Robert G. Hoyland - The Oxford History of the Holy Land

In an aide-memoire following the First World War, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George wrote to his French opposite number Georges Clmenceau that Palestine was to be defined in accordance with its ancient boundaries of Dan to Beersheba. Lloyd George had been steeped in the Bible from his childhood, so that it is understandable, if politically astonishing, that he should have allowed his instinctive memory to influence his approach to modern political realities.

Different names and geographical definitions bedevil the history of this part of the world and none can do justice to the sweep of what we have set out to describe in the present volume. Precisely for that reason we have deliberately chosen the title Holy Land, a familiar name which has never featured on any map worth its salt. It serves to indicate that our intention here is far from politicaland that is one good reason why we have called a halt in our historical survey at just the point where Lloyd George was clarifying his thoughts on the post-war settlement. But just as we have stopped short of the modern era, so we have not included anything about the thousands of years of occupation which preceded the biblical period. The Carmel Caves, for instance, have yielded evidence of some of the earliest human occupation known worldwide, a testimony to the geographical centrality of the region as a link between Africa and Europe. Jericho has often been called the words first city, and archaeology has revealed much about human occupation throughout the millennia since then.

The Holy Land, however, conjures up an approach to territory which is more cultural, and specifically religious, than political, however closely intertwined the two were until relatively recently. This modest strip of land saw the birth of two world religions, Judaism and Christianity, and was of central significance to a third from its earliest days, Islam. It is sobering to recall that Jerusalem has been taken by military force by adherents of each of these three religions; no other city anywhere is of such central religious importance to each. It was therefore inevitable that we should begin our history with Abraham, whom each religion reveres. It is worth reflecting that according to our texts he owned no property in this land apart from a tomb, however, and that he had only limited engagement with the resident population.