Do not move an ancient boundary stone
set up by your ancestors.
Heritage and Honesty
This verse speaks to two things. One is to respect and to value those things that are passed on to us. We should not quickly move things from the way that they were. My father-in-law always chose the tried-and-tested way. he always played it safe. He always went with what was done before. I thought this was both dull and foolish (things can always be improved). Then I realised that things might be a certain way because it has always proved to be the best way.
Secondly, one rarely moves a boundary stone to decrease one’s property. Moving one’s boundary stone is to increase one’s property. In this context the action smacks of dishonesty and deception. It is not a good idea to do this because, even if one gets away with it, one has besmirched one’s character which is worth more than a little land.
Questions
- What should not be moved?
- Why not?
- How would boundary stones have been particularly important to Jewish people who loved land and family?
- What have you inherited that should not be moved?
- How might people today make dishonest moves for gain?
Plymothian 