The name, The Beautiful Land Initiative, has layers in it’s meaning. The most obvious is that it describes the nature of the initiative, namely, to beautify the Land of Israel. The label “The Beautiful Land” came from the prophets. In Hebrew, the words for “The Beautiful Land” are “Eretz HaTzevi.” Prior to the Babylonian exile, the prophet Jeremiah used the term and the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel used this term during the time of the Babylonian captivity. It was a term of honor, glory, and beauty. A term of endearment for the Land of Israel… Something the prophets of old looked upon with glorious anticipation of their return from exile. Even in the midst of their captivity, they looked on echoing words from long ago when the children of Israel came out of the captivity of Egypt, “I will bring them up out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. The Beautiful Land.” The title then of our initiative rings with a message from long ago, that Israel is the beautiful land that God gave to the children of Israel as an inheritance forever. The name, The Beautiful Land Initiative is a reminder of God’s care for His Land and His people Israel. Also, the word Initiative speaks to timing. As in, “it is time to favor Zion.”

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In Leviticus 25:23, God makes an astonishing statement about the physical land of Israel. He says, “The Land is Mine.” When God gave the Land of Israel to Abraham recorded in Genesis 12:7, He said, “To your descendants, I will give this Land.” It is the inheritance of God’s people to steward the land of Israel, which was and is His possession.

 

Ezekiel 36:24-38: For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”  ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.”  ‘Thus says the Lord God, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock.  Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”‘”