Calling The Promised Land Israel Again

Q

In 1948 Israel was again given it’s original name. Do you know at what point or what event happened when the land of Israel as we know it ceased to be called “Israel?” I am curious how many years it went without that name.

A

Following the defeat of the Northern Kingdom in about 724 BC, what remained of Israel was commonly known as Judah. In New Testament times it was called Judea, which was the Greek adaptation of Judah. After the Romans defeated the Jews they started publishing maps using Palestine as the name for the Holy Land. Palestine means “Land of the Philistines” and was meant as an insult to the Jews. From that time until 1948 the name Israel all but disappeared from public use.