Earth

Earth the symbol of people in a state of peace, quietness, and submission, and at the same time involved in idolatry, or apostacy.

The reasons are

1. In the symbolical language, the natural world represents the political; the heaven, sun, and luminaries, represent the governing part; and conse­quently the earth must represent the part governed, sub­mitting and inferior. Agreeable to which is also the etymology of the words H8064, heaven,^f1 and H776 earth; ^f2 the first H8064 signifying high, or lifted up; and the other, H776 low, or depressed.

2. The sea (as will appear after-wards) is frequently used to denote men in war and tumult; and therefore earth may signify men in a state of peace.^f3

3. It is the usual style of the Scriptures, to represent such men as are sinners, idolaters, out of the covenant of grace, or at least apostates from it-by the names of earth, inhabitants of the earth, and the like; as in Gen 2:1, all the earth signifies all men living then, who had begun to apostatize. ’Whereas all good persons, who have their conversation or citizenship in heaven, are for the most part styled martyrs of God, or prophets, or servants of God.

F1 Hotting. Thes. Philol. p. 234. Lexic. Harm. p. 512. Bochart. Can. L. i. c. 8.

F2 Hott. Thes. Ph. p. 234. Lex. Harm. p. 22.

F3 Evidence seems to be wanting, that the earth, as opposed to the sea, signifies nations in a state of peace; for though many waters signify peoples, and multitudes, and nations, yet unless the sea be described as in a perturbed state, as in Luk 21:25, it is not a symbol of nations at war, but stands generally, when not to be understood literally, for foreign countries and maritime parts, as Isa 23:11; Isa 60:5.

There are many senses in which this word is used in holy Scripture. In general, it means the gross matter which forms a bed, and sustains the life of trees, and fruit, and of vegetable life. God called the dry land earth. (Gen. i. 10.) Sometimes it is put for the people, and sometimes for their property. The earth, it is said, was filled with violence. (Gen. vi. 13.) And respecting property, we are told, that while the heavens are the Lord’s, the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Ps. cxv. 16.) I have somewhere read of the presumptuous gift of one of the princes of the earth, assuming to himself this grant, making a deed of gift to one of his favorites, of a certain portion of the land, the charter of which ran in words to this effect: I give all that is from heaven to the centre of the earth, including the minerals in the bowels of it, " &c. Poor vain man! when shortly after, all that he could embrace of the earth, or the earth him, was just his own breadth and length to lie down upon for corruption and to mingle with in the dust! The word earth is also spoken of by way of a natural and moral sense, Hence, in opposition to spirit, the Scripture describes the first man as of the earth, earthy; while the second man is declared to be, the Lord from heaven. And Jesus himself defines the essential difference, he that is of the earth, speaketh of the earth, he that cometh from heaven, is above all. (See I Cor xv. 47, 48. John 3: 31.)

is used for that gross element which sustains and nourishes us by producing plants and fruits; for the continent as distinguished from the sea, “God called the dry land earth,” Gen 1:10; for the terraqueous globe, and its contents, men, animals, plants, metals, waters, &c, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof,” Psa 24:1; for the inhabitants of the earth, or continent, “The whole earth was of one language,” Gen 11:1; for Judea, or the whole empire of Chaldea and Assyria. Thus Cyrus says, Ezr 1:2, “The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth.” The restriction of the term “earth” to Judea is more common in Scripture than is usually supposed; and this acceptation of it has great effect on several passages, in which it ought to be so understood.

Earth in a moral sense is opposed to heaven, and to what is spiritual. “He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from above is above all.” Joh 3:31. “If ye then be risen with Christ, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth,” Col 3:1,

Besides the ordinary senses of the word or words rendered ’earth’ in our translation—namely, as denoting mold, the surface of the earth, and the terrestrial globe—there are others in Scripture which require to be discriminated.

1. ’The earth’ denotes ’the inhabitants of the earth’ (Gen 6:11; Gen 11:1).

2. Heathen countries, as distinguished from the land of Israel, especially during the theocracy, i.e. all the rest of the world excepting Israel (2Ki 18:25; 2Ch 13:9, etc.).

3. In the New Testament especially, ’the earth’ appears in our translation as applied to the land of Judea. As in many of these passages it might seem as if the habitable globe were intended, the use of so ambiguous a term as ’the earth’ should have been avoided, and the original rendered by ’the land,’ as in Lev 25:23; Isa 10:23; and elsewhere. This is the sense which the original bears in Mat 23:35; Mat 27:45; Mar 15:33; Luk 4:25; Luk 21:23; Rom 9:28; Jas 5:17.

In both Hebrew and Greek the same word is used to denote the earth as a whole, and a particular land. Only the context can enable us to decide in which of these senses it is to be taken in a given passage.\par Thus in Mat 27:45 we might, so far as the original word is concerned, render either "there was darkness over all the land," or over all the earth. The expression "all the earth" is sometimes used hyperbolically for a large portion of it, Ezr 1:2 . The word is used of the whole world, etc. In a moral sense, earthly is opposed to what is heavenly, spiritual and holy, Joh 3:31 1Co 15:47 Col 3:2 Jas 3:15 . "The lower parts of the earth," means the unseen world of the dead, Psa 63:9 Isa 44:23 Zep 4:9 .\par

Earth. The term is used in two widely-different senses:

(1) for the material of which the earth’s surface is composed;

(2) as the name of the planet on which man dwells.

The Hebrew language discriminates between these two by the use of separate terms, adamah for the former, erets for the latter.

1. Adamah is the earth in the sense of soil or ground, particularly as being susceptible of cultivation. Gen 2:7.

2. Erets is applied in a more or less extended sense --

(1) to the whole world, Gen 1:1,

(2) to land as opposed to sea, Gen 1:10,

(3) to a country, Gen 21:32,

(4) to a plot of ground, Gen 23:15, and

(5) to the ground on which a man stands. Gen 33:3.

The two former senses alone concern us, the first involving an inquiry into the opinions of the Hebrews on cosmogony, the second on geography.

I. Cosmogony. -- (1) The Hebrew cosmogony is based upon the leading principle that the universe exists, not independently of God, nor yet co-existent with God, nor yet in opposition to him as a hostile element, but dependently upon him, subsequently to him and in subjection to him.

(2) Creation was regarded as a progressive work -- a gradual development from the inferior to the superior orders of things.

II. Geography. -- There seems to be traces of the same ideas as prevailed among the Greeks, that the world was a disk, Isa 40:22, bordered by the ocean, with Jerusalem as its centre, like Delphi as the navel, or, according to another view, the highest point of the world. As to the size of the earth, the Hebrews had but a very indefinite notion.

’erets in Hebrew; gee in Greek, designating either the whole globe, or land as opposed to sea, or a particular land; to be distinguished by the context. A distinct term expresses the material of which the earth consists damaah, the "ground," "soil," from whence Adam was named (Gen 2:7), his body coming from and returning to the earth (Gen 3:19), a different word "dust" (Job 10:9; Ecc 12:7). Naaman desired to have two mules’ burden of earth of the Holy Land (’Eretz Israel), whether for an altar or other sacred purpose (Exo 20:24), a half-paganish nation that God would accept devotions in connection with that soil rather than with any other.

In Jas 5:17 it is translated: "it rained not on the land (of Israel)"; for the drought was a judgment, not on the whole earth, but on Israel; compare Luk 4:25. So in Luk 23:44 "there was darkness over all the land," not "all the earth"; compare Mat 27:45. In 1Co 15:47-49, "the first man is of the earth, earthy," contrasted with "the Lord from heaven" and "the heavenly," the term is choikos, not merely earthly, i.e. born upon earth, but "earthy," literally, "of heaped clay," answering to the surface "dust" in the Old Testament of which man is made; not merely terrestrial, but terrene, therefore, transitory.

properly the name of the planet on which we dwell. SEE GEOGRAPHY.

I. There are two Hebrew words thus rendered in the A.V., both of which are rendered by γῆ in the Sept., and this γῆ is rendered by "earth," "land," " ground, "in the New Testament. SEE DUST.

1. אֲדָמָה, adamah’, is the earth in the sense of soil or ground, particularly as being susceptible of cultivation; hence the expression אַישׁ אֲדָמָה, lit. "man of the ground," for an agriculturist (Gen 9:20). The; earth supplied the elementary substance of which man’s body was formed, and the terms adam and adamah are brought into juxtaposition, implying an etymological connection (Gen 2:7). SEE ADAM. The opinion that man’s body was formed of earth prevailed among the Greeks (Hesiod, Op. et Di. 61, 70; Plato, Rep. page 269), the Romans (Virgil, Georg. 2:341; Ovid, Met. 1:82), the Egyptians (Diod. Sic. 1:10), and other ancient nations. It is evidently based on the observation of the material into which the body is resolved after death (Job 10:9; Ecc 12:7). The law prescribed earth as the material out of which altars were to be raised (Exo 20:24); Bahr (Symb. 1:488) sees in this a reference to the name adam: others, with more reason, compare the ara de cespite of the Romans (Ovid, Trist. 5:5, 9; Horace, Od. 3:8, 4, 5), and view it as a precept of simplicity. Naaman’s request for two mules’ burden of earth (2Ki 5:17) was based on the idea that Jehovah, like the heathen deities, was a local god, and could be worshipped acceptably only on his own soil. SEE GROUND.

2. More generally אֶרֶוֹ, e’rets, which is explained by Von Bohlen (Introduction to Gen 2:6) as meaning etymologically the low in opposition to the high, i.e., the heaven. It is applied in a more or less extended sense: 1, to the whole world (Gen 1:1); 2, to land as opposed to sea (Gen 1:10); 3, to a country (Gen 21:32); 4, to a plot of ground (Gen 23:15); and, 5, to the ground on which a man stands (Gen 33:3); also, in a more general view, 6, to "the inhabitants of the earth" (Gen 6:11; Gen 11:1); 7, to heathen countries, as distinguished from the land of Israel, especially during the theocracy; i.e., all the rest of the world excepting Israel (2Ki 18:25; 2Ch 13:9, etc.); particularly the empire of Chaldaea and Assyria (Ezr 1:2); 8, in the New Testament especially, "the earth" appears in our translation as applied to the land of Judea. As in many of these passages it might seem as if the habitable globe were intended, the use of so ambiguous a term as "the earth" should have been avoided, and the original rendered by "the land," as in Lev 25:23; Isa 10:23, and elsewhere. This is the sense which the original bears in Mat 23:35; Mat 27:45; Mar 15:33; Luk 4:25; Luk 21:23; Rom 9:28; Jas 5:17. 9. Finally, in a spiritual sense, the word is employed (in the N.T.) in contrast with heaven, to denote things earthly and carnal (Joh 3:31; Col 3:1-2). See Wemyss, Symbol. Dict. s.v.; SEE WORLD.

To demand earth and water was a custom of the ancient Persians, by which they required a people to acknowledge their dominion; Nebuchodonosor, in the Greek of Judith (2:7), commands Holofernes to march against the people of the West, who had refused submission, and to declare to them that they were to prepare earth and water. Darius ordered his envoys to demand earth and water of the Scythians; and Megabysus required the same of Amyntas, king of Macedonia, in the name of Darius. Polybius and Plutarch notice this custom among the Persians. Some believe that these symbolical demands denoted dominion of the earth and sea; others, that the earth represented the food received from it, corn and fruits; the water, drink, which is the second part of human nourishment. Sir 15:16, in much the same sense, says, " The Lord hath set fire and water before thee; stretch forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt; and chapter 39:26, "Fire and water are the most necessary things to life." Fire and water were considered by the ancients as the first principles of the generation, birth; and preservation of man. Proscribed persons were debarred from their use; as, on the contrary, wives in their nuptial ceremonies were obliged to touch them. SEE ELEMENT.

II. The idea which the ancient Hebrews had of the figure of the earth can only be conjectured from incidental hints occasionally given in Scripture (Isa 40:22; Pro 8:27; Job 26:10; Psa 24:2; Psa 136:6). From these passages, taken together, says Rosenmuller (Alterthumsk. I, 1:133 sq.), we obtain the notion of the earth’s disk as circular, rising out of the water, and surrounded with the ocean, the heaven being spread over it as a canopy. Though floating free in the boundless immensity of space, yet, through the Creator’s might, it remains firmly fixed, without moving (1 Chronicles 17:30; Psa 93:1; Psa 104:5; Psa 119:90). It is rather inconclusive, however, to infer the popular notions of the earth’s figure from what may have been nothing more than the bold imagery of poets. Some have supposed that so long as the Hebrews were a nomadic race, they conceived of the earth as resembling a round tent, with the expanse as its covering; but that in later times, when domiciled in Palestine, they spoke of it as a splendid palace resting upon its many pillars (2Sa 22:8; Psa 75:3; Psa 104:5; Proverbs 5:25-29). The Greek and Roman writers (Hesiod, Theogn. 116 sq.; Ovid, Metam. 1:5 sq.; comp. Euseb. Prasp. Ev. 1:10 [Sanchoniathon, ed. Orelli, p. 9 sq.] Zendavesta, 1:170 sq.) also vary in their representations on this point, describing the earth sometimes as an oblong square, sometimes as a cube, sometimes as; a pyramid, sometimes as a chlamys, or outspread mantle. (See Eichhorn, Urgesch. ed. Gabler, Nurnb. 1790; Doderlein Rel. — Unterr. 7:59 sq.; Beck, Weltgesch. 1:99 sq.; Bauer, Hebr. Mythol. 1:63 sq.; De Wette, Bibl. Dogm. page 76 sq.; Baumgarten-Crusius, Bibl. Theolog. p. 264 sq.; Colln, Bibl. Theol. 1:166; Mignot, in the Memoires de l’Acad. des Inscr. 34:352 sq.; Anquetil, Oupnekhat, 1:409 sq.; Johannsen, Die kosmog., Ansichten d. Inder u. Hebr. Altona, 1833, Dornedden, in Eichhorn’s Bibl. 10:284 sq., 548 sq.; Gessner, in the Comment. Soc. Goett. volume 2; Corrodi, Beitr. zum vern. Denken, 18:15 sq.; Link, Urwelt, 1:268 sq.; Wagner, Geschichte d. Urgesch. p. 496 sq.; Umbreit, in the Stud. u. Kritiken, 1839, p. 189 sq.; Ballenstedt, Die Urwelt, 3d ed. Quedlinb. 1819; Von Schrank, Physik. theolog. Erkldr. der 6 Schopfungstage, Augsburg, 1829; Beke, Researches in Primeval History, London, 1834; Burton, View of the Creation, London, 1836; Tholuck, Literar. Anzeig. 1833, No. 67-78; Keil, apologia Mos. traditionis, Dorpat, 1839; Benner, De censura Longini in verba Gen 1:3, Giess. 1739; Burmeister, Gesch. d. Schopfung, Lips. 1843; Waterkeyn, Kosmos Hieros Grimma, 1846; Goguet, Urspr. d. Gesetze, 2:227.) SEE COSMOGONY.

Earth. Psa 24:1. Besides the ordinary acceptation of the word, as in the passage cited, it is used by the sacred writers to denote only a particular country. Thus, the phrase, Ezr 1:2, "all the kingdoms of the earth," means only Chaldea and Assyria; and it is often restricted to Judæa only.

The great difficulty which has to be dealt with in translating the word erets is to determine where it is used with reference only to a special territory, suc has Canaan, and where it signifies the whole world. When the earThis spoken of in connection with heaven (as in Gen 1:1; Isa 49:13; Isa 65:17), it must have the larger meaning; the same will usually be the case when we read of the ends of the earth (Isa 52:10), or the whole earth (Mic 4:13); but in a great number of passages there is nothing but the context or the general analogy of Scripture to guide the translator or interpreter. The distinction between the narrower and wider meaning of the term is important in considering the account of the Deluge, also in the interpretation of many prophetical passages. Thus in Psa 37:11 we read, ’The meek shall inherit the earth;’ but in verse 29, where erets is also used, the A. V. renders, ’The righteous shall inherit the land.’ See also verses 22 and 34 in Isa 11:9 we read, ’The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord ;’ yet the earlier part of the verse only speaks of God’s ’holy mountain’ in Jer 22:29 (’O earth, earth, earth’) is the prophet appealing to the wide world, or to the l and of Canaan? in Isa 24:1 we read, ’Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty;’ verse 3, ’The l and shall be utterly emptied;’ verse 4, ’The earth mourneth;’ verse 13, ’When it shall be thus in the midst of the land,’ &c Erets is used throughout the chapter; but to what does it refer? Ought it not to be rendered uniformly? The twenty-first verse seems to imply that it is used in the more extensive sense in Amo 8:8 we read, ’Shall not the l and tremble for this?’ and in verse 9, ’I will darken the earth in the clear day.’ in Zec 14:9, ’The Lord shall be king over all the earth;’ and in verse 10, ’All the l and shall be turned as a plain.’ Our translators seem almost to have indulged in variety in these passages for the sake of variety, but it is to the confusion of the English reader.

The Greek rendering for adamah is always γη̂. The same word is the most general rendering for erets, but we also find χώρα, territory, in about fifty passages, and οἰκουμένη, a habitable world, in nine passages. There are other occasional renderings, but none which call for special notice.

The word for ’earth,’ in the sense of earthen vessels, potsherds, or potter’s clay, is always Cher as (חרשׂ), except in 2Sa 17:28, where Yatsar (יצר) is used, referring to the vessels being moulded in Dan 2:10, ’There is not a man up on the earth,’ &c., the word used (יבשׁת) signifies dry land; whilst Aphar (עפר), dust, is found in Gen 26:15; Isa 2:19; Dan 12:2; Job 8:19; Job 28:2; Job 30:6; Job 41:33 -- in most of which passages holes or cavities in the upper surface of the earth are referred to.

In the N.T., it is to be remembered, as in the O.T., that where the Greek representative of erets is found in contrast or juxtaposition with heaven, we know that it must signify the eart has a whole. this would apply to such passages as the following:--

’Heaven and earth shall pass away’ (Mat 5:18).

’Thy will be done on eart has it is in heaven’ (Mat 6:10).

’Whatsoever ye bind in earth shall be bound in heaven’ (Mat 18:18).

In some passages the interpretation admits of a doubt. Thus Mat 5:5, ’Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.’ Here our Lord is making use of the LXX rendering of Psa 37:11, in which passage it is natural to suppose that the l and of Canaan would be primarily referred to. Here, however, the Hebrew word is erets, as was noticed above, and thus the larger sense of the word is admissible in Eph 6:3, ’That thou mayest live long in the earth,’ the Hebrew (Exo 20:12) is adamah, and the l and of Canaan is primarily meant.

The context in these and other cases is the only means whereby the reader can decide whether by γη̂ is signified the soil, the territory, or the world.

Several Hebrew words are translated ’earth,’ but they are not employed to distinguish the earth as a sphere from the surface of the earth, or ground; nor to discriminate between the general surface of the earth, and any portion of it as ’land,’ or the soil of the earth. Thus adamah generally refers to the earth as ground or soil: the rain falleth on ’the earth,’ Gen 7:4; ’an altar of earth,’ Exo 20:24; man ’returneth to his earth,’ Psa 146:4; but it often refers to the ’land ’ of Israel: ’prolong your days upon the land;’ ’dwell in the land;’ ’live in the land;’ ’the land which I sware unto their fathers.’ Deu 30:18; Deu 30:20; Deu 31:13; Deu 31:20.

Another word, erets, has wider significations: sometimes the earth as a sphere: "God created the heaven and the earth," Gen 1:1; He "hangeth the earth upon nothing," Job 26:7: but in other places it is restricted to districts: "out of that land went forth Asshur;" "after their tongues in their countries;" "in his days was the earth divided." Gen 10:11; Gen 10:20; Gen 10:25.

In the N.T. the word γῆ is employed for all the above various significations. It is used symbolically as a characteristic of man according to his natural estate. "He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth." Joh 3:31.

From the above examples it will be seen that in some instances where the A.V. has ’earth,’ the ’land’ only, or the land of Canaan, may be intended; the context must be studied in each case.

Earth Belonging To The LORD

Gen_14:19; Exo_19:3-5; Deu_10:14; 1Sa_2:8; 1Ch_29:11; Psa_24:1; Psa_47:7-9; Psa_50:7-12; Psa_89:8-11; 1Co_10:26-28.

Earth Passing Away

Psa_102:24-27; Isa_51:6; Mat_24:35; Mar_13:31; Luk_21:33; Heb_1:10-12; 2Pe_3:10-12; Rev_21:1-4.

The Earth Which Exists Now

2Pe_3:3-8.

The LORD Creating A New Earth

Psa_102:24-27; Isa_65:14-18; Isa_66:22; Heb_1:10-12; Rev_21:1-5.

The LORD Creating The Earth

Gen_1:1-31; Gen_2:4; Exo_20:11; Exo_31:17; 2Ki_19:15; Neh_9:6; Psa_89:8-11; Psa_90:2; Psa_95:3-5; Psa_102:24-25; Psa_104:1-13; Psa_115:13-15; Psa_119:89-90; Psa_121:2; Psa_124:8; Psa_136:1-6; Psa_146:5-6; Pro_3:19; Pro_8:22-31; Isa_37:16; Isa_40:28; Isa_42:5; Isa_44:24; Isa_45:11-12; Isa_45:18; Isa_48:12-13; Isa_51:13-16; Isa_66:1-2; Jer_10:10-12; Jer_27:4-5; Jer_32:17; Jon_1:9; Zec_12:1; Act_4:24; Act_14:15; Heb_1:10-12; Rev_10:5-6; Rev_14:7.

The New Earth

Isa_66:22; 2Pe_3:13; Rev_21:1-4.

Those That Are Of The Earth

Joh_3:31.

What Defiles The Earth

Gen_6:11-13; Num_35:33; Isa_24:5.

What Is In The Earth

1Ch_16:14; Psa_33:5; Psa_72:18-19; Psa_104:24; Psa_105:7; Isa_6:1-3; Hab_2:14.

What The Earth Is

Isa_66:1; Mat_5:34-35.

Who Is Earthly

Joh_3:31.

Who Was Given Dominion Over The Earth

Gen_1:26-28; Psa_8:4-9; Psa_115:16.

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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Samuel Krauss

The Hebrew expression for "earth" means primarily earth or soil as an element, and also the surface of the earth and plowed land, the latter being probably of the red color characteristic of Palestinian soil (compare Abu al-Walid, "Dictionary," s.v.; Credner, "Der Prophet Joel," 1831, pp. 123 et seq.). Josephus says that the Hebrew for "man" ( = Αδαμος), which is related to "earth" according to Gen. ii. 7, really means "red," since virgin soil is red ("Ant." i. 1, § 2). The Syrians also called the earth (ἀδαμδά in Theodoret, "Quæst. lx. in Gen."; compare Mishnah Shab. viii. 5); the expression is not found in the other Semitic languages, surviving only in the protoplast Adam. The original meaning of is, however, not certain; Friedrich Delitzsch thinks it means, as in the Assyrian, "arable land" ("The Hebrew Language Viewed in the Light of Assyrian Research," p. 58). Another expression for "earth," , is equivalent to "terrestrial globe," in contrast with "the heavens." According to a rabbinical interpretation, the earth has four names, "ereẒ," "tebel," "adamah," and "arḳa," corresponding to the four points of the compass (Gen. R. xiii. 12).

In Hebrew, "heaven and earth" together constitute the universe. The earth has foundations and pillars (I Sam. ii. 8; Ps. lxxv. 4, civ. 5; Job ix. 6, xxxviii. 6); it rests on the ocean, out of which it rises (Ps. xxiv. 2, cxxxvi. 6); it is suspended in space (Job xxvi. 7); the idea of its free suspension in the air is especially worked out in the mystical "Book of Creation" (Sefer Yeẓirah). Like most peoples of antiquity, the Hebrews conceived of the earth as a disk (Prov. viii. 27; Job xxvi. 10; Isa. xl. 22); and they spoke, therefore, of peoples like the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, and Medes as living at the ends of the earth (see Gesenius, Commentary on Isaiah, i. 247). As Ezekiel (v. 5) could describe the Israelites as being set in the "midst of the nations," so also could he speak of their land as being the "navel of the earth" (xxxviii. 12, Hebr.); for Palestine in fact occupied a central position as regards Assyria and Egypt, the two chief powers of antiquity. In later times, indeed, it was positively asserted that Palestine, or Zion, was the physical center of the earth (Enoch, xxvi. 1, 2; Book of Jubilees, viii.); and the Rabbis interpreted the phrase "midst of the nations" as referring both to Palestine and to Jerusalem as the center of Palestine (Tan., ed. Buber, iii. 78).

The earth was destined not for a desert, but for the habitation of man (Isa. xlv. 18). In Ecclus. (Sirach) xl. 1c the earth is called "the mother of all living" (comp. Targum on Job i. 24). The Biblical conception of the paramount importance of the earth prevailed down to the time of the great astronomical discoveries of Copernicus and Kepler. The allusions of the Prophets to a new heaven and a new earth (Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22) were interpreted even as early as Maimonides in a non-physical sense ("Moreh," ii. 29). In mystical speculations the earth, like the other heavenly bodies, was taken to be an animated being, having therefore its own genius (Num. R. xxiii. 6), and also its guardian angels (Schwab, "Vocabulaire de l'Angálologie," p. 75).

Bibliography:

Gesenius, Th. i. 154;

Rosenmüller, Handbuch der Bibl. Alterthumskunde, 1823, i. 1, 133, 153;

Johansen, Kosmogonische Ansichten der Inder und Hebräer, 1833.

EARTH in OT usually stands for one or other of the Heb. words ’eretz and ’adâmâh. In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] these are rendered indiscriminately ‘earth’ and ‘ground,’ but RV [Note: Revised Version.] distinguishes them by using, to some extent, ‘earth’ for the former, and ‘ground’ for the latter. Both words have a wide range of meanings, some of which they possess in common, while others are peculiar to each. Thus ’eretz denotes: (a) earth as opposed to heaven (Gen 1:1), and (b) dry land as opposed to sea. (Gen 1:20). ’adâmâh is specially used: (a) for earth as a specific substance (Gen 2:7, 2Ki 5:17); and (b) for the surface of the ground, in such phrases as ‘face of the earth.’ Both words are employed to describe: (a) the soil from which plants grow, ’adâmâh being the more common term in this sense; (b) the whole earth with its inhabitants, for which, however, ’adâmâh is but rarely used; and (c) a land or country, this also being usually expressed by ’eretz. In one or two cases it is doubtful in which of the two last senses ’eretz is to be taken, e.g. Jer 22:29 (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘earth,’ RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘land’).

In NT the Gr. words for ‘earth’ are gç and oikoumenç, the former having practically all the variety of meanings mentioned above, while the latter denotes specially the whole inhabited earth, and is once used (Heb 2:5) in a still wider sense for the universe of the future. See, further, art. World.

James Patrick.

ûrth (אדמה, ’ădhāmāh, ארץ, ’erec, עפר, ‛āphār; γῆ, gḗ, οἰκουμένη, oikouménē): In a hilly limestone country like Palestine, the small amount of iron oxide in the rocks tends to be oxidized, and thereby to give a prevailing reddish color to the soil. This is especially the case on relatively barren hills where there is little organic matter present to prevent reddening and give a more blackish tinge.

’Ǎdhāmāh (compare ’ādhām, “a man,” and Adam) is from ’ādham, “to be red,” and is used in the senses: “earth” (Exo 20:24), “land” (Psa 105:35), a “land” or country (Isa 14:2), “ground” (Gen 4:11), “the earth” (Gen 7:4).

The word most in use is ’erec, undoubtedly from a most ancient root occurring in many languages, as English “earth,” German Erde, Arabic ’ard. It is used in most of the senses of ’ădhāmāh, but less as “soil” and more as “the earth” as a part of the universe; frequently with shāmayim, “heavens,” as in Gen 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

‛Āphār and its root word and derivatives are closely paralleled in the Arabic, and refer mainly to “dust” or “dry earth” (compare Arabic ‛afir, “to be of the color of dust”; ‛afar “dust”; ya‛fūr, “a gazelle”; Hebrew ‛ōpher, “a gazelle”). Compare Gen 2:7: “Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground”; Job 2:12: “.... sprinkled dust upon their heads”; Psa 104:29: “.... they die, and return to their dust”; Gen 18:27: “dust and ashes.”

In the Septuagint and New Testament, gē is used in nearly all cases, oikoumenē being used a few times for the “habitable earth,” as in Luk 21:26 the King James Version. See further ANTHROPOLOGY; ASTRONOMY; EVOLUTION; WORLD.

Exo 15:12 (a) This statement probably refers to the incident in the life of Moses when the earth opened up a cavity and Korah, Dothan and Abiram went down alive into hell. (See Num 16:29-33).

Deu 32:1 (a) The word refers to the peoples of the earth in every nation, for it is the desire of our Lord that all shall hear His Word. (See also 1Ch 16:31; Job 20:27; Psa 96:11; Isa 24:4; Isa 45:22).

Psa 63:9 (a) This statement clearly indicates that hell is in the heart of the earth. There are many other passages that confirm this truth. (See under "HELL").

Mat 13:5 (c) The teaching probably is that there was nothing in the heart of the hearer, nor in his mind, which would enable him to receive or understand GOD’s Word. (See also Mar 4:5).