Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Property Rights

Ezekiel 46:16-18

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: "If the prince makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it will also belong to his descendants; it is to be their property by inheritance. If, however, he makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his sons only; it is theirs. The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of My people will be separated from their property."

God is concerned for property rights. The leaders of the people are never to take over any of the peoples' property, nor are they to take away their own property from their children. God is the ultimate Owner of all the land, and He has allotted it fairly among all the families and tribes of His people. Each family is to keep their property in the family.

The most basic foundation of society is the family, and the security of the family lies in their property; their real estate, their intellectual property, all the kinds of property people own. That is what produces their income and livelihood. So if everyone follows these rules, then there need be no "poor" who have nothing, as everyone would retain their family property.

Since we, as flawed human beings, think we know better, we want to have more and more of this world's goods, and we take advantage of other people. Like those who are in the government, thinking that they deserve more than the "common man" who isn't as "smart" as they are. And those who have been granted to accumulate riches are never satisfied with worldly riches, but must continue to accumulate more; using people and loving things, the essence of wickedness and evil.

God made this world for us to use the things of this world as tools to benefit the people; ourselves, our families and our nations. We are to love God, learning His ways, the rules and regulations He set for this world to work by, and then we will be able to love the people and use the things for our benefit. And God will receive all the credit, the glory, because that's how He designed it.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!