If fundamentalists and evangelicals see a future for Jews in the land of Israel because of their understanding of Paul and Jesus, they also see Old Testament prophecy pointing in the same direction. They take seriously God's promises in Genesis (Gen. 12:7, 13:15, 15:18, 17:8) to give a land to Abraham's descendants. They cite Isaiah's vision for the renewal of Zion, especially in Isaiah 4:2-6, and for the perpetuation of a remnant. They believe that the promise of a kingdom for the new David in Isaiah 9:7 suggests a restored land, and note both Jeremiah's promise that the Jews would return to the land in chapter 32 and receive a new covenant (chap. 33), and Ezekiel's recurring theme of the ingathering of all the scattered Israelites in the land.
Furthermore, evangelical scholars are impressed by the overwhelming importance of land in Torah. Elmer Martens has noted that land is the fourth most frequent noun or substantive in the Old Testament, repeated 2504 times. He notes that it is more dominant statistically than the idea of covenant. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery contends that "next to God himself, the longing for land dominates all others [in the Old Testament]." Land is presented by Torah as a place of spiritual testing; its pollution by sin and Israel's consequent exiles are portrayed as analogous to humanity's fall from grace in Eden and consequent expulsion. Adam, formed from land, failed to protect it and therefore allowed the serpent (evil) access to it." Land also represents the human condition: "Good in principle, land is cursed as a result of humanity's sin, and people are alienated from it as well as being joined to it."
Therefore enjoyment of the land is not guaranteed. With the gift of land come stipulations that must be met to continue on the land. Martens writes of the covenantal obligations God imposed on Israel as conditions for continued enjoyment of the land: cities of refuge must be established for manslaughterers, religious and moral instruction must be given and carried out, dietary rules must be followed, sabbaths and jubilees for both land and people are to be observed, and the following behaviors are proscribed: harlotry, shedding of innocent blood, child sacrifice, sexual perversion, and the remarriage of a husband to a divorced wife (Dt. 19:7, 6:9, 12:20ff; Lev. 19:29, 23:10-11, 25:2, 25:8ff; Num. 35:29-34; Dt. 24:4; Lev. 18: 24-25). Disobedience would bring a curse on the land (Dt. 28:15-68), and the author of Leviticus explains that the Canaanites were "vomited out" from the land because of their sins (Lev. 18:24). McComiskey adds that security in the land is guaranteed by Deuteronomy only by continuing obedience to God's law (Dt. 5:32-33, 6:3, 8;19-20, 11:8f, 13-15). The Psalmists, he writes, especially emphasize the necessity of obedience to remain on the land (Ps. 37:27-29, 34; 85:1-2, 8-10, e.g.). Proverbs sounds a similar theme, as in 2:10: "The upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it." So do Isaiah (60:21, 62.4) and Jeremiah (3:16-18).
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Some conservative Christians, especially dispensationalists and fundamentalists, tend to ignore this theme of conditionality. They suggest that Israel should never be criticized, and that no Israeli claim to land should ever be challenged. But evangelicals, particularly non-dispensationalist evangelicals, have emphasized the conditionality of the promises. Gary Burge, New Testament scholar at Wheaton College, has noted that one line of conditions is the repeated commandment of the covenant to "love the alien as yourself." The Israelites were not to "oppress the alien," who "shall be to you as the citizen among you . . . for you were aliens in Egypt" (Lev. 19:33-34). Moses commanded that tithes be collected from Israelites to help poor aliens (Dt. 14:29, 26:12); wages were not to be withheld from aliens (Dt. 24:14); aliens were to use the same system of justice that was provided to Israelites (Dt. 1:16, 24:17, 27:19).
This was remarkably demonstrated by biblical patriarchs and kings. For example, the Canaanites were not displaced when God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants. Instead Abraham and the Canaanites became neighbors and trading partners. Abraham refused to accept parcels of that land as gifts from the natives, but insisted on paying (Gen. 23).
Joshua included aliens in public re-committals to the covenant (Josh. 8:33-35), and kept his agreement with non-Israelites, even when that agreement had been made under false pretenses (Josh. 9). Then he went so far as to risk the lives of his men to protect those non-Israelites in battle (Josh. 10:6-8).
David used foreigners (men from today's Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey) as soldiers and leaders in his army. Some became his trusted advisors (2 Sam. 23; 1 Chr. 11:10-47). Like Abraham, he insisted on buying land even when the land had been promised to him. Ornan, a Canaanite who owned land in pre-Israelite Jerusalem when it was called Jebus, offered land to David for what was to be the site for God's temple. David refused the gift and paid Ornan 100 shekels of gold (1 Chr. 21).
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