The Promised Land and the Heritage of the Children of Israel

When God spoke to Moses, before sending him to stand in front of Pharaoh, He told him to tell the Children of Israel: “I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’” (Exodus 6:8)

As we all know, the Children of Israel wandered in the desert for forty years and did not actually enter the Land of Israel nor did they have the land as a “possession.” What does this mean?

In the King James Bible, it is written:

“I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.”(Exodus 6:8) KJV

“Heritage” and “possession” have quite different meanings in English but it is very interesting to look closely at these words in Hebrew. In the original Hebrew. the Bible uses the word “morasha” {מורשה} – which derived from the Hebrew root Y-R-SH {י-ר-ש} that can be understood as both “possession” or “heritage” as well as “legacy” and “inheritance”. All four of these terms are strongly connected in Hebrew and suggest that the Land of Israel is not only the inheritance of the Children of Israel but also their heritage and their legacy.