May the mumbling commence!
[No, this is not a joke -- far from it!]
Remember: you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. This memory was the foundation and reason for obeying the commands of the Lord had given in the Hebrew Torah, the Law. This remembrance was given beautiful clarity in the speech that all Israelites utter when they brought the firstfruits from the soil. It is recorded in Deuteronomy 26:5b-10a:
"My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O Lord, have given me."
My father was a wandering Aramean. The nation of Israel identified with the person of Israel or Jacob. Jacob was a son of the promise just as his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham before him. These were persons of great faith who did their own share of wandering. You and I are included in this statement because we, too, are people of the faith and sons (and daughters) of the promise through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
Israel was also to remember the suffering of slavery and persecution at the hands of Pharaoh. And, when they cried out to the Lord their God, God listened and brought them out with a mighty hand and outstretched arms. Many signs and wonders accompanied this exodus. The pierced hands and outstretched arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus brought us out of the land of slavery to sin. This exodus must not be forgotten either. Let’s remember fully so that a return to the slavery of yesterday does not become attractive. As the bumper sticker reads: “My boss is a Jewish carpenter [Read Jesus].”
These memories are why we seek to do God’s will and follow His commands, laws and decrees with all our beings (26:16). They are why we give amnesty to foreign slaves and refuse to oppress them (23:15-16). Remembering rightly is why we do not charge interest on loans to our Christian brothers and sisters (23:19-20). Remembering rightly is why, when we are downtrodden, we do not glean grapes in a basket or gather grain with a sickle (23:24-25). That is why we pay the poor person for his or her labor each day – because they depend upon the money for survival (24:14-15). That is why we do not glean to the edges of our field or go over our grapes a second time and leave some for the alien and fatherless and the widow (24:19-22). And that is why we set aside every third year’s tithe to feed the priests, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows (25:12).
Prosperity can cause amnesia. This we cannot allow in our lives. If we do, we welcome the peril of oppressing others and receiving the judgment of the Lord.
In the midst of prosperity, do not forget the vulnerable. In the midst of prosperity, do not forget the mighty hand and outstretched arm of the Lord. In the midst of prosperity, do not forget to care for the vulnerable. In the midst of prosperity, do not neglect justice for the vulnerable.
Many people in the US are in peril of forgetting the most important lessons that we learned when we walked through the valleys. Those times were to prepare us for prosperity. Remember – going through the desert to get to the dessert.
Do not forget.
Remember – My father was a wandering Aramean. My boss is a Jewish carpenter.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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