Talking about who owned the land of Canaan is a puzzle that has far-reaching implications to this day. Around 9000 BC there were signs of life in Jericho, a city located in Canaan, better known today as Palestine. Around the 16th century BC to. 13 BC the area was ruled by the Egyptians. It was during this time that Abraham and his extended family lived as migrants from Ur. It is not known where the exact location of the city of Ur is, but if seen through historical maps, at this time the city of Ur was approximately located in the region of Iraq.

As we know from the Bible, Abraham's motivation to go to Canaan was his obedience to God. God Himself had promised him a land to live in, especially for his descendants who would receive the promise of blessings. The land of Canaan includes Lebanon, Jordan, Sinai, and the area that is currently disputed between Israel and Palestine.When Abraham arrived in Canaan, he was confronted with nations that had long inhabited the land. Yet Abraham never used violence in the process of moving into the land. There was no attempt to conquer the nations that occupied the land, instead he negotiated and bought several plots of land there. Abraham's endeavor was one of peace and assimilation. He was very careful not to provoke the nations of the land.

Some time later, the Israelites left the land of Canaan because of a severe famine. They went to Egypt, and to make a long story short, they returned to Canaan in a different way from the way Abraham did. During the Davidic dynasty, the era of united Israel, Israel's territory became larger due to King David's conquest efforts. Israel prospered under the leadership of King Solomon. Unfortunately, this condition did not last long, after Solomon's heyday Israel was divided into two kingdoms. 10 tribes broke away to become the kingdom of Northern Israel, and 2 tribes continued the Davidic dynasty in Southern Israel/Judah.

Not long after this split of the kingdom of Israel, the Northern kingdom of Israel was ruled by Assyria, leaving the people with no rights to the land they lived on. Then about a century later, when the Assyrian empire was overrun by Babylon, the territory of Judah was also overrun by Babylon and the land passed into Babylonian hands. At a later time the Persian empire emerged as the ruler, then in the 4th century BC the land occupied by the Israelites changed ownership again to Greek hands. Until the time of the New Testament, the ownership of the ‘promised land ’ continued to change. At the time of the New Testament, the area that we currently know as Palestine was an area that did not have its own sovereignty, because it was practically a colony of the Roman Empire. However, there was a period in the pre-New Testament era, when the Maccabees succeeded in conducting a rebellion or war of independence. The nation of Israel/Judea under the leadership of the Maccabean family had independence and governed their own nation for about 80 years. After that, Pompeius Magnus came and took the land.

Through this long story we learn about land titles that change hands. It was not easy for the Jews themselves to claim that the land was exclusively theirs. The land they occupied was given to them by the empires that ruled over them, and this situation persisted. Attempts to reclaim the land were never easy, as the Roman Empire had enormous military power. The historical record states that the greatest tragedy occurred when Jerusalem fell to the Roman army, in the year 70, under the leadership of general Titus, the tragedy made the Jews of that time realize that they needed to re-examine their identity. A great tragedy occurred again at the beginning of the second century, when there was a huge revolt led by Bar Kokhba. This revolt was triggered by the Roman policy of building a new city, Aelia Capitolina, in Jerusalem to house the god Jupiter. The local population, the Jews, were expelled from Jerusalem so that they eventually had to be scattered to various places.

The historical facts above show how difficult it is for us to base land ownership on what the Bible says alone. God did promise a land to the Israelites, but in historical fact the land was loose, changing hands from one power to another. Even when Emperor Constantine was the first emperor to embrace Christianity and formalize Christianity as the state religion, we find an interesting note that they still did not give autonomy / land rights to the Jews. It is undeniable that the land was always separated from time to time. The Jews, a landless nation, want to find a nationless land. Their main goal is to restore the boundaries of the kingdom that existed at the time of David.

Where in the world is there a nationless land? Can the Bible be used to justify this action?

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