The promise of a homeland, made to Abraham, began to unfold through Moses and Joshua. Moses taught that the land was to be held in trust by God's people, obedience to God's ways bringing blessing in the land and disobedience bringing his judgment.
The location of the promised land
Genesis 15:18–21 See also Numbers 34:1–12; Deuteronomy 7:1
On that 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 Euphrates — the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Traditional descriptions of the promised land
Exodus 3:17 See also Numbers 13:26–27; Deuteronomy 8:7–8; Jeremiah 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6
And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— a land flowing with milk and honey.’
The promised land and Abraham
The covenant with Abraham
Genesis 15:7–21 See also Genesis 13:14–17, Genesis 17:7–8
The promised land given to Abraham's descendants
Genesis 12:7 See also Genesis 17:8, Genesis 24:7; Exodus 33:1
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
A burial plot was Abraham's only earthly possession in the promised land
Genesis 25:9–10 See also Genesis 23:3–20
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.
The promised land and the patriarchs
Genesis 26:2–5 See also Genesis 28:12–15, Genesis 35:11–12, Genesis 50:24–25
The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you. Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Later generations look back to the promise made to the patriarchs
Deuteronomy 1:8 See also Exodus 32:13–14; Deuteronomy 6:20–23; Nehemiah 9:7–8; Psalm 105:8–11 parallel 1 Chronicles 16:15–18
See, I have placed the land before you. Enter and possess the land that the LORD swore He would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants after them.”
The promised land and Moses
Moses is called to lead Israel into the promised land
Deuteronomy 10:11 See also Exodus 3:16–17, Exodus 6:1–8; Numbers 11:12
Then the LORD said to me, “Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”
A whole generation is not permitted to enter the promised land
Joshua 5:6 See also Numbers 14:20–38, Numbers 32:9–13; Psalm 106:24–27
For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Moses and Aaron are not permitted to enter the promised land
Numbers 20:12 See also Numbers 20:23–29, Numbers 27:12–14; Deuteronomy 32:48–52, Deuteronomy 34:1–4
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
Moses' instructions to destroy the inhabitants of the land and their practices
Deuteronomy 7:16 See also Numbers 33:50–53; Deuteronomy 7:1–6, Deuteronomy 12:2–3, Deuteronomy 18:9–12
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
The instructions for distributing the promised land
Numbers 33:54 See also Numbers 34:13–15, Numbers 36:5–9; Joshua 14:1–5; Psalm 78:55
And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.
Obedience to the law was a condition for enjoying the blessings of the promised land
Deuteronomy 6:1–3 See also Exodus 20:12 parallel Deuteronomy 5:16; Leviticus 26:3–12; Deuteronomy 6:17–19, Deuteronomy 7:12–15, Deuteronomy 11:8–15, Deuteronomy 28:1–8; Jeremiah 11:1–5
These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess, so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
Warnings not to forget God and follow Canaanite ways
Deuteronomy 11:16–17 See also Exodus 34:12–16; Leviticus 18:1–5; Numbers 33:55–56; Deuteronomy 8:10–14, Deuteronomy 28:15–19; Joshua 23:14–16
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.
Laws concerning the land
Leviticus 25:23–24 The promised land is seen as belonging to God. See also Exodus 23:10–11; Leviticus 25:1–7, Leviticus 25:8–13; Numbers 35:33–34
The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me. Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
The promised land and Joshua
Joshua is called to lead the Israelites into the promised land
Deuteronomy 31:7–8 See also Deuteronomy 3:28; Joshua 1:1–6
Then Moses called for Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The LORD Himself goes before you; He will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
The Israelites enter the promised land and begin to possess it
Joshua 3:14–17, Joshua 11:16–23, Joshua 21:43
God's people are given rest
Joshua 21:44–45 See also Deuteronomy 12:10; Joshua 1:13–15
And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.