No community without boundaries: Another lesson from the Prodigal Son parable (Deuteronomy 26–28; Luke 15)

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Messiah Yeshua’s¹Christ Jesus prodigal son parable (Luke 15:11–32) is often presented as a juxtaposition of those who treat the Kingdom of God with respect (gentiles) vs. those who don’t (Jews). The beginning of the parable tells us that the younger son wants his inheritance now, and he has a “good time” with it, wasting it all and the “good times” did not last.

The parable is a microcosm of the blessings and curses that we read about in the Torah reading תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1–29:8). The blessings such as not fearing one’s enemies, abundant food, etc., come when we stay with the Father. When we willfully leave the Father’s plan for us, that is when the curses come. The commandment to honor one’s father and mother is the first commandment with a specific blessing of long life. When we are young, we think our parents are dumb and out of touch, but when we get older, we realize how smart they are and we can only hope we realized the truth of our parent’s wisdom sooner rather than later.

Not everyone had parents who lived their lives with restraint and wisdom and people with such parents may have to find wisdom from other elders, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
Moses is giving the people of Israel a full disclosure of God’s expectations. There is no fine print here, it’s stated clearly for all to understand and to either agree to or reject.

If you research the “chain of custody” of the blessings we have received, that chain of custody inevitably reaches back to God Himself. We are the spiritual descendants of fugitives who were fleeing idolatry and immorality.

God gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the spiritual and material wealth to serve Him in hostile territories.

When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they were blessed with manna, but once God conquered Jericho, the manna stopped.

Jericho had large thick walls, but God was able to easily knock them down and He is also able to knock down the walls that are blocking our entry in His rest. God gave them freedom from bondage and lead them to the mountain, where they could learn more about the One who liberated them and blessed them.

We look at today’s world and see that we have an incredible issue with confusion about where things come from.

For example, there’s a slogan out there that says, “Capitalism kills; kill capitalism.” People are calling for tearing down our current economic system and replacing it with something more “equitable.”
Woody Gutherie’s “This Land Is Your Land” song says something similar in verse 4 of his original version of the song published in 1940:

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing —
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]2“This Land Is Your Land,” Woody Guthrie, verse 4 from the original 1940 version that was dropped from the 1944 recording (Joe Klein, “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Dell Publishing, 1980.)

The Torah contradicts this vehemently when the Torah tells us that “cursed is the one who moves the boundary stones.” God placed pillars around Mt. Sinai marking that the mountain belongs to God, it was the Lord’s land and the people could not trespass at anytime they wanted to do so.

It’s so important that you respect people’s boundary stones, not just physical boundaries, but also boundaries between human relations like Christ taught us in the Golden Rule, “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” So you don’t want someone to just willy nilly move your boundary, so you don’t move someone else’s boundary.

Any adult who tells a child to keep secrets from their parents are dangerous and should be avoided.

When you are invited to visit someone’s home, you are a guest in their home, but if you don’t like the way the owners keep their house, they have the right to show you the door and escort you out.

This not meant to be a college level macroeconomics lesson, but an explanation of why God considers boundary stones and property rights so important, not only His own boundaries and property rights but ours, too.

Morality of wealth

The economic system of mercantilism in the 1600s saw wealth mostly in precious items such as metals, and the law developed to protect wealth ownership.

English economist Adam Smith (1723–1790) wrote the foundational work for free-market economies which most of us know of by its short name “The Wealth of Nations,” but the complete title of the book is “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations.” It was published in 1776, which for Americans, was a very auspicious year.³The Declaration of Independence for the United States of America was signed in July 1776.

Smith observed that a “nation’s wealth is not the quantity of hard assets such as gold and silver in its vaults, but the total of its production and commerce — what today we would call gross national product.”⁴“About Adam Smith,” Adam Smith Institute, accessed Sept. 17, 2022.

It’s in what you do with those hard assets, such as gold, silver, land, etc., that help a nation produce wealth, meaning that you don’t have to be greedy about your gold. Because unlike gold, what you can produce is not limited to how much gold you have. Your wealth can actually grow.

In the 19th century, mercantilism gave way to capitalism, an economic system not just based on hard assets and commodities but on what can produce more, namely labor and land.

Unfortunately, some owners of capital (workers) were being overpowered in the economy, and mid-19th century philosophers such as Karl Marx observed this exploitation. Marx wrote explained his observations in his book Das Kapital as oppressive exploitation of workers and what he felt should be done to liberate the worker from this oppression.

Marx observed that the lowly worker cannot freely use his own capital, his own labor to become a painter or, go and lay on the beach all day. He’s not free with his labor, as he would want to be to fully self actualized himself. It’s a valid observation, very valid observation, except that the exchange of one’s labor for payment is not merely an economic transaction, but a spiritual transaction too.

The Apostle Paul warns is that “the law is good, if you use it lawfully” (1Tim. 1:8–10). So in a similar way, when you enter into personal or business relationships, you have to have the right heart.

You could think of the “Wealth of Nations,” which talks about how nations talk with each other, and trade with each other, that you can benefit if you can share each other’s strengths, share each other’s strengths to work toward the betterment of the community only works hand in hand with Smith’s first book.

Before Adam Smith wrote “Wealth of Nations,” he wrote a book called “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” in 1759, which was an exploration of the character of a nation (from each person) before engaging with others. Here are three escalating levels of morality Smith develops in that treatise.⁵“The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” Adam Smith Institute, accessed Sept. 17, 2022.

• Self-interest and sympathy. It’s prudent to look after ourselves, but we should keep that in check by empathizing with the needs of others.
• Justice and beneficence. Self-interested we must live alongside others without doing them harm. But can go beyond justice, to do good, but we cannot demand such action as we demand justice.
• Virtue. As an “impartial spectator,” we fully empathize with our emotions and actions. That requires self-command, and in this lies true virtue.

Capitalism, without the moral sentiments Smith outlined in his book, can be exploitive because of the unrestrained and unrepented evil desires of the heart.

For beneficence to be genuine, it has to come from the inside out. If it’s only on the outside and superficial, it can easily be cast off with the first hint of adversity, but if it comes from the inside out, then, no matter what happens around us, we are still able to love our neighbor.

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Adam Smith, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” 1759

Where wealth ultimately comes from and why it’s essential to regularly remember that

The blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 27–28 are inserted in this particular session, connected to the First Fruits because we are called to remember that the main source of all the goods we have come from God alone, not from our own work but from His work.

So unlike Karl Marx, who would say that we are being oppressed by this power or that power and that because of their oppression, that we just can’t fully actualize who we should be, in truth we are in full control of ourselves and when we acknowledge that we are in full control of ourselves, we can act with virtue, we can step out of ourselves and our own self interest to see the interests of others.

Marx was addressing a legitimate concern but his solution was antithetical to human nature and the Torah.

That in our seeing the interests of others that we pursue justice. We love mercy, we love favor, we love kindness, we extend grace and loving kindness for other people.

We are not called on to consider ourselves oppressed by others, and we certainly aren’t called upon to oppress and exploit our fellow man. We are called upon by God to act with self-control and virtue. We are called upon to see the interest of others and to take care of their needs as well as own and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).

So the promises that comes out of Deuteronomy are as relevant today as ever, and probably even more so. Because you have younger generations that are being poisoned by the education system and the media with envy, covetousness and so much economic disinformation.

We should always look for ways to benefit others, whether you are an employer or employee. That is how the economy and society grows.

When we look to the needs of other people, we are also moving towards the heart of God. This is what Messiah did: He healed others and poured Himself out in service to others to lift others, pouring Himself out unto death on the cross.

We, as followers of the way have a real responsibility, we need to keep our boundaries in place. Economic boundaries are not the only boundaries that are important. Moral and ethical boundaries are equally important to a functional society.

The first relationship established by God between human beings was the marital relationship. All relationships are not the same, and those relationship boundaries, such as the relationship of parent and child, husband and wife, etc. are important and should be respected, and not trampled upon.

When a nations is self-governed and living by the guidelines of the Torah from the inside out, they don’t need a catalog of laws to keep it moving in the right direction. It’s only when people are not self-controlled and walking in virtue that we need a large body of laws to enforce proper boundaries and to keep society moving.

Summary: Tammy