Am Hâ-Âres

AM HÂ-ÂRES. - A Hebrew expression ("people of the land"), which in the earliest documents indicates simply the people of a particular region or the country folk (Gen. 42, 6; 2 Kings 24, 14), but already in Ezra (4, 4) and Neh. (10, 31) it designates the pagans who had intermarried with the Israelites. The pejorative sense, foreign to the primitive meaning, became increasingly pronounced; the expression became almost synonymous with "ignorant" and "impious." By this term the learned Pharisees and scribes designated those who did not know the law. The zealous Pharisees reproached the am hâ-âreş for ignorance of the law (cf. Deut. 27, 26) and for neglect of the obligations declared fundamental by their zeal, such as the payment of tithes and all the practices for legal purity (Mt. 23, 1-36). The rabbinic doctors prescribed the strictest separation from the abject "people of the land." The hatred between the two antagonistic parties, which surfaces even in the Gospel (Jn. 7, 49: "accursed"), had deep roots and manifested itself in drastic forms, as can be seen in the Mishnah, particularly in the treatise Pěšahm. Christianity, with its doctrine of universal love and brotherhood, found greater acceptance among the "people of the land," to whom it offered understanding and charity, than among the proud scribes and Pharisees.

Angelo Penna