Leviticus 25 – 27
Verse 25:3 & 4 shows the land also needs a time for
rest:
3 Plant your
fields, take care of your vineyards, and harvest your crops for six
years; 4 but when the seventh year arrives, I want
the entire land to have a Sabbath rest to Me. Do not plant your fields or prune
your vineyards during this seventh year.
God taught the people of Israel how to farm and knew the
land needed to take a break. I am not sure I follow farming today real closely
but assume with modern day chemicals they do not tend to let the land rest.
This is part of the reason I believe Israel has been despised; they made a dry
and arid land fruitful. God also blessed them for doing this.
See not only do people need a break, so does all of nature.
Nothing can work all the time without failing in one way or another. Part of
the negative for not letting the land rest is the farmer only returns to the
soil what makes the plant look nice and not what makes it healthy for us.
Everyone looks at God’s Laws from the aspect of us living to His standard, when
much of them are helping man live a full and rich life. Is it a sin to not let
the land rest? No, but it will ensure a healthy and abundant crop.
Verse 25:36 says we need to help the poor and not take
advantage of them:
Let him
borrow, but charge no interest and do not look for ways to profit from
his need. Instead, fear God, and allow your fellow citizen to live alongside
you.
I often think of banking today which is supposedly run by
elite Jewish bankers. I often wonder how they justify having savings earn
almost nothing, but a poor person has to pay exorbitant interest on their
borrowing. The world has been turned upside down and no one is honoring what
God intended. The poor do not need the government to help them, they need the
community to do that. Today we just step aside those in need without thought.
Verse 26:6 is the promise:
I will see
to it that you have peace in your land. You will be able to go to bed at night
without a worry on your mind. I will take away the dangerous animals that roam
your land, and no armies will invade your land.
This alone is immediately questioned since God quickly let
his land get invaded. You must read on from verse 26:15 to verse 33 to see the
conditions that must be met to remain in the blessing of God. This in a way is
the first programming language ever! There are a bunch of “if – then”
statements that will lead to Israel being removed from their blessing. As we
see reading along, this happens often and sometimes very dramatically.
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