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Bible Dictionaries
People
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or ‛Am (עַם, Strong's #5971), “people; relative.” This common Semitic word has cognates in Akkadian, Amorite, Phoenician, Ugaritic, Punic, Moabite, Aramaic, and Arabic. This word occurs about 1,868 times and at all periods of biblical Hebrew.
The word bears subjective and personal overtones. First, ‛am represents a familial relationship. In Ruth 3:11 the word means “male kinsmen” with special emphasis on the paternal relationship: “And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.” Here the word is a collective noun insofar as it occurs in the singular; indeed, it is almost an abstract noun. In the plural the word refers to all the individuals who are related to a person through his father: “But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself” (Lev. 21:4). This emphasis of the word is related to the meaning of its cognates in Ugaritic (clan), Arabic (uncle on one’s father’s side), and Nabataean (uncle on one’s father’s side). The word is quite often combined with divine names and titles in people’s names (theophoric names) where God is set forth as the God of a particular tribe, clan, or family—for example, Jekameam (God has raised up a clan or family, 1 Chron. 23:19) and Jokneam (God has created a clan or family, Josh. 12:22).
Second, ‛am may signify those relatives (including women and children) who are grouped together locally whether or not they permanently inhabit a given location: “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands” (Gen. 32:7).
Third, this word may refer to the whole of a nation formed and united primarily by their descent from a common ancestor. Such a group has strong blood ties and social interrelationships and interactions. Often they live and work together in a society in a common location. This is the significance of the word in its first biblical appearance: “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language …” (Gen. 11:6). Hence, in this usage ‛am refers not simply to male relatives but to men, women, and children.
‛Am may also include those who enter by religious adoption and marriage. The people of Israel initially were the descendants of Jacob (Israel) and their families: “And he said unto his people [Egyptians], Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we” (Exod. 1:9). Later the basic unity in a common covenant relationship with God becomes the unifying factor underlying ‛am. When they left Egypt, the people of Israel were joined by many others: “And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle” (Exod. 12:38). Such individuals and their families were taken into Israel before they observed the Passover: “And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land …” (Exod. 12:48). There is another mention of this group (perhaps) in Num. 11:4: “And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said.…”
After that, however, we read of them no more. By the time of the conquest we read only of the “people” (‛am) of Israel entering the land of Canaan and inheriting it (Judg. 5:11). Passages such as Deut. 32:9 clearly focus on this covenantal relationship as the basis of unity: “For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” This sense certainly emerges in the concept “to be cut off from one’s people”: “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant” (Gen. 17:14).
‛Am can mean all those physical ancestors who lived previously and are now dead. So Abraham was gathered to his people: “Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people” (Gen. 25:8). There might be covenantal overtones here in the sense that Abraham was gathered to all those who were true believers. Jesus argued that such texts taught the reality of life after death (Matt. 22:32).
‛Am can represent the individuals who together form a familial (and covenantal) group within a larger group: “Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field [on the battlefield]” (Judg. 5:18). Some scholars have suggested that the reference here is to a fighting unit with the idea of blood relationship in the background. One must never forget, however, that among nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes there is no distinction between the concepts “militia” and “kinsmen”: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise …” (Josh. 8:1). Compare Josh. 8:5 where ‛am by itself means fighting unit: “And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city …” (cf. Gen. 32:7).
‛Am may signify the inhabitants of a city regardless of their familial or covenantal relationship; it is a territorial or political term: “And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses …” (Ruth 4:9).
This noun can be used of those who are privileged. In the phrase “people of the land” ‛am may signify those who have feudal rights, or those who may own land and are especially protected under the law: “And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth” (Gen. 23:7). This sense of a full citizen appears when the phrase is used of Israel, too (cf. 2 Kings 11:14ff.). In some contexts this phrase excludes those of high office such as the king, his ministers, and priests; “For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land” (Jer. 1:18). In Lev. 4:27 this same phrase signifies the entire worshiping community of Israel: “And if any one of the common people [people of the land] sin through ignorance.…” The sense of privileged people with a proper relationship to and unique knowledge of God appears in Job 12:2: “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.” Could it be that in Isa. 42:5 all mankind are conceived to be the privileged recipients of divine revelation and blessing: “Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein.”
Finally, sometimes ‛am used of an entire nation has political and territorial overtones. As such it may be paralleled to the Hebrew word with such overtones (goy): “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (Deut. 14:2; cf. Exod. 19:5-6).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'People'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/p/people.html. 1940.
