Leviticus 25:48

48 he still has the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may buy him back.

Leviticus 25:48 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:48

After that he is sold he may be redeemed again
Though an Heathen, sold to an Israelite, was to be a bondman for ever, and could not be released by the year of jubilee, yet an Israelite sold to an Heathen might be redeemed before, and if not, he was freed then. The Jewish writers understand this of an obligation upon the man, or his friends, or the congregation, to redeem him, and that immediately, as the Targum of Jonathan, and Jarchi, because of the danger he was in by being in the family of an idolater, lest he be polluted F3, that is, with idolatry; or be swallowed up among the Heathens, as Maimonides {d}; but it is plain from ( Leviticus 25:54 ) , that there was no obligation for an immediate redemption; nor was the person sold in such danger as suggested, since the sojourner, to whom he is supposed to be sold, was no idolater, whether a proselyte either of righteousness, or of the gate one of his brethren may redeem him;
which may be taken in a strict and proper sense, for any of his brethren who were in circumstances sufficient to redeem him, or for any near akin to him, as the following words seem to explain it. No mention is made of his father: the reason of which Abarbinel F5 says, because it cannot be thought that a father would suffer his son to be sold, if it was in his power to redeem him, since a father is pitiful to his son.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 Pesikta apud Drusium in loc.
F4 Hilchot Abadim, c. 2. sect. 7.
F5 Apud Muis. Varia Sacra, p. 373.

Leviticus 25:48 In-Context

46 You may will them to your children as property and make them slaves for life. But you must not tyrannize your brother Israelites.
47 "If a foreigner or temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your brothers becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner who lives among you or to a member of the foreigner's clan,
48 he still has the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may buy him back.
49 An uncle or cousin or any close relative of his extended family may redeem him. Or, if he gets the money together, he can redeem himself.
50 What happens then is that he and his owner count out the time from the year he sold himself to the year of Jubilee; the buy-back price is set according to the wages of a hired hand for that number of years.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.