The Peril of Moving Ancient Markers

from the May 23, 2016 eNews issue

by Dr. Steve Elwart

Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone. Then all the people are to respond by saying, “Amen!”

— Deuteronomy 27:17 (ISV)

The Hebrew approach to therapeutics (the theories of interpretation) views four levels of interpretation:

1. Peshat, the literal, direct meaning;
2. Remez, an allegorical significance; a hint of something deeper;
3. Derash, the homiletical or practical application; and
4. Sod, the mystical or hidden meaning.

In the above verse, God assigned the land to the tribes and families, and it was fundamentally His. Therefore, changing a boundary was an affront to Him. “The land is not to be sold with any finality, because the land belongs to me. You are sojourners and travelers with me.” (Leviticus 25:23, ISV). The meaning is direct and clear. Boundary stones in Babylon had curses written right on them. The poor would have been especially susceptible to land theft by the change of boundary stones since they would have lacked the means to defend themselves (see the case of the Naboth Vineyard Incident in 1 Kgs 21). Apparently it was a special temptation of the nation’s leaders (Hos 5:10; see also Proverbs 22:28; 23:10). The verse had a very practical application.

This verse, as well as the other verses referring to boundary stones, have other allegorical and mystical applications as well, one that modern political leaders should have heeded in the past and would do well to pay attention to in the future.

“The End of Sykes-Picot”

When the jihadists of ISIS tweeted pictures of a bulldozer crashing through the earthen barrier that forms part of the frontier between Syria and Iraq, they announced they were destroying the “Sykes-Picot border.” Why is Sykes-Picot so important? One reason is that it stands near the beginning of what many Arabs view as a sequence of Western betrayals spanning from the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire in World War I to the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Sykes-Picot Agreement (named after the British and French diplomats who signed it) was a document with the purpose to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire into British and French “spheres of influence.” It designated each power’s areas of future control in the event of victory.

Sykes-Picot Wasn’t the Only Agreement

The month of May marks the 100th anniversary of a travesty of a covenant. Contrary to popular opinion, Sykes-Picot was not the first foray into moving the ancient boundary stones in the Middle East. It was one of four secret initiatives: …

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