Good Morning.
The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. (Leviticus 25:23)
As we have addressed in a previous devotion, the land given to the people as an inheritance could not be permanently sold because the land, ultimately, belonged to God. In that regard, the people were considered to be “strangers” and “settlers.” If they did “sell” the land to others, in reality, they were selling the years that others could grow crops on the land and not the land itself. In fact, it might be more accurate to consider these transactions as land leases as opposed to an outright transference of ownership. The point here would be that, in reality, God retained ownership of the land and simply “leased” it to His people in order that they might reap its bounty. This is basically what we see when God put Adam in the garden that He had created and then said, “Tend and keep it.”
Even if it was on loan, the relationship of the people to the land was an important one — one might even say it was sacred. For example, when Naboth was asked to sell his vineyard to King Ahab, he replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” (1 Kings 21:3). This response reaffirms the notion that, all that God has entrusted to us, whether land, resources or skills, ultimately belongs to Him and is not to be turned over to those who would disrespect God’s purpose. Put simply, it is our responsibility to be good and faithful stewards of all that He has given us “as an inheritance.”
In my view, this is why Esau could not have been the chosen one to further God’s purpose through the family of Abraham — “he despised the birthright.” Being a profane man, he had no regard for holy things; it meant no more to him than a bowl of soup and slice of bread. In other words, his physical appetites and desires were more important to him than what God had entrusted to his family as an inheritance.
The skills, gifts and talents we have been given must be respected as belonging to God and, therefore, should not be used for profane purposes. Moreover, they should not be “sold” to others who would use them for selfish profit and gain. In short, God expects us to use these gifts for a sacred purpose because, one day, He will ask us to give an account of what we have done with what He has given us. May it be that, on that day, we all hear Him say, “‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matthew 25:23).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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