Promised Land
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The Promised Land (Hebrew: הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ha-Aretz ha-Muvtachat) is another name for the Land of Israel. According to the Bible, the land was promised by God as an everlasting possession to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:
Abraham "On that day, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the Euphrates. The land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites; the Chitties, Perizzites, Refaim; the Emorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Yevusites." (Genesis 15:18-21)
Isaac "To you and your descendants I give this land." (Genesis 26:3)
Jacob "The ground upon which you are lying I give to you and your descendants." (Genesis 28:13)
Moses "I made a pact with them to give them the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 6:4)
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- "Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." (Deuteronomy 34:1-4)
Joshua "Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. "No man will stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." (Joshua 1:1-6)
[edit] Christian use
The concept is frequently used symbolically by Christians, especially in hymnody, as a reference to Heaven, or to a new land, such as North America, colonized by the Pilgrims, or South Africa, colonized by the Dutch-descended Afrikaners.[citation needed]
[edit] In Israeli politics
Zionism from its inception has made extensive use of the "Promised land" concept, such use incongruously made even by Zionist leaders who were themselves secularists. After the Six Day War in 1967, the term has become highly controversial, extensively used by nationalists seeking to retain Israeli rule in all the territories captured in that war.
In reaction, Israeli Left-wingers started to explicitly and vehemently reject the "Promised land" concept, with all that it entails. A verse by the controversial poet and playwright Hanoch Levin that is sometimes read aloud at demonstrations and rallies of the Israeli peace movement declares, "But I am no grain of sand on the seashore/And it is not my job to fulfill God's promises to Abraham".
