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The Septuagint gives the following translations:
(“lamb”);
(“sheep”); and
(“lamb”). The
KJV
gives these senses: “lamb; sheep.”
LAND
(
$
, 127), “ground; land; earth.” This noun also occurs in Arabic.
Hebrew occurrences number about 224 and cover every period of biblical Hebrew.
Initially this noun represents arable “ground” (probably red in color). As such it
supports water and plants: “But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
whole face of the ground” (Gen. 2:6). This meaning is in Gen. 1:25, where it first
appears: “… every thing that creepeth upon the earth.…” The word is contrasted to
unproductive soil, or “waste land,” and the generic word for the surface of the planet
“earth,” which may represent either or both of the preceding words. The body of the first
man, Adam, was formed exclusively from the
(cf. Gen. 2:9): “And the Lord
God formed man [
] of the dust of the ground [
] …” (Gen. 2:7).
*
may be used specifically to describe what has been and will be cultivated
by a given group of people, or what they possess to this end: “Look down from thy holy
habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given
us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey” (Deut.
26:15). A further variation of this nuance refers to the actual soil itself: “Shall there not
then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules’ burden of earth [with which to build
an altar to the true God]?” (2 Kings 5:17).
In Exod. 3:5
is used more in the sense “ground,” what is below one’s feet
irrespective of its cultivable properties: “… Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the
place whereon thou standest is holy
$ !
"
The nuance “property” or “possession” comes more clearly to the fore in passages
such as Zech. 2:12: “And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land …” (cf.
Ps. 49:11). Although
is never used politically, its use as “landed property” or
“home country” sometimes approaches that sense (cf. Isa. 14:2; 19:17; and especially
Ezek. 7:2). Isa. 15:9: “… For I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth
of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land,” further illustrates this usage.
Throughout the Old Testament there is a relationship between
, “man,” and the
!
The two words have an etymological affinity inasmuch as they both appear to
be derived from the verb
, “to be red.” If Adam were to remain obedient to God,
the “ground” would give forth its fruit. Hence, the “ground” was God’s possession and
under His command (Gen. 2:6). He made it respond to His servant. The entry of sin
disrupted the harmony between man and the “ground,” and the “ground” no longer
responded to man’s care. His life moved in and toward death rather than upward and
toward life. Increased human rebellion caused decreased fruitfulness of the “ground”
(Gen. 4:12, 14; cf. 8:21). In Abraham the promised redemption (Gen. 3:15) took the form
of the restoration of a proper relation between God and man and between man and the
“ground” (Gen. 28:14-15). Under Moses the fruitfulness of the “ground” depended on the
obedience of God’s people (cf. Deut. 11:17).