The Motif of Land in the New Testament

In his book An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach, Dr. Bruce Waltke uses three chapters to speak of the Gift of Land. It is in chapter 20 on the gift of land in the New Testament where Waltke brings his thoughts to a crescendo and he does not pull any punches. There is too much material to go into detail in one blog post, but the following paragraphs from the book should suffice as a condensed version of Watlke's thought process.

“The definition of Hebrew ‘ares, “land” or “earth"–the fourth most frequent word in the Old Testament—affects the interpretation of almost every book of the Bible. As for pedagogy and homiletics, one cannot teach or preach the whole counsel of God without defining “Land” in its canonical context.

As for theology, the interpretation of “Land” validates a dispensational or covenant system of theology. As for spiritual life, Christians will be nourished by understanding how the New Testament reveals what the Old Testament conceals about the Land.

As for politics, the validity of the Jewish state’s claim to the land of Palestine depends in part on the meaning of “Land.” In other words, does the Jewish state play a role in salvation history? Obviously it plays a role in universal history, which impacts salvation history.

Politically, the survival of the United States as a nation may depend in part on a right understanding of this motif. The United States government supports a Jewish state to preserve democracy in the Middle East, but to do so successfully it must deal justly with the Muslims who contend with the Jewish state for this same piece of real estate.

Islam perceives the United States as being unjust in this dispute, a perception abetted by the popular eschatology of many American fundamentalists and evangelicals. These Christians support the Jewish claim to the Land because they equate the Jewish state with God’s people and—often unconsciously—equate the Arabs with the Canaanites.

In this popular eschatology, with no understanding of covenant theology, the State of Israel has a right to possess Palestine because God gave that land as a perpetual fief to Abraham and his descendants. They believe the rise of the modern State of Israel is a harbinger of the imminent return of Christ. This evangelical partiality contributes to the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in September 2001. The wrong eschatology of Jewry in Jesus’ day led to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 with a horrific loss of life; the popular theology today could contribute to the same tragic consequences both for the Jewish state and for the United States."

Waltke continues:

"In this chapter we argue that the New Testament redefines Land in three ways: first, spiritually, as a reference to Christ’s person; second, transcendentally, as a reference to heavenly Jerusalem; and third, eschatologically, as a reference to the new Jerusalem after Christ’s second coming. By “redefine” we mean that whereas “Land” in the Old Testament refers to Israel’s life in Canaan, in the New Testament “Land” is transmuted to refer to life in Christ. In other words, the New Testament skins like a banana the Old Testament references to the Land as real estate in order to expose its spiritual food.

Christian theologians since Augustine have contended that “the New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed.” As for Land, I contend that the Old Testament conceals and the New reveals that Canaan has the hidden manna of three eternal, spiritual truths involved in the life of God’s elect in Christ. In addition, I contend that Land in the Old Testament is a type of the Christian life in Christ.

By noting this progressive revelation within Scripture, we are not allegorizing Land in the Old Testament by imposing upon its reluctant text spiritual truths from the New Testament. Rather, we argue that the Author of the Bible intended these concealed, spiritual truths regarding the Land that the New Testament reveals. Moreover, these three spiritual redefinitions of Land often overlap so that the redefinition of Land has polyvalent values. Nevertheless, we hope this threefold analysis will clarify these values of being in Christ." (pp. 558-559 & 560)

This is a controversial topic in Christianity, but I believe Waltke's overall thesis is correct.  The September 11th attacks are obviously more multi-faceted than he addresses here (and the actions of the U.S. over the decades could be said to contribute to it), but theology does have an indirect affect on Western foreign policy. An excellent study into this particular ideology to which Waltke alludes is Paul Boyer's When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.

Waltke's analysis also offers more exegetical and theological "oomph" than the often socially and politically detailed, but theologically vague, commentary on Israel and the Middle East put out by mainline denominations such as the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. (Note the UMC document makes no reference to God, Jesus, Scripture, or other theological terms.)  Churches that address issues of justice need to be able to do so that reflects deeply scripturally and theologically.