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The Promises to Abraham - Part 2
The Promises to Abraham - Part 2 By Derek Long
Let’s examine the fulfillment of the land promise God made to Abraham. In Genesis 15:18 God makes a specific promise regarding the land Abraham’s descendants would receive. The verse says, “On the same 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, the River Euphrates.” After God brings the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, they are led to Mount Sinai where God gives them the Law. When they leave Mount Sinai, they head toward the land of Canaan. Twelve spies were sent into the land and ten of them return saying they cannot take the land.
As a result, the children of Israel decide not to go up and take possession of the land. God sentences them to wander in the wilderness for forty years until all that generation died. Joshua takes the position of leading Israel after the death of Moses and brings them into the land. Twice in the book of Joshua we are reminded God fulfilled the promise made to Abraham concerning giving his descendants the land. Joshua 21:43-45 says, “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.” Joshua 23:14 says, “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one things has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.” God kept His promise and gave them the land they were to inherit. People today sometimes think God needs to give the nation of Israel certain territory in order to be faithful to His word but He already gave them the territory He promised them. The Israelites lost their territory due to their unfaithfulness. The Israelite’s possession of the land was conditioned upon their continued obedience to God. Joshua 23:6-13 says, “Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest you go among these nations, those who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations - these that remain among you - and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive
out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord you God has given you.” Israel ended up departing from the Lord and served other gods and as a result lost possession of the land they had been given by God.
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