Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geography. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Moses' Awesome Dictum About Jewish LAND TO BE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      
12 Tribes of Israel-1271 -920 BCE
     
April 24, 1920, U.N. Mandate for the Jewish National Home of 120,466 square Kilometers/ 46,512.1876 square miles:  Originally was 58,000 square miles of  Promised Land

The facts were recorded by Moses in what would become the Bible.  The frontiers were approximately on the West of the Mediterranean Sea;  on the East the Syrian Desert;  on the South the Brook of Egypt (Wadi El-Arish) to Kadesh Barnea, also to the Brook of Zin as far as the Valley of Zoar South of the Dead Sea, and in Transjordan from the river Arnon to Mt. Hermon, and to the Valley of Tyon..  
July 24, 1922 after Britain gave Transjordan to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia-politics
It didn't take long for them to break their promise of 1920.
Jews wound up with about 20% of original PROMISED LAND -from British Mandate
1949 Armistice after birth of May 14, 1948-cut down from original UN promise
1967 Armistice
I lived in Safed (Tzfat) in the Galilee (northern Israel) which is on top of a mountain,
about as high as Jerusalem is.  Syria is on the northern border. 

The total surface turns out to be 17,500 square miles of which about 45% is in TRANSJORDAN.  

The extent of the Promised Land reached the Pelusium arm of the Nile Delta, the Gulf of Elath, and the Euphrates River opposite Aleppo (Syria) in the East.  It included most of Syria and altogether covered about 58,000 square miles.                                                                              
The Jews keep returning to their Promised Land like salmon going upstream to spawn, or the swallows returning to Capistrano.  Why?  The place had been inhabited by someone so different since their absence, with obviously such different values that they want to kill Jews, so what's going on?  Evidently the rest of the world thinks that Israel has no business being there since they keep siding with the other people of the Middle East.  There never was a Palestine country, only a Palestine territory. It had become part of the Ottoman Empire who held it for 400 years up till WWI and was still, just a territory.

When the Israelites first entered with Joshua, the Canaanites, made up of little city-states, were very different from the Israelites.  After the battle, those who survived were assimilated into the Israelite society, most likely giving us some of the different DNA Y (male) haplogroups other than J1c3d.  (today's Cohen gene). For example, we have found E, G, I, J, R male haplogroup majority  in the Jewish population.  There were a few groups who were converted to Judaism, but it was rare.  Jews were a family of Jacob to start with, and have remained an endogamous society as well as a religion and culture.  They were warned by G-d through Moses not to assimilate into the Canaanite society because the moralistic value system of the Canaanites  was too different.  Their moral values would not continue if it happened.  The awesome thing is that Israel  has lasted for the past 3,000 plus years.  All the other ancient nations have died out except the Israelites who later were called the Jews since it was the state of Judah (southern part of the state of Israel) which had survived after the attack of Babylon in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE.  
                                                                       
Moses was the founder of the Jewish religion, Prophet and Lawgiver,  that seems to be so contentious today to so many.  He was born in 1391 BCE to and died in 1271 BCE just before he could enter the Promised Land at age 120.  Joshua had to take over his position at that time.  He had been found in some sort of little basket on the water  by an Egyptian princess who was childless and raised by her, so was a Prince of Egypt, raised with all the royal education and position.  As it turns out, he finally found out that he had been the child of Israelite slaves, Amram and Jochabed.    Amram was the grandson of Levi, one of the tribes of Jacob, who originally came to Egypt 400 years previously with his 70 family members escaping a drought that had hit Canaan, their home.

  The Muslims say that Moses is a respected Prophet.  Are they following anything G-d-through Moses,  laid down for the Jews to follow?

The Israelites were not to stay in Egypt any longer.  Moses at age 80 was chosen as the leader to free them from this captivity that had lasted most likely about 300 years, since part of the 400 years were in living in Egypt over the time expected and frightening the Egyptians into thinking that the tribes had become too plentiful for the Egyptians"  own safety.  Egyptians were afraid that the Israelites would attack them because of their numbers.
                                                                         
Exodus 3:2-the rabbis consider this to be symbolic of the history of the Jewish people
when the angel of G-d appeared to Moses prior to his Divine call. The bush appeared to be on fire, but was not being consumed by it.  Moses was told that he was to be G-d's tool to lead the Israelites out of their suffering from Egypt. 
Moses had several wild experiences.  One was of hearing a voice-the voice of G-d and seeing that which was an angel of G-d.  One time he heard the voice speak out of a bush that looked like it was on fire but wasn't.  Finally the voice told him more about his new job, that of leading the Israelites back to where Jacob had come from.  He was told they were to take the land and gave Moses the geography-the size of the land it was to be.  Moses had not been there.  None of the Jews after 400 years had been there.  But now Moses thought he understood how to get there and how big it was to be.

This entire area was occupied by the Israelites under King David  (1010-970 BCE) and his son, King Solomon (961-920 BCE).  The facts are recorded in (I Kings 5:4).  The actual area under Jewish control fluctuated, and there were extensive gentile enclaves within Jewish territory.
                                                                             

Moses could not have known much about the land except what he learned through Egyptian education.  This was G-d telling him of the exact measurements that Moses passed onto the Israelites who 40 years later entered the land and had to fight to do so with Joshua  leading in about 600,000 former slaves who had been on the march for 40 years.
                                                                     
The Prophet Ezekiel-writing for the Jews in Babylon  in Ezekiel 46:13 writes of the boundaries for each of the 12 tribes as G-d stated:  2 portions for Joseph...each tribe equal to his brother...this land shall become yours as an inheritance. Ezekiel foresees the time when Israel to rise again and return to its home.  There, in Jerusalem, it will assume a new and eternal name-HASHEM (G-d) is there (48:35). The Jews returned in c516 BCE and again populated their tribe's land, joining the remaining descendants who were not stolen away.
 15. On the north side; From the Great Sea, by way of Hethlon, to the approach to Zedad, Harnath, Berothah, and Siraim which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, and Hazer-hatticon which is on the border of Hauran.  The border shall tus go from the Sea to haar-enon by the border of Damascus, with the northern border extending northward to the border of Hamath.  This is the northern side.
The eastern side:  Between Hauran and Damascus, between Gilead and the Land of Israel, the Jordan, you shall measure from the northern border to the Eastern Sea.
The southern side:  southward-from Tamar until the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the stream, to the Great Sea.
The western side: The Great Sea, from the southern border until opposite the approach to Hamath.
           (page 1325 in Tanach).                                                                
Today we have many people who do not believe in this power of creation we refer to as G-d.  They think that perhaps it was some aliens from outer space in a space ship broadcasting this to Moses.  If you have ever watched History 2 on TV, you have seen these theorists.  IF they are right, these aliens, as well as G-d, knew why this was to be.  Perhaps they, or G-d saw the future and had to see certain events come to be.  However you believe, this was something from a power higher than Moses, and Moses also gave us more than the geography of the Promised Land.  He gave us the rules of living in 10 Commandments and 613 other laws of ways to act under certain circumstances and what to do.  All these things came to Moses and he wrote them down.   They all are in the Bible.

The armistice agreements of 1949 left Israel with the broken promise of the U.N.  Instead of the land including Transjordan, they were given 8,000 square miles with complicated borders.

Update: 3/13/16, 1:36pm, The Ettinger Report: The Precariousness of Israel’s Narrow Waistline
The width of pre-'67 Israel (8-15 miles) equals the distance between JFK & La Guardia airports in NY (Jewish Press.com). 

So why are people of the world demanding that Israel is always wrong about their living in a fraction of what is the Promised Land?  The circumstances of the past 3,000 years has been that Jews have been treated like Pariahs.  They have not been made welcome for any length of time in other lands.  Why didn't we pick Tasmania to return to live our lives?   We knew we had to live in one place.  G-d has ordained this.  It is our job to carry out this dictum.  This is a special time in the world.  It has been prophesied.

Today we see the USA still pushing for Israel to give more of it's 20% to Arabs who have denied them peace for the past 67 years.  Islam, as the Palestinians understand it, denies Jews living in their land again.  They will not make peace for their religious reasons. Muslims say Moses is a Prophet and a messenger.   "Moses is regarded by Muslims as teaching and practicing the religion of his predecessors and confirming the scriptures and prophets before him." If that is so, why does the Koran change things?  
                                                                     
Ba'al idol, 14th-12th century BCE in Canaan

This is where they get their historical facts confused.  Moses's predecessor was Abraham who did teach the idea of one G-d only.  However, there were no prophets before Moses, lawgiver and first Prophet of the Jews who brought Judaism.   People of Canaan did not believe in one God.  They believed in many gods; a "polytheistic religion using idols, with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses, the Elohim, while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as Baal and El, Asherah and Astarte." They cannot say that Moses was reflecting the religion of their Arab ancestors.  Canaanites and Abraham himself were familiar with human sacrifice.  That's not something Moses supported through G-d.  Abraham was about to sacrifice his only child but in the Jewish version, was stopped by G-d and that was to be the end of such practices.  The Muslim version is not found in the writings of Moses-found in the FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES of the Bible but in the Koran.  .  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Genesis 15: 18 Covenant with Abram  for his descendants, covenent continued to Isaac and then Jacob
Ezekiel 46-13-21 boundaries of Promised Land- portions of the tribes and the boundaries
http://www.differentspirit.org/articles/boundaries.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Land
http://chosenpeople.com/main/index.php/israel-articles/545-taking-it-literally-the-biblical-boundaries-of-israel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_in_Islam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Canaanite_religion
Jewish Press.com



Monday, October 14, 2013

Defining the Size of Eretz Yisrael from the Torah

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

One has to look at our Tanakh (Bible-Torah plus)  to find the definition of the size of Eretz Yisrael.  There are many references, not just one.
  Noah (story of the flood)  had 3 sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth.  We are descended from Shem.

Who were the Jewish people?  They were first known as the Hebrews.  Eber was the great-grandson of Shem and the ancestor of Abram who is called Ha-ibri.  From "Eber" comes the word "Hebrew.", the name by which the Israelites were known to foreign peoples.  Eber is the ancestor of the people of Israel.  Our line is from Abraham, his son Isaac and his son, Jacob.  Other issues that Abraham had such as Ishmael and Esau left the family line and started the Arab nations. Jacob's descendants spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt.
                                                                       
Genesis 15: 18-21.  To start with, G-d made a covenant with Abram saying, "Have I given this land to your descendants: -said to be in future- From the river of Egypt (Nile) to the great river, the Euphrates River:  the Kennite, the Kenizzite (friendly tribes living in the( south of Eretz Yisrael, which merged with the Israelites,) and the Kadmonite; the Hittite (powerful and warlike nation who held sway in Syria and Asia Minor from 1800 to 900 BCE.) , the Perizzite (close to Canaanites) , and the Rephaim; the Amorite (could be all the people of Canaan before the coming of the Israelites, and sometimes one particular warlike tribe among the Canaanites) , the Canaanite, the Girgashite (one of the peoples driven from Canaan by the Israelites) , and the Jebusite (lived in and around Jerusalem, originally known as Jebus).  "

Exodus 23-31  "And I will set my border from the Red Sea to the sea the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River

Numbers 34:1-15  The land of Canaan is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance; according to its borders.
The Southern border:  Your southern side shall be from the wilderness of Zin at the side of Edom, and your southern border shall be from the edge of the Salt Sea to the east.  The border shall go around south of Maaleh-akrraabbim, and shall pass  toward Zin; and its outskirts shall be south of Kadesh-barnea; then it shall go out to Hazar-addar and pass to Azmon.  The border shall go around from Azmon to the stream of Egypt, and its outskirts shall be toward the Sea.

The Western border:   It shall be for you the Great Sea and the district; this shall be for you the western border.

The Northern border:  From the Great Sea you shall turn to Mount Hor.  From Mount Hor you shall turn to the approach to Hamath,  and the outskirts of the border shall be toward Zedad.  The border shall go forth toward Zifron and its outskirts shall be Hazar-enan;  this shall be  for you the northern border.  

The Eastern border:  You shall draw yourselves as the eastern border from Hazar-enan to Shefam.  The border shall descend from Shefam to Riblah, east of Ain;  the border shall descend and extend to the bank of the Kinnereth Sea to the east.  The border shall descend to the Jordan, and its outskirts shall be the Salt Sea;  this shall be the Land for you, according to its borders all around.  

Ezekiel 47: 15-20                                                     

                 Border of Eretz Yisral:   Blue line from Ezekiel, Red line from Torah                                                   
North Side:  From the Great Sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the approach to Zedad, Hamath, Berothah, and Sibraim which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, and Hazer-hatticon which is on the border of Hauran.  The border shall thus go from  the Sea to Hazar-enon by the border of Damascus, with the northern border extending northward to the border of Hamath.  This is the northern side.  
Eastern side:  Between Hauran and Damascus, between Gilead and the Land of Israel, the Jordan, you shall measure from the northern border to the Eastern Sea.  This is the eastern side.  

Southern side:  Southward:  From Tamar until the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the stream, to the Great Sea.  This is the southern side southward.  

Western side:   The Great Sea From the southern border until opposite the approach to Hamath.  This is the western side.  

Deuteronomy 18: 8 when Hashem (G-d, meaning the Name) will broaden your boundary, as He swore to your forefathers, and He will give you the entire Land that He spoke to your forefathers to give, when you observe this entire commandment to perform it--which I command yhou today---to love Hashem, your G-d and to walk in his ways all the years, then you shall add 3 more cities to these 3.  Innocent blood shall not be shed in the the midst of yhour Land that Hashem, your G-d, gives as an inheritance, for then blood will be upon you.  14.  You shall not move a boundary of your fellow, which the early ones marked out, in your inheritance that you shall inherit, in the Land that Hashem, your G-d gives you to posses it. 

This would make Jordan, Lebanon and Syria as part of the biblical land of Eretz Yisrael.    The typical saying was from "Dan to Beersheba" as to the size of the land.  .The Israelites did not succeed in driving out the Canaanites, and because of that their next generation wouldn't see the miraculous victories that their fathers saw.  This generation had to learn the art of warfare.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Israel
Tanakh, the Stone Edition, ArtScroll Series
Pentateuch and Haftorahs I