Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Hold on to your hats, Bible readers: There's a huge sense in which the physical boundaries of the biblical Promised Land are not important.
Now, in one sense, they mattered greatly because they were the measure of God's faithfulness to his people, to his own promises. At a definite point in the history of Israel, they could see from the writings what God had said he would give them, and then look around at the boundaries of the land they were standing in, and say, “Yep. God did exactly what he said he would do.” (Joshua 21:43-45)
But then, as the story progresses, it turns out the Promised Land was always about something more than a particular, geographical area. I'm not referring to the American church tradition of talking about heaven as the Promised Land. I'm highlighting the fact that the Promised Land was meant to expand, to include the whole world. It was never intended to remain this little strip of property in the area of modern Palestine.
This is clear from explicit statements as well as other concepts that demand it.
First, the common practice of a man dividing the land of his inheritance among his sons can only result in one of two options. Either the scope of that inheritance will expand, or his sons will be reduced to brutal poverty.
If he owns 100 acres, and divides this to his four sons, three of them will get 20 acres apiece, and the first-born will get a double portion of 40. If we follow the first-born here, assuming another four sons, his own first-born will get 16 acres. In the next generation, that'll be a little over 6 acres. In the next, it's less than 3. Then it's less than 1.
Either the land must expand, or the family will be impoverished. This is part of why provision exists in the law of God for waging just war outside of the original Promised Land. It anticipated expanding Israel's inheritance.
In Numbers 32, the 2 1/2 tribes asked for land outside of Canaan to be counted as their inheritance. After some short negotiation with Moses, this request was granted. Land that was outside the Promised Land became, in essence, the Promised Land for them.
Later, King David would expand the boundaries of his own dominion to include several nations outside of the original Promised Land. This foreshadowed promises that were made to the Messiah, the son of David.
In Psalm 2, he is promised all the ends of the Earth for his possession. This sort of world-encompassing promise is repeated often in the Psalms and prophets. God promised land to the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Which land? All of it.
When we get to the New Testament, it is not surprising that the original promise of a land is reinterpreted as referring to the whole world. (See Romans 4:13) In fact, this promise lies near the center of the entire, Christian enterprise in the Earth.
It is why we “go, therefore” to teach the nations how to obey Jesus. We expect God to keep all his promises.
Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at: