Date
3-10-2026
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)
Chair
Page Brooks
Keywords
Hermeneutics, Dispensationalism, Covenantalism, Deuteronomy, Progressive Dispensationalism, Progressive Covenantalism, Abrahamic Covenant, Land Promise, Eschatology, Millennium, Supersessionism, Non-Supersessionism, Amillennialism, Premillennialism, Postmillenialism
Disciplines
Religion
Recommended Citation
Schafer, Alan Leonard, "Deuteronomy as a Meta-Hermeneutic to Understand the Land Promise in the Abrahamic Covenant" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7976.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7976
Abstract
One component of the Abrahamic Covenant in Gen 12:1–3 is the promise of land. This promise is reiterated to Abraham in Gen 12:7; 13:14–17; 15:7; 15:18–19, and 17:8, then to Isaac in Gen 26:3–5, and finally to Jacob in Gen 28:4 and 28:13–15. Numerous references in the Pentateuch refer to this promise, often using the phrases “the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” and “the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Although reading the Pentateuch would lead one to believe the Abrahamic land promise refers to an actual piece of real estate with boundaries, many today question its physical reality. Those of the Covenant Theology persuasion see the land promise as fulfilled allegorically in the new heavens and the new earth, or in the current age. Although there may have been a promise of land to the nation of Israel in the Abrahamic Covenant, that promise has already been fulfilled in Israel’s history or superseded by the Church. As a result, they believe there is no future, literal kingdom for Israel. Instead, when the Lord returns, there will be a singular final judgment, after which He will immediately inaugurate the eternal state. Representative eschatological views would include Covenantalism, Progressive Covenantalism, Supersessionism, and Amillennialism, with many minor variations.
On the other hand, those of a Dispensational persuasion see the ultimate fulfillment of the land promise to Abraham as a future certainty. They hold that there will be a literal, physical kingdom ruled by Christ, in which all the blessings promised to Israel in the Old Testament, including their physical land inheritance, will be fulfilled. Representative eschatological views include Classical Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, Progressive Dispensationalism, and Dispensational Premillennialism, among others, as well as numerous minor variations.
Although the theme of the land runs throughout the Pentateuch, it is most significant in Deuteronomy. Written as Moses’ final instructions to Israel, it describes the land they are about to enter as the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise of the land as found in the Abrahamic Covenant. Numerous references throughout the book refer to the land as a physical reality. Its boundaries are given in Num 34:1–15 and repeated in Deut 1:7–8, and 11:24. Additional references throughout Deuteronomy describe the land as an inheritance, a possession, and a land that Yahweh had sworn to give the fathers.
In addition to the land’s physical reality, it is described as having a character, specifically as a holy land. This is seen in the numerous references in Deuteronomy to the need for Israel to keep the land morally pure by driving out the idolatrous nations that are there and putting away evil from their midst. Yahweh speaks of a land that He will dwell in, and as such, it is to be devoid of idolatry and bloodguiltiness. Mention is made on several occasions that it is a land where Yahweh will choose a place to set His name. The nature of the land is a recurring theme in Deuteronomy, underscoring its unique character as a holy habitation.
This dissertation aims to develop a Deuteronomic understanding of the land in terms of its physical reality, boundaries, and character. It further aims to establish Mosaic authorship around 1406 BC, showing that it predates the rest of the Old Testament Scriptures, except possibly for Job, specifically the Old Testament prophetic corpus. This will enable the description and reality of the land in Deuteronomy to serve as a meta-hermeneutic for understanding the numerous references to the land and the coming Messianic kingdom in the rest of the Old and New Testaments. Furthermore, it aims to demonstrate that any theological or eschatological system that overlooks the physical reality of the land, particularly its future reality as outlined in Deuteronomy, rests on a hermeneutic imposed on Scripture rather than on one derived from a historical-grammatical approach sensitive to progressive revelation.
