And the manna ceased after they ate from the grain of the land. And the sons of Israel no longer made use of that food. Instead, they ate from the grain of the present year, from the land of Canaan. (Jos 5:12)
וַיִּשְׁבֹּ֨ת הַמָּ֜ן מִֽמָּחֳרָ֗ת בְּאָכְלָם֙ מֵעֲב֣וּר הָאָ֔רֶץ וְלֹא־הָ֥יָה עֹ֛וד לִבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מָ֑ן וַיֹּאכְל֗וּ מִתְּבוּאַת֙ אֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן בַּשָּׁנָ֖ה הַהִֽיא׃
defecitque manna postquam comederunt de frugibus terrae nec usi sunt ultra illo cibo filii Israhel sed comederunt de frugibus praesentis anni terrae Chanaan.
ἐξέλιπεν τὸ μαννα μετὰ τὸ βεβρωκέναι αὐτοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σίτου τῆς γῆς, καὶ οὐκέτι ὑπῆρχεν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ μαννα· ἐκαρπίσαντο δὲ τὴν χώραν τῶν Φοινίκων ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἐκείνῳ.
Land (אֶרֶץ ʼerets), in Hebrew, means land in the sense of territory, country, and also field, unlike the word אֲדָמָה (ʼădāmâ), which means land as soil. From the moment Abraham was called (Gen 12:1) to leave his homeland (אֶרֶץ) and go to the land (אֶרֶץ) that God would show him, the land (אֶרֶץ) became the promised land. God led Israel through the desert into this land, which in Ex 3:8 God Himself presents as a fertile land, flowing with milk and honey.
In today’s first reading (Jos 5:9-12), this word appears several times. While wandering in the desert, the people of Israel neither sowed nor gathered any harvest, but God Himself fed them with manna. However, as soon as they crossed the border into the land, they began to sow and reap, and when they began to eat the fruit of the land, the manna ceased, and Israel from then on was nourished by the harvests of the land of Canaan.
In today’s gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32), the son known as the prodigal left his father and went to a distant country, a land dreamed of as the promised one, but which turned out to be a land of misery, famine, and where only the carob pods for pigs were reserved for him. It was only the memory of the abundance in his father’s house, like the abundance of the promised land, that made him decide to return to the relationship with his father, which turned out to be the true promised land.
And where is my promised land?
