The Promised Land

Did God promise a land to a people? That is: is what the Jews, for example, call “the Greater Israel”, whose borders range from the Euphrates River to the Nile, a biblical promise? This is what I will try to answer with a quotation from one of the highest sources for interpreting the Word in our Church, namely from the liturgical life. At the beginning of the liturgical year (September 1 and 4), we celebrate the feasts of two great figures who had led the people from Egypt to the “Promised Land”, that is, Moses and Joshua son of Nun. Liturgy scholars in our Church believe that the liturgical year, which is essentially a procession from one feast to another, leads us, from its first days, to the Nativity of Jesus. This describes our belief that the path of Moses and Joshua, who had led the people to the land in ancient times, was a shadow to this new path, which means that “the Promised Land” is neither a land nor a homeland, but rather it is the Person of God the Incarnate Word, “the better Country” (Hebrews 11: 13-16). This is the fulfillment of the promise!