Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NOMADISM, PASTORALISM

Grazing, water, and proper herd management are basic essentials in any pastoral economy. The difficulty that arises in the Near East is that grazing land is often unavailable year-round in any one region, and water, in this mainly arid zone, is a precious commodity which is jealously protected and often fought over. Herd management thus becomes the skill of juggling these two realities. In addition, several other factors are of concern: the hiring of sufficient help; proper harvesting of wool, milk, and meat; the judicious use of markets; and the protection of herds from predatory animals, raiders, and the designs of local rulers.

The most common form of migratory pastoralism is termed semi-nomadic pastoralism. This is distinguished by nearly constant pastoral activity and the periodic change of pastures during the greater part of each year. Since pastoralism is not a self-sufficient mode of subsistence, nomadic groups also must supplement their diet by engaging in seasonal agriculture and by trade with settled communities. This brings the tribes into more intimate contact with these communities and also directs their migratory routes.

Categories, of course, do not tell the whole story of a people, especially one so large as “semi-nomad.” Variants may reflect the physical and/or political environment which they inhabit or may be a reflection of the transition from a single to a multi-faceted tribal economy.

Another category of pastoralism is herdsman husbandry, in which the majority of the population leads a sedentary life and is occupied primarily with agriculture. Their livestock, or some of it, is maintained year round on pastures, sometimes quite far from the settlement, and tended by herdsmen especially assigned to this task. These herdsmen function as a complementary group to the village agriculturalists. They may be a permanent part of the area’s population, or they may act as migratory workers, moving from one herding situation to another. In either case, their function is to supplement the economy of the village, not compete with it.

A somewhat similar form of pastoralism is yaylag pastoralism. This corresponds fairly closely to what is often called transhumance. While the agricultural base is maintained by the majority of the people, the livestock is periodically moved from mountain pastures to lower zones. This is sometimes confused with seasonal pastoralism or vertical pastoralism. However, this type of economic activity is designed to deal with particular environmental conditions. It cannot be indiscriminately applied to every seemingly similar situation.

Most other categories involve village pastoralism. Sedentary animal husbandry is generally a supplementary activity to the agricultural pursuits of the settlement and generally does not involve the management of herds as large as non-village-based pastoralists. Stock-breeding, the establishment of feed lots and free grazing within fairly close proximity, and the use of enclosures are other variants in this category.

Pastoral nomadic activity, such as that described in the ancestral narratives, appears to include aspects of both semi-nomadic pastoralism and herdsman husbandry (cf. esp. Gen. 13:5-12; 21:25-34; 26:17-33; 29:1-10; 37:12-17). A basic sketch of the differences between these two categories includes: the size and mix of herds, timing of migratory activity, areas of pasturage, and percentage of the group involved in pastoral activity. The fact that the herds of semi-nomadic tribes may be larger and consist of a different mix of breeding stock (generally sheep and goats in ancient times) is based on the route of travel, markets, and available pasturage. Since semi-nomads are not always tied to the grazing and water restrictions of their immediate area, a greater flexibility is therefore to be found in their herd-management decisions.

At the same time, the semi-nomadic pastoral groups also must operate within the political and economic spheres of various regions and states. This makes them cautious in their dealings with sedentary peoples. They also develop predatory or at least trickster-like attitudes toward all groups other than their own. As a result, relations between the villages and pastoral nomads, and governments and pastoral nomads were often strained at best.

Another difference between sedentary and semi-nomadic pastoralists involves basic group dynamics. The members of semi-nomadic kinship groups rely on their own judgment in determining route of march, division of herds to take maximum advantage of grazing zones, and parceling out of water rights. Those pastoralists associated with a village culture are often told what to do by higher authorities. These same authorities may try to manage the activities and movements of the semi-nomadic groups, but this can lead to conflict and is certainly not always a successful policy (as can be seen in numerous 18th-century b.c.e. texts from ancient Mari; ARM 3.38; 6.30; 14.121).

For this reason, governments that rule areas in which pastoral nomadic peoples operate try to restrict the freedom of movement of these peoples for their own national security purposes. If a group or groups are allowed to pass with impunity from one area to another, important military information may be transmitted to an enemy, or scarce natural resources may be exhausted — thereby depriving village pastoralists of their livelihood — with no significant return in taxes or labor service for these losses. In addition, these transient pastoralists may engage in raiding or other unsanctioned activities which will drain the local economy and force the government to expend time and effort in order to bring them under control or drive them from the area.

It is a continual struggle by the government to either settle the nomadic pastoralists into villages (a process still under way in modern Israel) or to control the resources of their area and channel the activity of the semi-nomadic group’s young men, who may be underemployed in some seasons of the year, into harvesting or some other constructive activity. This can be seen in the struggle by Israel’s kings to control their southern border by building a series of fortresses and forcing the desert tribes (Amalekites, etc.) into submission and a sedentary existence. However, they eventually were too weakened by foreign invaders (Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians) to maintain this policy, and the tribes simply reverted back to pastoral nomadic activity.

Bibliography. F. Barth, “A General Perspective on Nomad-Sedentary Relations in the Middle East,” in The Desert and the Sown, ed. D. Nelson (Berkeley, 1973), 11-21; D. G. Bates, “The Role of the State in Peasant-Nomad Mutualism,” Anthropological Quarterly 44 (1971): 109-31; A. M. Khazanov, Nomads and the Outside World, 2nd ed. (Madison, 1994); Ø. S. LaBianca, Sedentarization and Nomadization: Food System Cycles at Hesban and Vicinity in Transjordan (Berrien Springs, 1990); V. H. Matthews, “Pastoralists and Patriarchs,” BA 44 (1981): 215-18; M. A. Morrison, “The Jacob and Laban Narrative in Light of Near Eastern Sources,” BA 46 (1983): 155-64.

Victor H. Matthews

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NOMADISM, PASTORALISM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)