labibkobti1

All about the Bible and the promised land
Father Labib Kobti
December 29, 2001

We all love the word of God.
The Word of God is the Way and the Truth.
Let us read together, from the very beginning, the word of God (The Torah, the Prophets and the New Testament) as it relates to the Promised Land, Israel and Palestine.
I will try to go through the whole Bible (Old and New Testaments) so as to find out what God really wanted us to believe about the PROMISED LAND.
Of course I can bring many other verses and chapters for the Holy Bible. I am bringing here the most important ones that some churches have commented differently and gave to the Jews the right of return and take the land.
On this (right of Return) please also visit:
1) http://www.al-bushra.org/latpatra/right.htm
2) http://www.al-bushra.org/palestine/refugee.htm

The points I needed to emphasize and comment will be written in purple, underlined, and italicized.
I am ready to discuss this with any church and andy scholar.
Give me the chance to tell the TRUTH.

I- The Torah
A) The promise of a Land

Genesis 12
1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

1) God speaks about "the people that had been acquired in Haran who went with Abram."
2) His name was Abram and not yet Abraham. And Abraham was not Jewish himelf. Jews did not exist yet, we will see who Abram-Abraham is later on.
3) The land was called the Land of Cannaan

GENESIS 15
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
2 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir."
5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"
9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates--
19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

1) In verses 19-21 God names the people who existed at that time
2) Why has the Lord God chosen Abram, who is a stranger in that land and why has He given him the covenant? Because Abram believes in God, God has chosen him, given him a mission and from this point on will call him Abra-HAAM (this means “the father of the multitude” in our languages: Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic).
3) The Lord God has placed conditions on the possession of this land. What are these conditions?

B) CONDITIONS ON THE POSSESSION OF THE LAND

GENESIS 17
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.
2 I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.

1) Please note that, in verse 6, God says, "I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you.." and does NOT say,, “I will make only one nation of you.”
2) Please note also that God has placed a clear condition on the possession of the land. You can read this in verses 7,8 and 9: God is "to be your God and the God of your descendants after you"
3) Will the descendants of Abraham obey this Covenant and bring God, the ONLY ONE, THE MOST HOLY AND HIGH to the world? In fact, God says to Abraham, in verse 8, "The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." This means that the Lord God wants Abraham and his descendants to bring the faith of the ONE GOD to the different nations.
4) This mission is a WONDERFUL mission. God wants all people, of the whole world, to become his Children and make from them one body, one heart, one love: sharing, cooperating, loving people. God is the God of LOVE. He has sent Abraham and his descendants for this GREAT and WONDERFUL MISSION.
5) The Lord God will continue this VOCATION and CALL to the children of Abraham and ask them to accomplish this mission to bring the whole world to believe in the ONE GOD

EXODUS 6
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country."
2 God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.
4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens.
5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: `I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'"
9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.

1) Please note that God gives Moses the same promise He gave Abraham, with the same mission: to show people that God is the only God, the One God of the World.” Because Moses did not, himself, have the power to MAKE God anything that God was not already. He did, however, have the power to lead his people in faithful worship and love of that God.
2) The difference here -- in verses 5, 6, and 7 -- is that Lord God, for the first time will establish a covenant with a people. There are no more individuals, such as Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob who will be called Israel, but rather a whole people who will be called the Israelites.

EXODUS 19
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
4 `You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak.
8 The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.
9 The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.
10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes
11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

1) Note that, in his Love, the Lord gives the Israelites a great honor and great MISSION, and please read, in verses 5 and 6, "’Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
2) This same honor will be given to the Church in Jesus Christ – to the New People of the New Covenant of God. The Church will be called to carry on this mission when the people of the first covenant fail to complete it.”

LEVITICUS 25
1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.
10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.
11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.
12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
13 "`In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.
14 "If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other.
15 You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.
16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.
17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.
18 "`Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.
23 "`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.
24 Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
25 "`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.
26 If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it,
27 he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.
28 But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.

1) Note how the Lord God asks the Israelites to deal with each other and with the inhabitants of the land. He asks them to be fair, good, and to return, in the jubilee year, property to its owner. Have the Israelites done that in the past, or do they today?
2) Note also that the land is the possession of God, and not of the people, as we read in verse 23. In fact, in 1 Chronicles 29:15 we read: "We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope." As Abraham himself has said, in Genesis 23:4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."
3) The Lord God insists that the Israelites be beautiful people, as they will represent his LOVE to the world, and He insists on their mission: To tell the whole world about the UNIQUE GOD and to obey. Again, what an honor the Lord God is giving them.

C) THE DISOBEDIENCE OF ISRAEL

I- The Lord GOD will warn them with great LOVE, punish them and call them to return to their mission. They will continue to disobey.

DEUTERONOMY 30
10 if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"
14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.
16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

1) Note that the Lord God is telling the Israelites (not the Israelis of today, there is a great difference between them, the Israelis are not all the Israelites of the Bible, as all the scholars confirm) that His law is not difficult; he has placed it in their hearts and minds, and He is not asking too much. He has chosen them out of His love.

DEUTEROMONY 7
Explains why the Lord God has chosen the Israelites and what he asks from them:
6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
10 But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.
11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers.
13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land--your grain, new wine and oil--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you.
14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. 2) Note that God will punish the Israelites if they do not obey to the covenant and will take the land from them as we read in Chapter 30, verse 18. 3) The Lord God will also say this in Chapter 31:16 (see also 1 King 9:6-7)
And the LORD said to Moses: "You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.
17 On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, `Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?'
18 And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.
19 "Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them.
20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant.
21 And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath."

II- The great prophets of Israel will speak about the anger of God because of the disobedience of Israel
a) Prophet Hosea (780-730 Before Christ)

I have to point outhere that the books of the Old Testament are read in a particular order in Christian bibles, ending with the prophets so as to point out the link from the prophets to Christ. They are not read in that order by the Jewish people. The books were originally on scrolls, one scroll per book, so the order could change from time to time; it was Christians who first set them down in a book form, in the order they are in today.
I just wanted to point out that our brothers and sisters the Jewish people do not necessarily think that the prophets were speaking about the coming of Christ or their failure in light of this.
But note also, God is repeatdly telling them, through the Prophets, that they have failed; it seems to be a part of the dialogue in the O.T.!
And I think that Christians have, in the years since, failed in nearly every way – as a whole, that is, but with shining individual exceptions.
Of courses 2000 years is a blink of the eye to God, and we are still the Early Christians.

a) Hosea 8
1 "Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law.
2 Israel cries out to me, `O our God, we acknowledge you!'
3 But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.
4 They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.
5 Throw out your calf-idol, O Samaria! My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of purity?
6 They are from Israel! This calf--a craftsman has made it; it is not God. It will be broken in pieces, that calf of Samaria.
7 "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.
8 Israel is swallowed up; now she is among the nations like a worthless thing.
9 For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.
10 Although they have sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them together. They will begin to waste away under the oppression of the mighty king.
11 "Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.
12 I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien.
13 They offer sacrifices given to me and they eat the meat, but the LORD is not pleased with them. Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses."

Hosea 11
1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They
     sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.
3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but
     they did not realize it was I who healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the
     yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.
5 "Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them
     because they refuse to repent?
6 Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and
     put an end to their plans.
7 My people are determined to turn from me. Even if they call to the
     Most High, he will by no means exalt them.
8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?
     How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim?
     My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.
9 I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate
     Ephraim. For I am God, and not man-- the Holy One among you. I
     will not come in wrath.

1) Please note the dates of Hosea and all the dates beside the names of the prophets that will follow; these dates are given from the Catholic Version of the Bible. The dates are very important, as they tell you that the Lord God has tried to bring them back so as to prepare them to the Coming of Christ. But they have disobeyed, so the Lord God will be angry at them.
2) Note that in Hosea 11:1 the Lord God recalls his love for Israel (When Israel was a child, I loved him) and reminds them that he has loved them for a mission, but they have refused to carry out this mission. So He will change His plans and will no more speak about land but about a heart to be changed as we will see in Jeremiah 31: 31-34). Jeremiah lived in the years 650-585 Before Christ.

b) Amos: Chapter 2 (780-744 Before Christ)
4 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Judah, even for four, I
     will not turn back [my wrath]. Because they have rejected the law of
     the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led
     astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed,
5 I will send fire upon Judah that will consume the fortresses of
     Jerusalem."
6 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I
     will not turn back [my wrath]. They sell the righteous for silver, and
     the needy for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground
     and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl
     and so profane my holy name.
8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the
     house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.
9 "I destroyed the Amorite before them, though he was tall as the
     cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his
     roots below.
10 "I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the desert
     to give you the land of the Amorites.
11 I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from
     among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?" declares
     the LORD.
12 "But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets
     not to prophesy.
13 "Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
14 The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and
     the warrior will not save his life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not
     get away, and the horseman will not save his life.
16 Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," declares the
     LORD.

c) Prophet Ezekiel (sixth Century before Christ)

Ezekiel chapter 33
23 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
24 "Son of man, the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, `Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our possession.'
25 Therefore say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you eat meat with the blood still in it and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land?
26 You rely on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the land?'
27 "Say this to them: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.
28 I will make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them.
29 Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done.'

1) Please note that the prophet is clear in saying that, because of Israel’s disobedience and the bad things that they have done in the sight of the Lord who loved them and gave them a mission, they will not have the land. He speaks about Abraham, which means that he is reminding them of the covenant with Abraham and is telling them that they can no longer be the right children of Abraham; this is the same way Jesus will address them in the Gospel of St. John. “If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.”(John 8:40.)
2) Note that he will say it clearly in different verses:"Thus says the Lord God of Israel: You shed blood, yet you would keep possession on the land? You rely on your sword, you do abominable things...yet you would keep possession of the land?... Prophet EZEKIEL 33:25-28

d) Prophet Jeremiah (750-585 before Christ)
Jeremiah 2
1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "`I remember the
     devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed
     me through the desert, through a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest; all who
     devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,'" declares
     the LORD.
4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the
     house of Israel.
5 This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your fathers find in me,
     that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and
     became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, `Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of
     Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of
     deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no
     one travels and no one lives?'
7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But
     you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask, `Where is the LORD?' Those who deal with
     the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The
     prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
9 "Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares the LORD.
     "And I will bring charges against your children's children.

1) Note that the Lord God, in his love, again reminds them of his love and how they really were doing well in the beginning and were becoming a HOLY PEOPLE (verse 1-2 )
2) Then they changed their ways and disobeyed the Lord and did not accomplish their mission. The Lord God reminds them that “I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.”

Jeremiah 5
1 "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
2 Although they say, `As surely as the LORD lives,' still they are swearing falsely."
3 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
18 "Yet even in those days," declares the LORD, "I will not destroy you completely.
19 And when the people ask, `Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?' you will tell them, `As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.'

Jeremiah 16
17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
18 I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols."

1) Please note that the Lord God revokes both the land and the mission from Israel, and refuses them, as we can also read in the words of the prophet Daniel, chapter 9:
8 “O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
10 we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
14 The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

2) Christ will then come and say, “I am the way, the TRUTH and the Life,” and He will tell His disciples that they will be the salt of the world and the light of the world and will carry out the old mission of Israel with a new COVENANT, sealed not with blood of animal but with His own blood, and He will make children of Abraham and God from all who believe in His name "who were born not from natural generation (blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob ...) nor by human choice nor by man's decision but of God" John 1:12, because "Jesus came to His own but His own people did not accept him". John 1: 11
3) So, what will the Lord God do with Israel, to whom he had given the promise of everlasting Love?
He will change his covenant to Israel and will promise to change their hearts and will no longer speak about a land, as the prophets will tell us.

D) The new Everlasting Covenant to Israel

God will not change his EVERLASTING love. He will concentrate on the change of their hearts and not on a land.
(See Jeremiah: 32: 40. Isaiah 55:3; 61:8. Baruch 3:2)
So what is that new covenant? The prophets will tell us.

Prophet Jeremiah 31 (750-585 before Christ)
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new
     covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I
     took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke
     my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the
     LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that
     time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write
     it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying,
     `Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of
     them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their
     wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by
     day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up
     the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name:
36 "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD,
     "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."

1) Please note that the Lord God speaks about a new covenant and says it will not be like that of the old one. The book to the Hebrews says, in 8:7 "For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another."
This new covenant has come because they have broken the first one. So He recalls that He brought them out of Egypt, but He will no longer promise a land, but rather He will insist on the changing of their hearts. 8:9 "It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
2) Note that the Lord God does not speak here about a land but about a change of heart. The letter to the Hebrews 8:6-13 says, “ By calling this covenant "new," He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear."

Prophet Ezekiel will say the same in:
11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will
remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
They will be my people, and I will be their God.
(Also this is in 18:31 and 36:26)

1) Note then that the Lord God is LOVE; He has seen that the Israelites have disobeyed Him and have not accomplished the great mission that He gave them: to make God known and adored and loved.
2) He will not forsake them, rather He will establish a new way to bring their hearts back to know Him as God and to serve Him.
3) He will send his Only Son, Jesus, born by the power of the Holy Spirit from a Virgin, Mary. Jesus will establish, then, the NEW COVENANT by His blood. He will come to His own people, and they will reject Him and kill Him. He will then establish a new people not in a physical land but in love for one another, with a mission to make from the whole world one people, one body, and one heart under God as St. Paul will say.

E) The NEW TESTAMENT

In the Gospels Jesus will start his mission speaking about the change of hearts: Mark 1:15 "The time has come," Jesus said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
He will not speak about the kingdom of Israel or the return of Israel to a land or about an earthy and physical real estate. He will refuse to speak about that even when his disciples asks him after the resurrection 6 So when they met together, they asked him, Acts of the apostles 1: 6"Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? 7 He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Jesus will then tell them that there are other plans that the Holy Spirit will tell you all about. After the descent of the Holy Spirit the disciples understood that they are the NEW COVENANT with the NEW MISSION, to bring the One God to the world and they will become the spiritual body of Jesus: The Church that will not involve any land.
In fact Jesus will recall what the prophets have predicted that the people of the old testament have lost the Covenant: Matthew 8:11-12 Matthew 8 Matthew 8:10-12 I say to you that many will come from the East and the West, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness.
See also Luke 13:29 Luke 13 Luke 13:28-30 People will come from east and west
and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of
God.
Why that?
Because?

1) Mark 7:6 Mark 7 Mark 7:5-7 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "`These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And Jesus will tell them that why do not want to believe in me if Moses have talked about me, please see John 5; 39, 46 and 47. He will explain to the two disciples going to Emmaus about what all the old Testament have said about him and the need to believe, please read Luke 24:25-27
2) John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God 13 children born not of natural descent,[3] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
St. Paul will continue this teaching about the real children of Abraham. Not the blood descendants, the Jews, but the those who believe in Jesus.
2) Romans 15: 7-13
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring
praise to God.
8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of
God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs
9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to
your name."
10 Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." (His people, the Jews
who believed in Jesus as Christ)
11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you
peoples."
12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise
to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so
that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
3) Galatians 3
6 Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,
27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

1) Please note that St. Paul says clearly that 29 "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
2) He does not speak about land or real estate at all. He is repeating what God has promised in Jeremiah 31:31
3) In fact Jesus himself will say to the Samaritan that there will be no need for a physical Temple in Jerusalem because God who is Spirit does not need this. (John 4:21) Jesus declares, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
4) In fact as the Book of the Hebrews says: 8:6 "But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises."
5) This new Covenant is a spiritual covenant, a covenant for the WHOLE WORLD and not for one people, it is not a land but rather FAITH in the One God who has redeemed us with the blood of the New Covenant of the Son: the Messiah promised to the Jews and to the world. Matthew 26: 27 “Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”

F- Documents from the Council of Vatican II

1) "The people descended from Abraham would be the trustees of the promise made to the Patriarchs, the Chosen People, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all His children into the unity of the Church. They would be the root onto which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe." [CCC 60]
2) That the Church is the New Jerusalem is constantly taught by the Church [CCC 765, 1044-5, Mt. 19:28, Lk 22:30, Rev 21:12-14].
3) That the Church is prepared for in the Old Covenant as well as Israel in the Old Covenant is to be a sign of the future gathering of all nations - the unity of the Old and New Testaments - is taught as well. [CCC 128-130, 762]
4) The moral teaching that an intrinsically evil action may never be performed, even for a perceived greater good, is taught by the Church and emphasized by our Pope John Paul II [CCC 1756, 1761].

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