The Sabbatical Year

 

Leviticus 25 The Sabbatical Year

 There is a Sabbath for the land as well as for man.  Th seventh day is for man and the seventh year is for the land. Sabbath means rest, and in its ultimate meaning it refers to the rest of redemption.  It was the breaking of this regulation concerning the sabbatical year that sent Israel into the seventy years of Babylonian captivity.  2 Cor. 36:21. They were to sow their fields and prune their vineyards for six years, and then let it rest the seventh year. The ground in Israel produced enough to supply the needs of the owner, his servants, and the stranger.  Even the cattle could survive and probably grew fat by grazing on the untilled land.  God took care of both man and beast. God is the supplier of all human needs. He is the owner of this earth.

Seven Sabbatical years were numbered, and this made forty-nine years.  The fiftieth year was set aside as the year of jubilee. There were two years of jubilee in every century.  It was the most anticipated and joyful period of the Mosaic economy.  There was a simultaneous blowing of the ram’s horn to usher in the year of jubilee.  In that day people could mortgage their land, but in the year of Jubilee that land would return to the original owner.  If a man had sold himself into slavery when that trumpet sounded he went free.  The shackles were broken. In the year of Jubilee everything went free.  All mortgages were cancelled. When you come to Jesus Christ, the sin question is answered, He paid the penalty.  It is settled and you go free. God promised His blessing upon them.  He promised to bless the land in the sixth year.  They would sow again in the eighth year, and they would eat of the old fruit of the land until the ninth year when it would produce again.  If a man lost his property after Jubilee, there was the possibility he would not be alive to enjoy it the next Jubilee.  If there was a rich relative, he was able to redeem the property if he wished to do so.

God was direct about the care of unfortunate folk.  They were to be helped; they were not to be taken advantage of. You and I have a kinsman-redeemer.  He is rich. And He was willing to become poor so that He might shed His precious blood to redeem us.  He has redeemed not only our persons, but He has also paid the price for the cursed earth.  It too will be redeemed from the curse that is on it now.

 

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J. Vernon McGee Commentary. Please read the chapter listed so that you can understand God’s Word better.