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Continuing our discussion from part one, upon examining the Scriptures, I discovered that the phrases "river of Egypt" and "stream of Egypt" are mentioned a total of eight times, including the verses I previously shared with you from the Book of Genesis. Consider the following:

"Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: And your border shall turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadeshbarnea, and shall go on to Hazaraddar, and pass on to Azmon: And the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea."


"This then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families; even to the border of Edom the wilderness of Zin southward was the uttermost part of the south coast. And their south border was from the shore of the salt sea, from the bay that looketh southward: And it went out to the south side to Maalehacrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and ascended up on the south side unto Kadeshbarnea, and passed along to Hezron, and went up to Adar, and fetched a compass to Karkaa: From thence it passed toward Azmon, and went out UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT; and the goings out of that coast were at the sea: this shall be your south coast . . . Ashdod with her towns and her villages, Gaza with her towns and her villages, UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT, and the great sea, and the border thereof:"


"The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings: because the brasen altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days."


"And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt."


"Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath UNTO THE RIVER OF EGYPT."


"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river UNTO THE STREAM OF EGYPT, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel."


The previous verses are very telling insofar as the actual identity of the river of Egypt is concerned. For example, they very clearly describe what ancient Israel's southern border would be from the east to the west. The western edge of that border would terminate at "the river of Egypt, and the great sea". Please note that the latter phrase refers to the Mediterranean Sea. It is a verifiable historical fact that the southern border of Israel has never extended to the Nile River; not even at the height of the reigns of King David and his son, King Solomon.

Speaking of King Solomon, those verses describe a feast which he held. This feast occurred at the time that the first temple was dedicated, and the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the most holy place, also referred to as the oracle. We are told that this feast involved a "very great congregation" which is described as being "from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt". What these verses are actually saying is that this feast was held from the northern extremity of Israel, as one approached Hamath, to the southern extremity of Israel.

How do we know this? Well, because at that time, Hamath was a fortress city located on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria, to the northeast of the Syrian-Lebanese border. Today, Hamath is known as Hama, and it is the fourth largest city in Syria after Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. It is located one hundred and thirty-two miles north of Damascus, twenty-nine miles north of Homs, seventy-two miles northeast of Tripoli, Lebanon, and also one hundred thirty-nine miles northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. To help give you a degree of perspective regarding the region we are talking about, here are two maps. In the second map, Hamath is spelled "Hamah", and Homs is spelled "Hims". As you can see, "Hamah" is right on the Orontes River:





By delving into the Scriptures, we can gather a considerable amount of information regarding Hamath. The very first thing we discover is that the original inhabitants of Hamath were Canaanites. This point is easy to prove by looking at some of the genealogies which are found in Genesis chapter ten:

"And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad."


The next thing we learn is that during his reign, King David conquered, or at least controlled, lands as far north as the Euphrates River in the eastern portion of Syria. Please note that the kingdom of Zobah -- also known as Hamathzobah -- was located somewhere to the northeast of Damascus, apparently to the west of the Euphrates River. Some sources claim that it corresponds to the modern Syrian city of Aleppo, while others identify it with Homs, Syria. And yet others believe that Zobah was in the Beqaa Valley of modern-day Lebanon. Consider this set of verses which describe David's conquests there:

"David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceeding much brass. When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, Then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass: Which also king David did dedicate unto the LORD, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he subdued; Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men."


"And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Syriadamascus; and the Syrians became Davids servants, and brought gifts. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. Likewise from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, brought David very much brass, wherewith Solomon made the brasen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass. Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah; He sent Hadoram his son to king David, to enquire of his welfare, and to congratulate him, because he had fought against Hadarezer, and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had war with Tou;) and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass."


After King David gained control of the lands around Hamath and Zobah, his son, King Solomon, continued to exert power over those same lands. In fact, it appears that Solomon was able to expand his control all the way up to the northern course of the Euphrates River. Again, consider the following group of verses:

"And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomons provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him."


"And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. Also he built Bethhoron the upper, and Bethhoron the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; And Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day."


To help you to better visualize the various points we have been discussing here, allow me to share four maps with you. There are actually quite a few of these online maps. I have chosen four of the better ones and reduced some of them in size so that they all have the same width. All of these maps share several points in common, which I will share with you after you have taken a moment to examine then:









Taking into consideration that all four of these maps were made by different people at different times, and that they all probably come from different backgrounds, consider the following points which these maps have in common:

1. All of them show the northern border of the kingdoms of David and Solomon terminating at the Euphrates River in the northeastern sector of Syria.

2. All of them show the southern border of Israel terminating near the "River of Egypt", also known as the "Brook of Egypt", along the northern edge of the Sinai Peninsula.

3. NONE of them show the eastern border of Israel extending across the Arabian Desert, to the Euphrates River in the land which was then known as Mesopotamia, and today as Iraq.

4. NONE of them show the southern border of Israel extending all the way down to the Nile River in Egypt.

In short, at the height of their kingdoms, David and Solomon possessed all of the land which had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Joshua. At no other time in Israelite history did the Israelites gain more land than what you see in the previous maps. In fact, while King Solomon was able to expand his control all the way up to the northern course of the Euphrates River, apparently even surpassing the control of his father, King David, it appears that this was only a temporary situation. As you can see by the verses below, his control over that region of Syria eventually returned to the Syrians:

"And God stirred him [King Solomon] up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah: And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria."


Furthermore, in the Second Book of the Kings, we discover that during the reign of Jeroboam -- the king of Israel who ruled from the city of Samaria -- Jeroboam apparently fought with Azariah, the king of Judah, and took back Damascus and Hamath from him. Consider the following group of verses:

"In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?"


While we have now discussed Syrian and Israelite control over this area of Syria, it also needs to be mentioned that the Egyptians likewise controlled a strip of land through Israel, and up into western Syria. Please note that in the verses which follow, Riblah was located somewhere in the kingdom of Hamath:

"In his days [the days of King Josiah] Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he [the king of Egypt] slew him [Josiah] at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his fathers stead. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold."


The picture that is emerging here is that control of this western-southwestern region of Syria around Damascus, Hamath and Zobah was constantly switching between the kings of Syria, the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, the kings of Judah, and the pharaoh of Egypt. However, this same region eventually fell under the control of the Babylonians -- who were basically Assyrians -- when King Nebuchadnezzar fought against, and defeated, the king of Egypt, and took control of the land which the pharaoh had controlled up to that time. Consider the following verse which I shared with you earlier:

"And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt."


Please notice in that verse how the river of Egypt is used to mark the northern border of the land which was controlled by the king of Egypt. If we accept that "river of Egypt" is referring to Nahal Besor or Wadi el-Arish, as we discussed in part one, the verse makes perfect sense. However, if we accept the bogus claim that "river of Egypt" refers to the Nile River, it makes no sense at all. Why not? Well, because the Nile River flows vertically -- south to north -- through Egypt until it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Are we to assume then that the king of Egypt was not able to cross from the western side of the Nile River to the eastern side within his own land? So, as you can see again, claiming that God promised the Israelites land all the way down to the Nile River is utterly false.

As I explain in other articles, due to the multitude of her sins, for some forty years, the Prophet Jeremiah warned the people of Judah that God would soon heap judgment upon them. However, they just refused to abandon their worship of the false gods, which included sacrificing their very own sons and daughters to Molech. As a result, during the reign of the final king of Judah -- Zedekiah -- God kept His Word. Thus, Jerusalem was taken, the temple was destroyed, and King Zedekiah, his sons, and other noblemen, were taken to Riblah in Hamath, where King Nebuchadnezzar had set up his headquarters. While Zedekiah was spared death, the rest of his men were killed. Consider the following set of verses:

"So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the kings house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great mans house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about . . . And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land."


While there are other mentions of Hamath and Zobah in the Old Testament, with all of the previous verses, I have now shared with you the most important and significant mentions of the same. The same applies to mention of the Euphrates River, as it pertains to the dimensions of the land which was conquered and controlled by the Israelites at various times. From the aforementioned verses, we can draw two important conclusions. First of all, outside of the land of Canaan itself, Israelite control stretched into the western part of Syria, and seemingly as far east as the Euphrates River in eastern Syria. However, that area was eventually lost.

The second point is that in all the verses I have shared with you, absolutely no mention is made of the Israelites ever controlling any part of the Euphrates River which runs through Iraq which was then known as Mesopotamia. As we have seen, during the reigns of King David and King Solomon, they did exert some control over the western, southwestern and eastern parts of Syria, but that was it. So as I have stated from the beginning, the idea that God promised to give the Israelites -- or the modern Israelis -- the land which is currently occupied by the nation of Iraq is just a load of nonsense. It is false, deceptive Zionist propaganda.

At this point in our discussion, I am going to share with you again 1 Kings 4:21-24, as well as some verses from the Second Book of Chronicles where King Solomon is mentioned, because they further describe the north to south extent of the land which was given to the Israelites:

"And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomons provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him."


"And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt."


In the previous set of verses, we are given three distinct points of reference, from the north to the south. "From the river" is referring to the Euphrates River in the north. The phrase "the land of the Philistines" refers to the coastal areas, including the Gaza Strip. Lastly, the phrase "border of Egypt" is referring to one of the two streams we talked about in part one. In other words, the southern border. So these verses again clarify the full length of the kingdom over which King Solomon reigned. He at no time ruled over any part of Egypt, because that land was NEVER promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses or Joshua.

In the following verse that is taken from the Book of Exodus, we are given additional information regarding the land which the Israelites would control. In the verse below, the phrase "sea of the Philistines" is referring to the Mediterranean Sea, because as I said a moment ago, the Philistines dwelt in the coastal areas of ancient Palestine, particularly around the Gaza Strip area:

"And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee."


So what we see being described in the previous verse is the southern border of ancient Israel. It begins at the Red Sea -- near the Gulf of Aqaba where Israel's southernmost port city of Eilat is located -- and then stretching diagonally northwestward as it hugs along the northern edge of the Sinai Peninsula -- which is located to the west of the Red Sea -- until it has reached the Mediterranean Sea. This is just like modern Israel's southern border today. In short, that border has not changed very much over the millennia, because that is the southern boundary which God clearly promised to Abraham and his descendants, and no further south. Certainly not down to the Nile River.

Exodus 23:31 likewise says "from the desert unto the river". This phrase can possibly mean two things. First, it could be referring to the region known as the Negev Desert -- which to this day occupies the southern portion of Israel -- and stretching to Wadi el-Arish or else to Nahal Besor in the west, both of which empty into the Mediterranean Sea. So it seems that the phrase "from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines" and the phrase "from the desert unto the river" could be describing the same east-to-west southern border of ancient Israel in two different ways.

On the other hand, the phrase "from the desert unto the river" could just as well be describing the full length of Israelite control -- that is, from the south to the north -- from the Negev Desert in southern Israel, to the Euphrates River in the north. Please don't forget that in previous verses, we have seen that sometimes the Euphrates is simply described as "the river", or as "the great river", without mentioning it by its proper name. Let me also mention that in ancient times, the Euphrates River was also known as the "Phrath". This is in fact the Hebrew word which is used in Genesis 2:14:

"And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates."


To reiterate, in part one of this series, I shared several verses with you which include the phrase "from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt", as well as the phrase "from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates". These phrases are both describing the complete length of the area which ancient Israel controlled. However, they do so in opposite directions. In other words, the first phrase is describing from north to south, while the second phrase is describing from south to north. In short, insofar as the full length of Israelite control is concerned, they are really synonymous terms.

One thing which should be absolutely clear to you by now, is the fact that neither of these two phrases has anything to do whatsoever with the lower length of the Euphrates River which flows through the modern-day nation of Iraq, until it finally reaches the Persian Gulf. To reiterate, God never once promised any of that land or even control of that area to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Joshua. In fact, if one carefully studies the division of the land of Canaan between the twelve tribes of Israel after Joshua and the Israelites had conquered it, he will find absolutely zero mention of Iraq -- or its ancient name of Mesopotamia, meaning "land between two rivers" -- in any verse at all where those land divisions are discussed. That fact alone makes a very clear statement.

Please go to part three for the continuation of this series.

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