Chris Evangelista
Dr. Marion Taylor
WYT1008HF
13 December 2011
Land and Landlessness in Genesis-2 Kings
The theme of land and landlessness is central in the books of Genesis to 2 King. In fact, it might even be said that it is a central theme in the whole Hebrew Bible, as well as in Israel’s history in general. It would be quite difficult to give an account of the major points in Israel’s history without reference to the land, and the place it held in Israel’s identity as a people and even in relationship with the Lord. Abraham’s call in Genesis 12 is at the root of this. In verses 1 to 3, the Lord makes several promises to Abraham after commanding him to leave his homeland and to travel to the land which the Lord will show him. This land is revealed to be the land of Canaan, which the Lord also then promised to give to Abraham’s offspring.
And so, in these verses in Genesis, we can already begin to see the theme of land taking a central role in the history of the people of Israel even before it has even completely taken shape. We have an imperative from the Lord to go to this land, accompanied by several promises, essentially to be blessed and to be a blessing to the world. At this point in the story, however, land seems to have been of secondary consequence; that is, it would seem that the Lord’s promises of blessings came as a result of Abraham’s obedience to leave his family and his homeland to travel to Canaan. The story continues and Abraham does not stay there, but is forced to leave due to a famine. He travels to Egypt where he has an unfortunate incident (also unfortunate because it would not be his last) with lying about his wife. Upon his return to Canaan, he and his nephew Lot separate and he resettles in Canaan. At this point, the Lord seems to have elevated the land to be a part of his promise to Abraham. In Genesis 13:14-17 the Lord restates the promise to Abraham.
The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” (ESV).
At this point, it has become clear that land will be playing a truly central role in Abraham, and the people of Israel’s relationship with the Lord. This promise is confirmed several more times to Abraham and his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob. At each of these confirmations, the land is firmly included in the promise (for example, in Genesis 26 to Isaac and Genesis 28 to Jacob).
This promise does not come without any requirements, however, and in the rest of the Torah, we see the promise being elaborated upon by the Lord. Genesis ends with the people of Israel living outside of the land, in Egypt, and Exodus begins some time later with the people of Israel being oppressed and looking for relief. The Lord raises up a saviour for them, Moses, who took them out of Egypt, and was supposed to take them into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, due to the people’s lack of faith in the Lord, that generation who left Egypt would not enjoy the benefits of the land. I am talking of course, about the drama of the twelve spies in Numbers 13 and 14.
Twelve men – one from each of the tribes – were sent into the Promised Land to spy it out. Unfortunately, they would return with a disheartening report: while the land is indeed “flowing with milk and honey”, its people were strong and numerous, making it difficult for Israel to conquer it. Ten of the spies then go on to incite rebellion among the people of Israelites, with only two – Joshua and Caleb – remaining faithful and urging the people on to trust in the Lord and conquer the land. They reiterate the Lord’s promise to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “ The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:7b-8 ESV). These two men are repeating the Lord’s promise to the people, but they refused to listen, the result of which is that the people of that generation will not be able to enter into the land and are cursed to wander in the wilderness until everyone in that generation dies, except for Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:28-32).
Here, we have a clear example of conduct being linked to retention of (or that is, in this case, acquiring of) the land. The people of Israel rebel against the Lord, and are punished for it by not being allowed to enter into the land. This is an extreme example of the conduct of the entire nation affecting their status in the land. Punishment of this magnitude (complete removal from the land) will not again be seen until the time of the Prophets and the two exiles. Nonetheless, it is not the only place in the law where the theme of land is seen affecting the laws which are placed over the people, as other places in the law show the Lord’s concern for the people’s place in the land. For this, I can think of no better example than the laws of levirate marriage and kinsman redemption.
The law of levirate marriage and kinsman redemption are found in Deuteronomy 25 and Leviticus 25, respectively. The provisions are quite simple. In levirate marriage, a brother is to produce an heir with his brother’s widow if he were to die childless. This is done, first of all that the widow does not end up marrying a stranger, and also in order that the dead man’s name “may not be blotted out of Israel”. In kinsman redemption, a provision is made for a “redeemer” to redeem the property of a man who has become poor and sells part of his property. The preamble to this law provides insight into the reason why it was given (and elaborates further on Deuteronomy 25 as well). The Lord says: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.” (Leviticus 25:23-24 ESV).
Here, it is clearly seen that land is at the centre of these laws: it is a point in which the Israelites can actively participate in ensuring that the land remains within Israel. By performing these required acts as redeemers and protectors, the Israelites ensure that their land remains in their hands. Certainly, these are not the only provisions which speak of the land in the law. Along with these laws which encourage an “active” form of participation, are laws which are more “passive” – actions to avoid, in order not to lose control of the land. The long list of unlawful sexual relationships in Leviticus are an example of this, as the Lord declares: “ But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you… lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you” (Leviticus 18:26 & 28 ESV). Indeed, it would seem that the majority of the provisions in the law are in this “passive” form of ensuring that the land remains with them. Thus, near the end of his ministry, Moses declares to the people of Israel: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 ESV). Here, clearly, it is not just the Lord’s directives, but a clear understanding of the people that they will be living in the land as a result of their relationship with the Lord.
It is incredible how quickly the people would forget this word. The book of Joshua turns the story to Moses’ assistant, Joshua, who would be the leader of Israel to begin the conquest of the Promised Land. What starts out quite well in this book, however, disintegrates quite quickly in the book of Judges. In that book, the people of Israel lose faith in the Lord and begin to do what was evil the eyes of the Lord. Resulting from this is a cycle of the Lord raising up agents of oppression against Israel, who would then make life difficult for the people in the land, forcing them to turn back to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord would then raise up a judge, or redeemer who would bring peace in the land for a short time.
These cycles in Judges show the law at work, where the people are suffering consequences in the land, as a result their lack of faithfulness to the Lord. At this point, again, their faithfulness does not reach its fullest, as it had , earlier in Numbers when the people rebelled, resulting in their not being allowed into the land, and as it will later on during the time of the two exiles. Several different nations oppressed the people of Israel in the book of Judges, with the Philistines standing as the final oppressor – fitting, as they would become the main enemy of Israel in the books that follow Judges. While most of the cycle of judges (especially the later) do not explain the kind of oppression the Israelites suffered, it was pretty much understood to have to do with the land. An example of this is in the Gideon cycle. Judges 6:3-4 explains: “For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey” (ESV).
There are several reasons for the oppression that are given for the people of Israel doing “what was evil in the sight of the Lord”. One reason is that they failed to completely conquer the land as they had been directed, allowing some of the former inhabitants to remain. At the end of the book, another reason is given: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 ESV). Thus at the end of Judges, part of the reason for the people’s behaviour – and thus, by extension, their problems maintaining a foothold in the land, is the absence of a king. And so, having a king in Israel is directly linked to the peoples ability to remain faithful to the Lord, and again, to their continued hold of the land.
Before getting right in to the account of the kings in the united monarchy, however, a small book, Ruth, is inserted in the canon. A short story, the book of Ruth seems to have had multiple reasons for being written. And within these reasons, we can discern to be associated to the theme of land and landlessness. As I have already stated above, part of the way in which people can actively ensure that the land remains in the hands of Israel is obeying the commands of levirate marriage and kinsman redemption. And here in the book of Ruth, we see both principles working out in the relationship between Boaz and Ruth. Boaz is shown to be a faithful man who does his duty as a family redeemer, marrying Ruth and buying Elimelech’s property in order to keep it in the hands of Israelites. But more than that, in addition to these active ways in which Boaz acted faithfully, are also the passive ways – not succumbing to unlawful sexual relationships. In the end, the book of Ruth stands as the exemplar of how it is that the people ought to have been acting in order to maintain the land. It is no wonder then that at the end of the story, it is revealed that Boaz and Ruth are actually the great grandparents of King David.
The age of the monarchy in Israel has a rocky beginning. Though it does indeed answer the concern which Judges had – that their problems were the result of having no king in Israel – how the first king, Saul, came to rule was certainly not ideal. The people demanded a king, and the Lord agrees, allowing Saul to be crowned.
It is quickly evident, however, that despite Saul being crowned king, their troubles in the land are not over. The Philistines make a comeback as Israel’s enemy, causing the people much distress: “When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns, and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling” (1 Samuel 13:6-7 ESV). Saul has his ups and downs – his times of triumph and defeat. But overall, he is unable to provide the security for the land that the people had longed for because he was rejected by the Lord. It wasn’t until the shepherd boy, David, who, despite his many failures, the Lord did choose as a man after his own heart, that the people would finally find this security in the land.
Nonetheless, there never really was peace in David’s lifetime as problems within his family marred the expansion of the kingdom that he was able to achieve. Evidence of this is the Lord not allowing David to build him a temple – the symbol of his presence within the land. And it is not until David’s son Solomon became king that this would happen: “ You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune” (1 Kings 5:3-4 ESV). Nevertheless, this would not last very long as very soon after, the kingdom would be divided, Israel would be exiled, and the temple destroyed. But that part of the story is for another time…
In summary, this essay tried to show that the theme of land and landlessness was an important one in Genesis to 2 Kings. It began with the Lord’s promise to Abraham in Genesis, continued to the laws in the Torah which would actively and passively allow the people to maintain a hold in the land, which was seen working out in the ups and downs of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. To finally, the Lord’s very presence in the temple which Solomon built.
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