The Original People of the Promised Land

Imagine that you were taking the following poll:

Who were the original people of the Promised Land?

1. The Israelites / Jews
2. The Palestinians

Which option is correct? As a Christian, how would you answer this poll? Take a moment to think about your answer before reading the rest of this article.

This poll was conducted during a seminar which was attended by a little more than 500 Christians. Out of those who answered the poll, 65% of them answered that the Israelites or Jews were the original people of the Promised Land. The other 35% answered that the Palestinians were the original people of the Promised Land.

However, neither of these two options is correct! The original people of the Promised Land were neither Jews nor Palestinians. According to the Bible, when Abram (Abraham) first stepped into the Promised Land, the people who were living in the Promised Land were Canaanites (Gen. 12:6)! This was long before there were any such people as Israelites, Jews, or Palestinians. During that time, the name of the Promised Land was neither “Israel” nor “Palestine”, but “Canaan” (Gen. 12:5).

Now, let us ask ourselves: How did we answer the poll? Which option did we choose? Why did we choose that option? Many people choose either option because they support the political cause of either Modern Israel or Modern Palestine. Perhaps we chose either option because a third option was not provided. Yet, did the Canaanites even come to mind when we were answering the poll? Or have we been conditioned by politics and media so much that we have forgotten what our Bible says?

As Christians, the Bible is our final standard of truth from God. There is nothing wrong with loving Israelis and Jewish people. There is also nothing wrong with sympathizing with Palestinians. There is even nothing wrong with having a political view. However, something is terribly wrong when our loves, sympathies, and politics have overtaken our faith to the point that we forget what our Bible says!