Synopsis: "From the River to the Sea" is mentioned in several passages in the Torah, delineating the God-given boundary of the Land of Israel, which was given to the Israelites. This phrase is repeated throughout the text reaffirming the spiritual and historical bond between the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. While often used by anti-Israel groups to undermine Jewish claims, this biblical phrase actually reaffirms the Jewish people's eternal connection to Israel.
I explore the parallels between this now infamous phrase and biblical passages, including; Deuteronomy 11:24, Genesis 15:18 and Joshua 1:4. These references show and reaffirm the divine covenant between God and the Israelites in establishing the boundaries of their ancestral homeland.
Below is only an except, you can read the rest here
I'm including the biblical sources from this week’s podcast, click here,
Please follow/share the light - you can find us on instagram and Facebook
More information on our website: Holy Land in the Holy Text.
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I saw in the book of Deuteronomy, which is the last book of the Torah from the five books of Moses, and it’s Moses final speech before his death and he is giving over the final rules and instructions to the Israelites, before they are going to cross into the Land of Israel. And Moses gives over this poetic instruction manual for the Jewish people and what they need to do, but more importantly how they need to behave when they go into the holy and spiritually sensitive Land of Israel.
It’s such a beautiful instruction guide, that these verses were chosen to become the written prayer scroll located inside that black tefillin box that Jewish men wear on top of their head, every day when praying in the morning and connecting to God. I highly suggest you read the entire chapter, but for brevity’s sake, I’m going to read the finals lines of this chapter,and it’s important for context,that keep in mind that I’m quoting Moses giving over God’s instructions to the nation of Israel right before they go into their Promised land over 3,000 years ago.
“If you faithfully keep all this Instruction that God commands you, loving your God יהוה, walking in all God’s ways, and connecting to [God], God יהוה will dislodge before you all these nations: you will drive out nations greater and more numerous than you. Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the River, the River Prat to the Western Sea. No one shall stand up to you: your God יהוה will put the dread and the fear of you over the whole land in which you set foot, as promised.” Deuteronomy Chapter 11: 12
So let’s unpack this to see what it actually says.
So God is telling the Israelites, the ancestors of the modern day Israelis, right before they are about to enter the Land of Israel originally over 3000 years ago, that if the Isralites faithfully follow God’s instructions, to connect and love God, to walk in His ways, then God will will help drive out all the idolatrous nations before them, no matter how numerous and greater they are.
Now this is important, and we’re going to come back to this, but now I’m going to show you what really surprised me when coming upon this text.. And that’s the thing about learning Torah, is that every time I read something, and it doesn’t matter if I had read it numerous times before, everytime I study it, I learn something new. Because I’m a new
Synopsis: "From the River to the Sea" is mentioned in several passages in the Torah, delineating the God-given boundary of the Land of Israel, which was given to the Israelites. This phrase is repeated throughout the text reaffirming the spiritual and historical bond between the Land of Israel and the Jewish people. While often used by anti-Israel groups to undermine Jewish claims, this biblical phrase actually reaffirms the Jewish people's eternal connection to Israel.
I explore the parallels between this now infamous phrase and biblical passages, including; Deuteronomy 11:24, Genesis 15:18 and Joshua 1:4. These references show and reaffirm the divine covenant between God and the Israelites in establishing the boundaries of their ancestral homeland.
Below is only an except, you can read the rest here
I'm including the biblical sources from this week’s podcast, click here,
Please follow/share the light - you can find us on instagram and Facebook
More information on our website: Holy Land in the Holy Text.
****
I saw in the book of Deuteronomy, which is the last book of the Torah from the five books of Moses, and it’s Moses final speech before his death and he is giving over the final rules and instructions to the Israelites, before they are going to cross into the Land of Israel. And Moses gives over this poetic instruction manual for the Jewish people and what they need to do, but more importantly how they need to behave when they go into the holy and spiritually sensitive Land of Israel.
It’s such a beautiful instruction guide, that these verses were chosen to become the written prayer scroll located inside that black tefillin box that Jewish men wear on top of their head, every day when praying in the morning and connecting to God. I highly suggest you read the entire chapter, but for brevity’s sake, I’m going to read the finals lines of this chapter,and it’s important for context,that keep in mind that I’m quoting Moses giving over God’s instructions to the nation of Israel right before they go into their Promised land over 3,000 years ago.
“If you faithfully keep all this Instruction that God commands you, loving your God יהוה, walking in all God’s ways, and connecting to [God], God יהוה will dislodge before you all these nations: you will drive out nations greater and more numerous than you. Every spot on which your foot treads shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the River, the River Prat to the Western Sea. No one shall stand up to you: your God יהוה will put the dread and the fear of you over the whole land in which you set foot, as promised.” Deuteronomy Chapter 11: 12
So let’s unpack this to see what it actually says.
So God is telling the Israelites, the ancestors of the modern day Israelis, right before they are about to enter the Land of Israel originally over 3000 years ago, that if the Isralites faithfully follow God’s instructions, to connect and love God, to walk in His ways, then God will will help drive out all the idolatrous nations before them, no matter how numerous and greater they are.
Now this is important, and we’re going to come back to this, but now I’m going to show you what really surprised me when coming upon this text.. And that’s the thing about learning Torah, is that every time I read something, and it doesn’t matter if I had read it numerous times before, everytime I study it, I learn something new. Because I’m a new