Eretz Israel – The Land of Israel History

The term “Eretz Israel” is the modern word for the term “The Land of Israel” that can be written as אֶרֶץיִשְׂרָאֵלis the name of the traditional area of the Jewish people that is located at the Sothern Levant. In connection with the bible and religions, the Land of Israel is also called as the Palestine, Holy Land, Promised Land, and the Land of Canaan. You can see the definitions of this territory in the Tirah or also called the Hebrew Bible. Land of Israel had been mentioned in Ezekiel 47, Numbers 34, Exodus 23 and Genesis 15. For about nine times, the Land of Israel or the Eretz Israel is mentioned in the T=Hebrew Bible that is referring to the word “from Dan to Beersheba.” And this territory also defines as the “from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt.”

Gold Eretz Israel pendant
Gold Eretz Israel pendant

These biblical Land of Israel or once called as the Eretz Israel have a broader difference in the ancient land of Israelite and later named as the kingdom of Jewish people. And as time passes by, the United Kingdom of Israel is now included in the Land of Israel that is also composed of two different kingdoms, which are called as the kingdom of Juda and kingdom of Israel (Samaria), the Herodian Kingdom, and the Hasmonean Kingdom, that become the leader of different lands with different boundaries in similar locations.

The belief of Jewish religion refers to the land as to where the law of the Jewish people is being applied and excluded the other territories wherein these Jewish laws are not being used. According to the Hebrew Bible, it stated that the Lord God creates the Land of Israel as the territory of the Jewish people. You can read this in the Torah specifically in the books of Exodus and Genesis and also in the previous prophets.  If you are going to read the book of Genesis, it was stated there that God creates the Land of Israel for all the successors of Abram. And this verse also stated that this land is the agreement created by the Lord God and the Abram for all of his successors.

For previous years, the name of Abram turns into Abraham, with the agreement that it will be pass to Isaac, the son of Abraham, up to the Israelites, which are the successors the grandson of Abraham, Jacob. This belief of the Jewish people is not being shared by the supersessionism, and these are the followers or people who believed the views written in the Old Testament prophecies that have been replaced by the comeback of the Lord God. The Evangelical Zionist also claim that the Land of Israel has the title to the divine right’s land, or maybe by the moral grounding, historical or theological to the land that is promised to the Jewish people, James Parkers explained it. The belief that the old religious verses can be a divine right of permit challenged everyone, and the courts of Israel disregarded the land claims with the basis of the religious motivations.

Throughout the “League of Nations mandatory period that lasts between 1920 to 1948, the word Land of Israel or Eretz Israel was also a part of the Mandatory Palestine, which is considered as the official Hebrew name. The documents of Mandatory Palestine has used the word “Palestine” or Palestina, can be written as פלשתינה that was always followed by the Eretz Israel’s first two initial letters which are the Yod and Aleph.

Etymology and Biblical Roots

The Land of Israel is a term that can be translated into EretzYisrael, which is a Hebrew phrase that can be written as ארץישראל, which can be seen occasionally in the bible verses. The term Land of Israel of Eretz Israel occurred first in Tanakh in 1 Samuel 13:19 that was followed by the Exodus. It is when the tribes of Children of Israel were landed in the land of Canaan. The term Ezret Israel is being used occasionally in the Torah or in the Hebrew Bible, such as; King David told his soldiers to gather all the strangers in the Ezretz Israel for some important purposes. And this similar phrase has also been used as the King Solomon’s reference for his census about the people living in the Land of Israel. And in the book of Ezekiel, even though it was written the term “Soil of Israel” rather than the Land of Israel two times, you can see this at Ezekiel 47:18 and Ezekiel 40:2.

As Martin Noth stated that, the Land of Israel is not the original and authentic name of the land of Israelites, but instead it must be called with the terms that are more durable to describe the land where the tribes of Israelites settled. And as stated by Anita Shapira, it is just right to use the term Eretz Israel because this phrase is a holy word. The holiness of the word Eretz Israel created some corporations in connection with the rabbinical thought, wherein it is the word that has a higher mythological and symbolic status pervaded by an agreement, and it creates a stronger connection to the geographical area. But according to NurMasalha, it is considered as entirely fictitious the different biblical boundaries because the term Eretz Israel or Land of Israel is just derived after the development of Zionism.

The Torah created three different borders for the Holy Land that contains different purposes. The Land of Israel or the Eretz Israel is defined clearly in the Book of Ezekiel referring to the land that both of the strangers in that land and the tribes settled in there can claim several inheritances. You can see that the term Israel is first used in the Torah, which God gave its name to the elders of Jacob. You can read this in Genesis 32:28.derived from the word Israel, the Israelites or the Children of Israelis the names that have a connection with the people who live in the Land of Israel.

You can read the word Land of Israel or Eretz Israel in the first episode of the New Testament, wherein, Shlomo Sand stated that the land of Jerusalem have a fantastic feeling that every Jewish people who love there can feel. The part where it was written is similar to the first written literature during that time which is the Book of Exodus.

Conclusion

The word Ezretz Israel has a similar meaning to the term The Land of Israel, wherein Jewish people, Israelites, or Children of Israel are the one who occupies that area.

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