God’s Good Land

Abstract

Israel’s agrarian setting is reflected throughout the Book of the Twelve, which refers often to divine and human interaction with Land. Israel’s relationship with God is articulated in terms of kinship relations in an agrarian setting, reflecting Israel’s dependence on Land and Yhwh. The Twelve asserts that Israel’s Land belongs ultimately to Yhwh, who demands that Land and all her inhabitants (including nonhumans) be treated with respect and justice. Environmental degradation is linked with the elites’ exploitation of agrarian households’ sustainable subsistence practices. These elite extracted the farmers’ necessary surpluses for their conspicuous consumption and exchange for luxury goods, resulting in the abuse of Land for an unsustainable maximum yield. Land and her inhabitants suffered, and Land (or Earth) addresses Yhwh in mourning. Under the monarchy, Land’s fertility is conceptualized as being dependent on Yhwh’s blessing, but conveyed through the king and God’s temple in Jerusalem. While the Twelve acknowledges this tradition, it asserts that Yhwh is the true king of all Earth, and the primary source of fertility. The Twelve also moves beyond an agrarian setting to indicate the intrinsic value of all creation.