The document discusses three biblical passages that are often cited to claim God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people: Genesis 17, Exodus 23, and Ezekiel 37. However, the document argues that upon closer examination of the original Hebrew and context, these passages do not clearly establish a divine right of the Jewish people to the land, but rather suggest the land was given to all moral people who believe in one God, not just biological descendants. The document provides an alternative interpretation of each passage to support this view.

1. Did God Bequeath the Land of Israel in Genesis 17,
Exodus 23 and Ezekiel 37?
The Jewish people believe that they have a divine right to
occupy the land of Israel.
In this regard they give three verses from the Bible. First
verse is Genesis 15.18:

2. Here God gave the land between the River of Mitsrayim and
River Perath to the biological descendants of Abraham. Then,
in Genesis 17.3, God changed the name of Abraham from his
original name “Abram” to “Abraham.”
The introduction of “h” indicates that his writ has now been
expanded to encompass all peoples. Until now he led only his
biological descendants. Now he has become the leader of all
peoples.
After his expansion, in Genesis 17.8, God said to Abraham: “I
will give the land of Canaan to you and your descendants.”
The word for “you” in this verse is “Zera” (Strong’s

3. Concordance No 02233). This word, in the main, means
“seed, sowing, offspring, semen virile, descendants,
posterity, and children.” However it also means “of moral
quality” and “a practitioner of righteousness (figuratively).”
In the present context when the writ of Abraham has been
expanded, we suggest the word “zera” must here be
interpreted to indicate all the moral people, that is, those
who believed in One God. Thus, the Land of Canaan is given
to all the moral people, and not to the biological descendants
of Abraham.
After having given the Land of Canaan to all the moral
people, now God blesses Sarah in Genesis 17:16 to beget a
son and through him to become “mother of nations.”
However, God gave no land to the descendants of Sarah. If
we read Genesis 17:4 and 17:18 together, it seems to say
that God gave the Land of Canaan to the moral people and a
son to Sarah. God did not give the Land of Canaan to the
biological descendants of Sarah.

4. After having blessed Sarah to beget a son, God said to
Abraham: “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of
the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and
your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies”
(Genesis 22:17). The same word “zera” is used here for
“you.” As discussed above, it could mean either the biological
descendants or the followers. Even if we assume that here it
refers to the biological descendants, the blessing is only of
winning over the enemies. There is no giving of Land to them
in this verse.
We can now consider all the above verses together. God first
gave the Land between the River and the Desert to the
biological descendants of Abraham. Then God expanded the
writ of Abraham. He became the leader of all moral peoples.
Subsequently God gave the Land of Canaan to all the moral
peoples. We read this to mean that the earlier giving of land
to the biological descendants has been outgrown. Thereafter,
God blessed Sarah to beget a son and blessed the biological

5. descendants to win over the enemies, but gave them no
land.
The second verse that is quoted in this connection is from the
Exodus.
.
In Exodus 23.24, God said to the people of Moses, you must
not bow down to the Gods of the Land where I am taking
you. You must completely overthrow them and smash their
standing stones to pieces.

6. Here there is the clear direction that you will smash idols of
the people of Canaan who do not believe in One God.
Then in Exodus 23.31, God gave them the land between the
Red sea and the sea of Philistine and from the Desert to the
River.
Subsequently, in Exodus 23.32, God said: You must make no
covenant with them or with their Gods.
These three verses read together indicate that God first tells
the people of Moses to not worship any other God and
smash the idols. Having said that, God gives them the Land.

7. Then God again reminds them that they will not worship any
other God. So the primary focus of these verses is the denial
of worship of idols. As long as person believes in One God
and does not do idol worship, he becomes entitled to the
land to which God is taking the people of Moses. As per as
my reading, the Land is not given to the Jewish or to any
other particular people but to all believers in One God.
The third verse in this context is Ezekiel 37.21. Here the
context is that the Jews had conquered Jerusalem. After a
few centuries they were thrown out and many were sent to
Babylon. Subsequently, after about 100 years they came back
and settled in Jerusalem again.
At this point, God proclaimed through Saint Ezekiel: I am
going to take the Jews from among the nations they have
gone to, and gather them from every quarter and bring them
to their own land.

8. This means God said that he would bring them back to
Jerusalem. This does not in any way establish that God has
given the Land of Jerusalem to the Jews.
I accept these interpretations are not accepted by
mainstream scholars. But the question is this: If there is only
One God and there is only one humanity and how and why
would God differentiate on the basis of birth alone? How can
God discriminate between two moral persons—one
descendant and the other not? Therefore, if two
interpretations are possible, then in the first case we should
interpret them in the manner that they encompass all
humanity which is the child of God.
For more information please visit
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