After Pentecost Devotional - Day 13

“If you disobey me and my laws, and if you break our agreement, I will punish you terribly, and you will be ruined. You will be struck with incurable diseases and with fever that leads to blindness and depression. Your enemies will eat the crops you plant.” Leviticus 26:14-16

This verse seems to embody the general impression that most have of the Old Testament. An initial read seems to point to God being interested in punishing those who would not obey. It would appear that the obedience suggested might be in regard to issues of worshipping Yahweh, respecting the Sabbath, and not worshipping idols. The problem with that interpretation is the larger context.

The entire chapter before this is devoted to what essentially amounts to economic law and policy for Israel. We often miss that a very large portion of the Mosaic legal code has to do with economic relationships and responsibilities. The context here is that Yahweh's laws were about treating one another fairly, meeting the needs of the poor, and acting along the lines of redemption of those who were being oppressed, even as Yahweh had redeemed the nation from oppression in Egypt.

That this is the meaning of Leviticus becomes clearer when we look at the descriptions of how God would punish the people for their disobedience. The results would be economic destruction in ever-increasing stages.

God had redeemed the people and led them into the land promised to Abraham, a land flowing with milk and honey. It was a land that was to provide for the good of the entire nation bountifully. God would send rain in its season. The people would have plenty of agricultural production to meet the needs of all. The bounty would be such that there would be no reason for the existence of poverty within the nation.

As the people acted in generosity and justice toward one another, God would bring increase to the land. As they lacked in generosity, so God would cause the land to stop yielding its productivity for the nation. Production would dry up. Disease would plague the land. Then foreign nations would descend upon the people to take away the produce they did have. The message was simple. Be generous with others, or you will have less with which to be generous.

At the heart of this message was the concept that this land belonged to Yahweh. It was sacred to Yahweh, and the people were nothing more than stewards of Yahweh and Yahweh's bounty. God would see to it that one way or another, the production of the land included those outside the halls of power in Israel.

Generosity and caring for the weaker members of the society was not viewed in Leviticus as an optional good deed to be done. It was central to a life of obedience to Yahweh. It was central to being and acting like the people of Yahweh who had been redeemed from slavery (economic oppression) in Egypt. The success of the nation depended on faithfulness to principles of generosity and provision for all.

Does your life reflect a spirit of overwhelming generosity? That is what the Bible demands of us.


"Lord, help me become generous, your generosity flowing through me."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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