The term “Holy Land” is frequently used today to describe the modern nation of Israel.

In the first part of this study we asked the question, “What does it mean to be holy?” Throughout the Bible, holiness is about being set apart for God’s presence and for God’s purpose. With that foundation in place, we now turn to a second essential question: “Who – or what – is “Israel”?

Many people today refer to the modern land of Israel as the “Holy Land.” But in doing so, they often assume a definition of “Israel” that doesn’t line up with the way the Bible itself uses the term. If we’re going to come to grips with what the Bible teaches about a holy land, we must also understand who or what “Israel” is.

A People, Not a Place

The word “Israel” in the Bible never refers to a piece of land. Yes, God gave the people of Israel a land to dwell in, and yes, that land had deep spiritual significance. But the term “Israel” itself always refers to a people – a special group of people who were in a covenant relationship with God, set apart for His purposes.

The name “Israel” comes from Genesis 32, when Jacob wrestled with a mysterious man, who was later revealed to be the angel of the LORD. It was this Angel who gave Jacob a new name: Israel, meaning “He who strives with God” (Genesis 32:28). Jacob’s twelve sons would become the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. From that moment forward “Israel” referred to the descendants of Jacob – not a geographical area, but a people in a covenant with the LORD.

Not Defined by Race

A common misconception, not only during the time of Christ, but extending even to today throughout much of modern evangelicalism, is that “Israel” refers to the ethnic Jewish people. Since “Israel” was used to refer to the descendants of Jacob, it is easy to see how many would easily draw this conclusion. However, a careful reading of Scripture quite clearly reveals that from the very beginning, the people of Israel included those from other nations who had chosen to align themselves with the LORD.

Here’s a few examples:

• Exodus 12:38 says that a “mixed multitude” left Egypt along with the Israelites
• Numbers 12:1 describes Moses’ wife as a Cushite
• Rahab, the woman who protected the spies in Jericho, was a Canaanite from Jericho (Joshua 2:1; 6:25)
• Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, was a Moabite (Ruth 1:4)
• Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s mighty men, wasn’t ethnically Jewish (2 Samuel 11:3)
• Esther 8:17 tells us that “many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews” out of fear and reverence

In Zechariah’s prophetic vision where God promises to restore and dwell in Jerusalem after Israel’s exile, an Angel proclaims that the time is coming when God’s covenant family will expand far beyond ethnic Israel to include people of all nations.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

Zechariah 2:11

Clearly, the biblical category of “Israel” was never tied exclusively to ethnicity. Instead, Israel has always included anyone who turns to the LORD in faithful obedience. This is exactly the point that the apostle Paul makes in Romans 2:28-29, when he says,

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

According to Paul, being an Israelite, a true Jew, is a matter of faithfulness. Rather than being marked out by a physical feature such as circumcision, they are marked out by the Spirit. The same God who welcomed foreigners in the Exodus, and welcomed Ruth and Rahab into the family of Israel, welcomes all those who turn to Him in faithful obedience today.

A Family Bound by Faith

In the first century, this non-ethnic definition of Israel stirred up controversy. Many Jewish people feared that including the Gentiles among God’s people would mean that God had abandoned His promises to Abraham. This concern stands behind much of what Paul said throughout his letter to the Romans. For instance, consider Paul’s words in Romans 9:6-8

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as offspring.

Here, Paul draws a sharp line between ethnic descent and those to whom God has promised an inheritance. God’s promises were never about bloodlines; they were about faithfulness. The true children of Abraham are those who act out of trust in God’s promises.

Jesus made this same point when speaking to a group of Jews:

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”

John 8:39

Then, just a few verses later, He declares that their true father is not Abraham, but the devil (John 8:44). Why? Because they rejected the truth of God’s Word.

And let’s not forget John the Baptist’s bold statement to the Pharisees:

And do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Matthew 3:9

In other words, physical descent means nothing without faithfulness to God.

Not the Modern Nation-State

Since Israel is not defined as the land itself, and not defined by an ethnic group of people, it should also be plain to see that the biblical definition of “Israel” does not apply to the modern nation-state of Israel. While some may contend that today’s Israel (founded in 1948) may have some distant cultural and genealogical connections to the people of the Bible, it is fundamentally a secular political entity, not a “holy nation” in the biblical sense.

The modern state of Israel does not function as a covenant people living under God’s law. Its borders are not defined by faithfulness to God. For this reason, it is a serious error to equate modern Israel with biblical Israel, or to take what the Bible says about Israel and apply it to modern Israel.

A Holy Nation

Peter calls the church, Jew and Gentile alike, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). This echoes the very language used by God for Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:6).

So yes, we may rightly speak of Israel as a “holy nation.” But only if we are using the term the way the Bible does – to describe a people, not a plot of land; and to describe a people who are set apart by the Spirit through their faithfulness to God.

Having carefully defined the term “holy,” and now having a biblical understanding of the term “Israel,” we can now return to the study of the land itself. In the next article we’ll ask the question “Why was Israel’s land considered holy?”