Glimpses of Israel - The Land, The People and The Book
by Joseph Hunting
The triunity that links the Holy Land, the nation of Israel, and the Bible is unique. It is an indissoluble union shared by no other nation.
The Land originally promised by God to Abraham and his seed was bordered on the west by the Mediterranean Sea from a point just south of Gaza and embracing the coastline of Lebanon and Syria. The northern boundary was flanked by the Euphrates River. The eastern border followed the Great Rift Valley southward via the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights and an area skirting the eastern shores of Galilee. This border continued south to Eilat on the eastern arm of the Red Sea. The southern border went from Eilat and followed the Wadi El Arish ("the river of Egypt") to the Mediterranean coast just south of Gaza.
Although Abraham's descendants have possessed only part of the land promised to them for less than their 3,500 year history, God has never revoked His original covenant with Abraham concerning the Land. Indeed, in the final analysis God calls this area of the Middle East "My land" (Leviticus 25:23).
The destiny of the People of Israel is linked to God's promise of the Land as their possession. Indeed, so mystical is this union that when the People have been dispossessed the Land has languished. But, by contrast, during the forty-four years of statehood the Land now possessed by Israel has undergone a remarkable transformation.
Although many nations have suffered cruel oppression, none have survived at least two attempts at genocide and such prolonged persecution as that perpetrated by the Nazis during World War II. Israel's destiny has been fore-ordained by Moses and the prophets, and under the universal reign of the Messiah Israel with be "the head and not the tail" among the nations during His reign on earth.
The Book, God's Word, is indeed a treasure-house of truth and understanding of the mind of Almighty God. Indeed, its opening words are so awesome and majestic that human reason has had to invent the theory of evolution rather than accept the Divine account of creation.
Israel 's gift of the Bible to the world is its greatest contribution. It has brought comfort and hope to countless millions throughout mankind's history, and above all, it speaks of Israel's Messiah-Redeemer who fulfilled all that Moses and the prophets wrote of Him "who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows" and upon whom the LORD "has laid the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53).