Levitico 25:21 Commento

The law of this chapter concerns the lands and estates of the Israelites in Canaan, the occupying and transferring of which were to be under the divine direction, as well as the management of religious worship; for, as the tabernacle was a holy house, so Canaan was a holy land; and upon that account, as much as any thing, it was the glory of all lands. In token of a peculiar title which God had to this land, and a right to dispose of it, he appointed, I. That every seventh year should be a year of rest from occupying the land, a sabbatical year (Lev 25:1-7). In this God expected from them extraordinary instances of faith and obedience, and they might expect from God extraordinary instances of power and goodness in providing for them (Lev 25:18-22). II. That every fiftieth year should be a year of jubilee, that is, 1. A year of release of debts and mortgages, and return to the possession of their alienated lands (Lev 25:8-17). Particular directions are given, (1.) Concerning the sale and redemption of lands (Lev 25:23-28). (2.) Of houses in cities and villages, with a proviso for Levite-cities (Lev 25:29-34). 2. A year of release of servants and bond-slaves. (1.) Here is inserted a law for the kind usage of poor debtors (Lev 25:35-38). (2). Then comes the law for the discharge of all Israelites that were sold for servants, in the year of jubilee, if they were not redeemed before. [1.] If they were sold to Israelites (Lev 25:39-46). And, [2.] If sold to proselytes (Lev 25:47-55). All these appointments have something moral and of perpetual obligation in them, though in the letter of them they were not only peculiar to the Jews, but to them only while they were in Canaan.

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 25 In this chapter the Israelites are directed, when come into the land of Canaan, to observe every seventh year as a sabbatical year, in which there was to be no tillage of the land, and yet there would be a sufficiency for man and beast, Lev 25:1; and every fiftieth year as a year of jubilee, in which also there was to be no tillage of the land, and every man was to return to his possession or estate, which had been sold to another any time before this, Lev 25:8; and a promise of safety and plenty in the seventh year is made to encourage the observance of it, Lev 25:18; and several laws and rules are delivered out concerning the sale of lands, the redemption of them, and their return to their original owner in the year of jubilee, Lev 25:23; and the sale of houses, and the redemption of them, and the difference between those in walled cities and those in villages, with respect thereunto, Lev 25:29; and also concerning the houses of the cities of the Levites, and the fields of the suburbs of them, Lev 25:32; to which are added some instructions about relieving decayed, persons, and lending and giving to them, without taking usury of them, Lev 25:34; and other laws concerning the release of such Israelites as had sold themselves for servants to the Israelites, in the year of jubilee, since none but Heathens were to be bondmen and bondmaids for ever, Lev 25:39; and of such who were sold to proselytes, Lev 25:47.

Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year,.... Upon their fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, and make them exceeding fruitful, more than in other years; all fruitfulness at any time depends upon the blessing of God, and follows upon it, but is more visible and observable when there is an exceeding great plenty: and it shall bring forth fruit for three years; and thus God blessed the sixth year with such a plentiful increase as was sufficient for time to come, until a new crop was gathered in; as he had blessed the sixth day with a double portion of manna, for the supply of the seventh.

The law concerning the Sabbatical or seventh year repeated, Lev 25:1-7. The law relative to the jubilee, or fiftieth year, and the hallowing of the fiftieth, Lev 25:8-12. In the year of jubilee every one to return unto his possessions, Lev 25:13. None to oppress another in buying and selling, Lev 25:14. Purchases to be rated from jubilee to jubilee, according to the number of years unexpired, Lev 25:15-17. Promises to obedience, Lev 25:18, Lev 25:19. Promises relative to the Sabbatical year, Lev 25:20-22. No inheritance must be finally alienated, Lev 25:23, Lev 25:24. No advantage to be taken of a man's poverty in buying his land, Lev 25:25-28. Ordinances relative to the selling of a house in a walled city, Lev 25:29, Lev 25:30; in a village, Lev 25:31. Houses of the Levites may be redeemed at any time, Lev 25:32, Lev 25:33. The fields of the Levites in the suburbs must not be sold, Lev 25:34. No usury to be taken from a poor brother, Lev 25:35-38. If an Israelite be sold to an Israelite, he must not be obliged to serve as a slave, Lev 25:39, but be as a hired servant or as a sojourner, till the year of jubilee, Lev 25:40, when he and his family shall have liberty to depart, Lev 25:41; because God claims all Israelites as his servants, having redeemed them from bondage in Egypt, Lev 25:42, Lev 25:43. The Israelites are permitted to have bond-men and bond-women of the heathens, who, being bought with their money, shall be considered as their property, Lev 25:44-46. If an Israelite, grown poor, be sold to a sojourner who has waxed rich, he may be redeemed by one of his relatives, an uncle or uncle's son, Lev 25:47-49. In the interim between the jubilees, he may be redeemed; but if not redeemed, he shall go free in the jubilee, Lev 25:50-54. Obedience enforced by God's right over them as his servants, Lev 25:55.

SABBATH OF THE SEVENTH YEAR. (Lev 25:1-7) When ye come into the land which I give you--It has been questioned on what year, after the occupation of Canaan, the sabbatic year began to be observed. Some think it was the seventh year after their entrance. But others, considering that as the first six years were spent in the conquest and division of the land (Jos 5:12), and that the sabbatical year was to be observed after six years of agriculture, maintain that the observance did not commence till the fourteenth year. the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord--This was a very peculiar arrangement. Not only all agricultural processes were to be intermitted every seventh year, but the cultivators had no right to the soil. It lay entirely fallow, and its spontaneous produce was the common property of the poor and the stranger, the cattle and game. This year of rest was to invigorate the productive powers of the land, as the weekly Sabbath was a refreshment to men and cattle. It commenced immediately after the feast of ingathering, and it was calculated to teach the people, in a remarkable manner, the reality of the presence and providential power of God.

I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years, &c.--A provision was made, by the special interposition of God, to supply the deficiency of food which would otherwise have resulted from the suspension of all labor during the sabbatic year. The sixth year was to yield a miraculous supply for three continuous years. And the remark is applicable to the year of Jubilee as well as the sabbatic year. (See allusions to this extraordinary provision in Kg2 19:29; Isa 37:30). None but a legislator who was conscious of acting under divine authority would have staked his character on so singular an enactment as that of the sabbatic year; and none but a people who had witnessed the fulfilment of the divine promise would have been induced to suspend their agricultural preparations on a recurrence of a periodical Jubilee.

The law for the sabbatical and jubilee years brings to a close the laws given to Moses by Jehovah upon Mount Sinai. This is shown by the words of the heading (Lev 25:1), which point back to Exo 34:32, and bind together into an inward unity the whole round of laws that Moses received from God upon the mountain, and then gradually announced to the people. The same words are repeated, not only in Lev 7:38 at the close of the laws of sacrifice, but also at Lev 26:46, at the close of the promises and threats which follow the law for the sabbatical and jubilee years, and lastly, at Lev 27:34, after the supplementary law concerning vows. The institution of the jubilee years corresponds to the institution of the day of atonement (ch. 16). Just as all the sins and uncleannesses of the whole congregation, which had remained unatoned for and uncleansed in the course of the year, were to be wiped away by the all-embracing expiation of the yearly recurring day of atonement, and an undisturbed relation to be restored between Jehovah and His people; so, by the appointment of the year of jubilee, the disturbance and confusion of the divinely appointed relations, which had been introduced in the course of time through the inconstancy of all human or earthly things, were to be removed by the appointment of the year of jubilee, and the kingdom of Israel to be brought back to its original condition. The next chapter (ch. 26) bears the same relation to the giving of the law upon Sinai as Exo 23:20-33 to the covenant rights in Ex 20:22-23:19.