The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Land of Israel: A Picture of Your Life

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

The land of Israel is truly unique. Jeff explores the profound connections between the geography of Israel and our spiritual journey. Having visited Israel 69 times, Jeff shares insights on how the diverse landscape of the Holy Land mirrors the ups and downs of our own lives. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 444, the land of Israel, a picture of your life. So good to have you back again. Look forward to talking to you all week.

And I have some things to share with you today that I really do believe are going to make a difference in your life. I do. I really, really do. And by the way, if this is your first time tuning in to the Jeff Cave and show, a big welcome to you. And I hope that whatever you're seeking in life right now, whatever you're looking for, I pray that the Lord will reveal it to you. And ultimately, it'll be the Lord that satisfies your heart. So we're going to talk today about the land of Israel. It's a picture of your life.

Now, I've gone over to Israel 69 times. The next time I go over to Israel will be my 70th trip, 70th pilgrimage over to the land of Israel, or what we would call the Holy Land. And I got to tell you, I learned some things about the land of Israel, clear back in the early 80s that changed my life and changed the way I looked at my life and the way I looked at scripture and what it means to follow Jesus through the ups and downs, the good times and the not so good times. The land is quite diverse. And the Bible talks about the land of Israel a lot. And we're going to talk about that today. We're going to talk about the

land of Israel. And I'm going to share with you kind of a, kind of a secret, a little bit of a secret about the land and the phrase, a land flowing with milk and honey. Because I can say this pretty confidently right now, and that is this by the end of today's show. You're going to see your life differently. You're going to see your life in light of a land flowing with milk and honey. Of course, you might not be able to do that now, but you will. by the end of the show. And I do have some great notes again for you this week. All you need to do to get the notes if you're not on the list now is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word, Jeff Kavens, to the number 3377.

That's 3377. And we'll get you the notes in perpetuity going forward. And every once in a while, somebody writes me and says, I'm not getting them anymore for some reason. Just sorry about that, but just sign up again. We'll get you back on board. All right, so let's take a look at this. And first of all, I have to ask you, how is your life doing right now? You know, how are you doing?

Are you doing pretty well? Is things been good for you lately? You and the family, maybe you have grandchildren, your job, health. How about in the past, in the past few years, how was life? Now, the answer is might vary, depending on mileage, of course. Some would answer, well, my life's going really pretty well. You know, I'm kind of a blessed person and things have gone really well, not too much to complain about. And then there's others that would say, my life has really been difficult.

Now, this can vary also by not just your whole life, but stages of your life or years of your life. You know, maybe when you were in your 20s, things were really rough. And then in your 30s, things smoothed out and life was good again, you know. Or maybe you had just a pristine, wonderful, joy-filled, purposeful childhood. And then after college, everything went to purgatory. Everything just fell apart in your life. Now, the question is, really not do we have ups and downs because we know we do, but what can we do in the midst of those ups and downs? What can we do in the midst of those?

And I've got some advice for you here, and the advice comes straight from the Word of God. So we're going to feast today on the Word of God. So let's turn our attention now to the geography of Israel, shall we? for just a moment. Take a look at the geography of Israel. Now, when we look at the geography of Israel, we see this little strip of land and this little strip of land that's roughly 50 miles wide and 150 miles from north to south. Well, that was in the ancient world a major trade route. Whoever controlled it would exert tremendous influence on the whole known world. So you can see that the land of Israel is essential geography.

It is the crossroads for many nations between Asia and Africa. If you looked at the land of Israel, you'd see that on the western side is the Mediterranean, on the eastern side is the desert, and it's 150 miles long, 50 miles wide. We're talking about the size of New Jersey here. It's not very big. It's not very big at all. It's one third the size of South Carolina. and it's about 10,000 square miles.

One seventh the size of Missouri. Maybe that puts it in a perspective a little bit for you, especially if you live in Missouri or South Carolina or New Jersey. It's a very small place. So knowing this, it is no wonder that all three monotheistic religions started there in that area as well as things like the alphabet, you know, in the fertile crescent. Now, if you were God and you were going to do, choose a man who would affect the whole world with the message of redemption. Where would you place

him? Canaan. That's right. In other word for Canaan for the land of Israel. Canaan. And it is consistent with God's method of trial by ordeal. And that is that whoever is going to occupy this land, other people are going to want to occupy that land as well, because it is called the Levant or the land bridge between the north, which is Europe and Mesopotamia and Asia and to the South Africa. Now, God, Scripture tells us, God always watched this land. The land that you are entering, he says, in Deuteronomy chapter 11, the land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing, the Jordan to take possession of, is a land of

mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end. So from, that's Deuteronomy 11. So we know that God has his eyes on this land. God is watching this land. And by the way, God's eyes are on you as well, my friend. And he's watching over you. Now, let me go on just a little bit more here and describe the land for you. So you can get kind of an idea. And then I'm going to ask you to use your imagination. And I'm going to paint a picture of this land, 50 miles wide, 150 miles long. Jerusalem's going to be the center focus. of what we're going to be talking about, okay?

So Israel, Canaan, its physical features. Get this. Only 5% of the Bible takes place outside of the stage. Only 5%. In other words, 95% of the biblical drama takes place on this stage called Israel, from Dan in the north to Bershiba in the south. There are four seas, and so we have two deserts, the Sahara, Arabian, three. continents, Europe, Asia, Africa, all converging in this area. Its boundaries are in the north

from Dan to the southern edge of Bersheva, from the Mediterranean to a couple of miles east of the Jordan River. As I said, 150 miles north to south, east to west, 50 miles. Now the physical features of this land are the most unique of any land on the planet. Ezekiel 20, verse six, and I'll put these scriptures in the notes for you, on that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them. A land flowing with milk and honey, that's going to be the key to this particular episode. With milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. There's a variety of topography and climate in such a small place. It's actually staggering the variety. It really is. From Mount Hermon in the north, that's 9,000 feet above

sea level, less than a hundred miles away down south is the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. So we go from Mount Hermon in the north, which is partly in Israel, partly in Lebanon today. That's 9,000 feet above sea level. And then 100 miles away down south, you've got the lowest place on earth down at the Dead Sea by the place where Jesus was baptized. So in other words, you can ski on Mount Herman in the morning and ride camels in the desert for lunch. You can sled on snow in Jerusalem and drive 15 miles away down to Jericho where it's 80 degrees. You can pick bananas off the trees and return to Jerusalem for some more sledding and gelato. In Jerusalem, you get over 30 inches of rain a year, 15 miles away to

the east, two inches, 15 miles away, two inches a year. Israel is also located where the four ecological zones converge. So characteristics for each zones, such as swamps, deserts, tropics, snow, mountains, fertile valleys can be found on this small stage. Amazing, isn't it? One seventh the size of Missouri. Wow. So you got the four ecological zones. You got the tropical African zone to the south, the Mediterranean basin to the west, the European zone to the north, and the Asian zone to the east. Now this gives you a very unusual combination of animals such as Siberian wolves found in the same country as African leopards. You don't find that today, but that's the way it was in the Bible days, migratory birds from Europe follow the coast southward. You can go up north of the

Sea of Galilee at certain times of the year, and I mean it is spectacular. The climate varies drastically, and there's two rules, and I'm going to go through this before our break here to set the stage. There are two rules while looking at a map of the land of Israel. Two rules, okay? One is High is wet, low is dry. High land is wet, low land is dry. Now, here's the other rule. The farther northwest you are, the more rain. The farther southeast you go, the drier it is. That's the way it is. Now, what I'm going to do, I'm going to take a break when I come back. I'm going to describe to you two major states. in the land of Israel, and I'm going to talk to you about how they coincide with the land flowing with milk and honey, but even more to the point and more importantly today, how they coincide and speak to your life, your life, and what you have been going through, what you are and perhaps what you will. Then I'm going to give you the secret to walking the whole

land in your life. Come hell or high water, good, bad, ugly. whatever it might be, there's a secret. And I'm going to tell you that secret. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. Hey, guys, my name's Father Mike Schmitz. I'm so excited to tell you about new cities and new dates for the Parables Tour. We're going to cities in both Michigan and Texas. If you're interested in getting tickets, you can go to Accenturepress.com

slash Father Mike Tour for access to tickets and more information. Tickets go on sale Thursday, May 22nd. God bless. Welcome back. talking today about the land of Israel. It's a picture of your life. You might not see it right now, but you will in about 15 minutes here as we are going to talk about the land. Now, I mentioned this to you that the Bible, like in Deuteronomy 11, verses 8 through 12, I'll stick that in the notes for you. It speaks of a land flowing with milk and honey. A land flowing with milk and honey. Deuteronomy 34

says that Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Nebo and the Lord showed him all the land. The stage on which the biblical drama takes place is divided into two parts. The left and the right stage. The left and the right stage. To remember this, remember milk and honey. That's all you got to do is remember milk and honey. Now, Moses said to the people in Exodus 3.8, this is God. word, so I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up

out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parasites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Now, here's the key. The key is that milk and honey don't refer to just all good, like it sounds, right? Milk and honey. It's like, I can't go wrong. I can go anywhere in this country. It's just going to be absolutely beautiful, fertile, and fruitful. But that wasn't what the rabbis said about milk and honey. When they spoke about milk and honey and the land flowing with milk and honey, they often referred to two lifestyles. Two lifestyles. One is very easy and a lot of fun. The other, very difficult. and not so much fun. Milk and honey. Now think about your life.

Let's pause there for a moment. Think about your life as we look back over the last few years. Was there some good times? Sure. Was there some bad times? Yeah. Was there some challenging times? Absolutely.

So what I want you to do, I'm going to create now a visual for you in your mind. Or if you have to, you can take a piece of paper too. And you can draw or get a map of the. the land of Israel. So what I want you to do is I'm going to create a clock over the land, an old clock, not a digital clock, an old clock with, you know, the hour hand and the minutes hand. And the center of that clock will be Jerusalem. Okay. So it's going to be Jerusalem. It's going to be a rather big circle around the country, probably extending out into the Mediterranean on the west and over into the desert on the east. So I want you to place,

that clock over the land with the middle of the clock being Jerusalem. So pretend that this 50 by 150 miles stage, there's a clock on top of it. Now here's the key to understanding this. And if you pay attention to this and get it, it will be well worth your while and it will be fruitful and probably something you're going to be telling your kids or your grandkids or your friends. So I want you to imagine now, if you've got this clock, over the land with Israel, or with Jerusalem, rather, as the center of that clock.

Now, imagine from eight, from eight to one, everything from eight up around to 12 and one o'clock, everything from eight to 12, we're going to call that, honey, honey. And we'll get into this in just a moment as to why we are, but suffice it to say, eight to one is the wettest. place, most fruitful place, it's the honey. And we'll talk about that. Now, from imagine, three in the afternoon to seven at night, or three in the middle of the night to seven in the morning, from three to seven, it's very dry. Desert. We're going to call that milk. We're going to call that milk. And that milk will be tied to the herdsman and the honey from eight to one, farmers. All right? Now most of the biblical drama is centered in the farming areas of the edge of the

mountain desert. That's on the left side, the left stage. That's the honey. The enemies of the Israelites normally controlled the more fertile areas to the north and west. If you follow the biblical drama, that's what you'll see. Okay. So let's do this, shall we? Let's talk first about right stage. That's milk. That's the herdsman. That's southeast, right? The herdsmen. These are the people who raise flocks out in the desert. Now, right stage, which is milk, they have less than 10 inches of rain a year. Less than 10 inches of rain a year. Life is hard. The land is unpredictable. It's silent. It's lonely. It's exhausting. Two deserts join. Sahara. to the south, Arabia to the east. It's unpredictable. It's totally unpredictable. Remember that story

in Genesis 1210? Abraham comes into the promised land to Shechem, and then he goes farther south to Bercheva, which is in the milk side. What happens next? Seven famine years. And he has to go down to Egypt. And later in Genesis 26-1, famine strikes again with Isaac in that area. It's harsh. It's lonely. It's difficult. It's unpredictable. But listen, God acts even in the famine. And I don't know what you're going through exactly. But I know this. If you're living in famine right now and you're going through difficult times right now, God acts even in the famine. He doesn't need you on left stage up where everything's great. He can move in your life right where you are right now. The prophet Jeremiah says over and over again that a famine is coming and God is sending. it. And so it's unpredictable on right stage the milk. It's silent and lonely. What draws people to this right stage? Well, Elijah in 1st Kings 19 heard the still small voice of God in this lonely place of right stage. It was in the desert that John the Baptist attracted a crowd to be baptized on right stage. Jesus had 40 days before starting his ministry on right stage. On right

stage in the wilderness of Judea. And Paul had three years in the desert before he began his ministry. And let me ask you this. What did 5,000 young Byzantines in the 5th century AD fill three canyons? They filled three canyons of hermits. What did they find there? A book was written there when the desert became a city, the monks. So, and life is exhausting. Extreme hot days and cold nights take their toll. It takes a woman about 10 years to make a tent. It's very difficult, particularly for women. She's in charge of flocks. She's in charge of gathering food. She's in charge of cooking. She's in charge of moving everything. And the men do the rest. Nutrition was a problem on the right stage. The farther southeast you go, the less protein, more malnutrition. All right. Now

let's change this up a bit. Let's look at left stage. This is from 8 to 1. Everything northwest from Jerusalem. Left stage, we call it honey. Why? It is the date farmers. It's the figs. It's the date farmers. The key here in looking at left stage is Isaiah when he says that the land of milk and honey is the land of milk after the Assyrians come through. After the Assyrians come through, that left-hand corner of the country that is so filled with the honey and the richness and everything, that becomes milk after the Assyrians come through in Isaiah 721. Deuteronomy 20 says that the laws of biblical warfare such that you shall not uproot their trees

or salt their fields. After the Assyrians come through, they destroy the ecological base for farmland, impossible for farming at that time. Now, let's look at the left stage, shall we? Honey. We know what milk is like. Most of us don't want to go there. We want to go up northwest.

Where life, 20 to 40 inches of rain. And just north of that of the Sea of Galilee is the Hula Valley. They get 18 to 20 cuttings of alfalfa a year. That's a cutting every three weeks. Three or four is great in America, but 18 to 20?

This is crazy prosperity. 20 to 40 inches of rain a year. Okay, this left-hand part of the country, honey, it's predictable. It's noisy and busy. Big cities are all on the left stage. It's easy. The farmers, honey means the jam from the fruits of the trees. And on the left stage, you have class distinction.

landowners, slaves. On the right stage, they're all the same. They don't have enough time to discriminate. They don't have enough energy out there to play those types of distinction games. Water in the biblical drama is always a factor, and in the left stage, there is just so much to drink. It's lovely. It's wonderful. Right stage, you've got to know where it is, and oftentimes it's hard to get to.

When Solomon controlled left stage, he built Gezer, Megidu, and Khadzor to do what, to store grain from the Philistines. Wow. Now, there is a hitch on the left stage. Can I tell you what that is? Because I know right away you're thinking, well, man, that's where I want to live over there on left stage. It's predictable. It's easy. It's noisy. A lot of parties going on, all that kind of thing. The grocery stores filled, you know, every day. It's like a major store, Whole Foods on every corner. So here's the hitch. If you're going to be on left stage, here's the hitch.

It is called the Way of the Sea, the Via Maris, the Super Highway, from Damascus, up north in Syria, down through the Valley of Jesreal, over to the coast of Cessaria on the Mediterranean, and down the coast to Egypt. That's the problem, the way of the sea, the Via Maris. It is the super highway. from north to south. The good avenues of communication also bring in many cultural influences from the outside. Isaiah calls the Galilee. He calls it the Galilee of the Gentiles. Isaiah 9-1. Urbanization often results in religion being less important in a noisy and busy life. Boy, we know that, don't we here? The lesson to be learned, by the way, with the Internet, because the Internet is, in many ways that land of Israel. Now Israel's called on to do what, to occupy it, but there's only one way

that you can occupy it and live. To live well is to depend upon the Lord and walk in faithfulness. So when you play on the highway, guess what? You get run over. When Egypt is strong, they march through. From the east, Assyria comes down to take that land. From the north, the Babylonians come down to take that land. Assyria was in 722, Babylon, and 587, and then the Persians marching south. From the north, you have the Hittites, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, all marching through. So we have left stage, easy, good life, right stage, harder, more difficult. Left stage, noisy, fruitful, predictable, right stage, difficult, unpredictable, silent. Which would you choose? Which would you choose if you had a choice? If God said,

look, I'm going to give you a choice. You want to live in honey, northwest, or do you want to go down southeast to milk? So we have left stage, easy, good life, right stage, harder, more difficult, which one? John chapter 9, listen to this. John chapter 9, healing the man born blind, Jesus said, who sinned, that he should be born blind? Neither was the answer. Every man will have some good and difficult times. But the answer is that God would show forth his glory and his faithfulness and mercy in each and every life. The beatitudes all reinforce the benefits of right stage experience in life.

More of the biblical drama occurs next to the desert than the sea. Right stage, left stage battles continually in the Bible. You know, there has always been a struggle between the left and the right stages. The right stage, people are called the aites. The aites try to penetrate into the left stage up in the northwest where it's noisy, rich, and fruitful and predictable. Easy Street. It's interesting that in Isaiah 9, it speaks of the tribe of Naftali, which is right in the middle of this left-right-stage battle. Isaiah, as he says that in the future, Naftali, will have a message of peace.

And you know what? This is where Jesus spent the majority of his ministry right smack in the middle. Up at the Sea of Galilee. You had to be a strong nation to rule that left stage. And only a few times was Israel strong enough to control the left stage. That was during David's time, by the way. The problem would be that Israel would try to possess the left stage. And when they did, guess what?

They got more than they bargained for. Deuteronomy 6, as Israel would look to the Phoenicians in the north and see the prosperity, they would be tempted to get mixed up with bail and other gods. Isn't that the deal? You want Easy Street, you want left stage, you want honey, and when you go up there and you start pursuing it, you start getting mixed up in the gods of that area. The Bible drama is really a left stage, right stage battle, sea versus desert. And when looking at a tell, which is a stratified ruins of an ancient city, you can see the

battles. Sea, desert, sea, desert. left stage, right stage, left stage, stage, right stage, honey, milk. McGidoo, the city of McGidoo, just south and the southern part of Galilee, has 20 layers of cities buried in it. And they follow this theme I'm talking about. In the approximate 1800 years from Abraham to Jesus, Israel only controlled the left stage for about 150 years. 150 years, you know, I can go on and on with this. I really can't. I mean, I've been studying this my whole adult life since I was 18. And there's so much to learn from the land. But what I

want to focus your heart on today, my dear friend, is your heart. And your heart looking like the land of Israel. Your life looking like the land of Israel. You've had the good times. You've the bad times. You'd rather forget the bad times and sometimes you even turtle up. You just don't want to deal with it. But listen to what God said. God said that we are to occupy the land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, we can learn to live and trust God, which is the key to living and whether it's things are going good or things are going rough. We can do it. And Paul talks about the secret here, and this is what I want to leave you with. In Philippians 4, it'll be in the show notes, Philippians 4 verses 10 through 13, listen to this. Here's the secret. I rejoice in the

Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You are indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I complain of want, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. In whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased milk. And I know how to abound, honey. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of facing plenty, honey, and hunger, milk, abundance, and want. Listen, here it is. Verse Ready? Drum roll. In your own head. I can do all things in him. Jesus, who strengthens me. The key, my friend, is keeping your eyes on the Lord. One of the reasons people are overwhelmed by reading the Bible is that they mentally cannot follow the story geographically, but you can.

and whether you're living on left stage, the honey, or the right stage of the milk, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Life is not all on left stage. You will, from time to time, experience right stage, but faithfulness will take you through it. There is that victory to be had. Do not give up. Don't spiritually turtle up. Fight the good fight of faith.

trust in the Lord with all of your heart you're going to learn you're going to learn lessons on right stage you're going to have times of great thankfulness and joy and rejoicing on the left but it's all life isn't it let's pray name of the father and the son and the holy spirit lord jesus i love you so much and i i lift up my friend and i ask you lord to take their life in what's going on in their life right now and to teach them to be faithful and to trust you no matter what is going on in their life for you, you have given us this secret passed on by Paul. You have told us that we have learned a secret as well, and that is that whether we're facing plenty or hunger, abundance, or want, we can do all things in you who strengthen us. I thank you, Lord, for your strength and guidance

today, especially in my friend's life. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. By the way, tell everybody the podcast is on the Ascension app now. It's an easy way to listen to it. God bless you. Have a wonderful week.