Joshua 1:3-5

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 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.

Here Joshua recounts how God told him that he'd given his people everything that lies between Lebanon and the Euphrates River, including the region inhabited by the Hittites (which is simply the middle area in Syria between the other two landmarks).

Landmarks black / promised lands yellow

This is a very large area for Joshua's tribe to conquer, and contains many other groups already living there, but God tells them not to worry, he's already sworn the land to them (and to Moses and the rest of the older generation before them) and they'll be dividing the land amongst their children in no time. To emphasize his point again, God tells him that "there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life."

So that's a pretty straightforward prophecy, and one specific enough that we can easily check into how it actually played out for the Israelites. As it turns out, we don't have to look any further than the bible to read how the Israelites' conquest turned out.

Joshua 15:63
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.

Joshua 16:10
And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.

Joshua 17:12-13
Yet the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. Yet it came to pass, when the children of Israel were waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but did not utterly drive them out.

Judges 1:21
And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

Judges 1:27-36
Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

Ouch... that's a whole lot of tribes who didn't seem to have much of a problem being "able to stand before thee" Joshua.

Too bad for Joshua, the bible's pretty clear on what happens to false prophets.

Revelations 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If there's such a thing as hell, Joshua is in it.

Jeremiah 25:12

Jeremiah 25:12
"And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations."

The king of Babylon has made God pretty angry by destroying Solomon's Temple. Jeremiah reports that the punishment God has relayed is that (in 70 more years) he will punish the king and the entire nation by leaving the state in abandoned, uninhabitable ruins forever.

So what does the area of "Babylon" look like today?

Oops!

Actually, I think it's only fair that we read a little further to make sure we're not misunderstanding things here. Is Jeremiah really saying that god will keep Babylon in ruins forever? As it turns out, reading more of the book shows us that that's precisely what Jeremiah's trying to say.

51:26
And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

51:29
And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

51:43
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

Well that's pretty clear. So why exactly will no city ever be there again?

Easy! Because of all the dragons!

51:37 -58
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.

In any case, Iraq exists, there are no dragons in Baghdad, and the bible's pretty clear on what happens to false prophets like Jeremiah.

Revelations 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If there's a hell, it looks like Jeremiah's in it.

Isaiah 13:21-22

Like Jeremiah, Isaiah lived during the time of the destruction of Solomon's Temple during the conquering of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians. As it turns out, Isaiah wasn't any happier about this than Jeremiah was, and like Jeremiah, his prophesies for the future of Babylon seem to get colored accordingly.

Almost immediately we're covering much of the same text, almost word-for-word in some parts. Mostly Babylon-related threat-prophecies about how God will soon be destroying the city, but Isaiah does at least try to spice things up with a nice new bit about murdering Babylonians specifically by killing the children in front of the parents, then raping the wives... a nice touch I thought.

Isaiah 13:15-16
Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

Unfortunately not long after that we're back to Jeremiah's familiar dragon territory again.

Isaiah 13:21
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

Isaiah 13:22
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Et tu Isaiah?

Alright, well let's have one more quick look at modern-day Babylon just to be sure.

And then for comparison...

First Jeremiah and now Isaiah with the same false prophesy.

Well, let this be a lesson to all of you:

Or else.

Revelations 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If there's a hell, it looks like Isaiah's in it.

2 Samuel 7

2nd Samuel 7:13
He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

In chapter 7 of 2nd Samuel, we start off with King David taking a break from killing his neighbors (and possibly doing his part to help rid Lebanon of its forests). As he's resting, resident prophet Nathan, receives a vision regarding the king and instructions to pass on the message to him.

The message starts off with God reminding David that he was with him from the very beginning when David was tending sheep. Not only that, but God's still around around to high-five David as he's killing everyone living in the lands that the Israelites believe should belong to them.

2SAM 7:9 David high-fives God after a conquest.
(Dramatic Reenactment)

By verse 10 the actual fortune-telling finally gets going. King David is told that the children of Israel have had to move around too much, and they need a permanent place to be planted.

In verse 12 David is told that he will rule this permanently established kingdom until the end of his life, at which time his offspring will assume leadership and keep his kingdom going. Verse 13 tells us once again: this kingdom of David will last forever.

Verses 14-16 tell us that even if David or his kingdom get into any "iniquity," he'll punish him a bit, but also show the kingdom mercy. Allowing it to persist forever no matter what.

Not too much is said here about the specifics of this permanent place, except that God will no longer have to live in a tent once they finally build him a decent house (verses 6-7).

So how exactly did things play out for King David and his kingdom? Well, in around 1000 BCE, King David has established his "permanent" kingdom and rules from Jerusalem, his capital. There he finally builds God a decent place to live 40 years later in 960 BCE.

Problems arise from within though and in about 30 years the kingdom becomes divided into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

About 100 years after that, Israel is crushed by the Assyrians.

In another 100 years or so, Judah is conquered by the Babylonians.

By this time, not only are most jews exiled from their "permanent" home, God's new house has been destroyed as well.

Things aren't looking too good for Nathan at this point.

Revelations 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If there's such a thing as hell, it looks like Nathan is in it.

Amos 9:15

Chapter 9 is quite short and to the point (link). Amos sees his god standing at an altar and telling him that his followers will be victorious against the evil cities that lie between the jews and their "promised land." God says that even if their enemies dig to hell or flee into the mountains they'll not get away, all of them are to be killed.

About this time, Amos and/or god starts to get a little carried away. God explains that he's going to touch the land of their enemies, make it "melt", and cause it to rise and drown them like the "flood" used to defeat the Egyptian army during the jewish escape from Egypt.

Amos 9:5
"And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt."

Amos 9:5 (Artist's rendering)

If that's really how things are going to go, I don't think they're going to have to worry about chasing down any fleeing survivors.

That sort of weird stuff goes on for a couple of verses and then we get to the post-war plans. First of all, verse 11 explains that the fallen temple of David will be raised again. Fair enough.

Verse 14 has the jews rebuilding and inhabiting those cities that they destroyed earlier and enjoying a nice life with plenty of gardens and vineyards. Nothing too crazy there.

On to verse 15, "And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God."

So after the jews escape from Egypt and fight their way to their promised land, they'll never be displaced from it again? That's what we'd expect to hear if Amos was just dictating his own hopes and wishful thinking, but not someone who actually has divine insight into the future of Israel/Palestine.

It actually wouldn't take anytime at all before this prophecy would be shown to be wrong. The book of Amos was written right around 750 BCE. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website shows that about 30 years later, in 722-720 BCE, Israel is "crushed by the Assyrians." As if that wasn't enough, 135 years later, what's left of Israel is conquered again by the Babylonians. As we can see today those "sinful kingdoms" of the surrounding area still haven't let up and the Jews still do not have undisputed access to the area.

So in short, this "promised land" exists today, but the Jews didn't end up possessing it forever as prophesied by Amos and, in fact, his prophesy only took about 30 years to disprove itself.

Too bad for Amos, the bible's pretty clear on what happens to false prophets.

Revelations 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

If there's such a thing as hell, Amos is in it.