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Bible Dictionaries
Land
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or 'Ădâmâh (אֲדָמָה, Strong's #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 'ădâmâh (cf. Gen. 2:9): “And the Lord God formed man ['ădâm] of the dust of the ground ['ădâmâh] …” (Gen. 2:7).
'Ădâmâh 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 'ădâmâh 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 ground."
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 'ădâmâh 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 'ădâm, “man,” and the 'ădâmâh. The two words have an etymological affinity inasmuch as they both appear to be derived from the verb 'ădom, “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).
'Erets (אֶרֶץ, 776), “land (the whole earth); dry land; ground; land (political); underworld.” This word has cognates in Ugaritic, PhoenicianPunic, Moabite, Akkadian, Aramaic (here the radicals are ‘rq or ‘r’), and Arabic (‘rd). 'Erets occurs in biblical Hebrew about 2,504 times (22 times in biblical Aramaic) and in all periods.
The word often represents the whole surface of this planet and, together with the word “heavens,” describes the entire physical creation and everything in it. This meaning is in its first biblical occurrence: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
'Erets sometimes means “land” as contrasted to sea or water. This use, for example, is in Exod. 20:11: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.…” This more narrow meaning first appears in Gen. 1:10, where God called the dry ground “land.” Here “land” includes desert and arable land, valleys and mountains—everything that we know today as continents and islands.
'Erets refers to the physical “ground” under the feet of men and animals. Upon the “ground” creep all creeping things: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion … over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26). Dust lies upon the 'erets (Exod. 8:16), and rain and dew fall on it (Gen. 2:5).
'Erets may be used geographically, i.e., to identify a territory: “And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity” (Gen. 11:28).
'Erets sometimes bears a political connotation and represents both a given political territory and the people who live there: “And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine” (Gen. 47:13). Not only the “land” languished, but (and especially) the people suffered.
Next, in several passages this noun has both geographical and political overtones and identifies the possession or inheritance of a tribe. This emphasis is in Num. 32:1: “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle.…”
In a seldom used, but interesting, nuance 'erets represents the “underworld”: “But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth” (Ps. 63:9). Sometimes even used by itself (absolutely) this noun represents the “underworld”: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever …” (Jonah 2:6). The Akkadian cognates sometimes bear this same meaning. Other Old Testament passages where some scholars find this meaning are Exod. 15:12; Ps. 71:20; and Jer. 17:13.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Land'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/l/land.html. 1940.
