Land

Land [Heb. ʾerets, ʾadamah, sadeh; Grk. gē, agros, chōra, chorion]. Specific geographic territory or piece of arable ground.

The frequency of occurrence of various Hebrew terms for "land" in the OT (1,721 times in NKJV) testifies to the importance of this concept. In a number of texts, land designates an agricultural ground. In this sense, the land is mentioned for the first time in the creation story, when God formed it on the third day of creation and assigned to it the function of producing "grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind" (Gen 1:11-13). Adam and Eve were to "tend and keep" the garden (Gen 2:15), but the first couple was tragically driven out from Eden due to their sin (Gen 3:22-24). However, even after the fall, Adam and Eve had an obligation to cultivate the land which would in turn provide them with food (Gen 3:19, 23). This function of the land to provide its inhabitants with food is affirmed throughout the OT where land is described as giving all kinds of different agricultural products necessary for sustaining human life (Gen 27:28; Lev 26:4; Num 13:20; Josh 5:12; Ps 104:14; Isa 4:2; Jer 2:7; Ezek 34:27; Hag 1:10).

In contrast to arable land, the OT also describes unfruitful, dry, and weary land (Deut 29:22; 32:10; Jer 2:2, 6; Ezek 19:13). It is the covenantal dynamics that determine whether the land would be fruitful and bring products or unfruitful and turn into desert: if the people of Israel keep their covenantal obligations, the land would be fertile, but if not, fertile land would become desert. This is in accordance with the relational (covenantal) matrix between God and the earth, God and human beings, and human beings and the earth that is described in the creation story of Genesis as well as with the description of curses and blessings (Lev 26; Deut 28). Accordingly, ethical or unethical behavior of people affects all three sides of this covenant triangle, including land. Thus, blessings and curses are concerned with land and have the purpose of warning Israel that the curse would come upon arable ground if they did not obey the voice of God by observing His commandments (Deut 28:23; cf. Lev 26:19, 32). However, it is not only the land of Israel that would be affected in case of unfaithfulness. The prophets proclaimed that God would also punish surrounding nations for their wickedness by making their land infertile (Jer 12:11, 4; Ezek 3 2:15).

Care for the land is not shown only through faithfulness to covenantal obligations but also through people's environmental consciousness. A number of regulations in the legal texts of the OT affirm this care, sabbatical and Jubilee year regulations (Lev 25) being the most well-known. The former is related to the mandatory cessation of cultivation of the land every seventh year, a practice known as "Sabbath for the land" (Lev 25:2, 4, 5). Paradoxically, it is through resting every seventh year that the land will fulfill its purpose to yield its fruit (cf. Gen 1:11-13). On the other hand, the latter regulation mandates that land should be returned to its original owner every fifty years (Lev 25:10-13). Although the ramifications of this law are multifaceted and include socio-economic elements, one of the main implications of this legislation is that any land belongs to God (Lev 25:23; Isa 14:2; cf. Deut 26:15). These two regulations about the use of agricultural land are corroborated in Leviticus 26 by the description of blessings and curses that come with obedience or disobedience of these rules.

This theme of the fertility of the agricultural land is closely associated with the motif of the promised land that primarily refers to a specific geographic region that God promised to give to the people of Israel (Num 34:1-12; Deut 11:24). The concept of the promised land is rooted in the theology of creation according to which God gave the land to Adam and Eve to fill it (Gen 1:28) and to be its stewards (Gen 2:15). After they sinned, Adam and Eve lost their access to the garden of Eden, and the sin of their descendants ultimately led to the flood that destroyed everything except animate life. However, after the flood God again affirmed His original plan that humanity should fill the earth and administer the land (Gen 8:17; 9:1-2, 7). It is in this context that one should read God's promise given to Abraham who was commanded to go "to the land that I will show you" (Gen 12:1-3; cf. 12:6-7): God wanted to fulfill His original plan from the time of creation but this time not through Adam and Eve but through Abraham (cf. Gen 3:22-24).

It is this promise that was given to Abraham that is one of the central themes in the whole OT and that is described as one of the main characteristics of the identity of Israel as God's people. Even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not inherit the promised land, and owned just a burial plot, a small field, and the cave of Machpelah (Gen 23:17-18), God was faithful to His land promise and led Jacob's descendants out of Egypt by the hands of Moses to give them the land that He promised (Exod 3:7-8; 6:2-8). The land was described as a good land where different field crops, fruit trees, and vegetables grew, the land in which "milk and honey" flowed (Exod 3:17), and where people "lack nothing" (Deut 8:7-10). Significantly, at that time, other nations had settled in the land: Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites (Exod 3:17; cf. Ezra 9:1; Neh 9:8). Thus, receiving the land was not supposed to be perceived as something that the people of Israel deserved but rather as a gift from God.

Once the people of Israel possessed the land and received it as their inheritance, they divided it among the tribes according to the lot (Num 26:52-56; Josh 11:23; 13:7-8). It is only the tribe of Levi that did not receive allotment because "the Lord was his inheritance" (Deut 10:8). Still, this tribe received some cities and regularly benefited from tithes, offerings, and sacrifices. Israel's staying on the land depended on their faithfulness to the Lord and His covenant (Deut 28:68).

The rest of the OT describes Israel's faithfulness or, mostly, unfaithfulness to God with its consequences for people's lives in the promised land. The book of Judges serves as a clear illustration of this principle. It describes the history of God's people in which, on the one hand, their unfaithfulness ultimately led to oppression by the nations; and, their repentance, on the other hand, always led to their rescue (Judg 3:7-11). The theme is continued in 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, and 1-2 Chronicles. This corpus describes the period of the monarchy by portraying the reign of good and bad kings, and the effects that they had on the land. People's unfaithfulness first led to the division of the empire into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (1 Kgs 12) and ultimately to the defeat and deportation of both kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom was conquered in 722 BC by the Assyrians and Judah in 587/86 BC by the Babylonians. Thus, the history of Israel in the promised land confirms that the land belongs to the Lord and Israel's right to stay on the land was conditional.

The prophetic literature predicts this loss of the land but not without forecasting a bright future in terms of restoration coming after the exile. The prophets first accused the people of God for their unfaithfulness that was evident in mistreatment in the land (e.g., Amos 5:11; 8:4; Micah 3:1-3), infelicitous ritual services (Ezek 6:1-7; 14:1-11), and social injustice and idolatry (Isa 58; Amos 5:4-15). They warned them that their unfaithful ways would lead to the loss of the land, namely, to an exile (Jer 5:4-17; Hos 8:13; Amos 4:1-3; Mic 4:10). At the same time, the prophets did not leave people without hope. They predicted restoration after the captivity through allusions to the exodus motif (Isa 43:14-21; 48:12-22; 49:8-12; Jer 16:14-15; 29:10-14; Hos 11:11). These predictions were fulfilled when Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC and promulgated his decree according to which the Judahite exiles were allowed to return to their homeland (Ezra 1:2-4). The restoration that started with the return was a long and complex process. The postexilic prophetic books Haggai and Zechariah focused on the early stages of this process delineating the restoration of Jerusalem with its surrounding cities (Zech 1:14-17; 2:6-13; 8:1-8) as well as the recovering and flourishing of the arable ground (Hag 2:15-19; Zech 8:11-13). Restoration of the land was continued in the fifth century BC by Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 3:1-13; Neh 2:1-20).

The theme of the land that is so frequently addressed in the OT is further developed in the NT, especially in regard to the concept of the Promised Land. Interestingly, at the beginning of His life the family of Jesus, who had gone to Egypt to escape from the threat of Herod, was called to go back to "the land of Israel"—the migration that was reminiscent of Israel's exodus and thus symbolically represented the fulfillment of God's promise of land to His people (Matt 2:20). In His ministry, Jesus primarily worked in the territories of Israel and Judah, but He also served outside of their boundaries (Matt 15:21-28). This expansion of Jesus' ministry represents, in some sense, a fulfillment of various OT prophecies about other nations who will be called God's people and who will share the land with the people of Israel (Isa 2:2-4; 19:23-25; Zech 8:20-23). This idea is also affirmed in Jesus' beatitudes in which He stated that not just Israelites but "those who are meek will inherit the land" (Matt 5:5 [NAB]). Jesus corroborated this in His conversation with the Samaritan woman in which He emphasized that the central place of national worship is no longer important (John 4:19-24). While Jesus emphasized that earthly life is important, at the same time He promised that He was going to prepare a place in heaven and would return to take His followers there (John 14:1-4; cf. 1 Cor 15:47). And at the end of the millennium, He and His followers will return to the new earth and live in the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:1).

Probably the best example of the motif of universalization of the promised land is given in Acts where Luke describes Paul's missionary journeys. In his writings, Paul moves focus from dwelling in the promised land to the importance of being "in Christ." In a similar way, the author of Hebrews clarifies that Abraham was a foreigner on the earth and was looking forward to his heavenly city (Heb 11:16). The fulfillment of this hope is described in the book of Revelation which describes "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1). In this way God's gift of the land that was given to Adam and Eve after creation and that human beings lost by their fall will be given again to those who are saved when God creates a new heavens and new earth.

References

Janzen, W. "Land." In Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992. 4:143-153.

Bergman, Jan and Magnus Ottosson. "ארץ." In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by John T. Willis. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1977. 1:388-405

Hiebert, Theodore. "Land." In Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000. 788-789.