Who wouldn’t want free real estate? So when God first approached Abraham and said he was giving his descendants the land of Israel, of course, he said ‘yes!’
But why did God make the offer? Was it because the Jewish people were so amazing? Even with forefathers like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their descendants certainly had a few bad apples. In fact, the Torah comes right out and says that the land of Israel was not given to the Jews because they were righteous. Instead, it emphasizes that as bad as they were, the other nations that were in the land were even worse. This is not the form of praise that makes you feel good:
Earlier in the Torah portion of Eikev, however, God seems to say that the Jews deserve to inherit the land when they follow Him and keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 7:12-13, 8:1).
So why did the Israelites get the land of Israel? Do they get the land because they deserve it, or despite the fact that they don’t deserve it?
When God made a covenant with Abraham, an essential aspect of this covenant was that his descendants would inherit the land as an “everlasting holding” (Gen.17:8). This was also true of Isaac (Gen. 26:3) and Jacob (Gen. 28:13). Why was the land of Israel such an integral part of the covenant?
The Torah begins with the creation of the world. After creation, God begins a process of fine-tuning, wiping out the evil generation of Noah and choosing to focus his attention on Abraham. But the choosing of Abraham and his descendants did not exclude the rest of the world. Instead, it was meant to impact the rest of the world. The covenant with Abraham was the way to bring God’s blessing into the world, as God described when He first contacted Abraham and commanded him to go to Israel:
In order for the world to deserve blessing, God chooses Abraham and his descendents to become a great nation that will impact and change the world by modeling righteousness and justice (Genesis 18:19). But in order to become a model nation, Abraham first has to become a nation. Therefore he needed what all nations need: descendents and a land.
The land, therefore, is not a reward for good behavior or belief in God. Rather, it is a tool to help the Jewish people carry out their godly mission. This is why Moses emphasized that they were not getting it because of their righteousness. However, in order to hold onto and flourish in the land, the Jews must maintain their side of the contract by keeping the Torah and its commandments and remaining faithful to the God of Israel. Moses emphasized this point as well. He wanted the Jews to understand that getting the land was not an end but rather a beginning.
Since the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants is eternal, the nation of Israel can never be divested of the land of Israel. It is through this manifestation of the covenant by the Jewish nation in the land of Israel that the nations establish their relationship with God. If they bless the Jews in Israel, God will bless them.
