2 Samuel 8:1-14 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines. (2) Then he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants, and brought tribute. (3) David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his territory at the River Euphrates. (4) David took from him one thousand chariots, seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots. (5) When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. (6) Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went. (7) And David took the shields of gold that had belonged to the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. (8) Also from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze. (9) When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, (10) then Toi sent Joram his son to King David, to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him (for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi); and Joram brought with him articles of silver, articles of gold, and articles of bronze. (11) King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued-- (12) from Syria, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from Amalek, and from the spoil of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah. (13) And David made himself a name when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Syrians in the Valley of Salt. (14) He also put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David's servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.
It took Israel roughly 436 years to conquer the territory God had promised them, and only in approximately the year 970 BC, under the reign of King David, Israel finally occupied most of its territory[1]. The above-quoted passage of scripture is a record of some of the territories conquered by Israel during the reign of King David. It is again important to note that even under David’s reign, when we compare the two maps, i.e. God’s boundaries given to Moses and the eventual territories conquered by King David, we see significant differences. The following differences are listed; Israel’s territories had grown to include Moab, Ammon, and Edom, even though they were not part of Israel’s original inheritance. The territory of Philistia was part of Israel's inheritance; nevertheless, it remained occupied by the Philistines. The territory of Phoenicia (AKA Lebanon), was also part of Israel's inheritance; nevertheless, it remained occupied by the Phoenicians.
Judges 2:1-4 “Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: "I led you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you. (2) And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? (3) Therefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.' “(4) So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel that the people lifted up their voices and wept.”
One would assume that because God had given the land to Israel, they would have taken full possession of it relatively quickly, but that is not what happened. Even at the height of their power, Israel never achieved full control over the territory promised to them by God. And so the question is asked, why did it take Israel so long to occupy their promised land, and why did they never fully take possession of that which God had given them? The simple answer to that question is disobedience. The above-quoted passage of scripture informs us that the Lord's angel was responsible for driving out the inhabitants from the land promised to the Jews; nevertheless, because of their disobedience, the Lord's angel refused to continue driving out said inhabitants. And so we see that Israel never fully inherited their Promised Land. One could argue that God’s prophetic word given to Abraham almost 1,000 years earlier was therefore never completely fulfilled. There are two answers to that argument. Firstly, as I have already mentioned, Abraham was given the borders for the Israel of God, which pertains to a prophecy of future events, i.e. the millennial reign of Christ. Secondly, even though Moses was given the borders for the nation of Israel, God never said that Israel would occupy their Promised Land, but merely that He had given it to them; and it was therefore up to them to take possession of their inheritance. Israel proved to be negligent in this area, however, which is why Joshua says of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?” And so we see that because Israel was negligent in fulfilling their role of possessing their inheritance, the prophecy given about Israel’s borders remained unfulfilled.
Michael E.B. Maher
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