Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§9.3 The Historical Context
(3) Mention should probably be made here also of 'the people of the land'
('am ha'aretz, or plural 'amme ha'aretz). In its early use the phrase refers generally
to the people living on the land, distinct from the country's leaders, priests,
and prophets. 103 After the exile the phrase gained a pejorative sense by being
used in reference to 'the people(s) of the land' with whom the Israelites not exiled
had mingled in intermarriage. 104 This disparaging sense, of a population
whose ritual purity was at best uncertain, was carried over into Mishnaic usage,
particularly in the tractate Demai, on produce not certainly tithed, which includes
strong discouragement against being a guest of an 'am-ha'aretz (2.2-3). The
phrase does not occur in the NT and it is doubtful whether it should be used to
denote any similar disparagement of 'the common people' during the period of
Jesus' mission. 105
(4) The Herodians are probably also worthy of mention. This is the somewhat
obscure group mentioned by Josephus in War 1.319 and in Mark 3.6 and
12.13/Matt. 22.16. Various identifications for the 'Herodians' have been offered.
106 But the term itself (Herödianoi) is a Latin formation (Herodiani) and
suggests an analogy with party names like Caesariani, Pompeiani, and
Augustiani. That could mean that the 'Herodians' were active partisans on behalf
of Herod (in the Gospels references, Herod Antipas), though it could simply indicate
known and presumably prominent supporters of Herod among leading
families, 107 or possibly simply members of Herod's household. At any rate, if the
term denotes a particular faction within first-century Judaism, it was a political
faction which is in view, reminding us once again that the diversity of firstcentury
Judaism was not simply religious in scope.
(5) Another possible group, or sequence of groups could be designated
103. 2 Kgs 11.20; Jer. 1.18; 34.19; 37.2; 44.21; Ezek. 22.24-29.
104. Ezra 9.1-2, 11; 10.2, 11; Neh. 9.30; 10.28-31. See further E. Lipinski, "am\ TDOT
11.174-75.
105. Meier, Marginal Jew 38-39 n. 34; see further below §13.5.
106. H. H. Rowley, 'The Herodians in the Gospels', JTS 41 (1940) 14-27, reviewed
eleven possibilities. The discovery of the Scrolls prompted a twelfth ('Herodians' = Essenes)
(C. Daniel, 'Les "Herodiens" du Nouveau Testament sont-ils des Esseniens?', RevQ 6 [1967]
31-53; also 'Nouveaux arguments en faveur de 1'identification des Herodiens et des Esseniens',
RevQ 27 [1970] 397-402); though see also W. Braun, 'Were the New Testament Herodians
Essenes?', RevQ 53 (1989) 75-88; Grabbe, Judaism 501-502. Further bibliography in Meier,
Marginal Jew 3.610 n. 221.
107. Possibly overlapping with 'the leading men (prötoi) of Galilee' (Mark 6.21). Mark
12.13/Matt. 22.16 indicates that they were active in Jerusalem, presumably not simply remnants
of the faction most fully identified with Herod the Great, but on the lookout for opportunity
to restore the full Herodian empire and rule. J. P. Meier, 'The Historical Jesus and the Historical
Herodians', JBL 119 (2000) 740-46, doubts the historical value of the Gospel
references.
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