celebrating the wonder of soil

Q1119

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CELEBRATINGTHE WONDEROF SOIL

WWhy would anyone write

about something as common and as unwelcome as dirt? It’s for good reason thatwe sweep our floors, wipe ourshoes, and wash our soiledclothes.

There are, however, other ways of looking at the stuff of which the Bible says God made Adam.

In the following pages, RBC writer and naturalist Dean Ohlman does what he soskillfully did in earlier bookletsabout the wonder of trees and ofwater. Dean compels us to dig alittle deeper into the nature andsignificance of the good earththat was valued far more by hisgrandfather’s generation than by most of us today.

Martin R. De Haan II

Managing Editor: David Sper Cover Design: Terry BidgoodScripture quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by ThomasNelson, Inc. Used by permission.All rights reserved.© 2006 RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan Printed in USA

CONTENTS

Leaving The Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Soil Is Scarce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Soil Is Valuable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Soil Is Threatened . . . . . . . . . . 17

Soil And The Bible. . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The Final Restoration . . . . . . . . . . 31

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© RBC Ministries. All rights reserved.

LEAVING THE LAND

MMy dad, HenryOhlman, was born on a

Western Michigan farm in 1902. He was one of six boys who often chafedunder the stern discipline oftheir Prussian father, Henry,Sr., whom they felt carriedthe Protestant work ethic to the extreme. Perhapsidentifying more closelywith their Dutch mother,they sometimes referred to my walrus-mustachioedgrandfather as “theKaiser”—out of earshot, of course!

It appears that all theOhlman boys in turn lefttheir rich bottomland farmin Hudsonville as soon asthey were men, never toreturn. I’ve often wonderedabout that. Was theirdecision the result of the grueling farm work, or was it more likely a

consequence of the major shift of labor from the country to the city thataccelerated rapidly from1915 onward? The first twodecades of the 20th centuryare called the Golden Ageof American agriculture. By the beginning of theFirst World War, farmprices had risen to ahistoric high. And becauseEurope was at war, withmillions of its farmers onthe battlefields, Americatook up the slack. The USprovided a large part ofEurope’s food from 1915 to1920. As a result, farmersprofited more than ever.

The increased demandfor farm products in thoseyears was the likely reasontheir father required all but the youngest of theOhlman boys to drop out of school and work thefarm. As a result, my dad’sformal education endedwith the eighth grade.During the Great War,

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farm production soared—setting up a major crisis atthe end of the conflict. Inthe early 20s, with Americanyoung men back from thewar, European men backhome on their farms, andthe rapid automation offarming, an agriculturaldepression was certain.

Within a few years, the elder Ohlmans foundthemselves virtually aloneon the farm—all theirhomegrown farm handssettling into manufacturingand sales jobs or skilledtrades in nearby GrandRapids. The final blowcame with the GreatDepression. The bankforeclosed on the last ofHenry and Denah Ohlman’sacreage, and they werecompelled to live in a small place behind themuch grander home of one of their sons, the townassessor. Apparently as atribute, my uncle namedseveral town plats after his

father. Now the familyname is attached tohundreds of deeds asHudsonville, one of WestMichigan’s most rapidlygrowing communities,scrapes off the rich farmtopsoil and redistributes itto landscape small homelots now spreading intofields my father tendedsome 85 years ago.

SOIL IS SCARCE

WWhether it wasbecause of

economics orhard labor, it appears that none of my unclesdemonstrated a desire tomaintain the intimacy withsoil that has characterizedfarmers for millennia. Formost of human history, tofarm or not to farm washardly an option. To eat,you had to kill an animal,forage, or cultivate theearth.

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As the first book of theBible indicates, farming was the original occupation.The second chapter ofGenesis recounts a familiarunderstanding about ourfirst parents, Adam and Eve:

The Lord God planted a garden eastward inEden, and there He putthe man whom He hadformed. . . . Then theLord God took the manand put him in thegarden of Eden to tendand keep it (Gen. 2:8,15). On the Ohlman farm,

passages like this were nodoubt read aloud manytimes—an after-dinnerScripture-reading traditionmy father carried on in ourhome.

Contrary to popularopinion, it’s clear from thispassage that God gave uswork even before the Fall.God required that Adammaintain the fruitfulness ofthe garden. On this originalfarm, however, tending the

soil was not arduous orexhausting.

It’s fascinating tocontemplate how gardeningas an occupation may havediffered from farming as itbecame after the Fall—oneof hard labor. No doubt ourattitude toward cultivatingthe earth then would havebeen significantly different.Any dirt farmer who haspulled thistles or hackedaway thorny shrubsinvading his cultivated landlikely finds it difficult toimagine tending a farm assomething he could enjoy.

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Contrary to popular opinion,it’s clear fromGenesis 2:15 that God gave us work even

before the Fall.

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A CommonMiracle. Dirt is somethingwe usually want to get ridof. To the fussy homemaker,it lurks everywhere, boldlymaking entrance with every child or, like Carl Sandburg’s fog, even creeping in “on littlecat feet.” In terms of thecosmos, however, dirt—soil—is exceedingly scarce.To get an idea about theextreme rarity of soil,imagine the earth as anapple. Cut it in half andexamine the flat side. A tinyrim of red skin barely showsat the outer edge. That slimarc represents the soilthinly spread across thesurface of our planet.

What are theimplications of this mentalpicture? Here are a few: Theonly life we’re aware of inthe entire cosmos is whatwe see on earth. Billions of heavenly bodies arestretched across an expansebeyond our ability to

imagine, and the only signof life is here on our littleapple. Further, all such lifeis concentrated at or nearthe surface. A skimpy skinon a little planet is home toall material life that existsin the universe! Aside fromwhat exists in the realmbeyond our consciousness(the dwelling place of Godand the unseen angels andspirits), all thinking, allprocreation, all music andart, all hating and loving, alllaughing and crying, all joyand sorrow are generallyconfined to within a fewfeet of the earth’s surface—all because of soil.

Soil is the anchor of the biosphere, thesegment of the earth and its atmosphere where all life exists. The peak ofEverest at 29,000 feetabove sea level marks theupper limit of the sphere,and the Mariana Trench inthe Pacific Ocean at about36,000 feet below sea level

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marks the extreme lowerlimit. So the maximum areaof our planet capable ofcontaining all life is a leanlayer hardly 12 miles thick.And at the extremes there islittle life at all. If you couldtake a core sample from theearth all the way through its8,000-mile diameter, you’dfind that the biosphere ismerely the top and bottom350th of your core sample.

I find it interesting tonote that astrophysicistscan provide us no earthlyexplanation for theexistence of carbon-rich soil on this planet. Thatmuch carbon, by theirassessment, could not havean earthly origin. But theycan detect huge clouds of carbon-containingmolecules in space thatseem to be the result of star explosions. Their mostrecent conjecture is thatthis key life-giving elementin soil is extraterrestrial.Simply put, they say we’re

all made of stardust—no surprise to Tinkerbell!These, and countless otherfindings, merely add moresignificance to the truism:Life is a miracle.

It Takes A Universe.When science first came tounderstand the vastness ofthe universe and began toinform the public of itsfindings, many people of faith were disturbed—especially when scientistssuggested that the earth is merely an insignificantspeck in an unfathomablylarge cosmos. They thoughtthe Bible implied that theearth was the center of the universe, not just aminuscule planet floating in some “tiny backwater” in space, as asserted byBertrand Russell. Thisoutspoken English skepticdeclared in his bookReligion And Science that“the Copernican revolutionwill not have done its workuntil it has taught men

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more modesty than is to be found among thosewho think Man sufficientevidence of CosmicPurpose.”

It’s ironic that Russell,no humble man himself,would admit the need formankind to consider itselfand its wee planet as nextto meaningless. In his era,however, it indeed seemedthat our planet had to beconsidered as nothing morethan a “pale, blue dot” in the fathomless ocean of space. That was thepicture painted by anotheragnostic, Carl Sagan, whodramatically highlighted forus on public television thefact that modern astronomyhas revealed that there are “billions and billions” of galaxies in existence.Certainly, suggested Sagan,we can’t be the onlyintelligent creatures in sovast a universe. Hence heinspired the ongoing multi-billion-dollar hunt for

extraterrestrial life—which,so far, has been a fruitlesssearch (see DiscoverySeries booklet Are We AloneIn The Cosmos? Q1110).

Today the minds ofscientists are reeling as they contemplate thesignificance of the earth. What’s becomingincreasingly evident is thatthe earth is not the centerof the universe and noteven the center of our solarsystem. By all logical andmathematical appearances,it seems to be the center ofattention for Someone withawesome intelligence andskill who indeed purposedthe earth not just for life,but for human life. Thefacts now asserted aboutthe physics of all the forcesand objects in space arecompelling scientists tograpple with a theory theyrefer to as the anthropicprinciple. In simple terms,this theory states that by allappearances, the nature

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and main purpose of theentire universe is to supportlife, especially human life,on this tiny speck of aplanet. They now realizethat it is for good reasonthat the earth is not the

center of the universe or of our solar system. If itwere, it could not supportlife. It needs to be exactlywhere it is, and the entirecosmos must have its exactcharacteristics for life toexist. Simply put, it takes

a universe to make earth the sole “living”planet.

While the psalmistDavid didn’t know suchfacts about outer space, he certainly did grasp theimplication of human life in reference to it:

When I consider Yourheavens, the work of Yourfingers, the moon and thestars, which You haveordained, what is manthat You are mindful ofhim, and the son of manthat You visit him? ForYou have made him alittle lower than theangels, and You havecrowned him with gloryand honor. . . . O Lord,our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all theearth! (Ps. 8:3-5,9).The heavens declare theglory of God; and thefirmament shows Hishandiwork. Day unto dayutters speech, and nightunto night reveals

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By all appearances,the nature and

main purpose ofthe entire universe

is to support life, especiallyhuman life, on this tiny speck of a planet.

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knowledge. There is nospeech nor languagewhere their voice is notheard (Ps. 19:1-3).And the marvel is that

material life exists becauseof a layer of soil on this, ourdivinely privileged planet.

SOIL ISVALUABLE

TThe straightforwardand simple nature ofthe biblical story of

creation often conceals thedeep and complex truthencompassed by it. Weunderstand from theScripture narrative thatmankind—Adam—wasformed by our Creator out of the soil of the earth. Early man certainlyunderstood that lifelesshuman and animal fleshdecomposed into the earth,but he had little evidencethat living flesh had itssource in the earth. He only knew that living

flesh came from other livingflesh through the process ofprocreation. Life begettinglife. Certainly dust couldnot beget life.

Scientific knowledge has now provided us withevidence that our materialelements are indeed “dust.”What science has not beenable to discover, however, is what life is and how it could have originated“naturally.” The biblicalaccount, in fact, speaksonly of its supernaturalorigin—dead matterbegetting life because it was so gifted by God:

The Lord God formedman of the dust of theground, and breathedinto his nostrils thebreath of life; and man became a livingbeing. . . . And out of the ground the Lord Godmade every tree grow thatis pleasant to the sightand good for food. . . .Out of the ground the

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Lord God formed everybeast of the field andevery bird of the air, andbrought them to Adam tosee what he would callthem (Gen. 2:7,9,19).It’s clear that the

common factor in God’screation of people, animals,and vegetation is that theseall have their source in “theground.” The Hebrew wordfor “ground,” adamah, issimilar to the word Adam,the name for the first man.They first appear together in Genesis 2:19 where we learn Adam’s name. One meaning of adam is“earthy,” or “like reddishearth.” While not all Biblescholars agree, many havemaintained that adam islinguistically derived fromadamah. What is clear,though, is that Adam wasphysically derived from the ground. The fullmeaning of the wordadamah in Hebrew is evenmore instructive. It refers

to arable soil—soil that hasthe capacity to bring forthand support life.

Our HumbleOrigin. Shortly afterscience was able to identifythe common elements of the earth and theatmosphere, studies weremade to determine if theelements and compoundsthat make up the humanbody were all present in theearth and air. I recall as aboy hearing that scientistshad indeed discovered allthese elements and foundthem very common in thebiosphere—so common, in fact, that if you were topurchase the raw elementsfrom a chemical supplier,you’d pay less than a dollar.Now, according to a 2004study by the US Bureau Of Chemistry And Soils,that value has risen to thewhopping sum of $4.50!

Knowing that our human elements have littlemonetary value should

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keep us humble—whichleads us to another wordstudy. The word humblehas its origins in the Latinword humus, the term for“ground.” The groundidentified by humus is,again, arable soil—that which gives it the capacity to grow things.Classification scientistshave even used thisconnection between soiland man and have literallylabeled our race with it,using the term homoderived out of humus todesignate man. Hence,people now have the Latin-derived scientific labelhomo sapiens. Sapiens is aLatin term for “knowledge”or “wisdom.” Thecombination of the two terms becomes astatement: The only life-infused “wise creature” on earth is begotten of the soil. Knowing this factshould keep us down toearth—literally humble.

When I registered for a word origins course incollege (only because it wasrequired of English majors),I prepared myself forboredom. But I never gotbored. The sweet, saintly,and always-encouragingprofessor, a frail littlewoman in her earlyseventies, hooked me onthe lore of word originsright from the start. Today,some 40 years later, I’m stillreferring to the now dog-eared pages of my textbook.Part of the reason is that agreat deal can be learnedabout the beliefs of theancients from the way theyformed their language andcross-related their words. Itshould not be surprising forus to discover foundationaltruth about man and soilburied just below thesurface of the vocabularywe use every day. So God’sspecial revelation, the Bible,tells us both directly andderivatively that Adam is

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from the adamah. Theclassical languages tell usderivatively that humansare from the humus. AndGod’s general revelation,the creation, confirms it.

This fundamental fact, ifnothing else, should revealto us the great value of soil. We are part of theearth, and the earth is partof us. Further, every livingthing owes its existence and survival to soil. Theultimate truism here wasstated by Charles Kellogg,“There can be no lifewithout soil and no soil without life.”

The Nature Of Soil.Leonardo da Vinci oncenoted that “the earth hasthe spirit of growth; its fleshis the soil.” This is not abad way to think about it,for soil lives and allowseverything else to live. It’s a virtual stew ofminerals, chemicals,decaying organic matter,water, air, and untold

billions of living organisms,most of which are the tinysort.

I remember being toldabout the makeup of soil—especially the minusculemites—in third or fourthgrade. For days afterward,my friend Lanny and Ispent a good bit of ourschool recess lying on ourbellies in the new springgrass competing with each other for the highestnumber of small livingthings we could find incarefully-measured, equalplots of about 6 inchessquare.

It’s amazing to me how some of the earlyrevelations I received while growing up were so profound that I can take you back to my oldhometown and escort you to the exact spot of severaldiscoveries. I could lead you to the location of thepatch of grass where, with corsage pins and

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magnifying glasses in hand, Lanny and Idiscovered itty-bitty redmites, micro “scorpions,”and antlike things withspringy tails all carrying on busy lives in a worldpreviously undiscoveredbeneath our feet. What we could not see, however,were the microscopic formsof life, like the 5,000 to7,000 species of bacteriaalso living in that small plat.

Now, year after yearwhen the frost has left the ground and cock-eyedrobins tell me “the wormsare up,” the smell of sun-warmed earth makes merecall that loamy lot on thenorthwest corner of the FirstWard School playground. It was about 60 yards fromthe monkey bars to whichmy tongue had oncebecome firmly fixed onefrosty winter morning!When we’re young, it seems that all our sensesare begging to experience

each wonder we discover.Canada’s Agriculture,

Food, And RuralDevelopment agencyprovides even moreamazing figures about lifein the dirt: A single spadefulof rich garden soil containsmore species of organismsthan can be found aboveground in the entireAmazon rain forest. A teaspoonful of soil contains more than 2 billion microorganisms,and the total weight ofliving organisms in the top6 inches of an acre of soilcan range from 5,000 to asmuch as 20,000 pounds.And earthworms can moveup to 100 tons of soil peracre per year.

Every area of expertisehas its own terms, andpedology (the study of soil)is no exception. Soilscientists have chosen theterm horizon to define thelayers we find in soil. Iimagine that’s because an

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exposed cross-section of anintact soil sample looks a lotlike the photographic profileof a distant landscape withits variety of lines, colors,textures, and shapes leadingour eyes to the horizon.Each level is classified by a letter. The O-horizon, forinstance, is the top layer of loose duff (twigs, deadleaves, and other organiclitter). Just below it is the A-horizon where decomposedorganic matter has begun its transformation to plantfood—and ultimately peoplefood. This is the topsoil thatfarmers and landscaperstreasure: literal “pay dirt.”Below this are three morehorizons (E, B, and C) thatlay atop the lowest layer:the R-horizon, R standingfor rock—bedrock.

Each of these horizonshas a life-critical role toplay: providing substanceand space in which rootscan grow, serving up bothorganic and elemental

nutrients, and allowing for either the retention or percolation of water.Together they create just the right conditions tosupport the microbial andother life forms that arevital to vegetation in bothits germination and itsaboveground structure.

These subterraneanhorizons are almost asvaried as the visiblehorizons we’re familiarwith. Some thin and somethick. Some black, orange,brown, yellow, or white.Some coarse and some fine.Some sandy and someclayey. Some acidic andothers alkaline—waiting to be analyzed by eager 4-H’ers with their soil-testing kits. It’s thesedifferences that allow forthe great variety we seeabove ground: marshes,grasslands, and deserts; and tropical, deciduous, and coniferous forests.

Soil is not only 14

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classified by its layers, but also by its texture andcontent. Besides the vitalelements of water and air,soil has varying amounts of humus, sand, silt, andclay. According to G. Tyler Miller, Jr. in Living In TheEnvironment:

To get an idea of a soil’s texture, take asmall amount of topsoil,moisten it, and rub itbetween your fingers and thumb. A gritty feelmeans that it contains a lot of sand. A stickyfeel means a high claycontent, and you shouldbe able to roll it into aclump. Silt-laden soilfeels smooth like flour. A loam topsoil, bestsuited for plant growth,has a texture betweenthese extremes—acrumbly, spongy feeling with many of its particles clumpedloosely together (p.316).

The Work Of Soil.One of the most significantfeatures of soil is its role as a recycling instrument.Water, nitrogen, and carbonall work their way into thesoil and then find their wayback out again, mostlythrough the growth, death,and decomposition ofvegetable and animal life.The phrase “dust to dust,”so often said at gravesidefuneral ceremonies—andaccompanied by the somber tossing of soil onthe casket—hails back tothe Garden of Eden whenAdam received his deathsentence from the Creator.Immediately after being toldthat his gardening was nowgoing to become miserablydifficult, Adam learnedabout his ultimate earthlyhumiliation: His body wasgoing to become an activepart of the carbon cycle.

In the sweat of your faceyou shall eat bread tillyou return to the ground,

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for out of it you weretaken; for dust you are,and to dust you shallreturn (Gen. 3:19).It’s humbling for us

all to realize that the life-giving carbon atoms thatmake up so much of ourown bodies were not solong ago in plants, bugs,animals, and other humanbeings. I might contain an atom or two cycled through from Martin Luther, Augustine, andMoses, but probably a lotmore atoms from beetles,slugs, earthworms, andpoison ivy!

Aside from its role asprovider, sustainer, andincubator of life, what aresome other gifts of the soil?Soil is the filter that gives uspure, mineral-rich water todrink. It’s the sponge thatprevents flooding. It’s theprovider of particulates thatcause water drops and thenrain. It’s the producer ofmany of the greenhouse

gases that moderatetemperature and shield us from harmful cosmicradiation. It’s the dwellingplace of billions of God’screatures that share thisbountiful earth with us.

It’s the anchor of ourcherished trees. And soil is the palette that holds upfor the brushes of humancreativity the textures,colors, and substances that make so many of our

16

It’s humbling for us all to realize

that the life-givingcarbon atoms thatmake up so muchof our own bodieswere not so long

ago in plants, bugs,animals, and other

human beings.

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own endeavors beautiful.Mankind commonly

believes that diamonds,emeralds, and gold are the earth’s most valuablematerials. But soil is themost precious substance we know—that whichsoftens the contours of the hills, cushions ourfootfalls, and is the material source andsustainer of all life. William Bryant Loganwrote:

How can I stand on theground every day andnot feel its power? How can I live my lifestepping on this stuffand not wonder at it. . . .We spend our liveshurrying away from thereal, as though it weredeadly to us. “It must besomewhere up there onthe horizon,” we think.And all the time it is inthe soil right beneath ourfeet (Dirt: The EcstaticSkin Of The Earth).

SOIL ISTHREATENED

FFarmers like mygrandfather

cherished the soil. They learned most of thefeatures essential to tillingsoil from their forebears,from a lifetime ofexperience, and from livingin community with otherfarmers. When the soil was“sour” (acidic), they knew it was time to apply marl, a whitish earth made up of decomposed limestone.“Sweet” soil (alkaline)required an application of sulfur. Some of the oldfarming lore stayed with my dad, who nostalgicallyrecalled and repeated it tohis boys. “You plant cornwhen the leaves of the oakare the size of a mouse’sear.” “Healthy corn shouldbe knee high by the Fourthof July.” He even tried toconvince me that on hotAugust nights he could

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hear the corn growing!Then there was weatherwisdom in rhyme: “Red skyat night, farmers’ delight;red sky in the morning,farmers take warning.”

Today, of course, farmers have the advantage of weatherforecasts accurate up to 5 days or more in advance.They have soil-testingmethods that can tell themnot only the acid/alkalinelevel of the soil, but alsohow much of almost everyother chemical and nutrientthe land requires to grow thedesired crop. Expensive farmimplements can “read” thesoil and, by a computerlinked to global positioningsatellites, adjust theapplication of fertilizer to theexact amount needed yard-by-yard. The modern farmerhas available to him almosteverything to ensure that hiscrop is well nourished, bugfree, weed free, diseaseresistant, and drought safe.

If he has enough money, hecan protect his crop from allbut the most catastrophic“act of God.” Because ofgenetic engineering, he cangrow sweeter sweet corn andmore sugary sugar beets. Hecan plant corn that growsever-larger ears and at justthe right level above theground to maximize theefficiency of his corn picker.One man can virtually

sow and reap today whathundreds of farmers couldscarcely accomplish acentury ago. Therein lies the problem.

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One man canvirtually sow andreap today what

hundreds offarmers could

scarcely accomplisha century ago.

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The Impact Of Technology. Astechnology improves andincreases in scale andimpact, soil is used moreintensively than everbefore. And as the cost of technology increases,small-scale farmers are either forced intocooperatives, or forced into selling their farms tohigh-tech farmers or largeagricultural corporations.Big-scale farmers are notvery interested in the oldfamily-farm tradition wherecash crops were grown onmore distant acres, andsubsistence crops and foodanimals were cared forcloser to the house. Mostfarms a century ago wereself-sufficient. With cowsfor milk, steers and hogs formeat, chickens for meatand eggs, a number of fruittrees, and an ample garden,even large farm familiescould care for themselvesoff the fruit of their own

land and the sweat of their own hard labor. One farm family in my homechurch in the 1950s had 23 members: a prolific mom and dad and their 21children, which includedfive sets of twins. Our ownneighbors, who lived in an old farmhouse, were afamily with 17 children. Bythe late 50s, however, theonly evidence of a farm wastheir 2-acre garden. Ourhouse and the surroundinghouses had been built onold family acreage. Becausethe farm was close to thecity, selling off land forhouses became a hugefinancial benefit to theformer farmer and hisfamily—and a welcomereprieve from hard labor.None of the childrencontinued farming. Mostwent into construction—sort of in self-defense. They were in the path ofonrushing suburbia.

Around the city of Grand 19

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Rapids today, sprawlinghousing developments nowoccupy thousands of acresof former farmland—itstopsoil either carted awayor turned into landfill.Multiply this by thousandsof communities across thenation and around theworld that are experiencingrapid population growth.Seemingly lost in thismodern land rush is thesoil—which was the prize to be obtained in mostother historic land rushes.The desertion of the familyfarm, in conjunction withthe encroachment of“agriculturally-challenged”suburbanites on farmland,not only constitutes the greatest populationmovement in Americanhistory, but is probably the least considered andpotentially most damagingthreat to the soil.

I recently did a searchfor the location of thewoodlot my grandfather

owned and maintained bythe gradual harvesting ofmature trees. He sold themto furniture, boxboard, andwood-shaving (excelsior)factories in Grand Rapids.Examining the countyrecords, I found the location and the purchaseprice of his lot: $2,000 for40 acres. It was bought acouple of weeks after myfather was born and sold for $4,000 some 13 yearslater. I discovered that thewoodlot was located on aplat that I often passed: anew housing developmentwith waterfront homesselling for $300,000 ormore. Gravel had beendiscovered under the soilyears ago, a huge pit dug,and finally a lake created.One could consider that to be the epitome of “soilloss.”

When the overtakingand destruction of farmlandby residential, commercial,and industrial interests is

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coupled with the overtakingof farming by agriculturalcorporations, seriousproblems develop. This is in part because fewer true farmers actually workthe land they live on andpatiently manage on aseasonal cycle. Not muchsoil rests today under thewatchful eye of people whocherish it.

The livelihood of thenew farming techniciandepends on how much landhe can engineer to providea high yield that he canquickly get to market toobtain a good price; so thathe can buy more and betterimplements and chemicalsto provide an even higheryield in the future; so thathe can increase his profitenough to improve hisliving standards that willallow him to buy all thefood he wants, 24 hours aday, from the supermarketthat has obtained its foodproducts from all over

the world expensivelytransported by ship, train,and truck to satisfy thedesires of fussy consumerswho want fresh andunblemished tomatoes,apples, strawberries, andgrapes available to themevery day of the yearregardless of the season.

Whew! Trying to unpack all the implicationsof that run-on sentencewould take a book and a dozen critical essays. Yet at the heart of these

complex social, economic,and environmental issues is this reality: What we no longer appreciate and

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What we no longer appreciateand understand,we often come

to abuse.

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understand, we often cometo abuse.

The Erosion OfSoil. We live as though soil is inexhaustible. Thetruth is that it’s not. A visitto the Web site of the USDepartment Of AgricultureNatural ResourcesConservation ServiceResource AssessmentDivision tells the story inthe United States. Whiletechnology in America isnow reversing the croplanderosion crisis, as recently as 1997 in the major riverwatersheds of the easternhalf of the nation, watererosion was reducing soilon 41 million acres at therate of 5 tons per acre everyyear. Wind erosion in thewestern half of the countrywas taking an equalamount of tonnage from 40million acres. And becauseof the heavy application ofchemicals to the most easilyeroded topsoil, nutrients,pesticides, and herbicides

are riding the sediment tothe sea, polluting almost allof the nation’s major rivers.These, in turn, have createdserious fishery problems in our bays, estuaries, and nearby ocean waters.Other consequences createnegative environmental and economic ripplesthroughout the entire globe.

We see the practicalresult of this in another setof sobering statistics: In theUnited States, 6 pounds of farmable soil is lost forevery pound of food we eat. This is occurring in the nation with the most advanced farmingtechnology in the world. In less developed nations,twice as much soil is lostper pound of food. InChina, it’s three times thatamount: 18 pounds of soillost per pound of foodeaten. Not too many yearsago in parts of easternWashington State, over 12bushels of soil were blowing

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or washing away for everybushel of crop—giving usan entirely new meaning for “Washington”!

When you place the soilerosion rate next to the rateat which soil is formed—generously estimated to bea quarter of a ton per acreevery year—you realize that the US is losing soil at a 20:1 ratio. According to some agriculturaleconomists, as much as $42 billion is potentiallylost per year because of erosion in the US.Worldwide, the figure is over $400 billion.

SOIL AND THE BIBLE

IIn the Bible, the truesignificance of soil is not immediately

grasped by statementsdirectly addressing it. Byinference, however, we learnhow truly foundational ouruse of soil is as it relates to

all of life. We see it first, of course, in the creationstory of Genesis 1. Then in the second chapter ofGenesis, where the creationstory is illuminated further,we read:

This is the history of theheavens and the earthwhen they were created,in the day that the LordGod made the earth andthe heavens, before anyplant of the field was inthe earth and before anyherb of the field hadgrown. For the Lord Godhad not caused it to rainon the earth, and therewas no man to till theground (Gen. 2:4-5).God then created man

and placed him in theGarden of Eden:

Then the Lord God tookthe man and put him inthe garden of Eden totend and keep it (v.15).When the two Hebrew

terms used here, “tend” and“keep,” are put together

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with all their differentconnotations, you come tounderstand that Adam andhis progeny were to developan intimacy with the landthat compelled them toserve it almost as much as the garden served them.“Tend” (abad) means “to work, serve, or laborfor.” The word for “keep”(shamar) is the same word used in the familiarchurch benediction thatwas echoed in the hearts of millions of farm familiesover the centuries as theymade their way back homeafter Sunday morningservices to enjoy the fruit of their labors:

The Lord bless you andkeep you; the Lord makeHis face shine upon you,and be gracious to you;the Lord lift up Hiscountenance upon you,and give you peace(Num. 6:24-26).The full meaning of

shamar (“keep”) is also

telling. In Genesis 2:15, itmeans “to guard, protect,preserve, observe, andcelebrate” the fruit andfruitfulness of the garden.That was obviously man’s original purpose,since this was the way he was to keep alive. Thefundamental understandingabout man’s existence is the same today. We and our daily bread are bothproducts of the soil.

American presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt,dismayed over soil erosion

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“A man [who]farms his land tothe waste of thesoil or the treesdestroys not only

his own assets butNature’s assets.”Franklin D. Roosevelt

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after the Dust Bowl disasterof the 1930s, declared inhis 1938 state-of-the-unionaddress, “A man [who]farms his land to the wasteof the soil or the treesdestroys not only his ownassets but Nature’s assets.”

Biblical Principles.When we understand that our role is thestewardship of creation’sresources, we can bettergrasp some biblicalprinciples about it.

First, the poor must notbe disenfranchised from theland or denied access to the fruit of the land. Theprophet Ezekiel was givenword from the Lord toadmonish the wealthyleaders of Israel whocallously forced the poor off the land and then in themidst of their abundancecarelessly damaged the landand polluted the water. Thekey verse is Ezekiel 34:18.

Is it not enough for youto feed on the good

pasture? Must you alsotrample the rest of yourpasture with your feet? Isit not enough for you todrink clear water? Mustyou also muddy the restwith your feet? (NIV). What followed was a

sober prophecy that Godwould remove them fromthe land and bring back thepoor, who loved the landand used it responsibly and obediently. I believe we need to considercarefully how that mightapply to the modernremoval of poor farmersfrom the land they cherishand understand.

It was for this reasonthat the principle of“gleaning” was instituted in the Mosaic law. Thelandholders of Israel werenot to harvest all their cropsto the edges and corners ofthe field so that the poorwould have access to theexcess (Lev. 19:9).

Because it was God’s25

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intent to have His chosenpeople demonstrate godlyliving, they were oftendisciplined for their failureas witnesses. One suchfailure was their lack ofconcern for the poor anddisenfranchised. This wasdemonstrated by theiraccumulation of arable landin adjoining fields. They didthis to keep the poor fromhaving access to the landfor their own farming. Andthey also wanted quietsolitude—to have their own space. Isaiah wrote:

Woe to those who joinhouse to house; they addfield to field, till there isno place where they maydwell alone in the midstof the land! (5:8). The prophets

mourned the failure of God’s people who were “planted in good soilby many waters, to bringforth branches, bear fruit,and become a majesticvine” (Ezek. 17:8) but

who instead experiencedthe discipline of God who gave them barrenness as a consequence.

One wonders how thingsmight be different in thenations of the world today if there were effective laws that limited selfishaccumulation of land, andefficient agencies assistingthe disenfranchised inobtaining enough land forthem to at least sustaintheir families. There mightbe far less boredom andresultant crime amongthose who are continuallyon the welfare rolls in oururban areas if they wereable to work the soil anddraw moral strength fromthat creative activity.

Russian philosopherNicolas Berdyaev seemed to imply this principle in hisclassic work on creativity,The Destiny Of Man:

The soul is afraid ofemptiness. When thereis no positive, valuable,

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divine content in it, it isfilled with the negative,false, diabolical content.When the soul feelsempty, it experiencesboredom, which is a truly terrible anddiabolic state. Evil lust and evil passionsare to a great extentgenerated by boredomand emptiness.

Further, we shouldadhere to a secondprinciple: Live off the fruit of the land, but in the process don’t destroy its fruitfulness. Besidesbeing an obvious bit ofwisdom like “Don’t eat yourseed corn,” this principle is

implicit in a number ofwisdom principles found in the laws of the book of Deuteronomy. There, the children of Israel areinstructed not to destroyfruit trees when they cuttimber to besiege the citiesGod commanded them totake. Also, they were not to take a mother bird when they took her eggs or fledglings for food (Dt. 20:19-20; 22:6-7).

We should apply thisprinciple in our day to thedestruction of our land’sfruitfulness by the completeremoval of topsoil that isaccompanied by abuse of the remaining soil byoveruse of chemicals andthe application of salt-ladenirrigation water to the land.It’s logical to extend thisprinciple to every way inwhich humanity carelesslyreduces the fruitfulness ofthe creation.

A third principle is also evident in the Old

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Live off the fruit of the land, but in the processdon’t destroy

its fruitfulness.

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Testament: Give the land itsSabbath rest. Cal DeWitt,in his booklet Earth-wise,puts it like this:

God’s Torah states,“When you enter theland I am going to giveyou, the land itself mustobserve a Sabbath to theLord” (Lev. 25:2). Thismeans that the earth’sland and creatures are not to be pressedrelentlessly or pushed for all they are worth for human financial andmaterial gain. Instead,honoring the will of theirCreator, humans mustgive land and creaturestheir time for rest,rejuvenation, and re-creation (see Ex. 23:10-12 and Lev. 25–26). To understand how

serious a matter this was to God, consider the factthat Israel would be takeninto captivity for 70 years,in part because for 70 yearsthey did not give the soil

its weekly and 7-year rest (Lev. 26:31-35).

This is a concept stillunderstood today, but lessfrequently used. It’s theidea of fallowness—thepractice of allowing land to occasionally restuncultivated for at least ayear so that it can regainmoisture, combat plantdiseases, and controlundesirable vegetation.Many agronomists believethat modern crop rotation is better than fallowingbecause it allows the farmerto continuously makemoney off all his land.While this may be true, itignores the spiritual benefitsof deliberately taking soilout of production. By sodoing, you declare yourdependency on God—the One who created life and causes all increase.Because so little land isnow cultivated by peoplewho live on it and love it, this sacramental and

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sacrificial practice isvirtually ignored.

Also missing are thenonpragmatic elements ofrelieving the land from thepressure of constant tilling.When I drive through theintensely cultivated ruralregions of the former prairiestates and provinces ofNorth America, my soulseems to sense the heavyweight borne by ouroverburdened soil. It yearns for the fencerowsand fallow land that used to give relief.

This nonutilitarianunderstanding is ancient.The Greek poet, Hesiod,writing in the days when Israel was still the homeland of God’scovenant people, said that“fallow land is a defenderfrom harm and a soother of children.” I believe I know what he meant about “soother of children.”Some of my most pleasantmemories of childhood

are of the times when myfriends and I wanderedthrough resting pastures,undeveloped woodlands,and abandoned fields where new growthabounded with wildlife and wildflowers.

A Biblical Parable.This brings us to perhapsthe most significantreference to soil in the New Testament: Jesus’parable of the sower and the seed. The story’smetaphor is a sower whoseseed is scattered, falling on many areas that are not good for growth: the

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“Fallow land is a defender from harm

and a soother of children.”

Hesiod (c. 700 BC)

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trampled byway, the stonyground, and the weed andthorn-infested land. Yetsome of it does fall on good soil (Lk. 8:4-15).Understandably, as everyfarmer knows, the seedtakes root and grows tomaturity only in rich arable soil.

Jesus explained to Hisdisciples that the seed isGod’s Word that goes out to all people. The good soilrepresents the souls ofthose who receive it “with anoble and good heart” andpatiently allow it to beargood fruit. While Jesus’listeners apparently did not grasp the meaning ofthe spiritual parable, theyunderstood perfectly thesubject of Jesus’ allegory.They lived close to the land, they prayed andfasted regularly for the rainessential to growth, andthey feasted annually incelebration of the harvest.Today, followers of Christ

usually know the spiritualmeaning of the parable, butI fear we fail to grasp thefull significance of thestory’s referents: good soiland careful sowing.

A Biblical Promise.These biblical principlesand this parable gain moresignificance in the light of an important biblicalpromise: The curse Godplaced on the soil will oneday be lifted. It is stated inclear terms among the manypromises found in the finalchapter of John’s Revelation:

There shall be no more curse, but thethrone of God and of the Lamb shall be in[God’s holy city], and His servants shall serveHim (22:3). The beauty of this spot,

our ultimate destination, is that it has many of thefeatures of the originalGarden of Eden—includingpure, life-giving water andaccess once again to the

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Tree of Life, which Adamlost in the first garden.

This final lifting of the curse has long beencelebrated by the churchwith the words of IsaacWatts’ great hymn, “Joy To The World.” We sing it almost exclusively atChristmas, but we shouldsing it all year long:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found.

THE FINALRESTORATION

AAdam’s sin resulted indeath and in God’s

disciplinary actionagainst mankind by makingthe earth resist our efforts to cultivate it. While thereare a number of ways thatwe can look at this act ofdisobedience, one way is to recognize that, like us,Adam was not content with what God gave him. By his disobedience hesurrendered the gloriouskingdom our souls nowyearn and pray for. Not only that, but the earth itselfis groaning in anticipationof the restoration that is yetto come:

For the earnest expectationof the creation eagerlywaits for the revealing ofthe sons of God. For thecreation was subjected tofutility, not willingly, butbecause of Him whosubjected it in hope;

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The curse God placed on the soil will one day be lifted.

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because the creation itselfalso will be delivered fromthe bondage of corruptioninto the glorious liberty ofthe children of God. Forwe know that the wholecreation groans and laborswith birth pangs togetheruntil now (Rom. 8:19-22).

It’s comforting to realizethat the natural world andthe souls of all those whoare born of the soil and areresting their faith in JesusChrist will alike be blessedwith a final restoration ofGod’s original purpose for

it and for us. One aspect ofour moving in the directionof that transformingrestoration is to recover the sense of wonder weseem to have lost for thefundamental materialelement that gives andsustains life—soil. When the marvel of soil works in tandem with the miracleof seed to produce ourmaterial sustenance, ourbodies continue to have life in which to provide a healthy home for oureternal souls and a templefor God’s Holy Spirit.

We’d be wise to recover the ability of whichthe poet William Blakespoke so eloquently in his “Auguries Of Innocence”:

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

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“The creation itself also will bedelivered from the bondage ofcorruption into

the glorious libertyof the children

of God.”Romans 8:21

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