Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Shoshanna,

Although it was I who wrote that in present-day academic discourse it would 
be better not to use "Palestine" when referring to the Land in pre-Roman 
times, I don't recall the Torah ever calling it "Eretz Yisrael" either. In 
fact in the entire Tanakh, the term "Eretz Yisrael" is NEVER used as a 
general geographic name for the entire Land, but only for those parts that 
were occupied by Israelites during whatever period was being referred to. 
The one possible exception is relatively late, in Ezekiel 48:18, where the 
Jordan River is said to be the border between Gilead and "the land of 
Israel". But even here, Ezekiel was probably referring to the boundaries of 
the Neo-Babylonian period provinces, and using "the land of Israel" to refer 
to the province of Samaria.

In any case, as George wrote, "It will be taken as read that innocuous 
references to 'Palestine' are mere geographic labels which make no statement 
about current politics in the Middle East."



Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 3:20 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Calm Down! (FROM MODERATORS)


> G-d/the Torah doesn't use that term to denote this part of the earth,
> why does it have to do with politics to object to using it?  Why
> should it be used in the first place when talking about Torah?
>
> Shoshanna