Little Green Mile Markers

Image: NCDOT.gov

Proverbs 22:28 -- "Don't move an ancient property line that your fathers set up."

Watching the trees wiz by in a big green blur as we crossed the Florida State line began to make me a little bit dizzy. A little too late to stave off nausea, I switched my focus and started to count the little green mile markers posted just off the interstate shoulders. It occurred to me that it took someone hours of manual labor to make sure each stretch of interstate is dutifully and accurately marked. I then began to wonder how it was determined to place each marker. To whom goes the decision of which colors to use on them and how often they should be placed? When was this whole marker idea born and when was it first put into practice?

Well, marking property is as old as owning property itself. One thinks of the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall. Both clearly marked borders and both were used to separate one group of people from another. But the ancient tradition of marking what belongs to whom goes back much further. In fact, in the Middle East, boundary markers have been used for eons to mark where one tribal group begins and another one ends. Large stones are also used to show land owners their own property lines in Scotland, Australia, France, and parts of Africa.

Of course, where there are boundary lines, there will be the inevitable border dispute. One look no further than our own backyards for some of these property battles, but the oldest one to date - and perhaps one of the most violent - is the one going on between God's people in Israel and the countries that surround it. Centuries of war, bitterness, jealousy, and hate can be attributed to the border disputes between the land of our Savior and those that covet it. It's no wonder, then - that in his wisdom, Solomon reminds us not to muck about with border markers. Tampering with property lines can lead to some pretty cumbersome complications.

Image: Thomas Bressen - French/Swiss Border marker

Ya know - we were given some pretty clear boundary markers when Moses came off Mt. Sinai with the ten commandments. To clearly define behavior of which our Father can be proud, He made a list of Do's and Don'ts. And then there's the new testament - an entire book dedicated to training up God's children. The lines are very clearly drawn, but how often do we find ourselves ready to poke at or even move those markers?

Just like the moss laden border stones between France and Switzerland, the markers that God intended to keep us well defined and obedient children are not to be moved. By anyone. And while they may seem old and weathered, they still very clearly "lay down the law". They apply today every bit as much as they did when first they were placed. And just because the times have changed doesn't mean that the stones move with them. If anything, the solid and sturdy border stones of our ancestral past become more clear and more helpful as the years pile into centuries.

When we attempt to move the very clear and well defined boundaries set up by our fathers through the God-breathed law and living Word of our Savior - simply because we don't like where upon they lay - we not only lose our footing, but we mark out new trails that others will try to follow. We cause confusion and turmoil.

No, I agree whole-heartedly with wise 'ole Solomon. It's best that we not muck around with property lines and border stones. They have been placed where they are for a reason.