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Sowing and Reaping:
An Eternal Principle

Galatians 6:6-10
6 But let him that is taught in the word share all good things with him that teaches.
7 Be not deceived; the Elohim is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that sows to his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.

There are many portions of Scripture that illustrate the truth of the above passage.  We will examine a few of them in this study.  The basic principle is that whatever it is that a person sows is what the person will in like manner reap.  If a person plants corn he will harvest corn and he should not expect to reap something other than corn.  It is the ultimate in folly to plant one thing and expect to receive something other than what was planted.  Yet this is exactly the way many people live their lives, planting one thing and expecting to reap or receive something different.

As we begin this study let us go to the beginning of Scripture and see that this principle has been set in place by the Creator from the very beginning.

B’reshit (Genesis) 1:12
And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

B’reshit (Genesis) 1:21
And Elohim created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moves, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

B’reshit (Genesis) 1:24-25
24 And Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
25 And Elohim made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground after its kind; and Elohim saw that it was good.

Please note that in each of the above passages from B’reshit chapter one, everything that YHWH made, He made to produce after its own kind.  YHWH does not command nor desire for any of His creation to crossbreed.  He wants His creation to remain pure. 

Vayyiqra (Leviticus) 19:19 
“You shall keep My statutes.  You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; neither shall you wear garments with two kinds of material mixed together.”

Later in the giving of the Torah through Moshe YHWH commands us to obey the laws of reaping and sowing.  He does this by commanding us not to crossbreed our cattle nor are we to cross pollinate our plant crops.  Furthermore, YHWH does not even want us to wear a garment that has multiple kinds of threads in it.  In the companion passage of this one in Devarim 22:9-11 it specifies that a garment is not to have a mixture of wool and linen.  However, it does not make that specification here, only that we are not to wear any garment with mixed threads.

Yeshua uses this same principle to teach us something important in the spiritual realm concerning sowing and reaping.

Luqa (Luke) 6:43-45
43 “For there is no good tree that brings forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that brings forth good fruit.
44 For each tree is known by its own fruit.  For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush do they gather grapes.
45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth that which is evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

The reality of the world in which we live is such that every word that comes out of a person’s mouth by its very nature does so because that is what was in the heart in the first place.  It is at this very point that Ephrayim stumbles.  How, you ask?  Because of Ephrayim’s long exposure in the worship of the sun gods, he has this notion that he can do whatever he pleases and “god” has to forgive him and accept him.  This is pure foolishness and is not according to Torah or any of the other Scriptures we have. 

Kepha Bet (2nd Peter) 2:22 
It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
The dog turning to his own vomit again,
And the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.

When we are young we often do foolish things because we do not listen to the counsel of our parents or the counsel of our elders.  Make no mistake about it, what we do in our lives sets things in motion that will cause a reaping later on in our lives that can often cause grief to us.  It will take great wisdom and effort on our part not to reap what we have sown, if we have sown things that are not edifying to us nor to the building up of His kingdom.  It will have to begin with seeking His mercy and grace and then working on planting better things in place of those things that we have planted in the past that are not edifying to us or others.

Hoshea 8:7 
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind; he has no standing grain; the blade shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, strangers shall swallow it up.

One of the sound principles of sowing and reaping is that no matter what is sown, vastly more of what was sown will be reaped.  In the verse above we see that wind was sown, but a whirlwind was reaped; there was an increase.  So whatever a man sows, this shall he also reap; but not in the same measure, but rather in a measure that is greatly increased.

Mishle (Proverbs) 10:25 
When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more;
But the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

The only way to be able to stand when the whirlwind comes if we have sown the wind in our lives, is to repent and come fully to YHWH as our Elohim and work at building a righteous life and character.  It is the only way to be able to stand against those things that we have unknowingly and unwittingly sown, that had we understood the full consequences of our actions, we would not have done.

There was a man in Yeshua’s day that surely understood the fullness of this principle, and once he realized the wrongness of his actions and what he had sown in the past, he immediately set out to sow righteousness in his life.

Luqa (Luke) 19:8-10 
8 And Zakki stood, and said to Yeshua, “Behold, Adoni, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore four times.”
9 And Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Please note how this man, Zakki (Zaccheus) responded to the message of Yeshua.  He immediately understood that he needed to make restitution concerning certain things.  And since he was a tax collector for the Roman government, he had the authority to charge whatever he could get, and whatever he could get over what Rome demanded, he could keep for himself.  He even had Roman legions at his disposal to enforce his taxation upon the people in Yericho.

But now he had heard the message of salvation from Mashiach Yeshua and he responded with complete and perfect repentance.  He would give back anything that he had wrongfully taken fourfold.  He was not just going to return what he had taken, but he was going to increase it by four times.

Yeshua then responds that surely salvation had come to this man’s house.  May we take our example from this man and not from the following man.

Matithyah (Matthew) 18:26-35
26 “The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, ‘Adoni, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’
27 And the adon of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred denarim; and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay what you owe me.’
29 So his fellow-servant fell down and besought him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 And he would not; but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay that which was due.
31 So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told to their adon all that was done.
32 Then his adon called him unto him, and says to him, ‘You wicked servant, I forgave you all that great debt, because you besought me;
33 should you not also have had mercy on your fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on you?’
34 And his adon was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due.
35 So shall also My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts.”

Truly, we see the action of sowing and reaping clearly in this parable that Yeshua gave.  The servant who pleaded with his master to be patient with him, received mercy from his master, who not only granted the request, but went beyond the request, and completely forgave all the great debt that his servant owed to him.

However, when this same servant who had received great mercy went forth and had dealings with a fellow servant who owed him a little, the first servant who had received great mercy would not extend even a little mercy to his fellow servant.  When the master of the servant heard this grievous report, he called the servant who had received mercy to give an accounting of his wicked actions.  Thus the master rescinded the previous mercy and handed the wicked servant over to the torturers to be made to pay all that he owed.

Then Yeshua teaches us that the same is true for us.  We have been shown great mercy from our heavenly Father.  Therefore, we had better show a little mercy towards our fellow servants.  Or, we can expect to reap what we have sown and in this case such a one will be handed over to the torturers.  Yeshua states it like this in another place.

Matithyah (Matthew) 6:14-15
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Pretty simple, pretty straightforward: what we sow is what we reap.

Qorintyah Bet (2nd Corinthians) 9:10 
And He that supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;

ABBA YHWH, may it indeed be true in each and every one of our lives, that we are sowing the seeds of righteousness so that we may reap a bountiful harvest for You and Your kingdom; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.  

Amein and Amein.

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

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