A New Discussion of the Meaning of the Phrase ʿam hāʾāreṣ in the Hebrew Bible

The phrase ʿam hāʾāreṣ appears in the Hebrew Bible over fifty times (in the singular form alone) throughout a number of materials including the Pentateuch (in J, E, and P), the Deuteronomistic History, the Major Prophets, and several post-exilic compositions. A great deal of scholarly attention has been paid to the correct interpretation of these words, whether in dedicated studies¹ or in brief interpretative notes in related texts;² rarely is the phrase mentioned without a need for explication. That the term indicates something more than the plain meaning of its constituent words is evidenced by the variety of situations in which it is found and the throng of meanings to which it conceivably lends itself.

In addition to the interpretative problem posed by the biblical occurrences, the meaning of the phrase seems to have been further skewed by its postbiblical connotations. The term can be found in writings of the rabbinic period as a pejorative term for a Jewish individual who is not properly educated in Jewish law, an idea that is clearly foreign to the biblical usage.³ It is not unlikely that this tradition of using the phrase to convey an idea beyond what is explicitly worded has continued to influence interpreters into the modern period.

My intention is not to propose a description of some human group that once identified itself as the ʿam hāʾāreṣ; this has been done more times and with less credibility than is becoming. Nor do I wish simply to contend against such technical definitions, as this has been done as well. Instead I seek to examine the issue from the perspective of its literary function in each context and, accordingly, the plausible intent of the author who chose to employ it.

It will do to begin by taking stock of the major developments and influential essays relevant to this interpretative problem. As some of the earlier positions are either outmoded or have already been discussed ad nauseam, I will limit critical remarks to a minimum. After the time line has been traced, however, I intend to engage the most recent research on the issue, especially that of Lisbeth Fried. Because her work is specific to the fourth chapter of Ezra, much of the present discussion will interact with that text. Finally, after amassing a critical understanding of all these works, I shall describe how a more nuanced understanding of the term's function might better elucidate its proper interpretation.

I. A Brief History of Interpretation⁴

A flurry of scholarship and speculation on the precise meaning of the biblical ʿam hāʾāreṣ(and the evolution of its postbiblical connotations) peaked in the early twentieth century, though it has remained an interesting point of debate up to the present. The current discussion of the treatment of the term and its implications in the modern period begins with Mayer Sulzberger. In the publication of his 1912 lecture series on the political organization of ancient Hebrew society, Sulzberger argues for the existence of a representative government in ancient Israel; partially evinced by the terminis technicus ʿam hāʾāreṣ. Referring to his 1909 publication in which he first cultivates the idea,⁵ he recounts, "I . . . endeavored to demonstrate that this representative council, which had essential qualities of modern parliaments, was for long known as the ʿam ha-aretz, a technical term which, in the mutations of time and circumstance, acquired other and totally alien connotations, until at last the true meaning was forgotten."⁶

In his major study of the topic, Sulzberger provides a more detailed speculation about the origins of the term as a closed category. He imagines:

The Parliament of Israel had its humble beginnings at the city gate, where the elders of the town, comers to the gate, sat to hold the Town Council and the Municipal Court. Gradually there was evolved, from this institution, the tribal ʿAm, which dealt with the larger matters of the district inhabited by the tribe. Friendliness among neighbors, and the necessity of defense against enemies, produced...