LAND AND THE LANDLESS

In its broadest sense, the word “land” refers to the earth itself. God created it, and he is its ultimate owner (Pss 24:1; 104:5-26). As human beings, our physical life is dependent on the earth and its resources.

Realising this, some Hindus worship the earth as a goddess and offer poojas for the earth when they cultivate it or construct a building. But the God of creation want us to worship him alone, and not the things he has created (Rom 1:25). We do, however, have a God-given responsibility to cultivate and care for the earth, and not to exploit and destroy it (Gen 1:28; 2:15).

When Adam and Eve sinned, the earth was affected by their sin (Gen 3:17-19). The death and resurrection of Jesus redeemed humanity (Rom 5:8), but we and the earth are still awaiting our final deliverance from the effects of sin (Rom 8:18-22).

In the Bible, the word “land” is also used in the context of God’s promise to the Israelites. This promise was first made to Abraham, whom God told to leave his homeland (Gen 12:1-3). We should note that Abraham’s descendants were not the only communities to which God gave land (Deut 32:8; Amos 9:7). But God had a special purpose in giving the land of Canaan to them. The Israelites had a special place in his plan to save human beings from sin.

God’s promise of land was not fulfilled immediately. Abraham, his son and grandson lived in Canaan but owned little more than a field or two (Gen 23:12-16; 33:19). Then the people went to Egypt to escape famine in Canaan. They settled there, but ended up being enslaved by the Egyptians. The pattern is familiar – uprooted people are vulnerable to oppression and exploitation by local rulers.

God liberated his people, brought them to Canaan and gave Moses and Joshua directions to allocate the land fairly (Num 26:52-56; Josh 13-19). He made it clear that his people would only be allowed to keep possession of the land if they worshipped him alone and obeyed his laws. If they did, they would be a model to other nations (Deut 4:5-8). If they did not, they would lose their land (Deut 8:19-20; 28:58-64).

Whenever the Israelites disobeyed the Lord and took to worshipping the deities of Canaan, they were oppressed by the neighbouring nations and lost some of their land and produce to others till they repented (see, for example, Judg 6:1-10). God sent them prophets who warned that this temporary loss of the land could become a long-term problem (Isa 1:8-9; Amos 5:27). When the people refused to listen, they were defeated and deported by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Once again, they were landless. Those who were not deported became refugees in other nations. Yet God in his mercy did bring his people back to the land of Canaan after seventy years in exile.

The Bible’s teaching about land also deals with agricultural land. God specified that fields should be allowed to lie fallow every seventh year (Exod 23:10-12; Lev 25:1-7). This practice would enable the land to regain its fertility. The fallow land would also be used by the landless poor, who were allowed to harvest whatever crop came up by itself. Observance of this Sabbath for the land would remind the Israelites that the land belongs to God and is to be used to serve God and others. So would the institution of the Jubilee Year, described below.

When disasters struck in the form of drought, crop failures, conflicts and death, families might be forced to mortgage their land. When they could not repay the loan, they lost their land, and sometimes became labourers and servants to the moneylenders. This type of situation is also common in South Asia. In Israel, as here, it often results in some people accumulating great wealth while others are reduced to abject poverty. God therefore gave laws that were intended to reset society so that every family would have enough land to sustain themselves. Every fifty years there was to be a Jubilee Year, a year of land reform, in which land was returned to the original owners (Lev 25:23-24). No one in Israel should be landless and live in poverty or be permanently enslaved (Deut 15:12-15). Prophets and leaders strongly criticised injustice and the accumulation of wealth at the expense of others (Neh 5:1-13; Isa 5:8; 10:1-2; Amos 5:11-13, 24).

Christians should thus support land reform efforts such as the Bhoodhan Movement that encouraged the rich to donate land to the landless rural poor. We also need to think creatively about how to address the needs of the millions who have been displaced by ethnic conflicts, climate factors such as monsoon failure, and commercial factors such as the establishment of factories and real estate businesses. In the cities, landless villagers live in dire poverty. We need to encourage governments in South Asia to enact meaningful laws regarding land reform. Our churches also need to preach and teach on the problem of land and the landless.

Jesudason Baskar Jeyaraj