Ancient Israelite Population Economy: Ger,Toshav,Nakhri and Karat as Settler Colonial Categories

Abstract

This article looks in detail at the often-studied categories for aliens and foreigners, together with the karat (‘cutting off from his people’) command in the Pentateuchal legal materials from the perspective of ancient Israel as a settler society. In conversation with previous approaches to these categories, this study explores how relating them to concepts of population economy in settler colonial societies can help us better understand the text. Issues such as the tripartite division into settler community, indigenous population and exogenous others are considered, while comparisons with other corresponding societies are also made. This article then also looks at how these categories could fit in with various potential settings in ancient Israel, including pre-exilic and postexilic times.