Leviticus 25

1 ADONAI spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai; he said,

2 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for ADONAI.

3 Six years you will sow your field; six years you will prune your grapevines and gather their produce.

4 But in the seventh year is to be a Shabbat of complete rest for the land, a Shabbat for ADONAI; you will neither sow your field nor prune your grapevines.

5 You are not to harvest what grows by itself from the seeds left by your previous harvest, and you are not to gather the grapes of your untended vine; it is to be a year of complete rest for the land.

6 But what the land produces during the year of Shabbat will be food for all of you - you, your servant, your maid, your employee, anyone living near you,

7 your livestock and the wild animals on your land; everything the land produces may be used for food.

8 "'You are to count seven Shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years.

9 Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land;

10 and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family.

11 That fiftieth year will be a yovel for you; in that year you are not to sow, harvest what grows by itself or gather the grapes of untended vines;

12 because it is a yovel. It will be holy for you; whatever the fields produce will be food for all of you.

13 In this year of yovel, every one of you is to return to the land he owns.

14 "'If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy anything from him, neither of you is to exploit the other.

15 Rather, you are to take into account the number of years after the yovel when you buy land from your neighbor, and he is to sell to you according to the number of years crops will be raised.

16 If the number of years remaining is large, you will raise the price; if few years remain, you will lower it; because what he is really selling you is the number of crops to be produced.

17 Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am ADONAI your God.

18 "'Rather, you are to keep my regulations and rulings and act accordingly. If you do, you will live securely in the land.

19 The land will yield its produce, you will eat until you have enough, and you will live there securely.

20 "'If you ask, "If we aren't allowed to sow seed or harvest what our land produces, what are we going to eat the seventh year?"

21 then I will order my blessing on you during the sixth year, so that the land brings forth enough produce for all three years.

22 The eighth year you will sow seed but eat the the old, stored produce until the ninth year; that is, until the produce of the eighth year comes in, you will eat the old, stored food.

23 "'The land is not to be sold in perpetuity, because the land belongs to me -you are only foreigners and temporary residents with me.

24 Therefore, when you sell your property, you must include the right of redemption.

25 That is, if one of you becomes poor and sells some of his property, his next-of-kin can come and buy back what his relative sold.

26 If the seller has no one to redeem it but becomes rich enough to redeem it himself,

27 he will calculate the number of years the land was sold for, refund the excess to its buyer, and return to his property.

28 If he hasn't sufficient means to get it back himself, then what he sold will remain in the hands of the buyer until the year of yovel; in the yovel the buyer will vacate it and the seller return to his property.

29 "'If someone sells a dwelling in a walled city, he has one year after the date of sale in which to redeem it. For a full year he will have the right of redemption;

30 but if he has not redeemed the dwelling in the walled city within the year, then title in perpetuity passes to the buyer through all his generations; it will not revert in the yovel.

31 However, houses in villages not surrounded by walls are to be dealt with like the fields in the countryside - they may be redeemed [before the yovel], and they revert in the yovel.

32 "'Concerning the cities of the L'vi'im and the houses in the cities they possess, the L'vi'im are to have a permanent right of redemption.

33 If someone purchases a house from one of the L'vi'im, then the house he sold in the city where he owns property will still revert to him in the yovel; because the houses in the cities of the L'vi'im are their tribe's possession among the people of Isra'el.

34 The fields in the open land around their cities may not be sold, because that is their permanent possession.

35 "'If a member of your people has become poor, so that he can't support himself among you, you are to assist him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue living with you.

36 Do not charge him interest or otherwise profit from him, but fear your God, so that your brother can continue living with you.

37 Do not take interest when you loan him money or take a profit when you sell him food.

38 I am ADONAI your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt in order to give you the land of Kena'an and be your God.

39 "'If a member of your people has become poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him do the work of a slave.

40 Rather, you are to treat him like an employee or a tenant; he will work for you until the year of yovel.

41 Then he will leave you, he and his children with him, and return to his own family and regain possession of his ancestral land.

42 For they are my slaves, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; therefore they are not to be sold as slaves.

43 Do not treat him harshly, but fear your God.

44 "'Concerning the men and women you may have as slaves: you are to buy men- and women-slaves from the nations surrounding you.

45 You may also buy the children of foreigners living with you and members of their families born in your land; you may own these.

46 You may also bequeath them to your children to own; from these groups you may take your slaves forever. But as far as your brothers the people of Isra'el are concerned, you are not to treat each other harshly.

47 "'If a foreigner living with you has grown rich, and a member of your people has become poor and sells himself to this foreigner living with you or to a member of the foreigner's family,

48 he may be redeemed after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him;

49 or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him; or any near relative of his may redeem him; or, if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself.

50 He will calculate with the person who bought him the time from the year he sold himself to him to the year of yovel; and the amount to be paid will be according to the number of years and his time at an employee's wage.

51 If many years remain, according to them will he refund the amount for his redemption from the amount he was bought for.

52 If there remain only a few years until the year of yovel, then he will calculate with him; according to his years will he refund the amount for his redemption.

53 He will be like a worker hired year by year. You will see to it that he is not treated harshly.

54 "'If he has not been redeemed by any of these procedures, nevertheless he will go free in the year of yovel -he and his children with him.

55 For to me the people of Isra'el are slaves; they are my slaves whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am ADONAI your God.

Leviticus 25 Commentary

Chapter 25

The sabbath of rest for the land in the seventh year. (1-7) The jubilee of the fiftieth year, Oppression forbidden. (8-22) Redemption of the land and houses. (23-34) Compassion towards the poor. (35-38) Laws respecting bondmen, Oppression forbidden. (39-55)

Verses 1-7 All labour was to cease in the seventh year, as much as daily labour on the seventh day. These statues tell us to beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abundance of his possessions. We are to exercise willing dependence on God's providence for our support; to consider ourselves the Lord's tenants or stewards, and to use our possessions accordingly. This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ. Through Him we are eased of the burden of wordly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us; and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith.

Verses 8-22 The word "jubilee" signifies a peculiarly animated sound of the silver trumpets. This sound was to be made on the evening of the great day of atonement; for the proclamation of gospel liberty and salvation results from the sacrifice of the Redeemer. It was provided that the lands should not be sold away from their families. They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and then returned to the owner or his heir. This tended to preserve their tribes and families distinct, till the coming of the Messiah. The liberty every man was born to, if sold or forfeited, should return at the year of jubilee. This was typical of redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and of being brought again to the liberty of the children of God. All bargains ought to be made by this rule, "Ye shall not oppress one another," not take advantage of one another's ignorance or necessity, "but thou shalt fear thy God." The fear of God reigning in the heart, would restrain from doing wrong to our neighbour in word or deed. Assurance was given that they should be great gainers, by observing these years of rest. If we are careful to do our duty, we may trust God with our comfort. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all neither sowed or reaped. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in obedience. Some asked, What shall we eat the seventh year? Thus many Christians anticipate evils, questioning what they shall do, and fearing to proceed in the way of duty. But we have no right to anticipate evils, so as to distress ourselves about them. To carnal minds we may appear to act absurdly, but the path of duty is ever the path of safety.

Verses 23-34 If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.

Verses 35-38 Poverty and decay are great grievances, and very common; the poor ye have always with you. Thou shalt relieve him; by sympathy, pitying the poor; by service, doing for them; and by supply, giving to them according to their necessity, and thine ability. Poor debtors must not be oppressed. Observe the arguments here used against extortion: "Fear thy God." Relieve the poor, "that they may live with thee;" for they may be serviceable to thee. The rich can as ill spare the poor, as the poor can the rich. It becomes those that have received mercy to show mercy.

Verses 39-55 A native Israelite, if sold for debt, or for a crime, was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh. If he sold himself, through poverty, both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are required to give to their servants that which is just and equal, Col. 4:1 . At the year of jubilee the servant should go out free, he and his children, and should return to his own family. This typified redemption from the service of sin and Satan, by the grace of God in Christ, whose truth makes us free, ( John 8:32 ) . We cannot ransom our fellow-sinners, but we may point out Christ to them; while by his grace our lives may adorn his gospel, express our love, show our gratitude, and glorify his holy name.

Chapter Summary

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, Le 25:1-7; 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, Le 25:8-17; and a promise of safety and plenty in the seventh year is made to encourage the observance of it, Le 25:18-22; 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, Le 25:23-28; 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, Le 25:29-31; and also concerning the houses of the cities of the Levites, and the fields of the suburbs of them, Le 25:32-34; to which are added some instructions about relieving decayed, persons, and lending and giving to them, without taking usury of them, Le 25:34-38; 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, Le 25:39-46; and of such who were sold to proselytes, Le 25:47-55.