"Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers."
(Proverbs 22:28)
The concept here was put forth in Deuteronomy 19:14, "You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, which the men of old [the first dividers of the land] set" (Amplified Bible). In the curses issued in Dt. 27:17, we read, "Cursed is he who moves his neighbor's boundary mark. And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'" I submit-- A study of Jesus' Words concur.
I cannot say why our text today has always carried a special "anointing" for me. From the first time I remember reading about "boundary stones," or, "ancient landmarks" 40 years ago, I knew there was something very dear to God's Heart concerning boundaries and landmarks. We can spiritualize it all we wish, but it was very, very practical in the ancient Jewish community, and, I can tell you, it is today also.
When we read the Pentateuch, we discover over and over again just how important inheritance and private property are to God. Yet private property has always been a nemesis of the socialist/communist mentality. When I took a course in "The History of Economic Thought" in the university, time and time again, the whole concept of landowners, even entrepreneurship was disparaged. It rules now in two legislative branches of American government. But recently, the judicial branch ruled in favor of the concept, which the leftists love to claim they champion, but in reality, they despise. The following is a commentary by Matthew Henry on our text. May the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit give us understanding.
1. "We are here taught not to invade another man's right, though we can find ways of doing it ever so secretly and plausibly, clandestinely and by fraud, without any open force. Let not property in general be entrenched upon, by robbing men of their liberties and privileges, or of any just ways of maintaining them. Let not the property of particular persons be encroached upon. The land-marks, or meer-stones, are standing witnesses to every man's right; let not those be removed quite away, for thence come wars, and fightings, and endless disputes; let them not be removed so as to take from thy neighbour's lot to thy own, for that is downright robbing him and entailing the fraud upon posterity.
"2. We may infer hence that a deference is to be paid, in all civil matters, to usages that have prevailed time out of mind and the settled constitutions of government, in which it becomes us to acquiesce, lest an attempt to change it, under pretence of changing it for the better, prove of dangerous consequence."
I encourage you from 2 Timothy 2:7---- "Think over these things I am saying [understand them and grasp their application], for the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I repent on behalf of "Christians" who have so narrowly interpreted Your Words. Help us as Your Church to see just how complete is Your Word for living in this life. Amen.
************************************************
When 18 year old Peter Torjesen "heard the call to evangelize China, he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
