Sold and Bought

In the Bible we see tragic examples of people being sold.  Rather than kill their brother Joseph, Judah suggested he and his brothers sell him to Ishmaelite traders who were heading to Egypt.  Esther said she and her people were "sold" to be killed by Haman's wicked decree.  God exposed the moral decay among His people in Joel 3:3:  "They have cast lots for My people, have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink."  During Paul's missionary journey to Philippi we read of a slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination who brought much financial gain to her masters, having evidently been bought or acquired previously by them.

There are times recorded in scripture when God delivered His own people into the hands of their enemies in response to their rejection of Him and departure from Him.  Judges 2:14 tells us, "And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies."  God was gracious to raise up judges who delivered the Israelites from their enemies--even though it seemed only a matter of time before they went back to idolatry.  It is hard to imagine what it would be like to be literally sold by your parents for a bottle of wine or sold by God into the hands of enemies all around.

The reality was the people were responsible in situations like this, for they sold themselves in exchange for choosing sin and idols that could not save.  God said through the prophet in Isaiah 52:1-3:  "Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. ² Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion! ³ For thus says the LORD: "You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money."  God who allowed the Hebrews and all people to sell themselves for nothing intended all along to provide atonement and purchase lost souls enslaved to sin with His own blood--the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary (Acts 20:28).

It is the one who realises they are no longer their own, enslaved to sin and doomed without hope, who rejoice to be redeemed by the power of the Gospel and claimed as God's adopted child.  There is hope for those like Paul who realised his natural condition was carnal (of flesh) and sold under sin (Romans 7:14).  By faith in Jesus Christ lost souls are found and accepted in the beloved, cleansed from sin, and know we have a new Master and KING OF KINGS Jesus.  How blessed we are to be bought and paid once for all by the precious blood of Christ, and we have received the Holy Spirit as a down payment of our eternal inheritance (Ephesians 1:14).  Having been bought by God our Good Shepherd, we are sheep of His pasture that are protected, provided for and guided by Him forever.  Why sell ourselves for nothing when we have been bought by God Who loves us?