On the “Land” On Which We Live: An Old Testament Perspective

Introduction

The words steward and sojourner encapsulate an important theme in the Old Testament. They inform both the attitude we should adopt and the behavior that we should exhibit toward everything in our purview, whether the land on which we live or the animals and other humans with which we co-inhabit that land. This post will explore three things from the Old Testament: 1) the basis for our identities as stewards, 2) the basis for our identities as sojourners and 3) our responsibilities as such.

The Basis for Our Identity as Stewards

In the ancient Near East, land usage was both patrimonial and communal. It was conceived of as entrusted by a deity to a person, and then his descendants as a whole had the right to use it. As such, it was not an absolute possession or property. Even the king of a city was conceived of merely as the locum tenens of the deity who was the city’s proper owner. Thus, the land surrounding the city was a patrimony from the deity to the monarch, whose responsibility it was then to protect all residents without discrimination (Tarazi 30).

Written in the Near East, the Old Testament shares these basic assumptions and applies them to the relationship between Yahweh and the earth and its inhabitants. The earth is the ultimate property of Yahweh: “To Yahweh belong earth and all it holds, the world and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). He apportions and re-apportions it and leads people groups to migrate to newly appointed places: “Are not you and the Cushites all the same to me, sons of Israel?--it is Yahweh who speaks. Did not I, who brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, bring the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Aramaeans from Kir?” (Amos 9:7). At the same time that Yahweh is apportioning lands, He also sometimes appoints specific persons and their descendants to be exemplars (positive or negative) of stewardship: “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided the sons of men, he fixed their bounds according to the number of the sons of God; but Yahweh’s portion was his people, Jacob his share of inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:8-9). Besides Jacob, Adam is another person who fulfills such an exemplar role.

With this as background, the Genesis narrative takes on a new dimension. The earth becomes God’s primary concern, and mankind becomes merely God’s steward (26). The priority of the earth over humans is illustrated in three ways. First, “Yahweh God fashioned man (Hebrew ’adam) of dust from the soil (’adamah)” (Genesis 2:7). In Hebrew ’adamah is the feminine noun corresponding to the masculine ’adam (Tarazi 27). It is as though the earth is man’s mother (33). Secondly, man is made not even just directly from the soil, but from the dust of the soil. It is to this same dust of the soil that man will eventually revert: “[Y]ou [shall] eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it. For dust you are and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The transient life of mankind is set against the constancy of the dust of the soil. Thirdly, man is represented as just one of the many animal creatures of the earth: He depends upon the “seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth” for food, just like “all living reptiles on the earth” depend upon the “foliage of plants for food” (1:29-30). From this we learn that whatever it might mean that God calls man to “fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on the earth” (1:28), nothing negates the fact that as caretaker of his mother earth, he should treat her and his sibling animals with respect.

As an exemplar of stewardship, Adam dwells for a time in Eden, the original patrimony for him and his descendants. It is God who plants Eden, not Adam (2:8), and it is God who “took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it” (2:15). Adam is tasked with being the caretaker and not the owner. As steward, he needs to obey God’s will. Doing otherwise will result in his exile from Eden, and this exile will foreshadows the later exile of Jacob’s descendants from Canaan when they also fail to be good stewards of their patrimony (Tarazi 37).

In this section, we investigated the Old Testament basis for stewardship. In the ancient Near East, the city and all its land were a patrimony from a deity to his steward king. The heavens and the earth were a patrimony from Yahweh to his steward mankind. Eden was a patrimony given to Adam. Adam failed in his stewardship and was exiled from it.

The Basis for Our Identity as Sojourners

To sojourn means to stay somewhere temporarily. Nomads are people who adopt sojourning as a lifestyle because their flocks depend upon finding fresh pasture. The sons of Jacob say to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, like our fathers before us … We have come to stay for the present in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the land of Canaan is hard pressed by famine” (Genesis 47:3-4). On the one hand, since Jacob tells Pharaoh, “Ever since our boyhood your servants have looked after livestock, we and our fathers before us” (46:34), it might seem that they choose this lifestyle because they do not have any better options. But in the Biblical narrative, it actually represents the virtuous choice. In this section we briefly look at the lives of the antediluvians Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah and the patriarch Abraham and see that a lifestyle of sojourning is the norm for the people of God.

For the antediluvians the evidence for the virtue of sojourning is subtle, but present. Abel is “a shepherd and kept flocks” while his brother Cain “tilled the soil” (Genesis 4:2). Abel, thus, has a nomadic lifestyle while Cain, being attached to a field, has a stable lifestyle. Yahweh “looked with favor on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favor on Cain and his offering” (4:4-5). After killing Abel, Cain, by virtue of Yahweh’s providence, is forced to forsake his stable ways and becomes for a time “a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth” (4:14), but in the end he reverts to his old ways and becomes the “builder of a town” (4:17), which implies erecting conduits to supply water (Tarazi 39). Seth, on the other hand, is the one God grants to Eve “in place of Abel” (Genesis 4:25), thus also being a nomadic shepherd, who relies on the rain that God alone provides (Tarazi 39). Of the praiseworthy Enoch and Noah, it is said that they “walked with God” (5:22, 24; 6:9). According to Tarazi, the phrase is better translated as “walked all the time with God” since the Hebrew verb hithallek means “walking to and fro; keep walking” (39), thus implying nomadism. Lastly, as a negative example, the builders of the tower of Babel say, “Let us build ourselves a town … so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth” (11:4). Despite the command to “fill the earth” being given to both Adam and Noah (1:28, 9:1), these people resist since it would entail moving and instability. Thus, even in the antediluvians narratives, we see a distinction between those who virtuously embrace sojourning and those who embrace stability.

The virtue of sojourning becomes explicit with Abraham, whom Yahweh commands to “leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you” (12:1). The first time the word Hebrew occurs in the Bible is in reference to Abraham: “A survivor came to tell Abram the Hebrew …” (14:13). According to Tarazi, Hebrew comes from the same root as the verb ‘abar, which means to journey within a given earth. Thus, “to be a Hebrew ultimately is to be on the go, similar to a shepherd, with an abode being a tent and not a house of brick or stone.” This, of course, is corollary to the stewardship of the first section since by always being on the go, one is necessarily using the earth without possessing it (56).

A final thing to note about Abraham is how Yahweh identifies his patrimony to him: “Look all around from where you are toward the north and the south, toward the east and the west. All the land within sight I will give to you and your descendants for ever … Come, travel through the length and breadth of the land, for I mean to give it to you” (Genesis 13:14-5,17). This is noteworthy for two reasons: 1) The land does not have well-defined property lines; rather, it is the breadth of the land visible from where he is standing. According to Tarazi, from a shepherd’s perspective, this means that “he would be granted enough pasture for himself and his herd and flock.” This, of course, means that he again is invited to enjoy the earth without possessing it (56-7). 2) The word travel is again the Hebrew verb hithallek, meaning to walk to and fro, that is used to describe Enoch and Noah. Abraham is here being invited to follow in their footsteps of intentional, virtuous sojourning.

Our Responsibilities as Stewards and Sojourners

Given the fact that by both example and precept the Old Testament calls upon people to be stewards of and sojourners in the earth, it is not surprising that it also makes explicit what behavior is consistent with this vocation. In fact the Law fulfills this purpose. The Law is given while Israel sojourns in the wilderness even before it reaches Canaan, thus implicitly approving a life of sojourning. It also makes clear that disobedience to the Law will cause them to “not live long in the land” (Deuteronomy 30:18), while obedience will cause them to “live long in the land” (32:47). One of the two precepts upon which all the Law and the Prophets rest is Leviticus 19:18: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” This boils down to caring for anything or anyone that is needy. In this section, we will see how this is fleshed out in specific legislation about caring for the land, for animal, and finally for other people.

Caring For Land

The land must be kept clean, unprofaned, and rested. “For all these hateful things were done by the people who inhabited this land before you, and the land became unclean. If you make it unclean, will it not vomit you out as it vomited the nation that was here before you?” (Leviticus 18:27-28). Contextually, inappropriate conjugal relations make the land unclean, and result in the inhabitants being vomited out. Murder also defiles or profanes the land: “You must not profane the land you live in. Blood profanes the country, and there is no expiation for the country for the bloodshed than the blood of the one who shed it. You must not defile the land you inhabit, the land in which I live; for I, Yahweh, live among the sons of Israel” (Numbers 35:33-34). Interestingly, the argument against murder here is that Yahweh is a co-inhabitant of the land. Lastly, the land must be kept rested. Every seven years the land is to have a rest and not be planted (Leviticus 25:1-7). Failure to allow the land its Sabbath year rest will result in exile from the land and “then indeed the land will rest and observe its sabbaths. And as it lies desolate it will rest, as it never did on your sabbaths when you lived in it” (26:34-5). As we can see, rampant inappropriate conjugal relations, murder, and forced overproduction of the land are considered mistreatment of the land and are punished by exile.

Caring For Animals

The Law also prescribes the humane treatment of the land’s fellow animal co-inhabitants. Work animals are guaranteed the observance of the weekly Sabbath: “The seventh day is a sabbath for Yahweh your God. You shall do no work that day … nor your ox nor your donkey nor any of your animals” (Deuteronomy 5:14). Animals are guaranteed wages for their work: “You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn” (25:4). During the Sabbath year when the earth is resting, what grows of its own accord is specifically granted to the wild animals (Exodus 23:11). Work animals that have tipped over while working are guaranteed the help of even anonymous bystanders to help them get back on their feet (Deuteronomy 22:4). Lastly, although not part of the Law proper, Proverbs describes the proper care of animals as virtue: “The virtuous man looks after the lives of his beasts, but the wicked man’s heart is ruthless” (12:10). So we see that the Law lays down clear guidelines how to care for the animal co-inhabitants of the land.

Caring For Foreigners

Lastly, the Law as well as the Prophets and Writings give exhaustive guidelines on what it looks like to properly care for the other human inhabitants of the land. The basis, again, for the care of the needy of the land is that Yahweh is the King and owner of the land, and He is very concerned to provide for the needy. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that his stewards in the land do His will and provide for them as well. This responsibility rests on all people, but especially the rulers and those with abundant resources. The rich are, by definition, already well-provided for, so the main legislative content concerns protecting the rights of the needy. In fact, Tarazi goes so far as to make the argument that being needy is the primary criteria for membership in Yahweh’s heritage, i.e., that group which Yahweh is bound by His justice to care for (172). The other criteria to be one of Yahweh’s people is that one is similar to Yahweh by virtue of sharing his active concern for the needy (176). In this section, we focus on the legislation for one specific group of needy people: foreigners.

Considering the xenophobia and misoxeny rampant in later Judaism, it is almost surprising how much space is given in the Old Testament to protecting the rights of foreigners sojourning in the land. Caring for foreigners is the natural response to properly understanding one’s own identity as steward and sojourner. If the land on which we live is merely a stewardship and not a possession, then in Yahweh’s eyes, there is no difference between us and the apparent sojourner: “Land must not be sold in perpetuity, for the land belongs to me, and to me you are only strangers and guests” (Leviticus 25:23). Sojourners are guaranteed the right to being taught the laws of the land in a way they can learn: “Call the people together, men, women, children, and the stranger who lives with you, for them to hear [this Law] and learn to fear Yahweh your God and keep and observe all the words of this Law” (Deuteronomy 31:12). Sojourners are guaranteed the right to observe the Sabbath day (5:14) and to enjoy the produce that grows by itself during the Sabbath year (Leviticus 25:6). Sojourners are guaranteed the right to observe the national holidays (Deuteronomy 16:14). Absolute empathy is commanded to be given to sojourners: “You must not oppress the stranger; you know how a stranger feels, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). The very fact of his being an oppressed sojourner accords a person status equal to an oppressed citizen: “Yahweh, they crush your people, they oppress your hereditary people, murdering and massacring widows, orphans, and guests” (Psalm 93:5-6). In short, the command of Leviticus 19:18 to love one’s neighbor as oneself is explicitly applied to the sojourner: “If a stranger lives with you in your land, do not molest him. You must count him as one of your own countryman and love him as yourself--for you were once strangers yourself in Egypt” (19:33-4). This refrain about being a stranger in Egypt almost gives the impression that Yahweh arranged for Israel to sojourn in Egypt expressly to train them in hospitality for their later stewardship of Canaan.

Conclusion

This post just barely touched the surface of the important themes of stewardship and sojourning as they relate to land use in the Old Testament. We saw that regardless of where we live, we are merely stewards of that land since God is the ultimate owner. And as stewards, we are responsible to implement His will on that land, which boils down to caring for the other co-inhabitants. Furthermore, since we are not the owner of the land, we also have the identity of a permanent sojourner and should embrace transience. Lastly, we looked at one practical application of the identity of steward and sojourner in the Old Testament, namely, if Israel ultimately is a steward of and sojourner in Canaan, how should it treat foreign sojourners? The answer from the Old Testament, of course, is that Canaan is no more a possession for Israel than was Egypt, and thus foreign sojourners should be the object of the same love that Israel has for itself. We close with a quote from the 14th Kathisma that has taken on new meaning over the course of writing this post:

Of Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia,
‘Here so and so was born,’ men say.
But all call Zion ‘Mother,’
Since all were born in her. (Psalm 87:4)

Works Cited

The Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968.
Tarazi, Paul Nadim. Land And Covenant. St. Paul, MN: OCABS, 2009.