The use of "Palestine" as the name of the Holy Land in the Gospels?

[Lev23]

I can see why some take the view as calling the land as Palestine today, but why does the practice of referring to the Holy Land in the gospels as Palestine, not Israel, seem so popular with scripture readers, teachers and speakers. Do you practice this and why?

 

[puzzleannie]

it is my understanding from history classes that the use of “Palestine” to designate the area some call the Holy Land dates only as far back as the British mandate over the area, as does the designation of “Palestinia” as applied certain indigenous people from outside the area, who brought in by the British to populate it and act as a buffer population against the increasingly numerous Zionist Jewish settlers who began returning in the late 1800s.

 

[batteddy]

I can see why some take the view as calling the land as Palestine today, but why does the practice of referring to the Holy Land in the gospels as Palestine, not Israel, seem so popular with scripture readers, teachers and speakers. Do you practice this and why?

Because Palestine is the name of the region. “Israel” is a political term, the name of a nation and state. “Palestine” is originally a geographical term, like “the Levant”.

It’s like the term “asia minor”. The nation and state may be Turkey, but the geographic region is Asia Minor.

It’s like how “Taiwan” is the name of the nation, “Democratic Republic of China” is the name of the state, but “Formosa” is the name of the island. Even though they all basically coincide.

The political state, the socio-cultural nation, and the geographic country…are three different things.

Israel may be the name of the nation-state now there, but the region it inhabits is called Palestine.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

…There never was a Palestine. After the Romans murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews and destroyed entire cities they attempted to expunge any trace of Jews and Judaism from Israel. Thus they renamed the land after the ancient Philistines, a people who had creased to exist… link

 

[Lev23]

Because Palestine is the name of the region. “Israel” is a political term, the name of a nation and state. “Palestine” is originally a geographical term, like “the Levant”.

Israel may be the name of the nation-state now there, but the region it inhabits is called Palestine.

Again, scriptually, why do Christians regard the land(region) at the time of the gospels and afterwards as the land of Palestine?

According to Matthews Gospel, Heaven(Matt2:20), Matthew himself(Matt2:21) and Jesus(Matt10:23) refer to the land as Israel, not “palestine”.

No where else in the New Testament writings is the land referred to as Palestine.

The name palestine is rarely used in the Old Testament, and when it is used to describe the coastal region of southwest Israel that was occupied by the Philistines, who were from the start European peoples from the Adriatic Sea next to Greece. So in scripture, the term “Palestine” was never used to refer to the land as a whole.

So why do you?

 

[Leopard]

Because it is a name that clearly communicates to present day readers or hearers that region to which the name refers. A thousand years from now that region may commonly be known as Fnarfulland. If so, contemporary speakers or writers who want to discuss 20th-century developments in that region may speak of the Six Day War that was fought in Fnarfulland in 1967.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Lev23:

Again, scriptually, why do Christians regard the land(region) at the time of the gospels and afterwards as the land of Palestine?

…There never was a Palestine. After the Romans murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews and destroyed entire cities they attempted to expunge any trace of Jews and Judaism from Israel. Thus they renamed the land after the ancient Philistines, a people who had ceased to exist… link

 

[Leopard]

Your question has been answered, but you have reposted quoted material again. Is there some point you wish to elaborate?

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Leopard:

Your question has been answered, but you have reposted quoted material again. Is there some point you wish to elaborate?/

To whom are you replying? If it is to me, then I have not asked a question. And if it is to me, then the material I have reposted has never been addressed. Since it posits and demonstrates that Palestine was a name imposed by an imperial power on the region after committing genocide against its inhabitants, I am puzzled as to why this info has not stimulated some commentary. That’s why I reposted it.

 

[Leopard]

I beg your pardon. I did not notice that the person to repost the quotes was not the originator.

 

[Lev23]

That’s why I reposted it.

Thanks for the article, it speaks of many truths. It just baffles me why some Christians insist that the land is called “palestine”. The one who named the land as a whole as “palestine” was the Roman Emperor Hadrian around the year 135AD. His intention was to rid the land of all Jewish presence and the insult them by renaming the city of Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

 

[Lev23]

Because it is a name that clearly communicates to present day readers or hearers that region to which the name refers. A thousand years from now that region may commonly be known as Fnarfulland. If so, contemporary speakers or writers who want to discuss 20th-century developments in that region may speak of the Six Day War that was fought in Fnarfulland in 1967.

So spiritually speaking, today there is a “Our Lady of Palestine” some venerate. So are you saying a 1000 years from now they may refer to her as “Our Lady of Fnarfulland”?

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Lev23:

Thanks for the article, it speaks of many truths.

Michael Coren is one in a million. He is a Catholic Jew and an absolutely brilliant historian. He amazes me. He can pluck out whole tracts of history in an instant and apply them to current events with flawless logic and clarity.

He has in the past been known as being tremendously contentious but I believe he takes his adopted faith very seriously. A year ago, he went to the Holy Land just as the War in Lebanon broke out.

He came back on fire to create dialogue among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. He is very much less contentious than he has been and can visibly be seen to restrain himself even when folks are saying the most errant things you can imagine.

And he is all ours up here in Toronto the Good.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

So spiritually speaking, today there is a “Our Lady of Palestine” some venerate. So are you saying a 1000 years from now they may refer to her as “Our Lady of Fnarfulland”?

Our Lady is great. She appears to folks of all different faiths. We have an Our Lady of the Highway church up in Manitoulin Island.

 

[Leopard]

So spiritually speaking, today there is a “Our Lady of Palestine” some venerate. So are you saying a 1000 years from now they may refer to her as “Our Lady of Fnarfulland”?

They may, IF that particular title for Mary is popular at that time, IF persons at that time still speak a version of English that still contains those words unchanged in its vocabulary, and IF that land we today call Palestine is in fact called Fnarfulland at that time. (Obviously I made that example up. I do not claim to know what geopolitical names will be in use in the next millenium; only that they will probably be at least as different from those we use today as today’s are from those used in our past.)

 

[DRIVING_BEAR]

I would like to offer the following as food for thought.
Why is the land referred to today as the west bank referred to as the west bank. this is the area referred to as Judea and Samaria in the bible. The area of the west bank north of Jerusalem, is referred to as Samaria and the part of the west bank south of Jerusalem was referred to as Judea in the bible.

Many Jews and some evangelical Christians feel this and the reference to the holy land as Palestine is done as a political correct form anti semitism . After World war 2 it was politically incorrect to be anti semitic however many people still had anti Semitic feelings and referring to the holy land as Palestine and the west bank is a political correct way for people to express anti semitism