Earth

From Bible Exegesis

ûrth (אדמה, 'ădhāmāh, ארץ, 'erec, עפר, ‛āphār; γῆ, gḗ, οἰκουμένη, oikouménē):

(1) In the sense of soil or ground, the translation of the word adamah'. In Gen_9:20 “husbandman” is literally “man of the ground or earth.” Altars were to be built of earth (Exo_20:24). Naaman asked for two mules' burden of earth (2Ki_5:17), under the superstitious notion that Jehovah, like the gods of the heathen, could be acceptably worshipped only on his own soil.

(2) As the rendering of 'erets, it means the whole world (Gen_1:2); the land as opposed to the sea (Gen_1:10). 'Erets also denotes a country (Gen_21:32); a plot of ground (Gen_23:15); the ground on which a man stands (Gen_33:3); the inhabitants of the earth (Gen_6:1; Gen_11:1); all the world except Israel (2Ch_13:9). In the New Testament “the earth” denotes the land of Judea (Mat_23:35); also things carnal in contrast with things heavenly (Joh_3:31; Col_3:1, Col_3:2).

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 : “YHWH 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.