Uchendu Eugene Chigbu
On the first day of 2024, I checked Christian views in the Bible, and I realised that God has viewpoints on land. I discovered that God’s creation of land is backed by rules of use and ownership (land tenure).
I learned that the nation of God (Israel) went through a period of landlessness (having no land) to landedness (having plenty of lands). Perhaps, African countries are still on their periods of land journeys.
To share my understanding of God’s opinion on land, it is necessary to analyse God’s words expressed in the Bible. An interesting passage is in Leviticus 25-34, where God spoke to Moses concerning the land promised to the people of Israel. In verse 18, God categorically states to Moses: ‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and perform them; so, you will dwell in the land securely.’
This statement indicates God’s awareness of land tenure (that land should be used based on rules and regulations). It also suggests an awareness of land tenure security (that people must be protected from evictions from land). Even more interesting is what God says about the sale of land and tenure relations between Israelites in their land.
Land in God’s words
In the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Leviticus 25-34 records God saying to Moses:
“25. If your brother becomes poor, and sells part of his property, then his next of kin shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26. If a man has no one to redeem it, and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it. 27. Let him reckon the years since he sold it and pay back the overpayment to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.
28. But if he has not sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the year of jubilee; in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property. 29. If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a whole year after its sale; for a full year he shall have the right of redemption. 30. If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations; it shall not be released in the jubilee. 31. But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the jubilee.
32. Nevertheless, the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. 33. And if one of the Levites does not exercise his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city of their possession shall be released in the jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel. 34. But the fields of common land belonging to their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.’
Analysis of God’s views on land
The above words are not mine. They are God’s land tenure rules for Biblical Israelites to follow to enjoy a stable socioeconomic life. There are five main inferences decipherable from the quoted words of God. (1) Land is a heritage to its owners. (2) Landowners and users must adhere to a dignified standard of living. (3) No land is to be sold in perpetuity. (4) Those whose land had been dispossessed (in this case, the Israelites) should be able to return to the land they had owned and be given a chance to redeem it and take it back. (5) Land should be leased fairly based on the land’s yield or value.
When anyone honestly views God’s words in today’s context, some learning points come to mind. These include: (1) Land as a heritage of its owners must be returned to those who originally owned it (or their descendants) if taken away from them by another. (2) If the ownership of land or its use does not lead to a dignified standard of living, governments must intervene to improve the living conditions of people.
(3) The nationalisation of land is Godly because it prevents land sale in perpetuity. Maybe the tenure rules under operation in customary or communal lands in Africa are perfect in God’s eyes. (4) Those whose land had been dispossessed should be allowed to redeem and take it back. Maybe the willing-seller-willing-buyer is an appropriate land reform approach. (5) Finally, the unregulated land (including housing) prices within African economies could be evil in the eyes of God.
The land tenure in Leviticus 25-34 is called the jubilee. It was strictly a land tenure system designed for an agrarian society with the aim of fair land distribution for household food security. In today’s terms, the jubilee may be a utopian concept of land tenure because its regulations may be economically impractical in modern economies. However, it represents a statement that proper land distribution can be attained and maintained under agreed tenure rules. Our governments all over Africa can learn from the jubilee.
* Uchendu Eugene Chigbu is an Associate Professor (Land Administration) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). He is the coordinator of Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA). Views expressed in this article are entirely his, and not those of NUST and NELGA.