Genesis 15:13-21 “Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. (14) And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. (15) Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. (16) But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." (17) And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. (18) On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates-- (19) the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, (20) the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, (21) the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
In this series, we will examine bible prophecies about Israel that have already been fulfilled. And so we will now discuss in chronological sequence, key prophetic events concerning the nation of Israel, which have already been fulfilled. The first key event we will discuss is the establishment of Israel as a sovereign nation. In the above-quoted passage of scripture, we have the account of God appearing to Abraham in approximately the year 2081 BC and giving him and his descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates[1]. In this passage, God said Abraham's descendants would inherit the land 400 years later. God said that Abraham's descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and they would serve that nation (Egypt) as slaves for 400 years, and afterward they would return to claim the land God had given them. And so, when Abraham's grandson Jacob went into Egypt, the Israeli nation was just 75 people (Luke 7:14). When the Israelites finally left Egypt 430 years later (Exodus 12:41), their number had grown to approximately 2 million people (Numbers Chapter 1). The exodus of Israel from Egypt took place in approximately the year 1446 BC[2]. As an aside, it is important to notice in this passage that God speaks about the future judgement of both Egypt and the Amorite nation. God mentions the reason for their future judgement, i.e. their iniquities finally reaching a point that requires God's judgement. We know that Egypt's judgement was their economic destruction (Exodus 10:7), whereas the Amorite's judgement was their destruction as a sovereign nation. The iniquities of the Amorite nation were substantially greater than that of the Egyptians, thus deserving the greater judgement. All of the nations mentioned in this passage fell into the same category as the Amorites, i.e. they all ceased to exist as sovereign nations once God delivered them into the hands of the Israelites.
Numbers 34:1-12 “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (2) "Command the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance--the land of Canaan to its boundaries. (3) Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of the Salt Sea; (4) your border shall turn from the southern side of the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; (5) the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea. (6) 'As for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border. (7) 'And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to Mount Hor; (8) from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward Zedad; (9) the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border. (10) 'You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; (11) the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth; (12) the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.'”
Because of Israel’s rebellion against God when they came out of Egypt, the Jews were not allowed to enter their promised land; instead, God banished them to the desert for 40 years until the rebellious generation had passed away. And so when the time finally came for Israel to inherit their promised land, God gave Moses a more detailed description of the borders of the land that He had promised to Abraham approximately 675 years earlier. The above-quoted passage of scripture is a record of God’s declared geographic borders for the state of Israel. As an aside, it is interesting to note that the borders given to Moses were substantially smaller than the original borders given to Abraham, i.e. from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates. So why is that? The reason is that Abraham had two sets of descendants, i.e. Israel after the flesh and the Israel of God. And so Moses was given the borders for Israel after the flesh, whereas Abraham was given the borders for the Israel of God. The Israel of God is far more populous than the nation of Israel, and will thus require a far greater geographic area to inhabit during the Lord’s millennial reign.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments