Leviticus 25:1

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:1-7, “And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,[2] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.[3] Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;[4] But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.[5] That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.[6] And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, [7] And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.” Verse one is a phrase that we see over and over in the book of Leviticus: “And the LORD spake unto Moses.” In Moses’ case the Lord Jesus spoke to Moses verbally and audibly. In our case Jesus speaks to us through His written Word and by the Spirit. In this chapter the children of Israel are given two more Sabbaths in addition to the weekly Sabbath and the special Sabbath feasts throughout the year. The Sabbath in verses one through seven is a Sabbath for the land. Not only did people need a time to rest, but the land itself also needed rest. In our day and age we call this letting the land lie fallow. Through modern science we know that doing this helps to restore the fertility and productivity of the land. Once again we see that the requirements of the law had very practical elements to them.

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:8-12, “And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.[9] Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.[10] And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.[11] A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.[12] For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.” This is the last of the Sabbaths, and it has a special name: the jubilee. After every forty-nine years, the fiftieth year was the year of the jubilee. In that year was a great restoration of things as they should be. It primarily had to do with debts being forgiven and people who were sold into bondage being released. This is an example that God did not want the children of Israel to be slave-owners, especially of each other. The emphasis here is that God’s people have a unique relationship with the Lord where freedom is an important teaching to understand. God wants people to be free. He wants us to be free from our sins, He wants us to be free from our debts, and He wants us to be free from any bondage that might limit us. The Lord also does not want us to give up on the ideal of the perfect Christian life. Sometimes we need to take stock of our lives, and realize that perhaps things have entered in that should not be there, and change back to the way we were when we were first saved with a great love for Christ and a zeal to serve Him above all else.

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:13-18, “In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession. [14] And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:[15] According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:[16] According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.[17] Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.[18] Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.” One of the purposes of the year of the Jubilee as expressed in these verses is found in verse fourteen and verse seventeen, “ye shall not oppress one another.” What did they do to make sure that they did not oppress one another: “ye shall return every man unto his possession.” God did not want any person or any family to get dispossessed of what God had originally given them when they came into the land of Promise. As it says in Romans 11:19, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” God does not change his mind. Things might change among human beings based upon their interaction with each other, but God’s mind does not change. When God makes something happen, God does not want people’s complicated lives to undo what He put in place. And so every fifty years, the children of Israel returned to every person their original possessions that they had fifty years ago. It is an interesting view of material possessions and the need to respect other people’s property. Even if you purchased someone else’s possessions legally, those possessions eventually were returned to the original owner.

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:19-22, “And the land shall yield her fruit, and he shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.[20] And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:[21] Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.[22] And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.” Every seventh year, the children of Israel had to let the land lie fallow. That means nothing would be planted and nothing would be harvested. And so the natural question was in verse twenty: “What shall we eat the seventh year?” God assured them that they would have plenty for that year too. The spiritual principle is this: if you put the Lord first and do things God’s way, He will provide your material needs. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:23-34, “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.[24] And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.[25] If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.[26] And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;[27] Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.[28] But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.[29] And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.[30] And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.[31] But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.[32] Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.[33] And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubilee: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.[34] But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.”

Verse twenty-three gives the main principle of the year of Jubilee: “The land shall not be sold for ever.” In other words, when they bought land from each other, it was more like renting the land. Anyone could buy their land back before the year of Jubilee came, if they had the money; and a relative could buy it back for them too. Verses twenty-nine and thirty make it clear that these rules applied to the purchases of land, but not to houses in cities. Also, because the Levites had no land, the rules did apply to everything that they had in their cities, including their houses.

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:35-37, “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.[36] Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.[37] Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.” On the subject of the handling of money, the question of “usury” is addressed. This is made clear in other places in the Old Testament too. Usury is interest. The idea is this: if someone borrows money from you, it is because they are in need. After all, who would be foolish enough to borrow money and go into debt, except someone who is in a desperate way and has no other choice. If you are wise, you will save money until you have enough to get whatever you want to buy. Charging interest from someone makes their situation worse. They already do not have enough money, and so you are not thinking of them when you charge them interest. It is interesting that the modern banking and financial systems are based upon the charging of interest, and the whole system is constantly on the verge of falling apart. One of the biggest financial problems that America has is simply the interest on the national debt. Too bad that our leaders did not believe in actually paying for what they did instead of using loans and now having to pay interest on those loans.

The Bible says in Leviticus 25:38, “I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.” The key phrase in this verse is “to give you the land of Canaan.” God gave the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. God made a promise to Abraham and God always keeps His promises. When God gave the land to the children of Israel, God told them how to divide up the land: each family of the sons of Jacob had their own inheritance. The portion of land that each received was an inheritance from God, and God did not want that to ever change. Since it was only natural that some portions of the land would eventually be sold, the year of Jubilee was God’s method to make sure that the land always referred back to the original owners. Of course, God also said in verse thirty-eight that on this land that He wanted “to be your God.” When God gives you things, He wants to be in charge of the things that He has given to you. The question should always be: what should I do with these gifts that God has given to me? Every believer also has spiritual gifts, and the question should always be: what are my spiritual gifts and how can I use them for God’s glory?

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