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PEOPLE OF THE LAND*
OT phrase also known by its Hebrew transliteration, ‘Am-Ha’arets. In a generic sense, ‘Am-Ha’arets referred to a political or ethnic group of people, such as the Hittite sons of Heth (Gn 23:7), the Egyptians (42:6), the Israelites (Ex 5:5), the nations of Canaan (Nm 13:28; Neh 9:24), and the Ammonites (Nm 21:34). With the expansion of Israel as a nation, this expression was used to define the general class of people who were not part of the upper religious and political levels of society (2 Kgs 11:14-20; 25:3; 2 Chr 33:25; Jer 52:25). During the postexilic period, the mixed race of Jews who had intermarried with heathen peoples were called the people of the land and mostly shunned by Ezra and his followers (Ezr 4:4; 10:2, 11; Neh 10:28-31). Later, rabbinic Judaism labeled the Jewish people who were unwilling or unable to observe the whole law as ‘Am-Ha’arets.