This essay reflects on the theological question of the future of Israel. Blaising defines "Israel" as a designation for the descendants of Jacob as an ethnic, cultural, and national entity. Consideration of the future of Israel is a question about the national future of the descendants of Jacob. The author does not ask about the future of Israel as a state.
Beale notes the cultic affinities drawn between the garden of Eden and the temple of Israel. The word pair usually translated as "cultivate" ('abad) and "keep" (shamar) occur together in the Old Testament elsewhere referring only either to Israelites "serving" God and "guarding" (keeping) God's Word, or to priests who "keep" the "service" (or "charge") of the tabernacle.
This map shows Jacob's travel and the location of some of the major events of his early life.
What did the world of the Ancient Near East look like? This map shows major cities, rivers and mountains, and important regions (such as Mesopotamia and the Levant) which are related to the earliest biblical accounts of human history. The region where the cities are most concentrated - stretching from Mesopotamia, the Levant (Palestine) and up to the upper regions of the Nile River - is also called the Fertile Crescent.