Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PEOPLE OF THE LAND

Although in some instances a designation for all humanity (i.e., “all the peoples of the earth”), Heb. ʿam hāʾāreṣ differs in meaning in texts from the premonarchic through rabbinic eras. In texts referring to the premonarchic era, the term simply signifies the free citizens of the particular locale under discussion (e.g., the Egyptians in Gen. 42:6); here the term appears to exclude slaves and foreigners.

Regarding the monarchic era, the people of the land are involved in the overthrow of wicked Queen Athaliah (2 Kgs. 11:13-20), the transition from the assassinated Amon to King Josiah (21:24), the succession of King Josiah’s son Jehoahaz (23:30), and the transition from the leprous King Uzziah to his son Jotham (15:5). The people of the land have been identified variously as the lower social classes, the powerful landed elite, and the free citizenry of the state. There has been particular debate over whether ʿam hāʾāreṣ is a terminus technicus that refers to a specific body of Judeans.

Ernst Würthwein argued that the term refers to the representatives of the fully enfranchised Judean citizenry. He and other scholars have noted a recurrent struggle in Judean history between the centralizing policies of the Davidic monarchy and the traditional decentralized polity of the old tribal league. This interpretation has led to a loose consensus that the people of the land should be seen in contrast to, and often in opposition to, the royal administration in Jerusalem. They champion a sort of traditional Yahwism which stood as a check against the syncretistic excesses of the royal establishment. Rather than viewing the people of the land as a subset of the traditional Judean citizenry, the best evidence indicates that they should be seen as the free citizenry — in toto.

A semantic shift occurs in the postexilic period, when the term takes on a negative aura. It is used — usually in the plural form — to refer to those who opposed the righteous reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. The ʿam hāʾāreṣ are viewed — along with the priests and royalty — as responsible for the catastrophe of the Exile. It is now the returnees, those purified by the Exile, which represent the true congregation in contradistinction to all the “peoples of the land(s).” Note that the plural forms now dominate.

A final shift in meaning occurs in postbiblical rabbinic texts. There the term means the ignorant, nonobservant transgressors of the Torah. They are to be seen in contrast to the revered scholars of Torah, who detested the people of the land.

Bibliography. A. H. J. Gunneweg, “urah fe — A Semantic Revolution,” ZAW 95 (1983): 437-40; B. Halpern, The Constitution of the Monarchy in Israel. HSM 25 (Chico, 1981), 190-216; E. W. Nicholson, “The Meaning of the Expression urah fe in the Old Testament,” JSS 10 (1965): 59-66; A. Oppenheimer, The ʿAM HA-ARETZ. ALGHJ 8 (Leiden, 1977); E. Würthwein, Der ʿamm haʾarez im Alten Testament. BWANT 4/17[69] (Stuttgart, 1936); S. Zeitlin, “The Am Haarez,” JQR 23 (1933): 45-61.

Lynn Tatum

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PEOPLE OF THE LAND

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)