“And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.”
When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. The orla regulations for newly planted fruit trees: the fruit of the first three years is forbidden — literally uncircumcised, using the language of the covenant sign for the fruit's unreadiness for use. The three-year prohibition acknowledges the growing period of the tree and establishes the principle that new growth requires a period of consecration before it can be used. The agricultural rhythms of the covenant community's land are governed by the covenant's principles.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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