Why Do You Refer to Israel as Palestine?

The Bible has no specific name for that small territory (about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined) between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Here are the facts relative to this matter:

The region was called the "land of Canaan" (Genesis 10:15) because it became the traditional home of the Canaanites, descendants of Noah's youngest son (see Genesis 9:18). At the time of Israel's invasion, the Canaanites were a very pagan people.

The land was also called the "land of Israel" (Matthew 2:20) because it was the region promised to the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), which they were to possess after their sojourn in Egypt. However, that territorial promise actually involved a region much greater than modern Israel (cf. Genesis 15:12-21; 1 Kings 4:21).

The region was also called the "land of Jehovah" (Deuteronomy 30:20), and the "land of promise" (Hebrews 11:9). Zechariah called it the "holy land" (Zechariah 2:12).

The territory ultimately belonged to the sovereign God, who owns the entire earth (Psalms 24:1), but he promised it to Abraham's seed. It was holy because it was set apart to play a special role in the unfolding plan of redemption. It is even called "your land, O Immanuel" (Isaiah 8:8).

In my book, Background Bible Study, I discussed God's providential selection of Canaan in preparation for the Messiah's coming in more detail.

The land was also referred to as "Palestina" (Exodus 15:14, KJV) or, in later translations, more accurately, "Philistia."

The earliest use of the term "Palestine" appears in Herodotus, who referred to "Palestine Syria" on several occasions (The Histories i.105; ii.106). Josephus said that the Greeks called the area from Gaza to Egypt "Palestine" (Antiquities of the Jews 1.6.2). In his day (ca. A.D. 348-420), Jerome spoke of "the land of Judea, which is now called Palestine" (In Ezechiel 37:17).

The use of the term "Palestine" for that region has become more popular since the days of World War I.

Here is the important point: God gave the land to Israel provisionally. That is, it would remain theirs only so long as they remained faithful to the Lord (see Joshua 21:43-45; 23:14-16).

Of course, every serious Bible student should know that Israel forfeited the right to that territory—completely forfeited—twenty centuries ago. Israel's culminating act of rebellion, the crucifixion of their own Messiah, was the final "filling up" of that measure of wickedness that characterized their fathers (see Matthew 23:29ff).

That land no longer belongs to Israel by divine right. The plain fact is this: God's favor today is restricted to a spiritual nation of people of any ethnic background who have been born into Christ's kingdom (John 3:3-5).

Today's real "Israel" is Christ's kingdom (Matthew 21:43; Romans 2:28-29; Galatians 6:16; 1 Peter 2:9).

(For further study, see God and the Nation of Israel.)