Leviticus 25:1-55

The Sabbatical Year. The Year of Jubilee

The matters treated in this chapter are closely related to those in Leviticus 23, and their separation is another indication that we are dealing with a book made up of different elements. Observe again the change of number in Leviticus 25:14; Leviticus 25:17 and the interruption caused by Leviticus 25:18. Cp. what is said above in intro. to Leviticus 21.

1-7. The law of the Sabbatical Year: see also Exodus 23:10; Deuteronomy 15:1; Deuteronomy 31:9. This law rests on the principle that the land inhabited by the Israelites is not theirs in absolute possession. It really belongs to God; 'the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me' (Leviticus 25:23). To keep the people in mind of this, it is enacted that every seventh year the land has to lie fallow. Only the spontaneous produce of that year is to be enjoyed, and that not selfishly or for profit; it is to be shared with the poor and strangers (Exodus 23:11). Everything is to be common. Slaves are to be set free if they desire their freedom (Exodus 21:2), and debts are to be remitted to Israelites (Deuteronomy 15:1;). It is promised that the harvest of the sixth year will be sufficiently abundant to provide for the wants of the people till they reap again (Leviticus 25:20). The Sabbatical Year began with the first day of Tishri: see on Leviticus 23:28. How far these enactments were actually carried out it is difficult to say. There is no mention of their observance during preexilic times, so that they may have been allowed to become a dead letter, a supposition confirmed by what is said in 2 Chronicles 36:21. They were renewed under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:31;).