Day 17 - boundary stone

 Do not move your neighbour’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.  Deut 19;14

Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbour’s boundary stone.” Deut 27:17

The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place.

Proverbs 15;25

Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, Prov 23;10

Judah’s leaders are like those who move boundary stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water.  Hosea 5;10


It would seem that boundaries are important to God.  Its easy to spiritualise and make these scriptures into a lesson on morality. But these old testament scriptures are actually about land and the high value God places on everyone having their own place to live, especially the orphans and the widows.  He is very clear that nobody is allowed to come along and try to steal land by shifting the boundaries.  Its an intensely practical and straightforward command. Do not move.  For any reason, at any time. Just dont do it.

A friend of mine is in dispute with a neighbour over a small piece of land between their properties. The neighbour thinks he has a right of way over the land which means he can build on his own land at the rear of his house.  My friends maintain that they own the land and that he doesn't legally have access over it.  It's gone to court, cost an absolute fortune, taken years to fight over and caused endless stress.   It might only be a few yards of land but who owns it makes a massive difference to the value and saleability of both properties.  Boundaries are written into property deeds for a reason.  Builders and architects take boundary lines super seriously. A fence or wall two inches over a line will have to come out and be built again in the right place.

If you think about it, just about every war in history has been started because someone wanted to shift a boundary.  Putin thinks he will just re-claim a bit of Ukraine. Israel and Palestine both claim ownership of chunks of Gaza and the West Bank.  The Romans, the Brits, the Germans all marched across the world claiming bits of it for themselves.   And as a result have been cursed by God and have experienced His wrath.  He really, really doesnt like invasion. Be it a foot into someone elses garden or a hundred miles into someones country.

How does this apply to us?  Well, practically, let's not get into property disputes with our neighbours. Spiritually let's respect each others territory and not try to muscle in on anyone else's turf.  God will enlarge the place of our tent if He sees fit.  Its not our job to go moving other peoples stones to make room for ourselves



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