In Scripture, “earth” signifies more than just physical land; it functions as a literary sign that opposes human oppression. The biblical narrative presents the land both as a silent witness against human civilization and as one of its victims. In this context, the recurring phrase “heavens and earth” serves as a merism, expressing the totality of creation and affirming God’s sovereign authority and judgment:

“Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.” (Deuteronomy 31:28)

Poet Mahmoud Darwish echoes this Abrahamic outlook by portraying the land as a woman—“the lady of the earth”—a figure of both suffering and resilience. Through this personification, Darwish critiques the domination of land by human civilization, portraying earth not as property but as a noble matriarch. His vision resonates with the biblical sabbatical and jubilee traditions, in which the land itself is granted rest and release from exploitation (Leviticus 25).

In the Old Testament, Galilee is often marginalized or conquered. Yet, in Isaiah—and later in the New Testament—it is repurposed as the launching point for God’s mission to liberate the land from human abuse.

In contrast to Jerusalem or Rome, which embody imperial tyranny cloaked in Hellenistic pluralism, Jesus reclaims Galilee as the new hub for Biblical Shepherdism—a direct challenge to the ideology of Hellenistic urban empire. Galilee becomes a scriptural threshold: a place of refuge, instruction, and mission. It embodies God’s cause, where divine law transcends political borders, and the land becomes a witness to divine justice against human violence, not a possession of empire.

اللَّهُ مَالِكُ الْمُلْكِ
allāhu māliku al-mulk
“God is the Owner of Sovereignty”

This week I discuss Luke 8:26.

Show Notes

χώρα (chōra) / ע-ר-ץ (ʿayin–resh–ṣade) / أ-ر-ض (ʾalif-rā-ḍād)

The biblical Hebrew אֶרֶץ (’ereṣ) can denote:

• The entire inhabited earth, as in Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”), is typically rendered in the Septuagint (LXX) as γῆ (gē).
• A specific territory, region, or localized land, such as “the land of Canaan,” or the land surrounding a city.
• The pairing of שָּׁמַיִם (šāmayim)“heavens” and אֶרֶץ (’ereṣ) earth in scripture functions as a merism, a literary device expressing totality.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1)

“May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heavens and earth.”
(Psalm 115:15)

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”
(Isaiah 65:17)

• In the Qur’an, أرض “arḍ” also appears frequently in the same manner in phrases like “السماء والأرض” (al-samāʾ wa al-arḍ) – “the heavens and the earth.”

بَدِيعُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَاتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰٓ أَمْرًۭا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ
badīʿu al-samāwāti wa al-arḍi. wa idhā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahu kun fa-yakūn.
[He is] the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When he decrees a matter, he only says to it, “stand forth,” and it stands forth.

In his poetry, Mahmoud Darwish uses the Semitic function أ-ر-ض in line with the anti-civilizational tradition of Abrahamic literature:

عَلَى هَذِهِ ٱلْأَرْضِ
ʿalā hādhihi al-arḍ
on this earth

Darwish refers to the earth (ٱلْأَرْض) both as a practical reality, literally, “on this earth,” this “ground,” and as the shared heritage of those who live on this ground, who come from the ground, from the same mother, “the lady of the earth.” This sovereignty is not imposed or “built” by civilization, but inherent.

سَيِّدَةُ ٱلْأَرْضِ
sayyidatu al-arḍ
the lady of the earth

In Semitic, earth as “lady” or “mistress” implies dignity and nobility: the land as a suffering yet powerful matriarch—both witness to and victim of human civilization. For Darwish, it evokes the Palestinian spirit of steadfastness (صمود – ṣumūd). It is not the human being, but the land that is steadfast:

“Still, and perhaps more importantly, regarding the years as set times are the sabbatical year, set every seventh year, as rest for the land, and the jubilee year, set every fifty years, when everybody is set free and even the earth itself is set free from their subjugation by the human being (Lev 25).”

(Tarazi, Paul Nadim. Decoding Genesis 1–11. Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies, St. Paul, MN. 2014. p. 82)

أُمُّ ٱلْبِدَايَاتِ
ʾummu al-bidāyāt
mother of all beginnings

(Gen 2:7, Qur’an 30:20)

أُمُّ ٱلنِّهَايَاتِ
ʾummu al-nihāyāt
mother of all endings

(Genesis 3:19, Qur’an 20:55)

Γερασηνῶν (Gerasēnōn) / جرش

Gerasa (جرش Jerash in modern-day Jordan) was a key city in the eastern Roman Empire. It served as a Hellenistic hub and a strategic site that developed due to the cultural changes after Alexander the Great’s conquests in the 4th century BC.

The typical features of a Hellenistic polis—such as a colonnaded cardo maximus, theaters, temples dedicated to Greco-Roman gods, and agoras—are visible in the ruins of Gerasa. These structures reflect the urban planning strategies introduced by Macedonian and later Roman rulers, as well as the blending of Greek and local Semitic cultures. These are hallmarks of anti-Scriptural Hellenistic pluralism, which seeks to erase Ezekielian shepherdism. Ezekiel’s school was carried forward by St. Paul, who opposed Roman imperialism by imposing coexistence against Caesar under the one God of the tent-dwelling shepherd Abraham.

Γαλιλαία / (Galilaia) / גָּלִיל

• In Joshua and Chronicles, Kedesh in Galilee is identified as a city of refuge and a Levitical inheritance, tying it to themes of mercy, sanctuary, and priestly service.

• In 1 Kings 9, this same region is dismissed by King Hiram of Tyre when Solomon gives him twenty cities in Galilee as a diplomatic gift—cities Hiram calls כָּבוּל (Kabul) “Cabul,” or “worthless.” This underlines Galilee’s devalued status in the eyes of political power.

• In 2 Kings 15, Galilee becomes the first region to fall to the Assyrians, highlighting its vulnerability.

• Isaiah turns this trajectory on its head in Isaiah 9:1-2, where Galilee—specifically called “Galilee of the nations”—becomes the location where light of instruction will arise:

By the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.

In the New Testament, this prophetic rever...