Biblical Archaeology Review - January-February 2018

24 January/February 2018

The promised land (Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 8:1). The

land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 33:1). The land of

Canaan (Genesis 11:31). The land to which you are going (Exodus 34:12; cf.

Deuteronomy 31:16). The land fl owing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8).

The land that the Lord your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 16:2). The

place that the Lord your God will choose (e.g., Deuteronomy 12:5; 14:23–25).

The land that came to be known as Israel and Judah in antiquity is known

by many names today: Israel, Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon,

Syria, Sinai, the Holy Land, and the Levant, for starters. But the names listed in

the above paragraph—the names taken straight from the Bible describing the land

before there was an ancient Israel—all have one thing in common: they describe a

land of migration and immigration.

According to the Bible, “ancient Israel” was fi rst a concept of a new world—a new

beginning for God’s chosen people. It was a land into which the Israelites fi rst had

to immigrate. Only then, after the immigration of the people, did the land become the

allotment of the 12 tribes, the land of Israel. Until that point, the children of God were

migrants seeking a new home.

That Israel is a land of immigration is not only a claim made by the Bible; it is also a claim

SMILE WHILE YOU WORK. The Middle Bronze Age site of Tel Kabri in northern Israel boasts the oldest and larg-

est wine cellar found in the ancient Near East as well as a Canaanite palace decorated with Minoan-style fl oor

and wall paintings. Here, volunteers Matthew Kerwin and Sydney Thatcher from The George Washington University

scrape loose soil into buckets with square-bladed hoes called turias.

Robert R. Cargill

of a new world—a new

beginning for God’s chosen people. It was a land into which the Israelites fi rst had

the immigration of the people, did the land become the

allotment of the 12 tribes, the land of Israel. Until that point, the children of God were

That Israel is a land of immigration is not only a claim made by the Bible; it is also a claim

SMILE WHILE YOU WORK. The Middle Bronze Age site of Tel Kabri in northern Israel boasts the oldest and larg-

est wine cellar found in the ancient Near East as well as a Canaanite palace decorated with Minoan-style fl oor

and wall paintings. Here, volunteers Matthew Kerwin and Sydney Thatcher from The George Washington University

Migration &

Immigration

in Ancient Israel

Digs 2018