According to verse 7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” From this point on throughout the Old Testament, the land became one of the central features of God’s prophetic program for Israel. As simple and direct as this prophecy is, interpreters of prophecy have made this a decisive point of departure, some interpreting the land as not a literal reference to the Holy Land but rather a promise of heaven. Those who interpret this prophecy in a nonliteral