s knowledge of the future influence decisions in the present? Why did the Jews have to suffer in Egypt? Didn’t God Himself preordain that the Jews would be slaves in Egypt?) Or perhaps there are other reasons that the Land of Israel was singled out from all the other lands?

Text study 4

Based on the following texts why was the Land of Israel in particular chosen?

1. Deuteronomy 11:10-17
2. Leviticus 18:1-30

Suggested Answers

1. In this text the Land of Israel is contrasted with Egypt. Since little rain falls in Egypt irrigation depends completely on the annual flooding of the Nile River. The water from the Nile is directed into the fields through a system of canals and reservoirs. Thus, “the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors, like a vegetable garden.” The Land of Israel, on the other hand, is watered directly by God, through rainfall.

Now what is the significance of this fact and how does it help explain why Israel might have been chosen? At first glance it might appear that the Torah is telling us that in addition to its other physical blessings (which we discussed above) Israel is also a land with abundant rainfall. The truth, however, is that unlike other lands in which the amount of rain rarely an issue, in the Land of Israel there is often insufficient rainfall and there are even periods of drought that threaten to bring the entire system of agriculture to complete ruin.

A careful reading of this text, however, will show that the point isn’t that it is a land in which there is abundant rainfall – indeed, there are many lands with more abundant rainfall – but that it is a land in which there can be abundant rainfall but in which there can also be severe drought. It is a land “which the Lord your God looks after, on which the Lord your God always keeps His eye” to determine whetherto “grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late”, thus allowing the people to “gather in your new grain and wine and oil… thus you shall eat your fill”, or whether to “shut up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce”. What is the basis for this determination? “If…you obey the commandments that I enjoin you upon this day…”

In other words, because rainfall in the Land of Israel is not guaranteed, the people living there are increasingly dependent on God to provide it. But because God wants the people to follow His commandments He makes the granting of rainfall conditional upon the people’s willingness to abide by them. Thus, the land is particularly suited to educating toward the fear of God and moral and religious piety. And it is for this reason that God may have chosen the land in the first place.

2. This chapter spells out in detail the rules of incest as well as other forbidden sexual unions. It opens by explaining that it is necessary to spell these rules out in detail because they were violated by the inhabitants of Egypt, from where the People of Israel are coming, and by the inhabitants of Canaan, where the People of Israel are going. And the chapter concludes by telling us that in their violation of these laws the inhabitants of the Land “defiled themselves” which in turn defiled the land. More importantly the text continues by stating that not only did the Land become defiled by the abhorrent things done by the inhabitants; it “spewed” them out as a result. In other words, the Land here is portrayed as a living being that cannot tolerate defilement through immoral behavior and it reacts accordingly by spewing out those who defile it.

What does this mean? Is this just a metaphor, i.e., another way of saying that God has little tolerance for acts of this kind and that God will therefore punish the sinners by exiling them from the land? While one could interpret this idea in this way it does not appear that this is consistent with the simple reading of the text. The text emphasizes that the Land reacts to defilement, and not God, as though the Land has feelings and is a living spirit that is offended by immoral behavior. Indeed, it is because of the Land’s sensitivity that the people of Israel, despite their special status with God, will suffer the same fate as the inhabitants that preceded them if they act in a similar manner: “So let not the land spew you out for defiling it, as it spewed out the nation that came before you”.

Thus according to this text, the Land of Israel, unlike other lands, has some exceptional intrinsic character that makes it sensitive to sin and immorality. In other words, not all lands were created equal. This land is endowed with a unique divine or holy quality that welcomes people whose lives are infused with holiness but spits out those whose lives are filled with baseness and immorality. Since the People of Israel were commanded to live holy lives it may be that this is why their ancestor Abraham was commanded to go to the Holy Land.

Bibliography

Buber, M. Israel and Palestine: The History of an Idea. London: East and West Library, 1952

Hoffman, L, ed. The Land of Israel: Jewish Perspectives. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986

Schweid, E. “Land of Israel” in Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1987, pp. 535-541

Sicker, M. Judaism, Nationalism and the Land of Israel, San Francisco: Westview Press, 1992