Are the boundaries of Israel the same today as in times past?

Answer 1

It is commonly assumed that the Israelites conquered all of what we call Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River (or even to the east of the river), apart from the land of the Philistines. The Philistines occupied the coastal plains and foothills between Egypt and present-day Tel Aviv. We now know that the coastal city of Dor, and the region between Philistia and Galilee, was continuously occupied by the indigenous Canaanite/Phoenician people until at least the end of the Iron Age. Judah and Israel (and the United Monarchy, if one existed) were inland territories.

There was a time when the Old Testament account of the United Monarchy was taken at face value, with the common belief that the Bible is wholly true and inerrant. The Bible describes the kingdom of David, at least briefly, as stretching from the western (Mediterranean) Sea to the Euphrates River. This is called the 'maximalist' view and is still adhered to by pious conservatives. By the twentieth century, scholars began to doubt the extent of this magnificent kingdom, while continuing to believe that David did rule a quite sizeable Kingdom of Israel that probably exceeded the present boundaries of Israel (including the Occupied Territories). Modern Archaeology began to change this position dramatically. Many scholars, even in modern Israel, now believe that there never was a United Monarchy, and that David was at most a local tribal chief within the borders of what would become Judah. Properly speaking, Israel was merely the northern kingdom that stretched south from the Jezreel Valley to the border of Judah, which itself was just a small inland enclave. Properly speaking, Israel only existed for about five centuries, from around 1250 to 722 BCE, and its size waxed and waned. There is a hint in the Bible that at one stage late in its existence Israel conquered and occupied Judah and, if so, Israel was almost as large as the present boundaries of Israel (including the Occupied Territories), excluding the coastal Philistine and Gentile territories and the desert to the south of Judah. At another point, the kingdom included only the city of Samaria and its immediate environs. After the destruction of Israel in 722 BCE, the Assyrians referred to the entire former kingdom as Samaria.

Judah was never really large, but around the time of the Babylonian Exile the Jews began referring to themselves as Israelites. In the First Book of Maccabees, not part of the Hebrew canon but written by a Jew, the Jews refer to themselves as Israelites, even as they attacked the people of Samaria itself. The outcome of the Maccabaean conquests was a brief empire that extended across the Jordan River and north into modern Syria.

The largest single Levantine entity probably existed under King Herod, but he was an Idumean imposed on Jews and Gentiles alike, by the Roman army. It included Judah, Samaria, Galilee, the Gentile coastal cities and a large area to the east of the Jordan River.

Answer 2

No. There is a lot of overlap, but not exactly. It also depends on which historical period you're asking about, since ancient Israel's borders underwent growth and shrinkage.See also:

History of the Jews in Israel