Leviticus 25:50

39-55 A native Israelite, if sold for debt, or for a crime, was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh. If he sold himself, through poverty, both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are required to give to their servants that which is just and equal, Colossians 4:1. At the year of jubilee the servant should go out free, he and his children, and should return to his own family. This typified redemption from the service of sin and Satan, by the grace of God in Christ, whose truth makes us free, John 8:32. We cannot ransom our fellow-sinners, but we may point out Christ to them; while by his grace our lives may adorn his gospel, express our love, show our gratitude, and glorify his holy name....

Verse Leviticus 25:50. _THE PRICE OF HIS SALE SHALL BE, C._] This was a very equitable law, both for the sojourner to whom the man was sold, and to the Israelite who had been thus sold. The Israelite might redeem himself, or one of his kindred might redeem him but this must not be done to the prejudice of his master, the sojourner. They were therefore to reckon the years he must have served from that time till the jubilee; and then, taking the current wages of a servant per year at that time, multiply the remaining years by that sum, and the aggregate was the sum to be given to his master for his redemption. The Jews hold that the kindred of such a person were bound, if in their power, to redeem him, lest he should be swallowed up among the heathen; and we find, from Nehemiah 5:8, that this was...

A SOJOURNER OR STRANGER - Rather, a foreigner who has settled among you. See Leviticus 16:29, note; Exodus 20:10, note. Leviticus 25:54 IN THESE YEARS - More properly, by one of these means. The extreme period of servitude in this case was six years, as when the master was a Hebrew Exodus 21:2. Looking at the law of the Jubilee from a simply practical point of view, its operation must have tended to remedy those evils which are always growing up in the ordinary conditions of human society. It prevented the permanent a

EXPOSITION The subject of the sacred seasons is taken up again in this chapter, after the parenthetical insertion of Leviticus 24:1. There remain the septennial festive season and that of the half-century—the sabbatical year and the jubilee. The sabbatical year was instituted not for any supposed physical benefit accruing from it to the land, but, first, as serving for a link between the sabbath and the jubilee by means of the sacred number seven—the sabbatical year being the seventh year, and the jubilee being the year following the seven-times-seventh year; and secondly, and chiefly, as enforcing the lesson of the weekly sabbath in a manner that could not be overlooked, and symbolically, teaching the universal application of the sabbatical law, even where physical needs were not concerned, and in that way suggesting the expectation of a rest to be hereafter attain

AND HE SHALL RECKON WITH HIM THAT BOUGHT HIM,.... That is, either the man himself should reckon with him, or whoever undertook to redeem him: FROM THE YEAR THAT HE WAS SOLD TO HIM UNTO THE YEAR OF JUBILEE; and so count how many years he had served, and how many were yet to come; and by this it appears, that one thus sold was not released at the end of six years, or the sabbatical year did not free him: AND THE PRICE OF HIS SALE SHALL BE ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF YEARS; whether more or fewer, as after explained: ACCORDING TO THE TIME OF AN HIRED SERVANT SHALL IT BE WITH HIM; the time of service he had served his master shall be reckoned, as if he had been hired for so much a year; and according to the number of years he had been with him, so much per annum was to be deducted from the original purchase, and the rest to be made for his redemption to him that bought him....

4. THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE YEAR OF JUBILEE CHAPTER 25 _ 1. The Sabbatic year (Leviticus 25:1)_ 2. The jubilee (Leviticus 25:8) 3. The jubilee and the land (Leviticus 25:13) 4. The jubilee and the dwelling houses (Leviticus 25:29) 5. The jubilee, the poor and the bondmen (Leviticus 25:35) This is the great restoration chapter in Leviticus. All is connected preeminently with Israel's land. The application, which has been made, that this chapter foreshadows a universal res

REDEMPTION OF HEBREWS FROM ALIENS. The right of redemption is to hold in the case of a Hebrew who has sold himself to a resident alien. His services are regarded as leased till the fiftieth year, and the price to be paid for his freedom by a relative will vary with the number of years to run. He is to be treated like a wage earner. Just as Yahweh alone is the owner of the land, so Israelites can be slaves of Him alone....

_The case of Israelites who are slaves of resident foreigners_(H but with a large admixture of P) Such a person might be redeemed, or, if he acquired the means, might redeem himself, the price of redemption to be calculated according to the number of years intervening before the Jubile, as in the case of the redemption of land (Leviticus 25:27). In any case the bondage was limited by the law of the Jubile....

IF A SOJOURNER—WAX RICH, &C.— Equitable in all his laws, God here provides that the sojourner in Israel should have the same legal advantages with the native: to whom, if reduced, though he grants the peculiar privilege of being redeemed before the jubilee, if he has it in his power, or, if he has not, of receiving the benefit of the year of jubilee, yet he takes care that full compensation shall be made to the sojourner, and that the price of redemption shall be exactly paid to him. REFLECTIONS.—1. Our servants, being of the same flesh and blood with ourselves, have as much right to our kindness and good usage as we have to their service and fidelity. He knows not the gentle sway of a Saviour's love in his heart, who, becoming insolent, unreasonable, or fretful, is a lion in his house, and frantic among his servants. 2. Though the sinner has sold himself, blessed be God, the right of re...

TREATMENT OF THE POOR 25:35-55 TEXT 25:35-55 35 And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: _as_ a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee. 36 Take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase. 38 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, _and_ to be your God. 39 And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant. 40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee: 41 then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession o...