Seed for the Future
Examples of Torah Wisdom in Investments for Future
Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (CJB)
6 “If, as you are walking along, you happen to see a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground with chicks or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you are not to take the mother with the chicks.
7 You must let the mother go, but you may take the chicks for yourself; so that things will go well with you, and you will prolong your life.
At first glace some might suppose this scripture is speaking of not hunting animals and that if people do not hunt then G-d will bless them with a prolonged life. But this would be an incorrect interpretation because G-d permitted his people to take the chicks (or even the eggs) but they were only to let the mother bird go free. The reason for this is that the mother bird can produce more chicks and more eggs for the people to eat in the future. The principle to be seen here is not to consume that which can produce an income for the future. It was for this reason that Avraham taught his sons never to eat female livestock. It is the females which can reproduce more livestock in the future. If they do not eat the females then they will always have meat and eggs and milk and wool for the future and things will go well with them and they will prolong their lives when they do not starve to death in their future.
This principle can be called “Do not eat the hens” or “Do not eat female livestock” and it can also be applied to planting seed. If a man eats his last seed and does not save any seed for planting then that will be the last meal he will ever have. If a man eats his last hen that will be the last meal he will ever eat. If he will save female goats for example, he will have more goat meat and more goat milk in the future when his flock multiplies.
This Torah-wisdom can also be applied to wildlife management programs. That is why game-laws often specify that only males are to be hunted while saving the females for reproduction. If there is a problem with over-population of wildlife and a danger that they will all perish because there are too many then game departments might issue either-gender hunting tags to cull excess animals in order to preserve a healthy herd through the winter (when there is less food available). If this is not done, they will end up losing all of the animals to starvation or disease when there is a larger population than what food is available to feed them during winter time. Hunting is used as management tool to keep and maintain healthy herds of wildlife like deer or elk so that they will survive to reproduce again the next spring.
It is evident that the Torah Principle of “Do not eat the Hens” has a wide application to many real-life management decisions. This is useful for a farmer who raises chickens or turkeys or cattle or sheep or goats or any type of livestock. It is useful for wildlife manager to preserve wildlife for the future. It is also useful for financial management because this same principle also applies to business and financial investment. Money is just like seed for investments and if a man consumes his last money on consumer goods and spends it all then he will have nothing for investments and thus no income for his future. Those who spend everything they have without saving anything for investments will starve to death in their future. But if they save money for investments, they will have a continual income for the future and their lives will be prolonged when they do not starve to death because of their own financial mismanagement. In fact, most of the poverty on earth can be traced to people not following Torah-principles and thus they curse themselves and have nothing in the future and will end up starving to death!
For a tradesman investing in tools is a way to increase his future. For a professional like a medical doctor or an engineer a professional degree could be a good investment as long as they are not ensnared in student loan debt. Saving see for the future has a wide application to agriculture and industry and trades and occupations and professions.
One a person understands Torah-principles they can learn to apply these principles to a wide range of applications for their personal lives.
Deuteronomy 4:5-6 (NIV)
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
If a person has knowledge of Torah-principles they can learn to deal wisely in the affairs of life. The knowledge of God’s principles made the Jewish people into a wise and understanding people.
See the link “Wisdom of Jewish People” for more details.
Anyone who will apply the wisdom of God’s word will also become wise and God will bless them because God is no respecter of persons and will richly bless all those who follow and obey his commands and precepts and laws and Torah principles.