This essay examines the identity of the people of the land הארצות עמי in Ezra 9-10. The text presents a polemic between the Israelites returning from Babylon (הגלה עם) and the people of the land. The central question for this paper is who were the people of the Land and why were they ostracized from the golah community? I propose that הארצות עמי were a mixed community of Israelites and foreigners. I will attempt to show that the main contenders in Ezra 9-10 were Yahwist who remained in Judah during the exilic period, but were categorized as outsiders because they were non-exiled Israelites involved in syncretism. The key to this perspective lies in the fact that during the Babylonian exile the golah community developed a separatist ideology …show more content…
Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the Mosaic covenant has been described as the “covenant par excellence” which dominates all known covenant traditions.292 Perhaps even more relevant to the situation of the Jews returning from exile, an experience perceived to be a consequence of an abrogation of the covenant, is Ringgren's observation. He writes, “The covenant idea then was so basic to Israel that even the restoration of a broken relationship was conceived as a covenant. The covenant idea became the normal form for Israel's association with God.”293 As Ringgren has rightly stated, the idea of a covenant is the single concept that tied Israel to Yahweh. Throughout the history if Israel, their relationship with Yahweh was characterized by the repeated experience of failure and redemption. This pattern is seen from the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Despite the repeated warnings against the worship of the foreign gods, Israel continued to break covenant with Yahweh. As such, the exile came as a correctional measure, in which Yahweh sought to reclaim Israel for his own. Thus, as Ringgren has elaborated above, Israel's restoration to her homeland after the exile was Yahweh's attempt to bring her back into the confines of the covenant. Thus, the actions carried out in Ezra-Nehemiah (Ezra 9-10; Neh 13) were meant to prevent the covenant from being broken. To that effect, Craig observes, “ the prohibitions have in mind the preservation of the covenant relationship with the Lord by forbidding any relationship that would bring that first and most important relationship into danger.”294 The concept of covenant (בדל) is well attested in the literature of the Persian period. The post-exilic biblical authors employed the covenant motif to describe the ideal relationship between Yahweh and the newly formed community of faith (cf. Neh 1:5; 9:8, 32); Malachi (2:10; 3:1) and Zechariah (9:11). Of