JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

earth
EARTH.
In Biblical Literature
The earth is portrayed in the Bible as a flat strip (Isa. 42:5;
44:24) suspended across the cosmic ocean (Ps. 24:2; 136:6).
It is supported on pillars (Ps. 75:4; Job 9:6) or props (Isa.
24:18; Prov. 8:29) and is evidently surrounded by a mountain
range like the qār of Arabic folklore, to keep it from being
flooded (Prov. 8:29; Job 26:10). The ultimate bounds of the
earth known to the ancient Hebrews were India and Nubia
(Esth. 1:1; cf. Zeph. 3:10). A similar conception of the earth was
held by Herodotus (3:114) and is found in the Persian inscriptions
of Darius. Sometimes, too, its furthermost inhabitants
were thought to be the peoples who resided in remote lands
north of Palestine – *Gog and Magog – a concept which finds
a parallel among the Greeks. It was believed that the fertility of
the earth could be affected by the misconduct of men. It was
then said to be “polluted” (Heb. ḥanefah; Isa. 24:5). As a result
of Adam’s sin, the earth yields grain only when man puts
heavy labor into it (Gen. 3:17–19), and for receiving the blood
of Abel it was forbidden to “yield its strength” to Cain under
any circumstances (Gen. 4:11–13). The idea that the land could
be rendered infertile by having innocent blood shed upon it
is widespread in other cultures, and probably stems from the
notion that “the blood is the life” and, therefore, represents the
outraged spirit of the murdered man who exacts vengeance
until the crime is redressed or expiated. Bloodshed could likewise
cause lack of rainfall (II Sam. 1:21). Since it is usually a
particular land, especially the Land of Israel, that is affected by
misdeeds committed in it, such misconduct includes not only
moral turpitude but also disobedience to divine commandments.
For example, a famine ensued for several years as a result
of David’s taking a census, against the orders of God. According
to Exodus 23:10–12, the land of Israel had to lie fallow
every seventh year; according to Leviticus 25, every 50th year
as well. This may be explained as a survival of the ancient belief
that life is vouchsafed in seven-year cycles. Deuteronomy,
which speaks of the seventh year only as one of debt remission
(Deut. 15) and enjoins a public reading of the Torah to
the pilgrims assembled in Jerusalem on the festival of Tabernacles
of that year (Deut. 31:10–13), is believed to represent a
late development. Among the gentiles particular lands were
regarded as the estates, or inheritances, of their tutelary gods;
in the Bible yhwh is the Lord of what would later be known
as the universe, yet the land of Israel is the object of His special
care (Deut. 11:12; 32:8–9; II Sam. 20:19; Jer. 2:7; Ps. 79:1). In
the apocryphal book of Ben Sira (17:17), the Lord parcels out
the earth among “rulers,” i.e., celestial princes, as an emperor
might apportion his dominion among satraps. Conversely,
waste places were deemed the natural habitat of demons (Isa.
34:13–14), and the winds which sweep the wilderness were depicted
as howling monsters, just as in Arabic folklore the desert
is called “howl-place” (yabāb; cf. Deut. 32:10). Earth, like
sky, was sometimes called to serve as a witness in prophetic
denunciations of the people (Deut. 4:26; 30:19; 31:28). This
reflects a common ancient Near Eastern practice of invoking
the earth and sky, along with the national and local gods, to
witness covenants and treaties. There is no clear evidence in
the Bible of any worship of the earth, even by apostate Israelites.
However, a goddess named Arṣay, i.e., Ms. Earth, is mentioned
in the Canaanite texts from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) as one
of the brides of Baal, and the Phoenician mythographer Sanchuniathon
(second quarter of the sixth cent. B.C.E.) speaks
of a primordial woman, called Omorka, who was cut asunder
by Belus (Baal) to make earth and heaven respectively. In
the six-day scheme of creation described in the first chapter
of Genesis, earth is said to have emerged on the third day
(Gen. 1:9–11). It was originally watered not by rain but by a
subterranean upsurge (Heb. ed; Gen. 2:5–6). It is not impossible
that this picture was inspired by conditions that actually
obtain in parts of Palestine where, before the onset of the early
rains and the beginning of the agricultural cycle in autumn,
the soil is moistened only by springs which burst forth at the
foot of the hills. It is possible – though this must be received
with caution-that the Hebrews shared with the Babylonians
the notion that the geography of the earth had its counterpart
aloft and that the portions of the heavens corresponded to terrestrial
domains, for it is in terms of such a view that it may
perhaps be possible to interpret the words of Balaam (Num.
24:17) about the star which is stepping out of Jacob (i.e., the
region of the sky answering to the Land of Israel) and which
is destined to smite the borders of Moab. It was held that at
the end of the present era of the world, when a new dispensation
was to be ushered in, the soil of the Land of Israel would
undergo a miraculous renewal of fertility. A stream, like that
which flowed through Eden, would issue forth (Zech. 14:8),
and there would be a prodigious increase in vegetation and
livestock.
Post-Biblical Literature
Ideas about the earth are elaborated in post-biblical literature.
The earth is represented as resting on a primal foundation
stone, which also forms the bedrock of the Temple. The navel,
or center, of the earth is located at Zion, just as among the Samaritans
it is located at the sacred Mt. Gerizim, and among the
Greeks, at Delphi. Earth, like heaven, consists of seven layers
superimposed upon one another. Its extent is reckoned in one
passage of the Talmud (Ta’an. 10a) as equivalent to (roughly)
190 million square miles, and it is 1,000 cubits thick. In IV Ezra
6:42 it is said that six parts of it are habitable, and the seventh is
covered by water. According to post-biblical sources, the earth
is sheltered from the blasts of the south wind by the gigantic
bird ziz, and, as in the Bible, it will become miraculously fertile
in the messianic age (Ginzberg, Legends, S.V.). Earth’s pristine
fertility, it is said, was diminished through the sin of Adam,
and its smooth surface was made rugged by mountains as a
punishment for its having received the blood of Abel. When
the new age dawns, it will again become level. Just as in the
Greek myth the earth opened to rescue Amphiaraus, so in
Jewish legend it hid the tender babes of Israel hunted by Pha-
82 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6