Remove not the Ancient Landmarks

Is there any place in the Bible where we, as Christians, should move the ancient landmarks of our fathers away without sinning against God?

What do you think?

I mean, you have to take into account the link we have made between landmarks, the main Biblical doctrines and our way of living.

In theological technical terms, we call this concept our Orthodoxy or Practical Theology…

It seems that the Bible also says, by inference, that, sometimes, we should remove the ancient landmarks that our fathers set…

Where can we find this truth in the O.T.?

Can you think of any stories where a such thing happened? I can…

In the time of the Judges with Gideon.

Gideon, of course, was not perfect. But He remove a specific landmark set up by his own father…

What was that? Do you remember? Who told him to totally destroy that landmark his father had set up? (Judges 6.27-29).

In the time of the king Jehoshaphat.

Of course Jehoshaphat had some faults in his life. But, he, as we as well, was not perfect… (2 Chronicles 19).

Jesus also removed many landmarks the Jews added to the teaching of the Bible (see Matthews chapter 23).

Those landmarks were reflected in peoples lives in such ways they couldn’t and did not want to follow God.

Since they were so heavy to bear with…

So, if on one hand, the Bible says that we should remove some landmarks, namely, human doctrines and wrong Bible interpretations that twist our speaking, acting and living towards men and God.

On the other hand, we should not remove them!

This is the assertive statement we see in this very Bible verse

When do you think we should not remove these Landmarks? What do you think?

I have a guess: When they were established by God Himself..

These are called the “Ancient Landmarks”

What does it mean to be Ancient in this case?

Does it mean to be outdated? The question again is: Is everything we call to be ancient worth of being replaced and also thrown into the rubbish bin?

What do you think? Do you think that ancient is a synonym of outdated?

If you think so, it is better you to throw your whole Bible in the dustbin…

Because, Ancient is far from being a synonym of outdated.

Perhaps, it is, but only in the common men mind or for most of those who belong the New Generation who, unfortunately, think that everything that is New is a synonym of good…

Because, as a general rule, they and even us, who are of age, were “educated” by the System… But, this is another totally different story to be discussed in another opportunity.

In fact, this is a classical fallacy called by Philosophy: “The New is Better”. Which states that the simple fact that something is new, it resumes to be better…

In the case of this verse, it is quite the contrary: the Ancient is better (which is not the same as the other classical fallacy also called The Old is Better). Because these Ancient Landmarks were instituted by God Who is the Truth itself and cannot err or get things wrong as we do…

Where, then, in the O.T., we can see this principle strongly emphasized?

Any thoughts?

Yes! Your got it right! They are in Deuteronomy 27 and 28:

The Blessings at Mount Gerizim

The Curses at Mount Ebal

On Mount Gerizim, the blessings are tied to obeying God.

On Mount Ebal, the curses are tied to desobeying Him.

But, One could argue: That was an O.T. thing…

Yes! For sure! But the principals remains, because God is the same. He still is Holy, Holy, Holy. isn’t He? And our relationship with Him should be grounded on believe, trust and obedience.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Finally, who are these fathers the verse is mentioning?

Of course, these Fathers are people who were faithful to God…

They couldn’t be, for example: Jeroboam and Ahab two of the kings of Israel (this one, Ahab, was an underdog of his wicked wife, the witch Jezebel), or Manasseh one of the kings of Judah (who, although being a son of a godly father, Hezekiah, was the masculine Jezebel version and led the whole nation of Judah to commit all kinds of abominations before the Lord. Fortunately, he repented of his sins before dying),

What do you think?

So, again: who where they?

Well… This is easy-peasy…

They were people, man and women, who walked with God, loved Him and obeyed Him, irrespective of good and bad circumstances they faced in life…

Starting from the Legislator or Israel: Moses; Then, the prophets like Elijah; the minor and major prophets; women like Ruth, Esther and Deborah.

Of course for those people before this Bible verse was written, the Fathers came before them…

But, for us, who live in the twenty-first century, they are all the godly men and women from the Bible.

Secondly, lets reason about what are those landmarks

What do you think the landmarks are?

If they were moral and spiritual principals given by God to us, then, it follows that the famous Ten Commandments will be in the top of the list.

Exodus 20, will be its main address.

Then we have also the five first books of the Bible, especially the book of Leviticus (which heavily discuss the theme of Holiness).

And in the N.T., we have Jesus’ Mount sermon and Paul’s letters to the churches.

In sum, all these Hagiographa literature from the Bible will make what we call the Doctrines of the Bible

In the case of these landmarks, they will be the main Doctrines of the Bible^{2, 3}.

But, we do have to take into account that when the verse tell us about not removing the landmarks, it is not only a question of theory, but practical Theology.

It has deep implications on how we live, on the basis of what we study, know and think about the Holy Book and our God.)

Firstly, we have to know those landmarks.

But, it is not enough.

Secondly, we have to internalise them.

Thirdly, we have to strive to live up to them, trying, at all costs, to transform them in good habits in our own lives.

When we starting doing this, Christ will shine on us and reflect His glory towards those we relate to….