Moving The Boundary Stones

On October 19, 2021, while in prayer early in the morning, the Lord spoke a few things to my wife that she wrote down. Among them was the following;

“...Be faithful with what I give you. It seems like I’m not moving, but I am. I’m getting things lined up like dominoes. The game takes a long time to set up. It ends very quickly… Be patient. Be obedient. I am working on your behalf. I am lining up all the dominoes… Hosea 5:10, that is what I will do to the leaders in your country, along with the leaders in the church.”

He then led me into the following study of Hosea 5:10 regarding the wrath of God that is poured out on those who move boundary stones.

Hosea 5:10 – See the note below.

10 Judah's leaders are like those who move boundary [1366- “boundary; limit; territory; closed area.”]

stones. I will pour out my wrath on them like a flood of water. [See Daniel 9:26 and Nahum 1:8.]

NIV

It was forbidden by the law of God to move a boundary stone. Today, we would call this a property line which is still illegal to move. Spiritually speaking, God has also established eternal boundaries that are also forbidden to move. Throughout history, though, man has moved them, either for his own ungodly desires, or from ignorance of His law.

As the Lord has declared to Shelley above, this has happened within the leadership of our nation, ignoring the Constitution established by our Forefathers in the wisdom of God (see Proverbs 22:8 below). Also, and with even greater consequences, many leaders within the church have ignored the covenant boundaries established by our Heavenly Father in His word and reestablished their own, per their false doctrines. Both will soon receive God’s wrath for their arrogant actions.

Boundary Stones:

• “Before the extensive use of fences, landed property was marked out by stones or posts, set up so as to ascertain the divisions of family estates. It was easy to remove one of these landmarks, and set it in a different place; and thus the dishonest man enlarged his own estate by contracting that of his neighbor.”

(from Adam Clarke's Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

• “After Israel conquered the land of Canaan, each tribe was assigned its territory and their borders accurately described. Joshua, Eleazar the high priest, and the heads of the twelve tribes cast lots and made the assignments (Joshua 14:1-2). Within the tribes, each family and clan would make its own claim and mark it out with boundary stones. In that day, officials didn't draw detailed real estate maps, what we today call ‘plats.’ Everybody was expected to honor the landmarks (boundary stones), because to move the stones meant to steal land from your neighbors and their descendants (Proverbs 22:28 [see below]). Unscrupulous officials could easily exploit poor widows and orphans and take away their land and their income (Proverbs 15:25; 23:10-11). Since God owned the land and the people were His tenants, moving the stones also meant stealing from God, and He would punish them (Hosea 5:10). No wonder this crime was included among the curses announced from Mount Ebal (Deuteronomy 27:17 [see below]).

(from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)

Deuteronomy 19:14 – See the note below.

14 Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors [7223- “first, in place, time or rank; primary, former, ancestors”] in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

NIV

Within America, we are watching our government leaders do this very thing, for the establishing of their own wicked plans. They are attempting to change the constitutional boundaries established by our Forefathers that are necessary for the continuing preservation of this nation. The church has done the same thing with the covenantal boundaries that our spiritual Forefathers wrote for us in the Bible through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. With unequaled pride and arrogance, certain leaders have moved the boundaries of God’s covenant for gaining and then keeping possession of our eternal inheritance. By their actions, based upon their accepted and promoted “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1), they are saying that they can alter God’s boundaries and still remain in Christ, without any consequences. In so doing they have placed themselves under God’s curse and will, in His wrath, be cast out of God’s Kingdom (see Deuteronomy 27:17 below and my Bible study Outer Darkness).

Proverbs 22:28 – Again, the Lord declared to Shelley that He will pour out His wrath on the leaders within our nation who are ignoring the boundaries established by our American Founding Fathers, and the leaders in the church who are guilty of this arrogant sin against His established, eternal law. To this I declare, “Amen!”

28 Do not move an ancient [5769- “forever, everlasting, continuous existence, perpetual”] boundary [1366] stone set up by your forefathers [1- “father; grandfather; forefather; ancestor”].

NIV

Deuteronomy 27:17 – See the note below.

17 "Cursed is the man who moves his neighbor's boundary stone." Then all the people shall say, "Amen! [543- “truly; genuinely; amen; so be it.”]"

NIV

This verse is part of the curses Moses had the Levites proclaim to the children of Israel right after they entered the Promised Land. Six tribes were commanded to stand on Mount Ebal (which means “stone” or “bare mountain”) to hear these boundaries of God. They, in turn, showed their agreement with them by saying, “Amen!” As seen in type through the children of Israel, to be cursed as a Christian today is to walk in disobedience to the revealed terms of the covenant with God that you have entered into through repentance. We curse ourselves through willful disobedience, without repentance, thereby cutting off the flow of blessings. Unlike our current government in our nation, and the church, God does not reward evil behavior.

Six of the Israelite tribes were also commanded to stand on Mount Gerizim (which means “cut up [i.e. rocky], or “cuttings off”) which represented the blessings of God that take place through obedience. To stand firm in this place is to have God’s favor and lovingkindness manifested in your life. To be cursed is to not have His favor or lovingkindness over you, but to instead be under His wrath/discipline.

It’s interesting that as soon as they entered into the inheritance of the Lord, the terms of the covenant were publicly revealed to them, for a response, so that they would understand what He required to retain His blessings, as well as possession of the land. They, in turn, would then give the “amen” in agreement, thereby accepting the terms of God and His covenant boundaries.

Today, the spiritual leadership in the church does not clearly explain the terms of the new covenant in Christ to His children, as the Levites did, in order to receive His blessings and to remain in Him (John 15:1-11). I believe this occurs because many do not believe that a Christian can ever be cursed after turning to Christ (see Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Peter 2:1-22, Matthew 25:41; for Old Testament types see Joshua 6:18, 7:10-26; Malachi 2:1-2, 3:8-12). Yes, thankfully the Lord is very patient with His children, but He does have a line that we dare not toy with in presumption. It is His love to scourge and discipline us when necessary (Hebrews 12:6) so as to keep us from falling away from Him with an apostate heart. The Holy Spirit will convict us when we are drifting in order to turn our hearts back to Him. We then make the choice to repent and return to the secure place in Christ, or to continue in rebellion and face the consequences.

The good news is that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law which, on our own, we can never fulfill. Paul said that He has become a curse for us by hanging on a cross (Galatians 3:13-14). When we put our faith in Him, repenting of our sin and then doing what the Spirit reveals to us as Moses did to the children of Israel, the blessings of God flow. Disobedience halts the flow of blessings, obedience opens them up.

To walk in the Spirit is to be led by the Spirit, not our fleshly desires (Galatians 5). To know God’s will is to spend time with Him, in His word and prayer. It is our acknowledgment that He is Lord and apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). As Jesus declared, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” (John 6:63/NIV) May the fear of the Lord keep us near Him, within the boundary of His salvation.