Pages 2-6, 11: winter 1991

    YAHWEH'S FAILED LAND PROMISE 

                          Farrell Till 

   In their desperate efforts to prove that the Bible was verbally inspired of 
God, inerrancy believers often point to prophecy fulfillment.  In my debate 
with Bill Jackson, he referred to "multiplied dozens of Old Testament prophet-
ic utterances, fulfilled in minute detail in the New Testament, and in such a 
manner that there could be no contrivance at all,"  (Jackson-Till Debate, p. 
3).  As is true of all who use the prophecy-fulfillment argument, Jackson 
could only claim "multiplied dozens" of prophecy fulfillments; he could not cite 
a single verifiable example of a fulfilled OT prophecy.

   As I said in the debate, the "prophecy fulfillments" that are invariably 
cited in support of this argument never actually "happened except in the 
fertile imaginations of a few religious mystics whose fanciful interpretations of 
certain events have been swallowed hook, line, and sinker by gullible people 
like our Mr. Jackson," (Jackson-Till Debate, p. 17).  When logical analysis is 
applied to these alleged instances of prophecy fulfillment, it quickly becomes 
obvious that there is no real evidence of fulfillment. Time would fail me if I 
tried to analyze the many alleged prophecy fulfillments that inerrantists have 
pointed to, so instead I will concentrate on a failed prophecy that they never 
say much about.

   On several occasions prophetic statements were made in the Pentateuch 
about the land that Yahweh, the tribal god of the Israelites, had promised to 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  These were clearly stated promises that Yahweh 
would give the land of the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Periz-
zites, Hivites, and Jebusites to the seed of Abraham.  In Deuteronomy 7:17-
24, for example, Yahweh presumably made this emphatic promise:

     If thou shalt say in thy heart, These nations are more than I; 
   how can I dispossess them?  Thou shalt not be afraid of them: thou 
   shalt well remember what Yahweh thy God did unto Pharaoh, and 
   unto all Egypt; the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the 
   signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched 
   arm, whereby Yahweh thy God brought thee out: so shall Yahweh 
   thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid.  Moreover 
   Yahweh thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that 
   are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee.  Thou shalt 
   not be affrighted at them; for Yahweh thy God is in the midst of 
   thee, a great God and a terrible.  And Yahweh thy God will cast 
   out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not 
   consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon 
   thee. But Yahweh thy God will deliver them up before thee, and 
   will discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be de-
   stroyed.  And he will deliver their kings unto thy hand, and thou 
   shalt make their name to perish from under heaven: there shall no 
   man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them," 
   (ASV with Yahweh substituted for Jehovah).

The substance of this prophecy was repeated in such places as Exodus 23:20-
33; Deut. 4:33-39, Deut. 7:1-2, and Deut. 31:1-8.  In some of these pas-
sages, the names of the "seven nations greater and mightier than thou" to be 
driven out of the land were also specified as they were above: the Amorites, 
the Canaanites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and 
the Perizzites.   


     When Joshua assumed the leadership of Israel after the death of Moses, 


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the land promise was renewed in very specific terms: 

     Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of 
   Yahweh that Yahweh spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' 
   minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go 
   over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I 
   do give to them, even to the children of Israel.  Every place that 
   the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I 
   spake unto Moses.  From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even 
   unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hit-
   tites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, 
   shall be your border.  There shall not any man be able to stand 
   before thee all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so I will 
   be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.  Be strong and 
   of good courage; for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land 
   which I sware unto their fathers to give them, (Joshua 1:1-6, ASV, 
   Yahweh substituted).  

Just before crossing the Jordan, Joshua repeated the promise: 

     And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and 
   hear the words of Yahweh your God.  And Joshua said, Hereby ye 
   shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will 
   without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hit-
   tite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the 
   Amorite, and the Jebusite.  Behold, the ark of the covenant of the 
   Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into the Jordan," 
   (Joshua 3:9-11).

To stress the emphatic nature of parts of the land promises that Yahweh made 
to Israel, I have underlined certain statements. So when all of the passages I 
have quoted and listed are considered, we see that the prophecies included 
all of the following:

     Without fail, God would  drive out of the land beyond the Jordan 
   ALL of the people then possessing it.
     No man among these people would be able to stand before the 
   Israelites all the days of their lives.
     The Israelites would drive out the nations possessing the land and 
   utterly destroy them and the memory of their name under heaven.
     They were to make no covenants with the nations in this land or 
   show mercy to them (Deut. 7:2).
     Every place that the sole of their feet would tread upon, God 
   would give to them.
     Their empire would stretch from the Red Sea unto the river Eu
   phrates and from  the great sea  (Mediterranean) toward the going 
   down of the sun.

To circumvent obvious contradictions that result when Yahweh's promises are 
compared to biblical history recorded later, inerrantists contend that the land 
promises made to the Israelites were conditional  on their good behavior, but 
there is no support for that dodge in the Bible.  In Deuteronomy 9:3-7, 
another prophetic passage relating to the land promise, specific notice was 
taken of the fact that the Israelites of the then present generation were 
themselves undeserving of the land but that it would be given to them for the 
sake of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: 


     Know therefore this day, that Yahweh thy God is he who goeth 
   over before thee as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he 
   will bring them down before thee: so shalt thou drive them out, and 
   make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh hath spoken unto thee. 


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   Speak not thou in thy heart, after that Yahweh thy God hath thrust 
   them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Yahweh 
   hath brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wicked-
   ness of these nations Yahweh doth drive them out from before thee. 
   Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, 
   dost thou go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of 
   these nations Yahweh thy God doth drive them out from before 
   thee, AND THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH  THE  WORD  WHICH  YAHWEH
   SWARE UNTO THY FATHERS, TO  ABRAHAM,  TO  ISAAC,  AND  TO
   JACOB.  Know therefore, that Yahweh thy God giveth thee not this 
   good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-
   necked people.

So here is another clear statement.  God was not giving the land to the Is-
raelites because of their righteousness; in fact, he considered them a stiff-
necked, undeserving people. (See also Exodus 33:1-6.)  He was giving the 
land to them because of the unconditional promise that he had made to Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Unless he did this, he would have reneged on a 
promise made to the patriarchs with no strings attached, (Gen. 12:7; 13:14-
16).  

   The unconditional nature of Yahweh's land promise was restated in Leviti-
cus 26:42-45: 

     Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my cove-
   nant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remem-
   ber; and I will remember the land.  The land also shall be left by 
   them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lieth desolate without 
   them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; 
   because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul 
   abhorred my statutes.  And yet for all that, when they are in the 
   land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor 
   them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; 
   for I am Yahweh their God; but I will for their sakes remember the 
   covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land 
   of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I 
   am Yahweh.

So time and time again, it was specifically said that the Israelites would be 
given the land of Canaan, REGARDLESS OF THEIR OWN CONDUCT, so that 
Yahweh could fulfill the promise that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
Inerrantists who deny this are denying biblical statements worded just as 
plainly as anything ever said on the subject of creation, the resurrection, 
baptism, final judgment, and other important Christian doctrines. 

   As proof that the land promise was dependent on the good behavior of the 
Israelites, inerrantists like to cite Exodus 23:20-33 where a conditional sug-
gestion was attached to the promise: "But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto 
his voice (the angel that was to go before them, FT) and do all that he 
speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto 
thine adversaries."  In emphasizing the if in this verse, they overlook an im-
portant point.  If Yahweh said that he would fulfill the promises made to 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob regardless of the wickedness of the generation 

that went in to possess the land, he could not turn around later and say that 
he would make good his promise only if the people were obedient.  That 
would put a contradiction into the scriptures that the inerrantists would have 
to explain, because the land promise could not have been both conditional and 
unconditional at the same time.  And clearly the passages cited earlier were 
unconditional in promising the land to the Israelites.

   So after Yahweh had unconditionally promised to the Israelites that they 


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would be given the land beyond the Jordan, under Joshua's leadership they 
went in to possess it, and initially the Bible claims that they succeeded.  The 
claim, in fact, was that Joshua thoroughly and completely subdued the land: 

     So Joshua smote ALL the land, the hill-country, and the South, 
   and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings: he left none 
   remaining, but he utterly destroyed all that breathed, AS YAHWEH, 
   THE GOD OF ISRAEL, COMMANDED.  And Joshua smote them from 
   Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even 
   unto Gibeon.  And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at 
   one time, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. 
   And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to 
   Gilgal, (Joshua 10:40-43, ASV, Yahweh for Jehovah).

   In places, the Bible is almost boringly repetitious, but this writing char-
acteristic of the "inspired" spokesmen of God often works to the advantage of 
those who seek to debunk the myth that God verbally inspired the writing of 
the Bible.  In this case, it makes it easy to establish that a complete, unqual-
ified fulfillment of the land promises was claimed by the "inspired" men who 
wrote the Old Testament.  Consider, for example, the clearly stated claim of 
the following passages:

     And Yahweh said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them (the 
   armies of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Hivites 
   poised for battle against the Israelites, FT); for tomorrow at this 
   time will I deliver them up ALL slain before Israel: thou shalt hock 
   their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.  So Joshua came, 
   and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of 
   Merom suddenly, and fell upon them. And Yahweh delivered them 
   into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, and chased them unto 
   great Sidon, and unto Misrephothmaim, and unto the valley of 
   Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them none 
   remaining.  And Joshua did unto them as Yahweh bade him: he 
   hocked their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire.  And 
   Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote the 
   king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of 
   all those kingdoms.  And they smote all the souls that were therein 
   with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them; THERE WERE 
   NONE LEFT THAT BREATHED: and he burnt Hazor with fire.  And 
   all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua 
   take, and he smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly 
   destroyed them; as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded.  But 
   as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of 
   them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn.  And all the spoil of 
   these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey 
   unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the 
   sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any that 
   breathed.  As Yahweh commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses 
   command Joshua: and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all 

   that Yahweh commanded Moses, (Joshua 11:6-15, Yahweh substi-
   tuted).

     So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh 
   spake unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel 
   according to their divisions by their tribes.  And the land had rest 
   from war, (Joshua 11:23, Yahweh substituted).

     So Yahweh gave unto Israel ALL the land which he sware to give 
   unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.  And 
   Yahweh gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware 
   unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies 


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   before them; Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand. 
   THERE FAILED NOT AUGHT OF ANY  GOOD  THING  WHICH  YAHWEH
   HAD SPOKEN UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.  ALL CAME  TO  PASS,
   (Joshua 21:43-45, Yahweh substituted).

These statements are fully as clear as Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38.  Yahweh 
gave unto Israel ALL the land that he swore to give to their fathers, and the 
dimensions of that land were clearly laid out in such passages as Exodus 
23:20-33 and Joshua 1:1-6.  Its borders extended from the Red Sea to the 
sea of the Philistines, from the wilderness, to Lebanon, and to the great 
river Euphrates.  Furthermore, the fulfillment claims state that the Israelites 
left none alive to breathe and that not a man of all their enemies stood before 
them. Who were those enemies?  Time and time again, they were named in the 
land prophecies: the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, 
the Hivites, the Jebusites, and the Perizzites.  Yet after audaciously claiming 
in the passages noted above that every aspect of Yahweh's land promise had 
been fulfilled, the writer(s) turned around and brazenly admitted that some 
parts of the land were not conquered and some of the peoples in these lands 
were not driven out:  

     Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years; and Yahweh said 
   unto him, Thou art old and well stricken in years, and there re-
   maineth yet very much land to be possessed.  This is the land that 
   yet remaineth: all the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshu-
   rites; from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the border 
   of Ekron northward, which is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five 
   lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashke-
   lonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim, on the 
   south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongeth to 
   the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the border of the Amorites; and the 
   land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from 
   Baalgad under mount Hermon unto the entrance of Hamath; all the 
   inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon unto Misrephothmaim, 
   even all the Sidonians; them will I drive out from before the chil-
   dren of Israel: only allot thou it unto Israel for an inheritance, as I 
   have commanded thee, (Joshua 13:1-6, Yahweh substituted).

This statement flatly contradicts the claim in Joshua 11:23 that Joshua "took 
the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spake unto Moses" so that the 
land had rest from war.  All of the territorial regions singled out in this 
passage as land that remained to be possessed lay within the boundaries that 
were laid out in Joshua 1:1-6 to specify the scope of the land that Yahweh 
would give to the Israelites.  So if Joshua had indeed taken "the WHOLE 
land, according to all that Yahweh spake unto Moses," as claimed In Joshua 
11:23, how could it be said later  that "very much land" remained to be 

possessed?  Perhaps some of our inerrantist readers can answer this ques-
tion. They are good at coming up with far-fetched, how-it-could-have-been 
scenarios to "explain" obvious contradictions in the Bible.  

   Most of the rest of the book of Joshua and the better part of Judges 
contradict all of the fulfillment claims that I have noted above.  Joshua 15:63 
says, "And as for the JEBUSITES, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children 
of Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children 
of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day."  Yet the Jebusites were specifically 
named as one of the seven nations "greater and mightier than thou" that 
would be utterly destroyed.  Joshua 16:10 says, "And they drove not out the 
CANAANITES that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of 
Ephraim unto this day, and are become servants to do taskwork."  But the 
Canaanites were specifically listed as one of the seven nations that would be 
utterly destroyed.  Joshua 17:12-13 says, "Yet the children of Manasseh 
could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would 


                           5

dwell in that land.  And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were 
waxed strong, that they put the Canaanites to taskwork, and did not utterly 
drive them out."  Yet the promise had clearly been that the Canaanites would 
be utterly driven out, that NO MAN would be able to stand before the Israel-
ites all the days of their lives.  Making servants  of them can hardly be 
considered fulfillment of a prophecy declaring that they would be "utterly 
driven out."  In fact, it contradicts a restriction noted on page three that 
expressly prohibited the Israelites from making covenants with the inhabitants 
of their promised land.

   In Joshua 16:10; 17:12-13; Judges 1:1-5; 1:9; 1:21; 1:27-36; 3:1-6 and 
many other places, references are made to the people that the Israelites could 
not drive out of the land, and many of these were specific references to 
people from the "seven nations greater and mightier than thou" that Yahweh 
promised that he would drive out WITHOUT FAIL.  But he didn't, and so the 
inerrancy (see PROMISE, p. 11) champions have some serious explaining to 
do.  IF "Yahweh gave unto Israel ALL the land which he sware to give unto 
their fathers" (Joshua 21:43-45) and IF "they possessed it (the land) and 
dwelt therein" (same passage) and IF Yahweh "gave them rest round about, 
according to ALL that he sware unto their fathers" (same passage) and IF 
"there stood not a man of ALL their enemies before them" (same passage) and 
IF "Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand" (same passage) and IF 
"there failed not AUGHT of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken unto 
the house of Israel" (same passage) and IF "all came to pass" (same 
passage), how could it have been that some of the enemies of Israel were still 
in the land during the time of the book of Judges and how could it have been 
that some of the people of the "seven nations greater and mightier than thou" 
were still dwelling with the children of Israel "unto this day"?  

   Someone has a lot of explaining to do, and it isn't those of us who reject 
the inerrancy doctrine.
               ____________________________________


      INERRANCY DEBATES IN PRINT 

   Skepticism, Inc., has reissued the Laws-Till Debate. After challenging 
Farrell Till to a written debate on the inerrancy question, James H. Laws, a 
Church-of-Christ preacher in the Spiritual Sword faction, quit after only 
three exchanges. The fifty pages that were exchanged prior to his withdrawal 



will explain why.  Available at publishing cost, $2 ppd. Send orders to the 
address on page 2.
   The Jackson-Till Debate has been published by the Southwest Church of 
Christ, 8900 Manchaca Road, Austin, TX 78748.  Cost is $2.25 ppd. Direct all 
orders to the publisher.


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