Deuteronomy 8:7-10
7. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing
streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills;
8. a land of wheat and barley, of vines
and fig trees and pomegranates,
a land of olive trees and honey;
9. a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack
nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.
10. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land he
has given you.
The Woven Layer of Faith into Land and Agriculture The success of crops depended on delicate balance of
timing of the opposing winds of nature during critical period between Passover
and Pentecost. Cool, wet northern winds helped the early crops mature.
Later, hot southern winds helped the late crops mature. The six-week window
between Passover and Pentecost was make-or-break time for all crops. Jews
associated success or failure with favor or disfavor of God. In the milieu
stood Canaanite gods who might have been attractive to faint-hearted Israelis
when failure occurred.
Israel transformed the land from produce in the wild to a
land of agriculture. The more sophisticated the farming, the more prominence
was given agriculture in their worship of God; to the point where certain
fruits and crops were higher on the pecking list. On the tray above you see the Seven Species: (clockwise) grape, fig, pomegranate, olive, date, barley, wheat. Only those seven species were allowed
as first-fruit offerings in the The practical significance is that what stood
between life and death for the Israelis was the food they could produce to eat.
The religious significance was that God saw to the success of their crops and
an appropriate response in first-fruit offerings were made: bless the Lord your God for the good
land he has given you. The
metaphoric significance is that unity between they and God in terms of
agriculture blended with faith assured them of peace on earth as well as what
eternity might have in store. The three layers of significance were woven into the fabric of
agriculture, faith and religion.
Though the Israelis were destined to settle
the Promised Land, they wouldn't be alone. Canaanite natives abounded whose deities
struggled over power of the winds and rain, ergo the crops. There was always
the danger of Israelis tempted to “serve two altars”. The Bible is quite clear as to how disloyal
the Israelis were to their new-found God and easily led astray by influences
around them.
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