This History of Israel discusses the history of the modern State of Israel, from its independence proclamation in 1948 to the present. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah and History of Palestine for prior history of the geographic region.
The Tanakh (or Hebrew Bible, referred to also as the “Old Testament” by Christians) contains several descriptions of the borders of the land.[1] These descriptions encompass a region that extends from the “River of Egypt”[2] to the Euphrates. Areas known to be included are the modern State of Israel, territories of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), the Gaza Strip, and much of modern-day Syria and Lebanon. The biblically described region also encompasses the Sinai Peninsula, which is widely believed to encompass the route of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt. The land allocated east of the Jordern river in Numbers 34:1-15 includes much of Jordan.
Genesis 15:18-21 describes what is referred to in Jewish tradition as Gevulot Ha-aretz (”Borders of the Land”) regarded as the full extent of the land promised to Abraham.
Numbers 34:1-15 describes the land allocated to the Israelite tribes after the Exodus. The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh received land east of the Jordan as explained in Numbers 34:14-15. Numbers 34:1-13 provides a detailed description of the borders of the land allocated to the remaining tribes. The region is called “the Land of Canaan” (Eretz Kna’an) in Numbers 34:2 and the borders are known in Jewish tradition as the “borders for those coming out of Egypt”. The English expression “Promised Land” can denote either the land promised to Abraham in Genesis or the land of Canaan, although the latter meaning is more common.
The definition in Ezekiel, describes the area within the Land of Israel which, according to Ezekiel’s prophecy, would be allocated in equal portions to the 12 tribes in end times. It is similar in size to the region of Canaan described in Numbers. It has the river Jordan as its eastern border and the Brook of Egypt in the West. It encompasses most of modern Israel, the territories, a small part of modern Egypt, southern Lebanon, and the southwestern tip of Syria.
There are several points of debate however. The border with Egypt is given as the Nachal Mitzrayim (Brook of Egypt) in Numbers and Deuteronomy, as well as in Ezekiel. The traditional Jewish understanding of the term (as expressed in the commentaries of Rashi and Yehuda Halevi as well as the Aramaic Targums) is that it refers to the Nile, more precisely the Pelusian branch of the Nile Delta according to Halevi, a view supported by Egyptian and Assyrian texts. Later commentators identified it with the Wadi El-Arish and the Besor has also been suggested in recent times. Genesis however gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Miztrayim. This is generally understood to be the Nile, nahar denoting a large river. If different to Nachal Mitzrayim, the Genesis verse includes a larger area of land westwards. A minority interpret Nahar Mitzrayim together with Nachal Miztrayim as a wadi as well.
The precise southern and eastern borders of the Land of Israel are also the subject of debate. Only the Red Sea and Euphrates are mentioned which can be understood to mean that the whole Arabian peninsula is included as well. More reticent interpretations take the southern border to be a line from the mouth of the Euphrates to Eilat or a line of latitude from the mouth of the Gulf of Eilat. (See the linked offsite map of the Land of Israel showing the latter interpretation as well as the interpretation including the Arabian peninsula.) Still another view is that the Euphrates forms only a northern border and that the southern and eastern border extends from Eilat to an undetermined point on the Euphrates.
Another point of debate for some religious scholars is the consistent reference to the inclusion of “the Land of the Hittites” within the borders. Some view the Hittites as one of the tribes that had settled in Canaan and was conquered by Joshua, while others refer to a greater empire that encompassed most of Central Turkey.
