Leviticus 25:48

48 After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him:

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 And by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.
47 If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race:
48 After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him:
49 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall redeem himself:
50 Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.