Justice Before Harvest
Subtitle: Integrity Structured, Generosity Multiplied, Community Sustained
New Testament: 2 Corinthians 9:1–6
Torah: Exodus 23:6–11
“GOD STRUCTURES JUSTICE BEFORE HE MULTIPLIES HARVEST.
AND GOD MULTIPLIES WHAT A PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO RELEASE.”
New Testament
2 Corinthians 9:1-6
Ready with Voluntary Gift
9 I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem.[a] 2 For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece[b] were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.
3 But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready, as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected. I don’t want to be wrong in my boasting about you. 4 We would be embarrassed—not to mention your own embarrassment—if some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren’t ready after all I had told them! 5 So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.
6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.
Old Testament
Shemot (Exodus) Chapter 23
6 You must not pervert justice for your destitute countryman in his lawsuit.
7 You must distance yourself from any falsehood. You must not execute an innocent or acquitted person, for I will not exonerate the wicked.
8 You must not accept a bribe, for bribery blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the way you apply the Torah’s words of righteousness.9 You must not oppress a foreigner who has converted to Judaism; you know the feelings of a foreigner, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
10 For six years you may sow your land and gather in its crops,
11 but during the seventh year you must leave it untended and withdraw from it. The needy among your people may eat its produce the same way that the beasts of the field eat whatever is left. You must do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
12 Six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your work-bull and your donkey may rest, and your bondwoman’s son and the resident alien be refreshed.
13 You must be vigilant in everything I have instructed you. You must not mention the names of other peoples’ deities; nor may your mouth cause their names to be heard.
14 You must celebrate a pilgrim festival for Me three times a year:
15 You must observe the Festival of Matzos. For seven days you must eat matzos as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of the beginning of the grain-ripening, for in that season you left Egypt. You must not appear before Me empty-handed.
16 You must also observe the Festival of the Harvest, by offering up the first produce of your labors that you sow in the field. You must also observe the Festival of the Ingathering of your produce at the end of the year, when you gather in your produce from the field.
17 Three times a year all your menfolk must appear before God, the Master of the World.
18 You must not sacrifice My Passover blood-sacrifice in the presence of leavened bread. The fat portions of My festival offering may not be left off the Altar overnight until morning.
19 You must bring the first-ripened fruits of your land to the House of God, your God. You must not eat a young animal that has been cooked in its mother’s milk.
CHIASTIC STRUCTURE
2 Corinthians 9:1–12
A – Ministry to the Saints (v.1)
The offering serves believers in Jerusalem.
B – Your Readiness Inspired Others (v.2)
Your zeal stirred Macedonia.
C – Accountability & Preparation (vv.3–4)
Paul sends brothers to ensure integrity and avoid embarrassment.
D – A Willing Gift, Not Pressured (v.5)
Prepared beforehand; not grudging.
E – Sowing Principle (v.6)
Sow little → reap little.
Sow generously → reap generously.
F – Center: The Heart Decision (v.7)
Each must decide in their heart.
Not reluctantly.
Not under compulsion.
God loves a cheerful giver.
E’ – God Supplies Seed & Increase (vv.8–10)
God provides sufficiency.
God multiplies seed.
God increases the harvest.
D’ – Enriched to Be Generous (v.11a)
You are enriched so you can give.
C’ – Through Us, Gifts Delivered (v.11b)
Your generosity results in thanksgiving to God.
B’ – Needs Supplied (v.12a)
The saints’ needs are met.
A’ – Overflowing Praise to God (v.12b)
The ministry results in many thanksgivings.
Exodus 23:6–19
A – Justice in Court (v.6)
Do not pervert justice for the poor.
B – Truth & Innocence (v.7)
Stay far from falsehood. Protect innocent life.
C – No Bribes (v.8)
Corruption blinds and twists righteousness.
D – Protect the Stranger (v.9)
Remember you were strangers in Egypt.
E – Release the Land (vv.10–11)
Six years sow. Seventh year let it rest so the poor may eat.
F – Sabbath Rest (v.12)
Rest for workers, animals, and the foreigner.
G – Center: Exclusive Loyalty (v.13)
Be careful to obey. Do not name other gods.
F’ – Sacred Times (vv.14–17)
Keep the pilgrim festivals. Appear before God.
E’ – Harvest Offerings (v.16)
Bring first produce from your field.
D’ – Remember Egypt (v.15)
Keep Passover — you were brought out.
C’ – Pure Sacrifice (v.18)
Do not corrupt the offering.
B’ – Firstfruits & Boundaries (v.19a)
Bring the first and best to God.
A’ – Covenant Distinction (v.19b)
Do not mix what God has separated.
PaRDeS REFLECTION
Peshat
Do not distort courts.
Do not hoard land.
Give willingly.
Remez
The seventh year hints at trust.
Generosity hints at faith.
Drash
Pharaoh accumulates.
God redistributes.
Sod
When a people release control,
God releases increase.
The field responds to the spirit of its stewards.
Engagement
1. Distance From Falsehood
The Text says, “Distance yourself from falsehood.”
Not just avoid it — distance it.
What does it practically mean to create distance from lies in our personal lives, leadership spaces, or institutions?
Where have we normalized proximity to distortion?
2. Justice for the Vulnerable
“Do not pervert justice for the poor.”
Justice is mentioned before worship or harvest.
Why do you think God begins with courtroom integrity before speaking about festivals and offerings?
What happens to worship when justice is compromised?
3. Release and Trust
For six years you sow — the seventh year you release the land.
What does releasing productivity teach about trust in God?
Where do we struggle to stop striving and allow space for restoration — for ourselves or for others?
4. Loyalty at the Center
The structural center is exclusive loyalty to God (v.13).
How does misplaced allegiance — to money, status, politics, success — quietly distort justice and generosity?
What “other gods” most tempt modern communities?
RESPONSE
Justice Before Harvest
Leader: Before the harvest comes
People: Justice must stand
Leader: Before the seed is planted
People: The soil must be true
Leader: We will not bend the scales
People: We will walk in Justice (mishpat)
Leader: We will distance ourselves from falsehood
People: And stand in truth
Leader: We were strangers once
People: So we will not wound the stranger
Leader: Six years we sow
People: The seventh we release
Leader: We will not serve other gods
People: The orchard belongs to the Lord
Leader: When we sow generously
People: God multiplies the harvest
Leader: Justice first
People: Then abundance
Leader: Integrity structured
People: Generosity multiplied
Leader: Community sustained
People: And thanksgiving rises
All: Amen
Word Study
מִשְׁפָּט (Mishpat) – Justice
Not revenge.
Not punishment.
It means ordered relationships.
שֶׁקֶר (Sheker) – Falsehood
Distortion of reality.
Systemic lying.
Public narrative manipulation.
זָרַע (Zara) – To Sow
Used agriculturally and metaphorically.
Paul borrows Torah agriculture language intentionally.
