Webster's New World Dictionary defines ecology as "the branch of biology that deals with the relations between living organisms and their environment." The forgoing statutes show the Creator's interest in that relationship. Sometimes the relationship may appear to be more metaphysical than physical, more spiritual than material, more metaphorical than actual. Now we see through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:12), but one day we will probe the mysteries of the universe. Until then, let us expand our thinking about God's grand design for this intimate relationship.
| The Israelite was to work his land for six years, but let it rest in the seventh year so that it might feed the poor and the wild animals, Ex. 23:10,11; Lev. 25:3-7. |
In the Exodus passage, the motive for the land resting seems to be consideration For the poor and wild creatures. The Leviticus reference, on the other hand, makes no mention of beneficiaries, except the land itself. How could the people survive if they did not till the soil for one full year? Sources in Israel today tell us that a bumper crop was promised during the previous year. Like the miracle of the manna on the sixth day (Ex. 16:22), which they witnessed during the wilderness wandering, there was a miracle experienced each sixth year that prepared the families to honor the year of rest for the land.
Some have speculated that Israel probably didn't have the knowledge of crop rotation commonly used in modern agriculture. We know that each year a crop is repeated the soil is being depleted. By the seventh year, some suggest, Israel had to give the land a rest just to have the land build up nutrients again. But the very fact that they had a bumper crop in a year, when, by
today's agricultural knowledge, should be a lean year, showed that Yahweh honored their obedience.
There is no Biblical record of Israel following this statute before the Babylonian captivity. In fact, little is written about this law other than the statement of it. Josephus ( Antiquities xi, 8. 6; xiv. 10. 6) provides the best evidence for the time period after the captivity. He tells how " Alexander the Great, and later Julius Caesar, exempted the Jews from paying taxes in sabbatical years, on the ground that they would have no income that year ," ( SDA Bible Commentary , Vol.1, page 611).
Some of us, having only recently come into this knowledge of the Torah's underpinnings of our Christian faith, and its involvement in the re-establishment of the Covenant with the last generation on earth, sense there may be no time to prepare for a seventh year of land-rest. Other than the weekly, monthly, and yearly reminders, the next land-rest may well be the seventieth, or final, Jubilee. Then, the whole world will rest while God's remnant are experiencing recuperation and re-creation in His presence.
| Six days were appointed for work; the seventh was set aside for rest. Workers and animals in one's employment were to also observe this rest from labor, Ex. 23:12. |
While the nations around them were engaged in continuous labor (2 Chron. 2:17) seven days a week, Israel was granted the mercy of only six days of labor with the seventh for rest. This privilege was to be extended throughout all the Holy Land. Even strangers sojourning there were blessed by the requirement to rest on the seventh day.
Herein lies a lesson for us. How often do we hear of professed Christians compromising the Sabbath rest for the sake of non-members visiting in their home? The principle of this statute, as well as the commandment it supports, is that throughout the household, -throughout the church body, -let
all
observe the day of rest. That should include all employees, all livestock, and all non-Christian visitors (strangers to our God) within our property. Abraham, Father of the Faithful, conducted his
household with this principle, so that all the nations around saw and heard his testimony of the one True God.
Some may object to this application of the fourth commandment and the statutes which support its meaning. Certainly, we are not to force our religious beliefs upon others. But, when the non-Sabbath-keeper makes a weekend visit in the home of a Sabbath-keeper, it would honor Yahweh to introduce the visitor to God's dominion in that home. If the visitor does not wish to hear scripture read, or watch a truth-filled video, and sing spiritual songs with the Christian family, the visitor may decline to participate. Perhaps the personal needs of the guest may provide opportunity for sharing precious promises that will encourage the stranger (a stranger to spiritual realities) to learn of the loving care of the Christian's personal Savior. But worship in the home should continue, as it would have, had the family attended a church service that Sabbath. Thus, the day becomes one of personal ministry rather than personal pleasure, and Yahweh is given His honor in the midst of the family’s hospitality to others.
With more than fifty years in the faith, this writer has never seen compromise win a soul to Christ. Deciding to stay home to "just visit" with the guest in one's home, because the guest didn't want to go to church, compromises the rulership of the Saviour in that home. May God help us all to let our witness be genuine, sincere, and uncompromising. The Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27), not for selfish indulgence, not for acquiescence to the world-loving mind, but for bonding with the Saviour, and bridging with the unsaved.
What does the Sabbath-rest command have to do with ecology, one may ask? Notice how the New English Bible renders Romans 8:19-23, where an answer is suggested.
For the created universe waits with eager expectation for God's sons to be revealed. It was made the victim of frustration, not by its own choice, but because of him who made it so; yet always there was hope, because the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and enter upon the liberty and splendor of the children of God. Up to the present, we know, the whole created universe groans in all its parts as if in the pangs of childbirth. Not only so, but even we, to whom the Spirit is given as firstfruits of the harvest to come, are groaning inwardly while we wait for God to make us his sons.
We are told that scientists have now discovered that each body in the universe gives off a sound. In our own solar system each planet sends out a frequency which is one octave apart, thus at least nine octaves of sound. Earth produces the lowest base note in the harmonic chord. Some have suggested that the Romans 8:22 statement is less metaphorical than we have formerly understood. Is our earth's sound really a groaning as it battles with sin?
Here is another new thought for some: The discovery of harmonic sound throughout the universe may put Job 38:7 in a new light. There we read that the morning stars sang together at creation. Now we know the stars do emit sound. We may look forward to their singing with the angels when we are transported, literally, into the family of God.
When sin entered our world, it not only destroyed health and harmony in our lives, it brought pain and suffering to the earth's organic and inorganic substances, creatures and matter alike. Everything was thrown into disharmony, or dissidence. While we don't want to put life into rocks, as the pantheists did a century ago, we must recognize that, in some way not yet understood, even the rocks can cry out for the restitution of all things.
Looking more closely at the word "Sabbath" may give us some insight into Sabbath-rest, as it applies to the restitution of the sinless universe.
A quick search in a Bible concordance will lead one to the realization that the word "Sabbath" comes from two Hebrew words of great importance to Sabbath-keepers. The first syllable, "sab," is from "Abba," "father"; the second syllable, "bath," or "beth" means "residence of", as a place of business, or a workshop. The Sabbath is, actually, the Heavenly Father's place of business. Thus, through the Sabbath rest, restoration work takes place. We may have to wait until the Master Teacher spreads His Master Plan before us in eternity to comprehend this creative rest in the Sabbath. By faith, we accept the earnest of that rest in our lives each week when we keep the Sabbath day.
| The Hebrew people were instructed not to cross-breed their livestock, nor their crops, nor plant and animal fibers in the making of cloth. They were not to cross-breed their seed, nor sow the ground with more than one kind of seed, lest their produce become weakened and inferior in quality, Deut. 22:9, Lev. 19:19. |
Yahweh said, "Don't fo it." So rebellious man did it. While he thought he was developing a better product, rebellious man was destroying the life-giving properties within that species of plant or animal. There are a number of different issues implied within these two Scriptures dealing with cross-breeding. One is the genetic engineering so controversial today. Another is planting a vineyard with different kinds of seeds. Both were forbidden by God.
We are told that the nutrition in our food is being depleted while agricultural specialists are finding "better" ways to engineer seed, soil, and produce. Trace minerals, essential for resistance to disease, are fast disappearing from the vegetables and fruit we eat. For example, we have often used oranges in our diet to supply vitamin C. Reports now suggest that some formulas, presently used to stimulate growth, color, preserve freshness, and resist insects, have reduced the vitamin C content of the orange to only a trace in some cases.
One day soon the true Husbandman will destroy the wisdom of the wise (1Cor. 1:19), -them, which destroy [or corrupt] the earth (Rev. 11:18). Since the opposite of destroying the earth is caring for and preserving it, we may interpret from the contexts of the ecology statutes that to not care for the earth is to bring the judgments of the Lord God Almighty upon ourselves. These judgments are "build in" to the laws of the universe. We may call them "natural consequences."
The better we become acquainted with our Heavenly Father, the more assuredly we will recognize His love and benevolence in all His prohibitions. His commands can be stated as promises without damaging their original intent. Understood this way, we recognize that the "Thou shalt not’s" are statements of affirmation for having God’s commandments, statutes, and judgments written -the Law of Liberty- in our hearts.
| Yahweh instructed His people to not eat the fruit of their new trees or vines for the first three years. The produce of the fourth year would be given to the Lord. The harvest was theirs in the fifth year, Lev. 19:23-25. |
The first part of this statute encompasses the reality that trees and vines don’t produce much, if anything, in the first three years of growth. In the fourth year, the harvest, small though it may be, was to be given to the Lord in thanksgiving. The tithe principle, namely that we give to God and others before ourselves, is consistent throughout Yahweh’s dealings with His people. The concept existed in the minds of God’s people long before the laws of tithing were spelled out to Israel.
Here we see another way in which man has assumed wisdom above the oracles of God. The custom today is to take for oneself first. Sharing is usually what people think of when they have too much, not before they have satisfied their own needs and wants. The reason for this requirement is only speculated; no one really knows. While most commentaries offer no practical interpretation of this law, we can be sure that the Creator God will make it plain to us in the New Earth. In the meantime, a spiritual application is herein suggested. The rule may have been enforced to keep Israel from being greedy. Mankind is by nature selfish. That is the sinful nature so repulsive to our Holy Elohim. Israel was commanded to share first with the ministers in the Lord's house, then with the poor about them. Should we not do the same today?
God still asks us to give Him the firstfruits of our produce [a tithe] before we use our increase for ourselves. Our God has not changed, nor have His laws changed. Let us return to the "old paths," putting God and others first. Some Christians today follow the statute's instruction, allowing their vineyards and orchards to mature for three years. These statute followers give the produce of the fourth year to their pastor, missionaries, and the poor as a gift of thanksgiving. After that, while retaining the generous heart and open hand, they enjoy the fruit of their labors.
| In the Jubilee year nothing was to be sown nor reaped; not even that which grew of itself could be reaped, Lev. 25:11,12. No land was to be sold forever, for it was the Lord’s, Lev. 25:23. It must be granted redemption in the year of Jubilee to the original family who had owned it, Lev. 25:24-31. |
This rule differed from that concerning the sabbatical year in that nothing could be harvested, even for the poor, during this fiftieth year. Some questions surface when one considers that seven sabbatical years would bring the Israelite to the forty-ninth year as a year of no harvest. Consequently, there would be no harvest in two consecutive years, both the 49 th as a sabbatical year and the 50 th as the year of Jubilee. Some suggest that the people did not keep both when the 50 th year arrived, for how could the family survive in Palestine with two years of no income? Knowing that our God never requires that for which He Himself does not supply the means to follow, a better question might be: What was Jehovah's intent in issuing such a requirement?
In apportioning the inheritance of His people , it was God's purpose to teach them, and through them the people of after generations, correct principles concerning the ownership of the land. The land of Canaan was divided among the whole people, the Levites only, as ministers of the sanctuary, being excepted. Though one might for a season dispose of his possession, he could not barter away the inheritance of his children. When able to do so, he was at liberty to redeem it; debts were remitted every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner . Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes either of wealth or of poverty, (Education, page 43, emphasis supplied).
While we have more questions than answers regarding the adventure of jubilee, we must recognize that Israel, through the feasts, was rehearsing God's activities in the plan of salvation. Jubilee came at the end of the year, and represented the end of the age, when we who are saved for eternity will be provided for miraculously without our input or labor. We will be fed from the bounty of our God. No one will claim more for having worked harder. No one will have more to share than another. All will be equalized then as God restores to the Creator that which mankind has bartered for sin and slavery.
Then commenced the jubilee, when the land should rest. I saw the pious slave rise in triumph and victory, and shake off the chains that bound him, while his wicked master was in confusion, and knew not what to do; for the wicked could not understand the words of the voice of God. Soon appeared the great white cloud. On it sat the Son of man (Great Controversy, page 206).
| If someone found a bird nest with eggs or young in it, the discoverer could take the eggs or young, but must not harm the mother bird, Deut. 22:6, 7. |
This requirement was not so much about ecology as about conservation. Our Heavenly Father cares about sparrows (Matt. 10:29; Luke 12:6). Presumably the eggs or young could be taken for food from those birds declared clean. Allowing the mother to live and raise another brood of chicks, or baby birds, would help prevent extinction of a species. Certainly, taking the life of one of God's creatures as a sport would be unfitting to a child of the King.
This Is My Father's World
The birds their carols raise;
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.This is my Father's world;
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad.
| The Lord God Almighty declared: Don’t plow with an ox and ass together, Deut. 22:10. |
This command, like the one above, is not really about ecology. It is included here because it was related to concern for the earth and the creatures of it. Again, like the law previously considered (mingled seed), the intent of this statute was, at least in part, regard for natural differences. The ox, heavy and strong, would work less efficiently yoked to the lightweight and weaker ass.
Furthermore, the ox was a "clean" animal, while the ass was "unclean," according to Leviticus 11. Israel was ever reminded to keep separate the clean from the unclean, the sacred from the common. Herein lies the picture of the principle: Be ye not unequallyyoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14). Although the picture may have faded, the principle must guide our business relationships in every generation. From this statute we hear the words of Amos 3:3 questioning the hearts of Christians employed where compromise seems essential. " Can two walk [work] together lest they be agreed? " When one's employment requires one to refrain from speaking praise to God, requires work on the Sabbath hours, or mandates that one join an organization whose objectives are inappropriate for a Christian, one must prayerfully consider the principle of this statute.
| Don’t muzzle an ox when he treads the corn, Deut. 25:4. |
Although it was the custom for the heathen to muzzle the ox plowing a field, it was not so in Israel. The statute protected the animal from cruel treatment. Proverbs 12:10 says it this way: A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. In countries where animals are used to plow the fields, muzzles are still used so that the animals can be forced to pull faster through each row –a cruel practice remaining to this day.
The Apostle Paul refers to this practice and prohibition in 1 Corinthians 9:9. His subject is the support of the ministry. Again in 1 Timothy 5:18 he quotes this statute and adds " The laborer is worthy of his reward ." The lesson here is that " Faithful service, whether of men or of animals, deserves generous recognition " ( SDA Bible Commentary , Vol. 1, page 1041). Although there were animals plowing the fields in Paul's day, which could have limited his application of the statute, he drew from the divine statute the core of truth that would apply in numerous circumstances to the end of time. Let us do likewise.
| When the land had been polluted by bloodshed, it could only be cleansed by the blood of him who had committed the polluting murder, Num. 35:33, 34. |
Very different from social and environmental laws today comes this reasoning for capital punishment. Yahweh said that bloodshed polluted the land. Only the blood of the murderer could expiate the land. To leave murder unrequited was to leave the land polluted. In fact, there was no expiation for the land, except by the blood of him that shed it. Review the first murder for insights into this statute.
Cain killed his brother, Abel (Gen. 4:8, 10-13), bringing a curse upon himself. He became a fugitive and vagabond on the earth (vs. 12), the first human to receive a curse from God. If, as some have explained the story, Lamech did kill Cain (vs. 23-25), one might conclude that the bloodshed of Abel had then been avenged and cleansed. But no, the curse is passed to Lamech. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30; Ps 94:1).
If Lamech killed Cain, he may have avenged Abel's death, but he became a murderer in the process, disregarding God's command, thus compounding his guilt. The Bible ensample leaves us to conclude that
Lamech took matters into his own hands, violating God's command in so doing. If God had honored Lamech in his self-directed efforts to avenge the blood of Abel, we would have a "holy seal of approval" on vigilantism.
In Deuteronomy 21:1-9, instruction is given the priests for cleansing the land when the murderer cannot be found. After slaying a young heifer, the priests from the nearest village would wash their hands over the slain heifer and say, " Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. O Yahweh, forgive Your people Yisra'el, whom You have redeemed, and do not allow innocent blood in the midst of Your people Yisra'el ." And the blood guilt shall be forgiven them (vs. 7, 8). The phrase, "forgive Your people," may be translated from the Hebrew to mean "make an atonement." The noun form is translated "mercy seat." Thus the murder and the pollution of the land were "made one" again, prefiguring the atoning death of the Messiah. His blood alone could provide cleansing.
We consider in astonishment that Israel joined the heathen in pouring out the blood of their own children, as sacrifices unto the idols of Canaan (Ps. 106:37-39). The thought is abhorrent! How could a people with every blessing and advantage put it aside to make themselves common and unclean? How did their backsliding progress to such deplorable actions as killing their own children? Lift up your eyes to the bare hills and see! Where have you not been dishonorable? You have waited for lovers by the roadside like an Arab in the wilderness; you have defiled the land with your fornication and your wickedness , (Jer. 3:2, Modern Language Version ). They loved pleasure more than promise. The heathen festivals seemed innocent at first, as long as the Hebrew didn't really believe the religious part. But that is how apostasy starts: Rationalization and self-justification. That was then…
This is now. So, what has changed? Spiritually speaking, have we not polluted the land with the innocent blood? Has the pollution problem not been here since the entrance of sin? That which had led to the murder of Abel has continued throughout the ages in the hearts of self-centered followers after peace, pleasure, and power without a price. The earth is polluted with blood.
Instead of showing gratitude to God for His blessings, the antediluvians used His blessings as a means of separation from Him. They did not seek to honor and glorify their Creator. The gold and silver which He entrusted to them they used for self-gratification. Violence filled the land. Appetite and passion bore away. Men spent their time in dissipation and amusement and in enriching themselves. The earth was polluted under the inhabitants thereof, (The Signs of the Times, April 10, 1901).
Sinners say, "I want my freedom!" In their effort to rid themselves of restraining laws of God, they choose destruction and death. It is this desire [for unrestraint] that has made the world what it is today – corrupt as in the days of Noah, and polluted as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah , (Manuscript Releases, Volume 12, page 238).
We must not treat this subject of ecology lightly, for our world is soon to be destroyed, as in the days of Noah, for the pollution of the land. We may have little to offer as solutions to the world problems of global warming, holes in the ozone layer, or the destruction of natural habitats. Corruption has gone too far; but we can prevent the tide of spiritual pollution from collapsing our homes.
Fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, I beseech you , wrote Ellen White to Sabbath-keeping families. Course sayings, low jests, want of courtesy in the home life, will leave an impression upon you, and if frequently repeated will become second nature .
Then she adds, The home is too sacred a place to be polluted with vulgarity, sensuality, and recrimination " ( Ibid. Vol. 13, page 82). It is in the home where pollution begins; it is in the home, protected by the presence of the Savior, where the polluted atmosphere may be atoned and purified. May it be so in our homes as we approach the final Jubilee.