Tag: Coveting

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

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

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

There’s an old saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And the Torah reading תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1–29:8) emphasizes that blessings flow from God to people who establish and enforce proper boundaries.

Those include not only fences around property but also fences that clearly establish economic, spiritual and moral boundaries. But there can be no “wealth of nations” without “moral sentiments.”

This is an often overlooked lesson from Messiah Yeshua’s parable of the prodigal son.

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Discussions Torah

Numbers 16:1–18:32: Earth-shattering warning against coveting

A word cloud using the most important words and themes of Parashat Korach (Banner photo created at wordclouds.com)

There’s a difference between an “argument to Heaven” and an “argument to man.” In the former, we are showing a person how their conduct contradicts God’s word. In the latter, we are trying to dominate the other person. We want the person to accept us as an authority, rather than pointing one to accept God’s authority. 

What is the goal? To gain influence or to come closer to God. Even if our “argument to Heaven” is not executed perfectly, if the conclusion of the matter brings both parties closer to God’s will, it has accomplished a righteous goal. We see this lived out in the tragic rebellion of recorded in Torah reading קֹרַח Korach (Korah; Numbers 16–18).

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8: Coveting thankfulness for the LORD’s blessings

God's way to teach us not to covet is to remind us that everything we have comes from him anyway. (Photo by Freeimages.com/Hazel Bregazzi via Creative Commons license)

There’s more to “you shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) than lusting after other people’s stuff and spouses. That’s the lesson of Torah reading תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8), which wraps an elaboration of the Ten Commandments that spans most of the book.

Under the hood of the instructions about the thanksgiving ceremony for first fruits of the Land’s crops and the third-year tithe is this message: We also are to be grateful for what the LORD has placed in our hands and use it to produce a “bumper crop” for the Kingdom.