Palestine

Palestine is the name by which the land of Canaan — the land promised to Abraham and his descendants — came to be known in the classical and post-biblical world. It derives from Philistia, “the land of the Philistines.” In the Hebrew Bible the term (rendered Philistia or “Palestina” in older versions) originally named only the southern coastal strip held by the Philistines (Exodus 15:14; Isaiah 14:29-31; Joel 3:4); its extension to the whole region west of the Jordan is a later Greek and Roman convention. Scripture itself more often calls it “the land of Canaan,” “the land of Israel,” or simply “the land” the LORD swore to give his people.

The land stretches “from Dan to Beersheba” (Judges 20:1), bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, the mountains of Lebanon on the north, the Syrian and Arabian deserts on the east, and the wilderness toward Sinai on the south. Though small, it is remarkably varied — coastal plain, central hill country, the deep Jordan rift with the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, and the Transjordan plateau. Its position as the land-bridge between Egypt and Mesopotamia made it the strategic crossroads of the ancient Near East and the stage of empires.

Above all it is the theatre of redemptive history. God promised it to Abraham, “to your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7), confirmed it as an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8), and described it as “a good land… a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9; Exodus 3:8). There the patriarchs sojourned, Israel settled under Joshua, the kingdom rose and fell, the prophets spoke, and the people went into exile and returned. The land was held on covenant terms — obedience meant blessing in it, persistent rebellion meant being cast out of it (Leviticus 26:32-33).

In the fullness of time it became the land of the incarnation: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, ministered in Galilee and Judea, and was crucified and raised near Jerusalem. From this small land the gospel went out “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The New Testament lifts the hope of God’s people beyond any earthly territory to the promised inheritance it foreshadowed — a better country and the city whose builder is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).