THE SABBATICAL YEAR This chapter deals with the year of release, or the Sabbatical Year, and should be compared with Leviticus 25. In addition to the rest for the land and the manumission of Hebrew slaves in the seventh year, it prescribes a release of debts (Deuteronomy 15:1); only, however, so fa... [ Continue Reading ]
SAVE WHEN THERE SHALL BE] RV 'Howbeit there shall be.' The law is intended to prevent poverty.... [ Continue Reading ]
'The Lord loveth a cheerfui giver.' 1. The ideal state of matters is contemplated in Deuteronomy 15:4 : here we have the actual fact. There will always be poor people, but poverty will be exceptional, if this injunction is conscientiously carried out: see Deuteronomy 15:4; Deuteronomy 15:5. 12-18.... [ Continue Reading ]
If a slave elect to remain in the master's service instead of accepting release, a formal compact must be made to that effect. In Exodus 21:6 the ceremony is performed in public before the magistrates; here it seems to be private. The boring of the ear and the fastening it to the doorpost with the a... [ Continue Reading ]
Whatever is offered to God must be the best of its kind: cp. Deuteronomy 17:1, and see on Leviticus 22:17.... [ Continue Reading ]