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What about all that land?

Genesis 15:18-21

Some Bible scholars have suggested that the promise of land to Abram's (Abraham's) descendants should not be taken literally. They say the promise of the land is merely a symbol that indicates a general blessing or perhaps the promise of heaven. But the Bible is specific here. Genesis 15:18 describes the land in definite terms and outlines it with true geographical boundaries. Ezekiel fixes the northern boundary of Israel at Hamath, 100 miles north of Damascus (Ezek. 48:1), and the southern boundary at Kadesh, about 100 miles south of Jerusalem (Ezek. 48:28). Moreover, the listing of the people groups who lived in Canaan at the time (15:19–21) demonstrates that actual territories are being discussed.

"The River of Egypt" refers not to the Nile but to a waterway that has long been viewed as the geographical boundary between Egypt and Canaan: the Wadi el-Arish, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea about 50 miles south of Gaza. The northern boundary is called "the great River", the River Euphrates (15:18). Here, reference is to the sections of the Euphrates system in the far north. The western border is the Mediterranean Sea. Nothing is stated in this verse of the more undefined eastern border.

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