Biblical Story of Land

Land plays a central role in the Bible, with the word land used over 1,300 times and earth over 700 times.  It appears at the very beginning of the Bible when Genesis 1 describes land arising out of the chaos of the sea: “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear” (v.9).  The landscape of the ancient near east varies dramatically within a small region, producing sharp contrasts in how land could be used.

Soil

The Bible speaks of soil as a constitutive of our human bodies, as “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7).  Soil continues to be mentioned throughout the Bible as the Israelites’ livelihood, or arable land.   The Lord told Moses to send scouts into the land of Canaan to answer whether the soil was “fertile or poor” and to “bring back some of the fruit of the land” (Numbers 13:20).  

Fields

Fields were the location of significant daily life in the Old Testament.  They were the place of production and sustenance as the Israelites transitioned from a nomadic to agricultural lifestyle.  Mosaic law established foundational legal principles protecting property integrated with social responsibility.