Philip Dampier's Blog

Israel, Not Palestine

The Bible speaks of a land known as Israel. It was sometimes referred to as the Promised Land and the Holy Land but never as Palestine. Palestine did not exist until several years after Jesus’ death.

When you refer to Bible characters and stories do not place them in Palestine but in Israel. Today, the connotation of Palestine carries with it a lot of non-biblical baggage. The name Palestine was given to the land of Israel by Rome as an insult to the Jewish people. It is connected to the Philistines who had long since disappeared when the Romans started using Palestine to designate Israel in the late AD 50’s.

Task for Today: Using Israel exclusively for the Holy Land is just a way to be biblically correct. It also is a good way to avoid confusion about who owned the land in Biblical times.