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Mark 11:25
Forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. "You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am Adonai your God" Leviticus 25:17). This command comes to us from within the context of shemitah שמיטה (remittance year) and jubilee regulations, a time when debts are to be forgiven and lands returned to their previous owner. The rulings concerning debt release caused much heart searching. The temptation for one to ask for a loan near the year of release knowing that that the debt will soon be forgiven was as great as the one for lenders to either refuse the loan, or regulate price and interest in view of the coming year of release. Due to our evil nature, much instruction is given concerning these things (Leviticus 25). The fact that Hashem has to specify all these parameters is in itself a testament to our wicked hearts and evil inclination. The whole prohibition regarding shady business deals in view of remittance years is summed up in "You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God". This is repeated several times. The systems of debts and usury are a form of oppression and slavery. The Israelites were a people that Hashem freed by a great price. They shouldn't let themselves be enslaved anymore, especially not by their brothers who were also freed slaves. In remembrance of their former slavery, Israelites were also to be kind to their employees from the nations, to the foreigner in the land. The freedom of the Israelites came at great cost of life. Jubilee laws served as a reminder that freedom is not free. The Israelite’s stay in the land was contingent on their just and merciful interaction with each other, not oppressing each other. Even now many Rabbis comepare this present exilic stage with the internal oppression and conflict within Israel in the first and second century C.E. The laws of jubilee also served as a preservation of the family farm against the monopoly of big corporations who would otherwise ruthlessly swallow small businesses and take over the land. We need to remember that these laws are only relevant as per the Land of Israel. The jubilee also gave second chance to those who had lost everything, as well as time for people to reconnect with their relatives, make things right with friends, and study the Torah. The application of the laws of jubilee definitely creates financial loss. This teaches us that financial success is not at the top of God’s priorities. What matters most to him is the welfare of his people, of all his people. We must not complain for loss because of the jubilee, but instead remind ourselves of the great debt we owe the God of the universe. At the Father’s request, our debt of sin was paid in full in Mashiach who now stands as the redeemer of our soul against the unforgiving creditor who would otherwise enslave us. Yeshua said, "forgive … so that your Father … may forgive you your trespasses". This comes with an addendum, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father … forgive your trespasses" (Mar 11:25-–6). In the Biblical sense, forgiveness is the renouncement of restitution for debt incurred. King David reminds us of the Father’s mercy when he penned, "He does not deal with us according to our sins (debts), nor repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalms 103:10). P. Gabriel Lumbroso www.thelumbrosos.com For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.
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Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? While in the desert Israel was on God’s complete welfare system. Their food and water was miraculously supplied; the clothes on their back did not wear out and their feet did not swell (Deuteronomy 8:4). Every morning as they prepared food, they handled the bounty of Hashem in their hands and even ate it. It was easy then to have the the natural reaction of blessing God after eating (Deuteronomy 8:10). Now they were going to enter the Land and manna would eventually stop. They were going to have to till the land, sow, harvest, dig wells, irrigate, build houses and even train an army to protect their borders. It would then be easy to forget that Hashem is the Great Provider of all bounties and Protector of His people. and think that all they have is due to their own efforts. Moses warned the children of Israel, For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, …, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, …, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, … who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' … And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish (Deuteronomy (8:7-19). This is the age-old cycle: obedience to Torah brings success, success brings complacency, complacency leads to neglect of Torah, and neglect of Torah brings failure. Nations who once succeeded because they strove to be based on the Word are now falling from very high as they forgot the God who allowed them to exist. Poverty may build character but wealth tests it. It is when we don’t feel so dependant of God that our motives are tested. It is like our grown up kids, once they feel they don’t need us, we sometimes don’t hear from them anymore. Someone told me once that if you want your kids to communicate, tell them you sent them a letter with a small check in it, then send the letter ‘forgetting’ to insert the check. God has the big ‘check’ for us, and He also checks our motives! He knows how to slow the faucet of His provisions and remind us that we are but dust. He wants us to love Him not just because of the ‘check’ though, but because we are grateful and are a bride responding to His loving advances towards us. |
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