THEOSISJerome of Stridon
You may argue that the Promised Land refers to what is described in the book of Numbers—the territory stretching from the southern region of the Salt Sea through Sin and Kadesh-Varni, continuing to the stream of Egypt that flows near Rinokorura into the Mediterranean Sea. This land on the west is bordered by that sea, which washes over Palestine, Phoenicia, Kelesiria, and Cilicia. To the north, it extends from Mount Taurus and Zephron to Emath, now known as the region of Syria of Epiphanes. On the east, it ranges from Antioch and Lake Henerith, now called Lake Tiberias, to the Jordan River, which empties into the Salt Sea, also known as the Dead Sea. Beyond the Jordan lie the territories of the two and a half tribes: Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
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While I concede that these promises were made to you, they were not fulfilled: they were contingent upon your obedience to God's commandments and your commitment to His ways. Instead of worshipping the Almighty, you chose to serve Beelphegor, Baal, Beelzebul, and Hamos, and in this preference for them over God, you forfeited what was pledged to you. In contrast, the Kingdom of Heaven is assured to me through the gospel, which the Old Testament does not reference at all. If I fail to adhere to what is commanded, the burden lies not with the one who makes the promise but with me, who is unworthy of receiving it. When true freedom is assumed in making choices, those who are unwilling to toil do so in vain while hoping to attain what is promised.
Examine the accounts in the books of Jesus and Judges to understand the restrictive boundaries of your holdings. Why should we even discuss the foreign inhabitants residing in various cities, whom the people of Judah could not expel from their towns, when even your own capital—first known as Jebus, then Salim, and ultimately Jerusalem—was unable to rid itself of the Jebusites, living alongside them as both a trial and a warning to their neighbors? Thus, your temple was constructed on the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite, and due to the multitude of the uncircumcised residing with you, it was built by Gentiles—seventy thousand stonemasons and eighty thousand porters—amounting to a total of one hundred fifty thousand men, exclusive of the supervisors of the labor.