Okay, finally, let’s apply what we know about the principle of Firstfruits to Israel’s conquering of the Land of Canaan.
It’s actually pretty simple and I think you all know where I’m going with this.
The first city Israel attacked was Jericho.
Therefore, from God’s perspective, Jericho was a “first fruit” and that’s why He decreed that ALL of the war booty was to be His and His alone.
The soldiers of Israel were not to have anything.
Again, this is just like the orchard in Leviticus 19:23.
“When you enter the land and plant various kinds of fruit trees, you are to regard its fruit as forbidden — for three years it will be forbidden to you and not eaten.”
We see that the first produce was to be considered as holy property.
Actually, let me rephrase that.
It wasn’t that it was “considered” to be holy property, it WAS holy property.
The whole first produce was forbidden to the Israelites.
However, the next year, after Hashem’s portion was properly turned over to Him (normally a tithe or 1/10th), the rest of the crops were given to the people for their use.
Again, in the same way, ALL the spoils of war in Jericho were devoted to Hashem because it was the first city conquered in the Holy Land.
But with the next city AI, the Lord allowed some of the war booty to be used by the people.
Again, and I’m not being dogmatic with my hermeneutical theory here (and yes, it is a theory), does this not follow the pattern of firstfruits?
So what’s the big takeaway here?
The takeaway is that to hold onto the Lord’s holy property is fraught with danger.
It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about income from your job, your firstborn son, your produce from the fields (if you’re a farmer) or whatever, the firstfruits ALREADY BELONG TO THE LORD.
And if life seems to be a frustrating and constant struggle, you may need to ask yourself some hard questions.
Are there some areas of your life now or in the past where you held back the firstfruits?
When Israel was soundly defeated the first time they attacked the city of AI, they fell on their faces in despair and asked God why this had happened to them.
God’s response was sharp and quick: there is sin among you.
In this case, it was the sin of one man but the point is…
…the problem lay with the people, NOT the Lord.
Remember, when Yeshua said “give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, he wasn’t implying a transfer of ownership from the person to God.
He was saying “physically turn it over to God because IT ALREADY BELONGS TO HIM”.
If you decide to hold onto it, you will be guilty of robbing the Lord of His Holy property.
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