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Bible Dictionaries
Earth
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or 'Erets (אֶרֶץ, Strong's #776), “earth; land.” This is one of the most common Hebrew nouns, occurring more than 2,500 times in the Old Testament. It expresses a world view contrary to ancient myths, as well as many modern theories seeking to explain the origin of the universe and the forces which sustain it.
'Erets may be translated “earth,” the temporal scene of human activity, experience, and history. The material world had a beginning when God “made the earth by His power,” “formed it,” and “spread it out” (Isa. 40:28; 42:5; 45:12, 18; Jer. 27:5; 51:15). Because He did so, it follows that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Ps. 24:1; Deut. 10:1; Exod. 9:29; Neh. 9:6). No part of it is independent of Him, for “the very ends of the earth are His possession,” including “the mountains,” “the seas,” “the dry land,” “the depths of the earth” (Ps. 2:8; 95:4-5; Amos 4:13; Jonah 1:9). God formed the earth to be inhabited (Isa. 45:18). Having “authority over the earth” by virture of being its Maker, He decreed to “let the earth sprout vegetation: of every kind” (Job 34:13; Gen. 1:11). It was never to stop its productivity, for “while the earth stands, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). “The earth is full of God’s riches” and mankind can “multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Ps. 104:24; Gen. 1:28; 9:1). Let no one think that the earth is an independentself-contained mechanism, for “the Lord reigns” as He “sits on the vault of the earth” from where “He sends rain on the earth” (Ps. 97:1; Isa. 40:22; 1 Kings 17:14; Ps. 104:4).
As “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth,” He sees that “there is not a just man on earth” (Eccl. 7:20). At an early stage, God endeavored to “blot out man … from the face of the earth” (Gen. 6:5-7). Though He relented and promised to “destroy never again all flesh on the earth,” we can be sure that “He is coming to judge the earth” (Gen. 7:16f.; Ps. 96:13). At that time, “the earth shall be completely laid waste” so that “the exalted people of the earth fade away” (Jer. 10:10; Joel 2:10; Isa. 33:3-6; Ps. 75:8). But He also provides a way of escape for all who heed His promise: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa. 45:22).
What the Creator formed “in the beginning” is also to have an end, for He will “create a new heaven and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).
The Hebrew word 'erets also occurs frequently in the phrase “heaven and earth” or “earth and heaven.” In other words, the Scriptures teach that our terrestrial planet is a part of an all-embracing cosmological framework which we call the universe. Not the result of accident or innate forces, the unfathomed reaches of space and its uncounted components owe their origin to the Lord “who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 121:2; 124:8; 134:3).
Because God is “the possessor of heaven and earth,” the whole universe is to reverberate in the praise of His glory, which is “above heaven and earth” (Gen. 14:19, 22; Ps. 148:13). “Shout, O heavens and rejoice, O earth”: “let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice” (Ps. 49:13; 96:11). Such adoration is always appropriate, for “whatever the Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Ps. 135:6).
'Erets does not only denote the entire terrestrial planet, but is also used of some of the earth’s component parts. English words like land, country, ground, and soil transfer its meaning into our language. Quite frequently, it refers to an area occupied by a nation or tribe. So we read of “the land of Egypt,” “the land of the Philistines,” “the land of Israel,” “the land of Benjamin,” and so on (Gen. 47:13; Zech. 2:5; 2 Kings 5:2, 4; Judg. 21:21). Israel is said to live “in the land of the Lord” (Lev. 25:33f.; Hos. 9:13). When the people arrived at its border, Moses reminded them that it would be theirs only because the Lord drove out the other nations to “give you their land for an inheritance” (Deut. 4:38). Moses promised that God would make its soil productive, for “He will give rain for your land” so that it would be “a fruitful land,” “a land flowing with milk and honey, a land of wheat and barley” (Deut. 11:13-15; 8:7-9; Jer. 2:7).
The Hebrew noun may also be translated “the ground” (Job 2:13; Amos 3:5; Gen. 24:52; Ezek. 43:14). When God executes judgment, “He brings down the wicked to the ground” (Ps. 147:6, NASB).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Earth'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/e/earth.html. 1940.
