Find below my talk about the ancient amulet found in mount Ebal.
Tag: joshua
The Curse on Mount Ebal
29 “It shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? (Deuteronomy 11:29-30)
30 Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. (Joshua 8:30-31)
Where is the city of Ai?
“Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel” (Joshua 7:2)
The city of Ai is the second city that the sons of Israel conquered in the land of Canaan, after Jericho.
The identification of the location of the city of Ai is one of the most controversial topics in Biblical archeology and research.
As explained in another post, many of the names of Biblical sites are revealed in Arab villages names.
Two of the places quoted above from Joshua 7:2 are identified using Arab synonym of existing places:
- Jericho is identified very well and the Arab name of the city today is Aricha.
- Bethel in the Bible is identified as the Arab village of Beitin.
The other two places: Ai and Beth-Aven do not have an Arab village name that preserves their location.
What did the writer of the book of Joshua know?
Looking back to the quoted text, you may notice something very interesting: The writer needs to explain where the Ai is, and he explains this by references to two different places: “Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel“.
What is the meaning of this? Well, obviously, when this book was edited, people did not know where the Ai was, but they DID know where Bet-Aven and Bethel were. So the writer could tell them the location by reference.
For example, if a visitor comes to your city and asks you where is the location of a certain bank branch, you may tell him: “Go to the central station, and three blocks after McDonald’s you will see the bank”. You give instructions to a place that is not known by referring to places that are known.
Another such example can be found about Shiloh in the book of Judges:
“There is a yearly feast of the Lord in Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah” (Judges 21:19)
Here again, in the time that the book was written, Shiloh did not exist (was destroyed by the Philistines in the battle of Ebenezer). So it was pointed by reference to Bethel, Shechem and Lebonah that existed in that time.
Back to our topic: we learn that the location of the Ai was not known in the time of writing the book of Joshua, but Bethel and Beth-Aven were known. This fact will be very important later when trying to identify where the Ai is!
Archeological Embarrassment
“And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 12:8)
Another quote about Abraham that set his tent “with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east” led American Biblical scholar Edward Robinson, and later William Foxwell Albright, to identify the Ai with a little hill that is called in Arabic ״Et-Tell״. The location was perfect! Even the Arabic name Et-Tel that means “The ruin” was a good sign as Ai in Hebrew also means “heap of ruins”.
in the 1930s, the first archeological expedition started to excavate the place. The archeologists started with a great excitement and the Baron Rothschild funded the excavation. Everyone thought that they are going to bring the story of the Bible to life.
But then, a bitter surprise: In 1935, after examining the finding of Et-Tel, the report showed that indeed there was a Canaanite city in this place. The city had a wall, a fortified palace and Canaanite temple. And this city was burned to ashes around 2100 BC. Around 1000 BC, during early Israelite period, a small village was built again in the site for about 200 years.
Could it be that the sons of Israel led by Joshua burned that big city? NO!!! The conquest of Canaan by Israel dates to, according to the different scholars, between 1450 BC to 1200 BC. Those who count according to the Bible take the earlier date, and other archeologists choose the later date.
But in any case, when Joshua entered Canaan, the fortified city that was found in the ruins in Et-Tell was already destroyed for at least 600 years!
How can sort out this confusion?
The resolutions to what was found in the excavations in Et-Tell went in two different directions, depending on the point of view of the beholder:
- Those who wanted to refute the Bible as an historical evidence, concluded that the Bible was just not right and Joshua did not conquer the Ai. Instead, they said, there was an evidence of a place that was burned in history, and the ancient Jews told the story that it was Joshua who burned it.
- Those who believed that the Bible was true, claimed that Et-Tell is just a wrong identification. The Ai is out there somewhere and is yet to be discovered.
Read in this article more about the debate between those who try to affirm the Bible through archeology and those who try to refute it.
I want to focus on one very interesting solution to this perplexity that was suggested by Prof. Yehoshua Meir Grints who was a Bible scholar in Tel Aviv university. His analysis is described again by Prof. Yoel Elitzur in his book: Places in the Parashah.[1]
Let’s go back to our key verses:
- He pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east (Gen. 12:8)
- Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel (Josh. 7:2)
In Genesis, the Ai is east of Bethel and Beth-Aven is not mentioned. In Joshua, the Ai is still east to Bethel, but we also find that it is beside Beth-Aven.
Grints concluded that the three cities were indeed close to one another, but have not existed simultaneously all the time. In the time of Abraham (or the time of writing Genesis) the Ai existed but Beth-Aven did not. Where in the time of editing the book of Joshua, Beth-Aven existed but the Ai did not.
Grints collected all the places in the Bible where the three cities appear and found out something quite surprising:
Bethel existed from the time of the patriarchs through the Bible until the return to Zion in the time of Cyrus.
The Ai existed most of the time of the Bible except for the time after it was destroyed by Joshua, and then was rebuilt in the time of the Israelite kings. Beth-Aven on the other hand, existed only in the time of Joshua, Judges and Samuel.
The suggestion is that those two cities: the Ai and Beth-Aven did not co-exist. In each period only one of them stood in its place.
Going back to the excavations in Et-Tell, it is most likely that this site is Beth-Aven and not the Ai!
Summary
The place that was found and was originally identified as the Ai (Et-Tell) is probably not the Ai. It may be the ruins of Beth-Aven.
So where is the Ai? we do not know. This may be found in the future. But it is also possible that it will never be found. As it is written:
“So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day” (Joshua 8:28)
Good Samaritan, Bad Samaritan
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him…” (Luke 10:30-34)
This is the story told by Yeshua in the New Testament known as the parable of “The Good Samaritan”.
Samaritans still live today in the area called Samaria (Shomron in Hebrew). When asked, the Samaritans say that they are the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that were sent to exile by the Assyrians in the 8th century B.C. Few of them remained in the land and formed the people that today are known as “Samaritans”.
In the New Testament, the Samaritans are mentioned several times, but nothing refers to who they are and what is their origin.
from the New Testament, we learn some interesting facts about them:
So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
….12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”…
…19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (John 4:1-20)
Four facts we can learn from this short story:
- Samaritans lived in Shechem and were the main residents there in the 1st century AD
- They considered themselves as the sons of Israel (Jacob)
- Jews and Samaritans did not see themselves as one people
- Samaritans worshiped on mount Gerizim and not in Jerusalem
All those points are still valid today: The Samaritans reside in Shechem, they see themselves as sons of Israel, they do not see themselves as Jews and they claim that mount Gerizim is where the God of Israel commanded to worship.
And in fact, the Samaritans follow the laws from the Torah like the Jews. They celebrate the feasts like the Jews. In the picture below you see Samaritans celebrating Pesach on mount Gerizim.
What does the Bible say?
In the Bible, there is one hint that supports what the Samaritans say about themselves being descendants of Israel:
In the book of Jeremiah, after the people of Judah had been sent to exile by the Babylonian (150 years after the people of the kingdom of Israel had been exiled by Assyria), The Babylonian nominated a new leader that is not from the seed of the kings: Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.
In Jeremiah 40-41 we read about the assassination of Gedaliah by his foe: Ishmael son of Nethaniah. After Ishmael killed Gedaliah we read the following:
4 And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it, 5 that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord. (Jeremiah 41:4-5)
There were people living in the cities of the previous kingdom of Israel, and they came to sacrifice in the Temple. Who are those people? Jews? remaining of the Israelites? Foreigners? the auther does not tell us. But we know for sure that people lving in the cities of Samaria came to the Temple in Jerusalem many years after the exile of Samaria.
(Samaria – Shomron: In the old testament it is used as he name of a city, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. In the time of second Temple and in the New Testament and even today, Samaria refers to the mountains north of Judea).
Proselytes by Lions
In later Jewish texts, the Samaritans are referred as “Men of Cuth” and “Proselytes of Lions”.
This is based on what we read in II Kings 17. The text describes what was done in the land of the kingdom of Israel after the exile of Israel:
24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. 25 And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.” 28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord…
…29 However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt…
…34 To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel
According to what is written here, Those who call themselves Samaritan are not from the seed of the sons of Israel, but rather people from the empire of Assyria that were moved to Israel and learned partially how to worship the God of Israel – without much success!
The Jews and the Samaritans became political foes in the time of the return to Zion from Babylon.
The Samaritans sent a letter to the Persian king asking him not to let the Jews to build a Temple:
9 From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions—representatives of the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the people of Persia and Erech and Babylon and Shushan, the Dehavites, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria and the remainder beyond the River—and so forth.
11 To King Artaxerxes from your servants, the men of the region beyond the River, and so forth:
12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Let it now be known to the king that, if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished. (Ezra 4:9-13)
Later on, When Nehemiah also comes to Zion and wants to build a wall around the city of Jerusalem, we read about some people from the country that want to stop him.
But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2 And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.” (Nehemiah 4:1-3)
Where is the place to worship?
Back to the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (John 4:20)
How did it come that the Samaritan claim Mount Gerizim to be the place to worship? Where did they take it from? If they are indeed the sons of Israel, and they read the Torah, Where does it say so?
Well, The Torah does not say where is the place to worship. Only later in 2 Samuel, God made his covenant with David and Jerusalem is chosen.
but in the five books of the Torah, the place to worship is yet to be defined, or it can be understood that this place can move from place to place.
In many places in Deuteronomy, we read:
“the place where the Lord your God chooses, to put His name for His dwelling place”
Deu 12:5, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:14, Deu 14:23, Deu 15:2 and many more.
After the sons of Israel had entered the land, the Ark moved from place to place: Jericho, Mount Ebal, Shilo, Bethel, Kirjath Jearim and finally Jerusalem.
We also know that the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel did not want their people to go to Jerusalem. Jeroboam sanctified Bethel to stop the Israelites on their way to Jerusalem.
So the Samaritans, who have not accepted the legacy of David’s seed, and who have not read any the books of the Bible after the first 5 books of the Torah, do not accept Jerusalem as the place that God chose.
The first Altar that Joshua build was on mount Ebal, opposite to mount Gerizim. Mount Ebal was the mountain of the curse, whereas mount Gerizim was the mountain of blessing. But the Samaritans do not read the book of Joshua either.
They claim that mount Moriah and the mountain of the first altar of Joshua is mount Gerizim.
picture: Mount Gerizim
Footnote
Samaritan people are today about 800 people world wide. Half of them live in a neighbourhood on top of mount Gerizim and half of them in the city of Holon in Israel.
Evidence for Global Climate Change in the Bible?
When Joshua entered the land of Canaan, did he meet the same land with the same climate that we know today?
The descendants of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land as our homeland when the Lord has blessed us with so many people?” Joshua replied, “If there are so many of you, and if the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you, clear out land for yourselves in the forest where the Perizzites and Rephaites live.” (Joshua 17:14-15)
When the sons of Joseph are about to conquer their inheritance in the land of Canaan, it seems that the land is covered with forests so they cannot cultivate the land. Where are those forests today?
Then the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. The people of Israel were defeated there before the servants of David, and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men. For the battle there was spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. (2 Samuel 18:6-8)
When Absalom stirred a rebellion against David, his father, they end up fighting in the forest of Ephraim. later on Absalom was caught by his hair in a big terebinth tree in that forest. Certainly a thick forest!
Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!” When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number. (2 Kings 2:23-24)
In the story above, Elisha went from the Jordan valley up to the mountains of Bethel. What interests us in this story is the fact that there were bears living in the woods at that area. Today this area is semi-arid.
The land of Israel in the time of the Bible and today
The three stories above, and many others, leads the reader of the Bible to think that the land of Israel is covered with thick forest where numerous beasts live.
When the American author Mark Twain visited the holy land 150 years ago, he was therefore quite surprised to see just the opposite:
“….. A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse…. a desolation…. we never saw a human being on the whole route…. hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”
(The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim’s Progress, Mark Twain 1867)
How can we explain the difference between what Mark Twain describes and what the Bible tells about the nature of the land?
The Human intervention theory
In the turn of the 20th century, the Ottomans that were the rulers of the whole middle east, started a project of building the Hejaz Railway – a railway for a train that would go from Damascus to Medina. One branch line from this railway went all the way to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.
When using a steam locomotive for a train, one needs a lot of wood for burning and generating the steam. It is evident that the Ottomans cut a lot of the woods in the country for the train to operate.
The theory of human intervention claims that because of the railway and also because of overgrazing of the goats of local shepherds, the woods declined dramatically in the end of the 19 century.
As much as the decline of forest in the end of the 19 century is evident, it cannot explain what Mark Twain told us about the land in the middle of the 19 century.
First, when he visited the land in 1867, the Hejaz railway was only a plan. But moreover, the population of the land was scarce. As Twain himself describes: “a desolation…. we never saw a human being on the whole route”. so ‘overgrazing’ does not sound like the real story here.
The Global Climate Change theory
According to this theory, the climate in the time of the bible was different than it is today, and the land of Israel got much more rain compared to our days at that time of Joshua and the kingdoms of Judea and Israel.
There are climatologists that try to show climate changes according to geological evidence. For example: this site.
Do we have any evidence showing that there was more rain in israel in ancient times?
Evidence from the Negev (desert of southern Israel)
In the arid mountains of the Negev, we can find very old terebinth trees of the species: Mt. Atlas mastic tree (Pistacia atlantica)
What is interesting about this kind of tree is that it is very common throughout other areas of Israel that are not a desert. But in the mountains of the Negev, this is the only tree that can be found, and most of the individual trees are very old and are estimated to be hundred years old.
This fact led the scholars of botany to believe that those trees were abundant in the Negev a few hundred years ago, or even thousands of years, and the Negev was not so arid as it is today. during the last hundreds of years the Negev became what it is today, and only very old trees remained as living fossils.
Summary
Regardless of what you think about global warming and climate changes, it is quite clear that the land of Israel had more woods and probably more rain in the time of the Bible. The Negev in the time of the Bible was probably wetter and Israel had real natural forests which are rare today.
Joshua and Zionism – from trouble to hope
1882 is considered the year in that started the Zionist movement. In this year, the first Zionist settlement was established.
The village was founded in a swamp area in the Sharon and was called Petah-Tikva.
Joshua leads the sons of Israel into Canaan
When the people of Israel entered Canaan from the east, they were not considered Zionists. Zion at that time was a place that they did not hear about yet.
They were commanded to conquer the country from the seven Canaanite nations that inhabited the land.
The first city they conquer and destroy was Jericho. Two spies were sent to the house of Rahab who hidden them. Then the people of Israel marched around the city during seven days and in the seventh day they blew the trumpets and the walls fell down. No doubt that God was with the people of Israel!
Joshua warns the people not to take anything from the city as it is under a ban.
Then, they went on to conquer the second city – Ai, But they fail badly… Something went wrong. Joshua cried to the Lord and asked – Why is that Lord? and the answer came clearly:
Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction (Joshua 7:11-12)
The Lord instructed Joshua how to find the person that did wrong. It came out that it was Achan from the tribe of Judah.
Interestingly, in Chronicles, the name changes from Achan to Achar:
The son of Carmi was Achar, the troubler of Israel, who transgressed in the accursed thing (1 Chronicles 2:7)
This is interesting, because the Hebrew word for “trouler” in the Bible is “Ocher” which is from the same root of the name “Achar” and literally means “bring trouble or darkness“.
Achan with all his family were sentenced to be stoned. Where did that happen? let’s read:
Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day (Joshua 7:26)
The Hebrew root A.Ch.R. appears three times in our story:
- Achar (or Achan) – the name of the sinner
- Ocher – adjective that means troubler or literally “darkens”
- Achor – the valley where he was stoned. Near Jericho.
A prophecy of hope
Let’s move to another book in the Bible. Hosea.
Hosea, speaks about the restoration of Israel.
In the second chapter of the book he compares Israel to a treacherous wife. He describes all her harlotry and unfaithful ways.
But then the Lord takes her to the desert, and there, after all her lovers have left her, the Lord restores Israel. Then Hosea prophesies:
Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope (Hosea 2:15)
This verse takes us back to the story of Achan in the valley of Achor.
The Zionist movement begins
In the year of 1872, a few families from Jerusalem tried to buy a land in Jericho and to build a new agricultural village. The name they wanted to give to the village is Petah-Tikva – which means “Door of hope” to fulfill the prophecy of Hosea.
They were not successful in buying the land in Jericho, but ended up buying a swamp area in the Sharon from an Arab family in Jaffa.
The life was too hard in the swamp, and after three years the village was abandoned.
Seven years later, in 1882, the village was restored by new settlers. This year marks the beginning of the first wave of Zionists moving to Israel and building new settlements.
The location of Petah Tikva in the Sharon instead of Jericho is a fulfillment of another prophecy:
Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks,
And the valley of Achor a resting place for herds (Isaiah 65:10)
The Zionist movement, just like Joshua, brought the people of Israel back to their land.
And the city of Petah Tikva is a symbol of the restoration of Israel.
Judea and Samaria – The heart of the land of Israel
So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. (Joshua 21:43)
The book of Joshua tells us, in chapter 21, how the sons of Israel conquered the whole of the land of Canaan.
But then in chapter 23, Joshua says:
See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. 5 And the Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you. (Joshua 23:4-5)
This is not clear. Did Israel conquer the whole of Canaan or are there still Canaanites in the land?
In the book of Judges we get the picture: Although the whole of the land was divided between the tribes, there are still many big cities that remain to be conquered:
27 However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land … 29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer … 30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol … 31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob… 33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath… (Joshua 1:27-36)
The map below shows the borders at the end of the book of Joshua.
The pink areas were taken by the sons of Israel, and the green is the remaining land:
Look carefully at the shape of the conquered land – Does this shape looks familiar?
Now look at the map of Israel in the years between 1948 – 1967 and compare to the map of the conquest:
The conquest of Joshua Borders of Israel between 1948-1967
You will find, surprisingly, that the two maps are mirrors for each other!
In the time of Joshua, Judea and Samaria were the main land (in pink), while the rest (in green) is the remaining land.
But in modern Israel, the remaining land of Joshua is the state of Israel, and Judea and Samaria are the “remaining land”!
As much as Judea and Samaria are not considered part of Israel by most of the international community, It is in fact the heart of the land from which the sons of Israel started their conquest.
Anyone who supports the historical right of Israel and the Jews of their historical land, cannot take Judea ans Samaria out of it as it is the “Heart of the Country”.
Ran Silberman 