A gracEmail subscriber writes: “God told the Jewish nation if they obeyed him, he would bless their fields and orchards. I believe as an individual Christian that I am a ‘true Jew.’ Does this mean that God will protect my garden and fruit trees from rabbits and deer if I do not put up a fence?”
* * *
We believers in Jesus from among the nations are spiritual descendants of Abraham, but we are not “true Jews,” in my understanding of the Bible (Rom. 4:9-18). Jews are Jews — although not all Jews are God’s elect as evidenced by their lack of faith — and Gentiles are Gentiles (Rom. 9:6-7; 11:1-5). But salvation has come through Jesus for Gentiles as well as for Jews (Rom. 15:8-12).
The promises of the Old Testament about fruitful crops, herds, etc. are part of the covenant with Israel in Ha-Aretz Yisrael — “the Land of Israel.” I don’t think we can lift them and apply them to ourselves, although some of those promises are repeated in the New Testament Scriptures and are applied to Christians in a different sense (Eph. 6:2-3).
God is able to take care of your garden even without fences — but I don’t know any Scripture which promises that he will do that. My understanding of faith would suggest that you do everything you know that is prudent and wise, and then ask God to bless you. “Faith comes by hearing the Word” (Rom. 10:17). If God has not promised something, we cannot rely on that as a matter of faith. The promises given to ancient Israel in her land, it seems to me, are not directly and specifically ours to claim.