Dr. Bob where are you? I've been thrown to the usual straw "wolves" here.
Strat: I looked up your verses and also looked up that they are especially used by people who want to "prove" the Bible is full of contradictions. Since Israel did not possess all the land at the time of Deuteronomy/Moses, it seems to even be a common topic on the atheist board, using the Scriptures you gave, to prove the Bible is wrong, as well as those same verses being referenced on many web pages which teach replacement theology, as well. Thanks for the interesting tour on google.
At any rate. Perhaps Israel did once possess the land, though at the time those verses were written, they still hadn't conquered all of it. But that is beside the point. There is the matter of "everlasting covenants" made by God. God didn't make a condition on the covenants He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Neither did He make a condition when He made an "everlasting covenant" with Noah not to destroy the earth by water again. An everlasting covenant is an everlasting covenant, when God swears an oath. Period.
Next, even if Israel did possess the land and lost it due to their sin and turning to strange God's, there are prophecies yet to be fulfilled. These prophecies were written at a later time than the time of Moses.
Jer.31: 31: Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put MY LAW in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34: And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
By a commentator:
These thoughts are taken up by the writer of Hebrews where we find these words about the 'new covenant:' Heb.8: 7: For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8: For FINDING FAULT WITH THEM, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL and with the HOUSE OF JUDAH: (my comment: No where does it say "church")
9: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Another prophecy that was not fulfilled at the time of Moses:
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:11,12).
As noted by one commentator:
It is of great interest to notice that Isaiah predicted that the people of Israel would return to their homeland by airplanes, hundreds of years before the invention of airplanes.
Who are these that fly along like the clouds, like doves to their nests? (Isaiah 60:8 NIV).
He also predicted that they would return by ships.
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee (Isaiah 60:9).
Isaiah foresaw that the second restoration of Israel would be in the days of air transportation. This is to be Israel's final restoration. There is no third restoration mentioned anywhere in the Bible.
Physical Israel will never again be rooted out of its land, according to God's promise:
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God (Amos 9:14,15).
This final restoration of the Jews to their homeland is a demonstration of the truthfulness of the Bible and the faithfulness of God.