Scripture Daily

Context No. 1068 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 19:19-25: in context

19“‘You shall keep my statutes. “‘You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. “‘You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; “‘Don’t wear a garment made of two kinds of material. 20“‘If a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave girl, pledged to be married to another man, and not ransomed or given her freedom; they shall be punished. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21He shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, even a ram for a trespass offering. 22The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed; and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him. 23“‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. For three years it shall be forbidden to you. It shall not be eaten. 24But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to the LORD. 25In the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, that it may yield its increase to you. I am the LORD your God.

This part of the holiness code mixes several laws. Do not crossbreed animals, sow two kinds of seed, or wear cloth of two materials. There is a provision about a wronged slave woman and the trespass offering that follows. And then a striking agricultural law: when you plant a fruit tree in the land, for the first three years its fruit is forbidden, off-limits; in the fourth year all its fruit is holy, an offering of praise to the LORD; and only in the fifth year may you eat it. God ties even orchard-keeping to patience and to giving him the first.

The law about the fruit trees is quietly instructive. For three years you tend a tree and take nothing from it; the fruit is not yours to eat. In the fourth year, the first real harvest, the whole crop is given to God as an offering of praise. Only in the fifth year does the fruit become yours to enjoy. Built into the very planting of an orchard is a discipline of patience and of firstfruits, waiting years before you take anything, and when the first proper harvest finally comes, giving it to God before yourself. It teaches a farmer, and us, that good things are worth waiting for, that we do not have to grab the immediate return, and that the first and best of what we produce belongs to God. In an age of wanting everything now, there is wisdom in a law that says: wait, tend it, and when the first fruit comes, give it to God, and only then enjoy the rest. Patience and firstfruits are woven into how God's people were to grow even their orchards.

Am I willing to wait patiently for good fruit rather than grabbing the immediate return, and do I give God the first of what I produce before helping myself?

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