Establishing A Tree

A principle of sowing and reaping gained from Paul, Old Testament Law, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

I was thinking about what I wrote yesterday and also about principles of sowing and reaping. I’m trying to learn how to sow and reap good things in my life and I was intrigued by Paul when he refused to reap financially from the Corinthians but did accept from other churches. I asked God if there was some other principle of sowing and reaping I might learn from Paul. He brought to mind this verse:

Leviticus 19:23
When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten.

In order to establish a tree and make it healthy, they were not to eat the fruit of it for three years. Paul was employing the same principle in establishing the Corinthians as a church:

1 Corinthians 9:11-12
If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

I also believe that God was using the same principle in the Garden of Eden:

Genesis 2:16-17
And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

I think Adam and Eve would have eventually been able to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when they and the tree were mature enough. The phrase “knowledge of good and evil” refers to wisdom. It is the ability to judge wisely, to discern between good and evil:

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

The serpent in the tree is described as wise:

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.

The word "crafty" is also translated "prudent" (Prov 16:21, 18:15) which is an aspect of wisdom. Jesus also says:

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Wisdom is for the mature, which takes us back again to Paul and the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 2:6
We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

Let’s learn from these Biblical examples. When sowing and reaping, make sure the level of maturity is there before reaping whether it is in your own life or in others. Not everything may need a lot of time to mature. Wheat only takes a season before one can harvest it but fruit trees need time.