The exodus is one of the most iconic stories in the Bible, and rightly so. Surely this has to do, in part, with the way subsequent biblical authors pick up the exodus’s images and themes for their own theological purposes. As such, the exodus is understood as “the way out.” Israel is caught in oppressive slavery in Egypt, and the Lord carries them out as on the wings of an eagle.

But the Lord’s goal for what we know as “the exodus” has just as much to do with getting in as with getting out. Right from the beginning of the narrative, the Lord tells Moses, “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:8).

Then, after that great act of redemption, the Lord reaffirms his purposes of grace to Israel, saying, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (33:14). Thus, the Lord’s intent isn’t getting Israel just out of Egypt but also into the place of rest that’s “flowing with milk and honey” (3:17; Deut. 26:8‒9; see Ps. 105:43‒44).

This raises a couple of questions. Why is it so important for Israel to get into the promised land, and why is it described with such ecological overabundance? Essentially, what is the theological function of the promised land? To answer these questions, we should observe how the land to which Israel must go is described throughout the books of Moses and Joshua. We’ll discover that the land of Canaan serves as a typological remanifestation of the garden of Eden. The Creator’s purposes for Eden are partially carried forward in the promised land as a way of pointing to the future full renewal of all the earth.

Eden as the Original ‘Land’

Let’s begin by looking at some of Eden’s details. In the garden, Adam and Eve enjoyed life in the Lord’s presence within a perfect natural environment. In that place, they were “blessed” and would be “fruitful” as they “multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). The end goal is that humanity would experience rest together with the Creator (see 2:1‒3; 3:8).

But because they didn’t listen to the Lord’s voice (3:17), they were driven out of the garden: “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (v. 24). Thus, humanity is expelled from that place of blessing and rest in God’s presence, and instead they live in world of “thorns and thistles” (v. 18). But there’s hope, for offspring are promised to Eve, one of whom will crush humanity’s enemy (v. 15). Such a promise in that context can only mean a plan for reopening Eden, together with its blessing and rest in God’s presence.

The Land as a New Eden

Let’s turn now to think of the theological role of the promised land. We see it often described in terms of those attributes of Eden, what was lost when Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden, and the way back in.

Moses describes the promised land in words and concepts that recall Eden. In the land, Israel is blessed (Gen. 12:1‒3; Deut. 28:2‒6) in a pristine arboreal setting (Gen. 26:12; Ex. 3:8; Lev. 20:24; 26:4; Num. 13:27; Deut. 6:3; Josh. 5:6; Lev. 26:4), where they multiply their offspring (Gen. 15:13‒18; 26:3–5; 28:13‒14; Ex. 23:26), obey God’s voice (Gen. 26:3‒5; Deut. 28:1‒2), and rest in God’s presence (Ex. 33:14; Deut. 12:10) away from their enemies (Gen. 22:17‒18; Lev. 26:6‒7).

The picture of Israel in the land is thus painted in the same strokes as Adam and Eve in the garden. The point is to cast Israel as a new Adam in a new Eden. Jacob even says, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). The land, therefore, is the Creator’s designated place where he’ll dwell with humanity as he originally did in Eden (Lev. 26:11‒12; Deut. 23:14). In turn, the purposes God had for the original creation will be symbolically accomplished in that land.

The picture of Israel in the land is painted in the same strokes as Adam and Eve in the garden.

The book of Joshua operates within this theology too. The promise of rest comes at the beginning and end of Joshua’s conquests, framing the whole narrative (Josh. 1:13; 21:44). The point of the entire enterprise is to create within those borders some theological similitude with the garden: a place of rest. And this can only be accomplished as Israel’s and God’s enemies are defeated (Josh. 21:44; 22:4‒8; 23:1). This is all reminiscent of the conditions of Eden (Gen. 2:1‒3) and how humanity can get back in (3:15).

One specific episode in Joshua brings much of this together. In Joshua 5:12‒15, Israel’s encounter with the “commander of the army of the LORD” is powerfully reminiscent of Adam and Eve’s eviction from Eden in Genesis 3:24. In both accounts there’s (1) a heavenly figure (2) holding a sword and (3) guarding the “way” (4) on the eastern side (5) of holy land (6) that’s filled with fruit. The difference is that Adam and Eve are on their way out, and Joshua is leading God’s people in. This incident is an emblematic reversal of Adam and Eve’s eviction from Eden and reinforces the theological idea that the promised land is a typological remanifestation of the garden—that sacred place to which humanity must return to fulfill its and creation’s divine mandates.

To What End the Promised Land?

Yet the story doesn’t end in the promised land. By looking back to creation’s original design, this theological understanding of the land also turns our eyes to creation’s future. Israel’s entrance into the land looks back to Eden to forecast the full and final renewal of all the earth. God’s goal in creation to dwell with his people is never off the table; the biblical drama always keeps that hope alive on its pages and in our hearts.

Israel’s entrance into the land looks back to Eden to forecast the full and final renewal of all the earth.

The Eden-like descriptions of the land throughout the Old Testament accomplish this (e.g., Isa. 51:3; Joel 2:3; Ezek. 36:35). For the land is a typological figure of heaven itself (Heb. 4:4–8). Therefore, Christians are exhorted—and are to exhort one another—to see through sin’s deceits and endure with believing hearts to the end (3:12–14). Only so will we receive the ultimate and eternal “rest” of God (4:9–11) that the promised land had intimated (v. 8).

Redemption isn’t merely a matter of getting out of hell (though it’s not less than that), and it’s certainly not an escape from creation. But full salvation entails getting in: getting into a renewed creation called the “new heaven and [the] new earth” (Rev. 21:1). The apostle John writes of that place, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (v. 3). And joy of joys, in that place we’ll be granted “to eat of the tree of life” (2:7), world without end.