There were no fall harvest festivals in ancient Israel.
That’s because the growing season in the Promised Land, at least from our perspective, seems to be upside-down.
Yes, the so-called “latter grapes” were gathered in the middle of autumn. Otherwise, the months of October and November were for ploughing and sowing. Crops grew throughout the mild winter, swelling from the gift of rain showers. Fruits and grains ripened during the spring and were harvested in May or June – a major event that was celebrated at the Feast of Pentecost.
In Israel, autumn was a time of hopeful beginnings.
In America, autumn, ideally, is more like a time of happy endings. Families, friends, and neighbors gather around tables that are overflowing with the richness of the latest harvest, fully intending to blow away every diet in sight.
And we say thank-you. We thank God for the gift of life, the gift of his Son, and the gift of each other – singing songs of thanks and praying prayers of gratitude that we suspect we ought to be singing and praying every day of the year.
Were there songs of thankfulness at harvest time in ancient Israel?
There were indeed. The most notable is Psalm 67:
May God be gracious to us, and bless us,
and make his face shine on us,
so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, God. May all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for you,
for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Notice those two powerful words in the first stanza and in the last phrase – so that.
“May God bless us still” – but not just for our own sakes. It’s wonderful to be blessed. But God’s blessing always has a “so that.”
We are blessed to be a blessing.
May God’s blessings be poured into our lives “so that all the ends of the earth will fear him” – that is, so that people everywhere will somehow be blessed by the blessings we have received.
The outcome will be something that at first sounds a bit ominous – the “fear of the Lord” – until we realize that fearing God is the primary way the Bible’s authors describe what it means to know him, love him, honor him, and respect him.
That’s the very kind of experience which can fill our hearts with thanks every day of our lives.
So, may God bless you this Thanksgiving Day – so that you might bring his blessings to the ends of the earth!
Comments