Monday, February 4, 2013

Don’t Remove the Landmarks!

“Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28).

An immediate and first meaning of this verse is literal and practical.  Here the landmark may be likened unto a surveyor’s mark, determining land boundaries.  This immediately is to keep the wealthy from encroaching upon the land of the poor.  Still practical, and at a much higher level, every 50th year, or “year of Jubilee”, all property was to be restored to its former owners or their heirs.  Thus it was imperative these landmarks stay in place.  Altogether, such boundary marks were considered sacred in the ancient world.

Though figurative, there is another set of meanings attached to this verse perhaps more critical and pertinent for our day than the literal meaning, don’t move those spiritual guidelines (landmarks) which the fathers have set in place.  An immediate demonstration of such a guideline is the Ten Commandments, regarded by many as the Magna Charta of the social order.  Jehovah God and Moses teamed up to establish this landmark, one that’s been in place for about 3,500 years telling people how they ought to relate to God and to one another.  These laws constitute guidelines and help a person to know when he/she is “out of bounds”.  So, what’s the deal with our trying to remove these from the Courtroom and the elementary classroom?

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