What The Farmer Said

by R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | Category: General | Nov 1987

Unexpected happenings in nature rarely surprise farmers. They seem able to cope with the ravages of drought, hailstorms, blizzards, cattle sickness, possibly because they have been through these ordeals before. But it is a little different when the visitation takes the form of an angel. Not many would be prepared for that.

In Israel a farmer named Ornan the Jebusite with his four sons, was threshing wheat when an angel appeared. The sons fled in fear. No doubt Ornan was afraid. His threshing floor was on famed Mount Moriah, the place where Abraham offered up Isaac. It was a large, flat, solid area, ideally suited for threshing wheat and corn. Ornan owned it, but he did not know that God wanted it. He had chosen it as the place where burnt offerings and peace offerings were to be offered on an altar, so that the judgement sword against Israel would be lifted (1 Chron. 21:27).

In addition to the angel, another distinguished visitor, king David, arrived at the threshing floor to negotiate its purchase. It was not only to be used at that time as a place of offerings, but later David's son Solomon would build a magnificent temple there for the Lord (2 Chron. 3:1). When he knew of David's desire, Ornan said to his king:

"Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes:

lo, I give thee the oxen ... the threshing instruments... the wheat... I give it all". David was deeply moved by this gracious offer, this sacrifice, but he insisted on paying its full value; it was to be used for the Lord. Ornan's offer was noble, magnanimous, and the true expression of his heart was revealed in the words: "I give it all".

Our God delights in sacrifice, for it is a reflection of His own heart in the supreme giving of His dear Son for us. He does not measure sacrifice by size, but in the cost to the giver. That is why the heart of the Son was keenly touched by the poor widow who put her two mites into the temple treasury. The Lord Jesus said of the widow:

she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living" (Mark 12:44).

What of the boy's five loaves and two fishes? the woman's flask of fragrant oil irretrievably broken and poured on the Lord? What precious sacrifices they were!

All these examples can be summed up in the word: "for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13:16).

R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | Nov 1987
General