Leviticus 25

Important Years: Leviticus 25

The Sabbatical Year: Leviticus 251.-7

Every seventh year the Israelites should observe a sabbath for the land, in which there is no sowing of fields or pruning of vineyards, nor any official harvest. Anyone may eat what the land bears during that year, and what is left will go to the livestock, then the wild animals.

The sabbatical year rewrites the sabbatical year described in Exodus 23.10-13. In Exodus, the field is to lie fallow in the seventh year, but it is in order to provide food for the poor, and after them the wild animals. The author of Leviticus still offered a provision to feed the poor: the field is not to be harvested to the edge, and the gleanings of the harvest are not to be gathered. These provisions ensure that the pure have food.

The Year of Jubilee: Leviticus 25.8-55

Every 49 years (or "seven weeks of years") the Israelites are to sound a trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month - the day of atonement. This shall mark the jubilee for the next year* and liberty shall be proclaimed for all the inhabitants of the land. There shall be no sewing or reaping. The Israelites should eat only what the field produces. In the year of the jubilee every person should return his property.

[*There is debate over whether the cycle is 49 years or 50 years.]

The year of the jubilee sets a date by which economic transactions may be determined. You should pay for harvests from another person's field from the date they lay fallow - namely, the jubilee year.

Since the 49th year will be a sabbath year, the harvest in the 48th will be equal to three years' crops, to provide for the 48th, 59th, and 50th.

Land Ownership
Since land ownership is such an important feature of the jubilee year, it is no surprise that general regulations are provided here. The year of the jubilee serves as a sign that the land belongs to God, and the Israelites are only tenants. Do any business people read this blog? You might find this interesting...

If a kin member falls into debt and sells a piece of property, the next of kin should redeem it. This keeps the property within the family. If the person does not find a redeemer, but prospers and is able to do so himself, the property should be returned and the value of the property over the years should be given to the original buyer. If there is no redeemer, and the person cannot redeem the property, the property shall be returned during the jubilee. That's an interesting bit of social law - property comes back to you every 49 years for a sort of second chance. Of course, who knows if you would be alive by then, or if your family would live in the same place. In all likelihood, you would only see one jubilee in your lifetime. But still, the implications of continual ownership (excluding God's, of course) is an interesting proposition.

A house sold in a walled city may be redeemed for a year after its sale. If not redeemed it becomes the property of the buyer and will not be returned at the jubilee. Houses in unwalled towns may be redeemed, as may be the houses of the Levites, which are in actuality the collective property of all Israel. The land of the Levites, however, may never be sold.

You shall help your next of kin who fall into financial difficulties, but shall not profit financially in supporting them. They shall live as a resident alien.

Any Israelite dependent on you who becomes so impoverished that they sell themselves to you shall serve as a hired laborer, not a slave, until the jubilee, when they and their families will be free. After all, the Israelite's are the servants of God, who brought them out of Egypt. The Israelites do not own one another.

Male and female slaves may not be Israelites. They may be inherited by your children as property.

Resident aliens who encounter financial difficulties and sell themselves to other resident aliens may be redeemed by a family member (brother, uncle, cousin, etc.). The price of the sale shall be based on the amount of time until the next jubilee. Resident aliens may not treat hired resident aliens harshly, just as Israelites shall not treat hired Israelites harshly. The hired resident alien and his family shall be freed in the jubilee year.

Isn't that some interesting social justice?