Good Morning.
And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. (Genesis 9:20)
In Hebrew, the word for “farmer” (or “husbandman” depending on version of Bible) is איש האדמה ish ha’adamah – “man of the ground.” This is interesting for a couple of reasons; first of all, the first thing that God did when it came to mankind was to plant a garden in Eden so that man could cultivate and work it. In other words, God’s first action was not to build a city but a garden.
When you think about it, much of what God teaches us in Scripture has a lot to do with the ground and things that grow from it. For instance, consider just some of the parables of the Messiah: the Wheat and Tares, the Sower, Olive Tree parable and the Fig Tree parable. Much of what Messiah spoke on spiritually, He related to what people could see around them in nature — catching fish from the sea, growing wheat in the field, etc.
Now juxtapose that to what we see in cities and to who some of the first city dwellers and builders were: Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, just to name a few. The point is, God uses His Creation to speak to us whereas cities are the product of mankind’s desire to come together in a collective whereby we depend upon one another for sustenance and goods. In the country you learn to depend upon God as He gives you the wisdom to do.
This is not to speak disparagingly of those who live in the city but to recognize that God uses the ground, the wind and things in His Creation to speak to you and me. Not only that, when it comes to you and me, notice that we are likened to trees, wheat, and seed. We are, in fact, called the “seed of Abraham” (Gal 3:29) because we are in Messiah. As such we are called upon to produce “much fruit” that we may glorify our Father in Heaven.
So then, let us make sure any hardened ground is broken and ready to receive the Good Seed that is the Word of God, that it may produce bountiful fruit in our lives.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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