Scripture & Creation
Ezekiel 34:18-19
Use Creation, But Do Not Abuse It
What a clear statement about proper land use! We can use the land, but we may not abuse it. We may drink of the clear water, but we must also be concerned about others who might wish to drink it. We can allow our animals to graze on the pastures, but we must preserve the fruitfulness of the field.
This passage addresses a number of issues, including the sometimes volatile questions surrounding grazing allotments, water claims and property rights. In doing so it also lays down a set of what are to our cultural norms radical, even counter-cultural assumptions about the right use of the land. A clearly articulated sharing of the land is presumed in this verse which is specific reflection of the larger principle that the Earth is the Lord's. Across America we don't embrace this sort of sharing of the land. Instead, our custom, following the privatizing assumptions about land that arose in the West since 1215, is to divide the land into individual parcels. This reflects a system in which individualism and separate ownership are more important than community or shared patterns of land use.
This passage also presumes that land should be used for the common good. This means that no person should use the land in such a way that others have a diminished ability to use it. When we care only for ourselves and exclude care for our neighbors, we exhibit a selfishness which is contrary to right Christian behavior.
The solution to this cultural dilemma lies in a form of community that exemplifies the brotherhood (and sisterhood) of all people and the Fatherhood of God. A first lesson from this passage is that we need to reacquaint ourselves with God’s Providence which provides for each person according to need instead of trusting only in ourselves. This is the biblical model.
The never-ending disputes surrounding grazing rights and water allotments, especially in the Western United States, are reflections of the competition for land which characterizes the modern system. It is a system designed to accommodate hard hearts and differences in beliefs. It pits neighbor against neighbor in a competitive structure which ends in a few owning much and many owning little or nothing. This is not the pattern of heaven. It is more like the way of the jungle.
In the second year of his presidency, President Abraham Lincoln reflected the Christian view in America during the middle of the nineteenth century when he cited his vision for a right attitude toward land ownership:
The land, the earth God gave to man for his home, sustenance and support, should never be the possession of any man, corporation, society or unfriendly government, any more than the air or water.... An individual or company... requiring land should hold no more than is required for their home and sustenance, and never more than they have in actual use in the prudent management of their legitimate business, and this much should not be permitted when it creates an exclusive monopoly. All that is not so used should be held for the free use of every family.
President Lincoln, unconsciously reflecting ancient Christian assumptions, declares a responsibility of the nation and its people to embrace moderation, sufficiency and avoidance of excess in the use of land. Lincoln’s view is much closer to the biblical view than current assumptions. It starts with recognition that the land is first God’s; it incorporates a sense of restraint based upon its use; and finally it denies any right to over-accumulation or monopoly.
How much more civilized is this vision of land use than the present tendency to accumulate and control, often for reasons of power, greed and self-aggrandizement.
In this passage from Ezekiel, the Lord makes clear that we are to avoid harming the land, and that we are to be alert to how our actions might impact others. The further implication is that we are to exercise a benevolent regard for those who will come after us. Otherwise we will have to face Christ's question at the judgement, “Was it not enough for you to drink of the clearest water?”
This passage is not only describing the right use of water or pastures. There is a holy principle here. The principle is that we must preserve the quality of the land and its fruitfulness so that all may use it. This implies that all forms of land abuse, including monopolies that restrict or restrain the use of God’s earth by others, are wrong. Following this principle we can then apply this passage to other features of creation. This passage then applies to forests, to wetland, to a host of natural features from which we today identify natural services such as the sequestering of carbon dioxide, the production of oxygen, the purification of air and water, and a host of other features to creation. If we examine forests this principle means that human society should acknowledge the many values of wood lands and the human uses of these places, including hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, and these should be places alongside all of the natural services which forests provide such as clean air, clean water, soil stability, moisture transpiration (which maintains even levels of rainfall), and the sequestering of carbon dioxide. Logging alone may then become inappropriate because it denies the other, perhaps more important features to the forest. Logging of forests, for instance, is considered a major cause of elevated levels of carbon dioxide and climate change. This quickly becomes a larger topic because while we need wood products such as lumber and paper, we also have to recognize that the forests have a larger purpose in the scheme of creation. This same principle applies to wetlands which percolate surface water into ground water and provide a metabolizing and filtering of pollution. It stretches out to address issues such as food for the hungry, housing for the homeless, living wages for workers, even health care and insurance for seniors. These biblical principles have for too long been avoided of their deep implications, but when studied, provide deep guidance for the right ordering of society.
In the end, these issues all involve the application of justice for all people and all creation. They are examples of God’s providence and how He freely gives of His sunshine and rain and air to all people. As God freely provides these natural blessings for all people to use, so we should take a lesson and seek this same sharing pattern to the fullest extent possible in human affairs.
