The Promised Land:
Spiritualization of the Territorial Concept

In the eyes of Jewish writers from the Hellenistic period, such as Eupolemus, the son of Yohanan, Joshua's greatness lay not so much in his conquest of the land as in his establishment of the Tent of Meeting in Shiloh. Similarly, David's fame lay in those deeds that ultimately enabled Solomon to build the Temple. The prophets, the sanctuary in

[64] On topos as Hebrew maqom with the late Hebrew connotation "possibility/chance," see L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews 4, pp. 120–21, n. 701.

[65] On the special Laws 4, 221.

[66] In this case there are clear overlappings between the Rabbinic literature and the Jewish-Hellenistic writings of the Second Temple period. One should therefore view the Rabbinic traditions as rooted in the ideological reality of the first century C.E. On the Christian understanding of the conquest, see G. Stroumsa, "Old Wine and New Bottles: On Patristic Soteriology and Rabbinic Judaism," in S. N. Eisenstadt, ed., The Origins and Diversity of Axial Ages Civilizations (Albany, N. Y., 1986), pp. 259–60.

Shiloh, and the Temple in Jerusalem—and not the conquest of the land in battle—are the central topics in Eupolemus' survey of Jewish history.^[67]

Josephus and Philo express similar views. Josephus cites Agatharchides, who had ridiculed the Jews, saying that during the days of Ptolemy the Jews caused their city to fall into the hands of enemies because of "a folly" (the laws of the Sabbath). In response, Josephus writes:

Agatharchides mocks these things, but others, who may examine these things without prejudice, will find that it is worthy and important that there are people whose laws and fear of God are more important to them than their own safety and their land.^[68]

The concept of the promised land actually undergoes a transformation in the writings of Josephus.^[69] It is no longer just the area of Canaan that lies open to the Jewish people, but the entire world. Instead of the promise of the land of Canaan, we find the vision and destiny of a people who will fill the entire earth.

Thus, the promise to Jacob in Gen. 28:13–14:

The ground on which you are lying I will give to you and your offspring. Your descendants shall be as the dust of

[67] Mendels, in The Land of Israel (n. 52), p. 30, n. 5 argues that I do not consider the importance of the Land in Eupolemus. I discuss Eupolemus, albeit briefly, in my article, "The Inheritance of the Land," Zion 49 (1984) p. 133. Mendels states that Eupolemus expresses a sentimental contact with the land (on p. 30), but evidence for this is not presented. On Eupolemus, see Y. Gutman, The Beginnings of Jewish-Hellenistic Literature 2 (Jerusalem, 1963), pp. 73–94, 155–58; B. Z. Wacholder, Eupolemus, A Study of Judeo-Greek Literature , (Cincinnati, 1974).

[68] Against Apion 1 209–10. Here, Josephus ignores the changes that had been introduced concerning waging war on the Sabbath; cf. 1 Macc. 2:39–42; Antiq. 12 274–76.

[69] Cf. B. Halperin-Amaru, "Land Theology in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities," JQR 71 (1981), pp. 202–29.

the earth; you sh all spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.

is paraphrased by Josephus: "To your children . . . I hereby give rule over this earth, and they shall fill all the earth and all the sea under the sun" (Antiquities 1:282).

This vision is reflected in the book of Jubilees, where, in the words of God to Jacob in Bethel, we find:

I am YHWH who created the heaven and the earth, I will increase you and multiply you exceedingly and kings shall come forth from you and they shall judge everywhere wherever the foot of the sons of man has trodden. I will give to your seed all the earth under heaven and they shall judge all the nations according to their desires, and after that they shall get possession of the whole earth and inherit it forever. (32:18–19)

It seems that Josephus has drawn from such sources. Similarly, with respect to Balaam's prophecy about the fate of Israel, "Who can count the dust of Jacob . . . ?" (Num. 23:10), he writes:

For there is not a race on earth which you shall not, through your virtue . . . be accounted to excel. God having regard for none among men but you . . . that land, then to which he himself has sent you, you shall surely occupy: it shall be subject forever to your children and with their fame shall all earth and sea be filled and you shall suffice for the world, to furnish every land with inhabitants sprung from your race. (Ant. 4:114–16)

This view even influences the way in which Josephus relates the prophecy of the return to the land. Instead of describing the return as it appears in the Bible, Josephus writes of the rebuilding of cities and the Temple (Ant. 4:314).

A similar approach can be found in Jewish liturgy of Rabbinic origin, such as "May the temple be speedily rebuilt in our

days" and other prayers.^[70] The festive Musaf prayer, for example, which opens "And because of our sins we were exiled from our land," closes with, "And bring us to Your city Zion . . . there we will offer our obligatory sacrifices."^[71] We thus see that the purpose of the return to the land was to enable the worship of God in the Temple.

Philo goes even further, when, through the use of allegory, he interprets the concept of "inheriting the land" as "inheriting wisdom."^[72] In this conception of Jews as constituting a nation that transcends race and citizenship, Philo formulates a new conception of nationality, one expressed in terms not of race or territory, but of religion and culture. Palestine, symbolized by its capital city Jerusalem, was looked upon as the mother country of all the Jews.^[73]

Obviously, such views would correspond to those of the Hellenistic Jews who were living in the diaspora.^[74] These ideas were shaped by the political reality of the times, in particular by the absence of an independent political government, for even Agrippas was appointed by Rome. But we must acknowledge that this political reality had the effect of providing for the spiritualization of physical territorial concepts.^[75]

[70] Cf. Abot 5:23: "May it be your will . . . that the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days." This is actually the genuine conclusion of the Tractate Abot. See J. N. Epstein, Introduction to the Text of the Mishnah , pt. 2 (Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, 1964), p. 978 (Hebrew).

[71] Rev. S. Singer, ed., The Standard Prayer Book (New York, 1943), p. 339.

[73] H. A. Wolfson, Philo 2 (Cambridge, Mass., 1947), p. 401.

[74] See A. Shalit, Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus 2 (Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, 1955), p. 43, no. 295a (Hebrew).

[75] However, one should not ascribe to Philo a total negation of the physical aspect of the land of Israel; cf. B. Schaller, "Philon von Alexandria und das 'Heilige Land,'" in G. Strecker, ed., Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit , Jerusalem Symposium, 1981 (Göttingen, 1983), pp. 172–87.Schaller justifiably emphasizes the importance of Philo's words about the ceremony of the waving of the first sheaf, where he praises the Land of Israel (Special Laws 2 162–70), though even here he sees the offering of the sheaf "both of the nation's own land as well as of the whole earth" (2, 171).

It is in Rabbinic literature that the land begins to take on eschatological significance.^[76] The verse, "Your nation is all righteous, they will inherit the land forever" (Isa. 60:21) is understood in Mishnah Sanhedrin 11:1 as referring to inheritance of a part of the world to come.^[77] Another verse, "But he who takes refuge in Me shall possess the land and inherit My holy mountain" (Isa. 57:13), is explained by commentator D. Kimchi, as follows: "The world to come is called the land of the living and the holy mountain," an interpretation that clearly corresponds to the Rabbis' approach. And the expression "holy mountain," in "And in that day a great ram's horn shall be sounded, and the strayed . . . shall come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem" (Isa. 27:13), is interpreted as the world to come in BT Sanhedrin 110b. In Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:3, Rabbi Akiva explains that the people cast in "the other land" (Deut. 29:27) are not in "the real land," namely, the world to come, but rather "the netherworld," from which no one ever returns. "Just as the day passes and never returns, so too they go and never return."^[78]

Inheriting the land was understood by the Rabbis as being granted a place in the eternal world, as, for example, in Mish-

[76] See E. E. Urbach, "Inheritance Laws and After-Life," Proceedings of the Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies 1 (Jerusalem, 1967), pp. 139–40 (Hebrew; English abstract, p. 263).

[78] Compare the Mesopotamian expression for the netherworld: mat^[*] la târi "the land of no return."

nah Kidushin 1:10: "He who observes even one commandment is rewarded, will be granted a long life, and will inherit the land."^[79]

Rashi and Maimonides both correctly interpret this "inheriting" as inheriting the world to come.^[80] The eschatological interpretation of the phrase "inheriting the land" was exceedingly popular among the early Christians, and was rooted in the common wisdom of Jewish belief of the times as well.^[81] Thus, the Rabbis' eschatological interpretation of the phrase "inheriting the land" can be said to have preceded the days of the destruction.

In this period a spiritualistic approach to the land of Israel began to develop. Just as Jerusalem took on a double meaning, as both the celestial and terrestrial Jerusalem,^[82] the land of Israel also became understood in both the realistic and metaphysical sense.

Following the Bar Cochba revolt, a period in which there was danger that Jewish settlement in Israel would be diminished, we detect a kind of propaganda in favor of Israel and settlement in the land. Until this time, it had seemed quite natural to dwell in Israel; there had been no need to encourage settlement.^[83]

[79] Cf. Urbach, "Inheritance Laws" (n. 76).

[80] There is no justification for the interpretation by J. N. Epstein, Introduction to the Tanaaitic Literature (Jerusalem, 1957), p. 53, that the author has in mind the real, physical land; see S. Safrai, "And all is According to the Majority of Deeds," Tarbiz 53 (1983–84), pp. 36–37 (Hebrew).

[81] Cf. W. D. Davies, The Gospel and the Land (London, 1974), pp. 161 ff. For some corrections of Davies's views, see G. Strecker, "Das Land Israel in früh Christlicher Zeit," in Strecker, ed., Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit (n. 75), pp. 188–200. On common Jewish belief, see D. Flusser, Jewish Sources in Early Christianity: Studies and Essays (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 188–200.

[82] Cf. S. Safrai, "The Land of Israel in Tannaitic Halacha," in Strecker, ed., Das Land Israel in biblischer Zeit (n. 75), pp. 201–15.

[83] Cf. I. Gafni, "The Status of Eretz Israel in Reality and in Jewish Consciousness Following the Bar-Kokhva Uprising," in A. Oppen-heimer and U. Rappaport, eds., The Bar-Kokhva Revolt: A New Approach (Jerusalem, 1984), pp. 224–32 (Hebrew).