{"id":389,"date":"2024-03-04T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/?p=389"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:01:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:01:36","slug":"the-land-promised-genesis-127-1314-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/ptr-art-calaguas\/the-land-promised-genesis-127-1314-17\/","title":{"rendered":"The Land Promised \u2013 Genesis 12:7 & 13:14-17"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Ptr. Art Calaguas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shalom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Israel-Hamas War approaches its 5th<\/sup> month since Hamas attacked several southern Israeli kibbutzim<\/em> last October 7, 2023, there are still 134 hostages in Gaza captivity composed of men, women, elderly, children and a baby; as well as corpses of hostages. Representatives from the USA, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and Hamas are working for a hostage deal with a pause in the hostilities, hopefully by this week, before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan commences on March 10. The ILTV News Flash for March 3, 2024 said a \u201cframework\u201d has been laid down but quoted a US official as saying the \u201cball is in Hamas\u2019 court.\u201d The framework deal would have 40 Israeli hostages exchanged for 400 Hamas terrorist prisoners in Israeli jails together with a 40-day temporary ceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, plans on how to evacuate Gaza civilians to safe zones have seemingly been worked out by Israel. Israel plans to attack Rafah as it is the last remaining Hamas military stronghold. Israel aims to destroy Hamas. Christians around the world should continue to pray for the immediate release of all hostages and a just end to this war. There are also Israeli security concerns that Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem, specifically, the Temple Mount will play host to violence orchestrated by Hamas and Iran during Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of this, there are reports analyzing the most recent statements by the top Iranian clerics that seem to be giving Hezbollah in Lebanon the signal to escalate hostilities in Israel\u2019s northern border even as Hamas faces imminent destruction in the south. Will an all-out Israeli-Hezbollah war occur? Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continue to explore the various Scripture verses regarding the grant of land as promised by the LORD God to Abram and his descendants. Last time, we saw in Genesis 12:1 God calling Abram to get up and go to a specific land under God\u2019s sovereign direction. Abram obeyed and he and his nephew Lot took all their possessions and headed for Canaan. Originally, Abram\u2019s father Terah had planned to go to Canaan but decided to stay at Haran where he later died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 12 of Genesis narrates that Abram travelled through the land up to the site of the terebinth (tree) of Moreh at Shechem. Ancient Shechem (\u05e9\u05b0\u05c1\u05db\u05b6\u05dd) is near modern Nablus in what is internationally called the West Bank (from the River Jordan) but called the region of Judea-Samaria by Israel today. Shechem is identified as a Canaanite city in an east-west pass between Mount Gerizim on the left\/south and Mount Ebal on the right\/north. It later on became part of Ephraim\u2019s allotted inheritance during Joshua\u2019s time. It was also one of the six (6) Levite cities of refuge God instructed the Israelites to designate (Numbers 35:6, 13-14; Joshua 20:7, 21:20-21). Shechem was named as the site of God and Israel\u2019s covenant renewal ceremony in Joshua 24:1. It later on became the first capital of the Northern Kingdom, Israel after the end of the United Monarchy under King Solomon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Genesis 12:7, at Shechem, the LORD appeared to Abram to reiterate his promise of the land grant:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u201cI will assign this land<\/mark> to your offspring.\u201d And he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.<\/em> (JPS Tanakh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u201cTo your offspring I will give this land<\/mark>.\u201d So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.<\/em> (NIV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup><\/strong><\/a>The LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u201cTo your descendants I will give this land<\/mark>.\u201d So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.<\/em> (NASB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup><\/strong><\/a>Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, \u201cTo your offspring I will give this land<\/mark>.\u201d So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.<\/em> (ESV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup><\/strong><\/a>Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, \u201cTo your offspring I will give this land<\/mark>.\u201d So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.<\/em> (NRSV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abram became very wealthy while in the land as the LORD blessed him. At the Negev, he travelled to different places, as if surveying the land promised to him and his descendants by the LORD. Lot was with him but they had to part ways as the place they were in could not support all their combined flocks and herds and tents. So Abram asked Lot to go left or right and Abram would go to the other. Lot chose the well-watered east side of the Jordan (near Sodom) while Abram remained in Canaan. Then in Genesis 13:14-17 the LORD reiterated his sovereign promise to Abram again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup><\/strong>And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, \u201cRaise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west, <\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong>for I give all the land<\/mark> that you see to you and your offspring forever<\/mark>. <\/em>16<\/sup><\/strong>I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted. <\/em>17<\/sup><\/strong>Up, walk about the land<\/mark>, through its length and its breadth, for I give it to you.\u201d<\/em> (JPS Tanakh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, \u201cLift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. <\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong>All the land<\/mark> that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever<\/mark>. <\/em>16<\/sup><\/strong>I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. <\/em>17<\/sup><\/strong>Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land<\/mark>, for I am giving it to you.\u201d<\/em> (NIV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, \u201cNow lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; <\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong>for all the land<\/mark> which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever<\/mark>. <\/em>16<\/sup><\/strong>I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. <\/em>17<\/sup><\/strong>Arise, walk about the land<\/mark>, through its length and its breadth, for I will give it to you.\u201d<\/em> (NASB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, \u201cLift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, <\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong>for all the land<\/mark> that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever<\/mark>. <\/em>16<\/sup><\/strong>I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring als can be counted. <\/em>17<\/sup><\/strong>Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land<\/mark>, for I will give it to you.\u201d<\/em> (ESV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup><\/strong>The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, \u201cRaise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; <\/em>15<\/sup><\/strong>for all the land<\/mark> that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever<\/mark>. <\/em>16<\/sup><\/strong>I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also could be counted. <\/em>17<\/sup><\/strong>Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land<\/mark>, for I will give it to you.\u201d<\/em> (NRSV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can notice here the nuances, the progression of the LORD God\u2019s grant of land (Canaan) to Abram. In Genesis 12:1-3, God said that he would show the land; but promised a great nation would come from Abram with the land and corresponding protection and blessings. In Genesis 12:7, the LORD explicitly says the land will be given to Abram\u2019s descendants\/offspring (\u05d6\u05b6\u05e8\u05b7\u05e2 \u201czera\u201d literally meaning seed or a sowing). Then in Genesis 13:14-17, the length and breadth of the land is being shown to Abram. Furthermore, the land is to be given forever (\u05e2\u05b7\u05d3\u05be\u05e2\u05b9\u05d5\u05dc\u05b8\u05bd\u05dd \u201cad olam\u201d also meaning permanently, perpetually, eternally) to Abram\u2019s descendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will continue next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God bless us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ptr. Art Calaguas Shalom. As the Israel-Hamas War approaches its 5th month since Hamas attacked several southern Israeli kibbutzim last October 7, 2023, there are still 134 hostages in Gaza captivity composed of men, women, elderly, children and a baby; as well as corpses of hostages. Representatives from the USA, Qatar, Egypt, Israel and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6,7,9,8,5],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ptr-art-calaguas","tag-church-of-the-risen-lord","tag-crl","tag-spiritual-refreshment-of-the-day","tag-upcemi","tag-upcrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}