I was reading Deuteronomy chapter 2 and I came across an interesting thing er two. When we think of the promise God made to Abraham to give him a land and a people, we often think that the promise of the land is unfulfilled. The Dispensationalists tells us that Israel never held that plot of real estate even under Solomon so therefore God still owes the Jewish nation of Israel something so therefore there is a future for Israel.

That is a pretty big leap but what I have been questioning lately is whether God did in fact fulfill that promise. Remember, the promise was that Abraham’s descendants would own the land. Who are Abraham’s descendants? Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and Jacob (Israel) and all of Jacob’s children (the twelve tribes of Israel). Who said that only Israel would own the land?

Check out a few quotes from Deut 2:

4 and command the people, saying, “You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;
5 do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
9 “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.
19 ‘When you come opposite the sons of Ammon, do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
22 just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day.

So God seems to think that it was okay to give parts of the land to Abraham’s family and not just Israel.

As far as the rest of the real estate goes, Joshua seems to think that God was faithful in delivering:

Joshua 21:45 Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.

Fair enough, it speaks of a promise to Israel and not Abraham but it still says that all of the promises He made were fulfilled. Furthermore, though this passage can be interpreted differently, it seems good King Artaxerxes thought they held it all:

Ezra 4:19-20 “A decree has been issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, that mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces beyond the River, and that tribute, custom and toll were paid to them.

I find this all fascinating. I would rather go with what the Bible says about that promise than what Dispensationalists tell me.