Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) by

Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2013-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

LAND

The theological importance of land in the Prophets, as in the rest of the OT, cannot be overemphasized. However, it is difficult to generalize across the prophetic tradition because variations of emphasis can be detected, reflecting different authorial and editorial perspectives and changing historical contexts. The preexilic and exilic prophets are most clearly concerned with the land of Israel and the events leading up to the *exile and hoped-for restoration. The postexilic prophets, although writing from a perspective after the exiles’ return to their land, have different concerns and preoccupations. Of all the prophets, Jeremiah is most vocal on the subject of land, whether physical, political or theological, for which reason he is described as “the poet of the land par excellence” (Brueggemann, 101).

1. Words and Meanings

2. Politics, Geography, Economics and Ecology

3. Theological Themes

1. Words and Meanings.

Two Hebrew words are used to denote “land” in the biblical prophets, ʾereṣ and ʾădāmâ. Of these, by far the most frequent is ʾereṣ, which is found over nine hundred times compared with only seventy-five uses of ʾădāmâ. The range of meanings for both ʾereṣ and ʾădāmâ, though very wide, falls broadly into three overlapping categories: (1) denoting the whole earth or world (in the case of ʾereṣ sometimes paired with “the heavens” [e.g., Is 1:2]); (2) describing a land mass, whether territory in general or a particular land or country, in the latter case often with its name (e.g., “land of Egypt” [Jer 44:12]) or a possessive pronoun (e.g., “your land” [Is 2:7]); (3) referring to the soil or to land as a portion of ground (e.g., Amos 2:7). The meaning (and thus translation) of the Hebrew usually can be determined by the characteristics noted above and by the context, but there are numerous instances of ambiguity. The fluidity in the terms and their referents undoubtedly reflects the narrower geographical horizons of the ancient world and the much closer overlap in biblical thought between ideas of cosmic space and territory. This article focuses on the range of meanings in the second and third categories listed above. Across the Prophetic Books both ʾereṣ and ʾădāmâ are most often used within the second category—that is, to denote land or territory, whether general or specific. More than six hundred occurrences of ʾereṣ and fifty of ʾădāmâ fall into this category.

2. Politics, Geography, Economics and Ecology.

Land in any time period or place has enormous importance for a range of complex and often interlinked reasons. Both local and national landscapes have economic, political, environmental and cultural significance, as well as physical characteristics. All these issues feature in the writings of the biblical prophets, who are aware of the social, environmental and military importance of land as well as its theological potential.

2.1. Politics. Political negotiation and military struggles over land form an important part of the history of Israel and Judah, and many of the prophets deal directly or indirectly with matters of diplomacy and *warfare. The three main clusters of prophetic activity represented by the Prophetic Books center

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