Thus you will walk in the ways of good
men and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the
land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from
the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it. (Proverbs 2:20-22)
For the Jews, “the land” referred to the Promised
Land, which was to be theirs for as long as they maintained their side of the
Mosaic Covenant. If they followed the Law, they got to remain. While the Law might not have made sense to
them, it made sense to follow the Law. Of course, they didn’t, and so they lost
the land.
For the Christian, the Promised Land is heaven. Does that mean that this passage either is about Heaven, or that it doesn’t apply to Christians? It seems to me that there are some people who do not care about nature at all, who abuse it. Some people make the land sacred. There are, for example, people who want to put everyone into apartment buildings and make huge wilderness areas off limits. There are also people who want to use up every scrap of land to build businesses. In between those two extremes, there are a lot of people who are put in the other group by which ever extreme is expressing the opinion.
I’ve been thinking about my relationship with the land this summer, more than I thought I ever would. I’m don’t think the land or nature is sacred. I am fond of nature and I’ve had gardens for as long as I can remember. But I’m not a gardener. I don’t like sweating. I don’t like getting my hands dirty. I am not fond of quite a few bugs. I have allergies. Nope, I’m not a gardener. I wasn’t even going to put in a vegetable garden this summer, until I told God that if the mini-tiller started, I would take that as His declaration that I should plant a vegetable garden. And I went a little overboard, buying some pansies in addition to the vegetables. Then we had to take the birch down, and I was given permission to put in two bushes. That led to adding a coral bell to the back garden. Then we got a fence, so now I’m trying to figure out what to plant along the fence, so I don’t have to mow along it (especially the corners. Sh, don’t tell Dad.) Then Dad waxed eloquent about the peach tree, so I bought one for him, and a crab apple tree for me. Those led to the idea of a butterfly garden outside the living room window. All that led to research as I am already trying to figure out what to plant. so I have a low maintenance, food producing, nature friendly yard.
I’m not telling anyone they have to have gardens. For some people, there’s no desire and no opportunity. I do think that the land around needs to be treated wisely. It seems to me that the apartment building eco-fascists who want to free nature but put man in cages are trying to take the land away from us just as much as the “if there’s a green space, build on it” are. I like the idea of being wise and remaining “in the land” even though my interpretation of it is not quite what Solomon was talking about.
For the Christian, the Promised Land is heaven. Does that mean that this passage either is about Heaven, or that it doesn’t apply to Christians? It seems to me that there are some people who do not care about nature at all, who abuse it. Some people make the land sacred. There are, for example, people who want to put everyone into apartment buildings and make huge wilderness areas off limits. There are also people who want to use up every scrap of land to build businesses. In between those two extremes, there are a lot of people who are put in the other group by which ever extreme is expressing the opinion.
I’ve been thinking about my relationship with the land this summer, more than I thought I ever would. I’m don’t think the land or nature is sacred. I am fond of nature and I’ve had gardens for as long as I can remember. But I’m not a gardener. I don’t like sweating. I don’t like getting my hands dirty. I am not fond of quite a few bugs. I have allergies. Nope, I’m not a gardener. I wasn’t even going to put in a vegetable garden this summer, until I told God that if the mini-tiller started, I would take that as His declaration that I should plant a vegetable garden. And I went a little overboard, buying some pansies in addition to the vegetables. Then we had to take the birch down, and I was given permission to put in two bushes. That led to adding a coral bell to the back garden. Then we got a fence, so now I’m trying to figure out what to plant along the fence, so I don’t have to mow along it (especially the corners. Sh, don’t tell Dad.) Then Dad waxed eloquent about the peach tree, so I bought one for him, and a crab apple tree for me. Those led to the idea of a butterfly garden outside the living room window. All that led to research as I am already trying to figure out what to plant. so I have a low maintenance, food producing, nature friendly yard.
I’m not telling anyone they have to have gardens. For some people, there’s no desire and no opportunity. I do think that the land around needs to be treated wisely. It seems to me that the apartment building eco-fascists who want to free nature but put man in cages are trying to take the land away from us just as much as the “if there’s a green space, build on it” are. I like the idea of being wise and remaining “in the land” even though my interpretation of it is not quite what Solomon was talking about.
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