Leviticus 25 "Redemption and Time"
The Sabbath is not just a weekly principle.
It is a principle that structures all time.
In Leviticus 25 the Sabbath is applied not only to weeks,
but also to years, and indeed to weeks of years.
The seventh day is the weekly day of rest.
The seventh month is the annual month of rest.
The seventh year is sabbatical year of rest.
But the 49th year is NOT the Jubilee.
The Jubilee is the 50th year-the year after the seventh seven.
In other words, the Jubilee is the ultimate Sabbath,
but it occurs on an eighth year-the first year of the new creation.
The seventh day, month, and year is about endings.
The end of the week, the end of the harvest, the cycle of harvests.
But the Jubilee-the 50th year-is about new beginnings.
Verses 1-7 set forth the principle of the Sabbatical year.
The point of the sabbatical year is so that the land may have its rest (verse 2).
For six years Israel was to sow and reap; prune and gather.
But in the seventh year, Israel was commanded to give the land its rest.
God promised that if Israel would leave the land alone on the seventh year
then it would produce sufficient food for them.
The sabbatical year thus provides bounty without labor.
It is a picture of Eden,
where man governed creation without toil and sweat.
But the sabbatical year is part of a six and one pattern.
For six years they toil and sweat,
and on the seventh they rest and enjoy the fruits of the land.
But Israel was not known for obedience.
2 Chronicles 36:21 says that God gave Judah over to the Babylonians
at least in part in order to give the land its Sabbaths, which Israel had denied it.
The rest of the chapter focuses on the Jubilee.
Verses 8-22 gives us a summary of the three basic principles of the Jubilee year.
1) The time of the Jubilee was the year after the seventh Sabbatical year.
Israel had just completed a sabbatical year.
But the fiftieth year would also be a sabbatical.
They would refrain from sowing and reaping for two whole years.
The Jubilee year began on the Day of Atonement,
when the trumpet would sound
and liberty would be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the land.
If the sabbatical year was a year of rest, the jubilee year was a year of redemption.
The sabbath year, like the sabbath day, was a rest from ordinary labor.
The jubilee had an eschatological character that went far beyond the sabbath year.
Indeed, as soon as you see the eighth-day aspect of the Jubilee,
you immediately expect that there is an eschatological point to this.
And of course, the Jubilee is all about redemption.
2) verses 13-17 makes it clear that the point of the jubilee was the return of each man to his land
Since the property would revert to the original owner at the Jubilee,
there could be no alienation of property.
Therefore the price for the land would be based upon the number of years
until the Jubilee.
(Verse 16)
3) the promise of the jubilee was that God would provide
If Israel obeyed God, then God would ensure that the produce of the sixth year
would be sufficient for three years.
(Verse 22)
The remainder of the chapter goes into more details regarding the redemption of the Jubilee year.
1) Redemption of Property (23-34)
Israel was not allowed to alienate property.
Why?
Because the land belonged to God.
God had given the land to each tribe and clan,
but he did not give it to them for their own possession.
He retained the title.
"You are strangers and sojourners with me."
We often think of Israel as having a land of their own,
but NT Christians are aliens and strangers.
That was not how God wanted Israel to think.
God wanted Israel to think of themselves as strangers and sojourners in the land.
Here's how it worked.
If a brother became poor, and had to sell his land,
then the nearest redeemer would redeem it,
or, if none would redeem it, he himself could redeem it before the Jubilee.
But if no one redeemed the property,
he would still be restored to it at the Jubilee.
Houses in walled cities were considered exceptions.
(Except for the Levites, who had no other inheritance).
It did not matter who lived in the cities, but it did matter who lived on the land.
Land and Seed go together.
Both the Land and the Seed belong to God.
This is a particularly interesting principle.
On the ultimate eighth year-the fiftieth year-
the land would be restored to the seed.
Whatever mistakes you may have made,
all is forgiven.
You have a fresh start-a new beginning.
The old is wiped away.
2) Lending laws (35-38)
Israel was to lend to the poor without interest.
If your brother "cannot maintain himself with you,"
"take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God,
that your brother may live beside you."
The rationale is that Yahweh is the God who brought you out of Egypt.
Your fellow Israelite is your brother.
You may not oppress him by seeking to make money off of his distress.
The church has insisted that this principle is still in effect.
You may not charge interest to a brother who is in dire need.
(Of course, if you want a mortgage, interest is appropriate)
The Reformers generally followed a simple set of principles:
For those poorest of the poor, give without expecting a return.
For those in need, lend without interest.
For business loans, moderate interest is acceptable.
Dt 15:1-6 adds the provision that all loans must be forgiven in the seventh year.
This is the basic principle behind modern bankruptcy laws.
We no longer connect it to the religious practice of the sabbatical year,
but bankruptcy is based upon the principle that
the new creation is more important than strict "justice."
Bankruptcy laws can be used wickedly-as could the sabbatical and jubilee laws-
but the principle remains intact: sometimes you need a fresh start.
3) Redemption of Slaves (39-55)
But if the poor brother is desperate, he may sell himself as a hired servant,
but not as a slave.
An Israelite was not allowed to take a fellow Israelite as a slave,
because God had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt.
Israel was God's servant-no one else could own them.
Therefore they could only serve as hired servants.
But at the Jubilee, he must be allowed to go free.
Israel could have slaves from among the nations, but not from among their own people.
Foreign slaves could be treated as property,
and be bequeathed to sons (verse 46).
If an Israelite was sold to a stranger in Israel,
he could still be redeemed (47-55).
The price would be calculated by the number of years until the Jubilee.
At this point, you may be wondering about Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15.
(Read Exodus 21:1-6; Dt 15:12-13))
The Hebrew slave was not already a landowner.
The "brother" in Leviticus 25 is already a landowner.
There are two sets of restrictions.
If he has no inheritance in Israel, then you follow Exodus 21 and Dt 15,
and you let him go after six years.
But if he has an inheritance, then you follow Leviticus 25,
and he must be restored to his land in the fiftieth year.
Ezekiel 46:17 makes reference to the "year of liberty."
The year of Jubilee was remembered (even if not practiced) throughout Israel's history.
Indeed, Jesus proclaims the year of jubilee in Luke 4:18-19,
as he quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2.
Jesus comes to establish the year of liberty, the year of Yahweh's favor.