Bereans Corner
Bereans Corner
Thru the Bible - #112 - Leviticus 25 - The Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee
What if a single year could reset an entire society and level the playing field? In this episode, we uncover the transformative power of the Sabbatic Year and the Year of Jubilee as depicted in Leviticus 25. Discover how these ancient practices not only commanded the Israelites to allow their land to rest every seventh year but also promised divine provision and a fresh start for all every fiftieth year. Join us as we explore the profound implications of these biblical mandates, which ensured that properties returned to original families, debts were forgiven, and all experienced the joy of liberation and restoration.
The conversation takes a deep dive into the economic and social justice principles embedded in these laws, highlighting the importance of temporary land ownership and the spiritual belief that the land ultimately belongs to God. We reflect on God's promise of abundance and security to those who adhered to these divine statutes. The episode also touches on the special provisions for the Levites and the fair treatment of those who fell into poverty, emphasizing a heartfelt commitment to community support and sustainable living.
We challenge the misinterpretations of these scriptures that have been used to justify harm or mistreatment, reminding listeners of the compassion and humanity deeply rooted in these ancient texts. By focusing on the redemption process for impoverished Israelites and the release of indentured servants during the Year of Jubilee, we highlight the enduring values of fairness and justice. As we wrap up, we invite you to share these insights and continue this enlightening journey through the Bible, reflecting on the timeless lessons it offers for today’s world.
All right, good morning, afternoon, evening, whenever you may be getting this podcast. Thank you for coming back to Berean's Corner and going through another book of the Bible with me. I appreciate you very much. Open your Bible to Leviticus, chapter 25. The title of today's lesson is the Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee. As we always do, we will have our reader go through the scripture and then we will go through each verse ourselves. Just let you know this is a lengthy uh, this is a. This is a lengthy scripture, so it's going to be quite a bit of reading, but that's okay. That's what we're here for. We're here to get every drop of this word of the Lord, leviticus 25, and let's read.
Speaker 2:Leviticus 25. The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai Speak to the Israelites and say to them when you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years, sow your fields and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops, but in the seventh year, the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards, do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year will be food for you, for yourself, your manservant and maidservant and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. Count off seven Sabbaths a year, seven times seven years, so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere. On the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement, sound the trumpet throughout your land, consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you. Each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you. Each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you. Do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines, for it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you. Eat only what is taken directly from the fields. In this year of jubilee, everyone is to return to his own property.
Speaker 2:If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countrymen on the basis of the number of years since the jubilee, from your countrymen on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee, and he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord, your God, follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws and you will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.
Speaker 2:You may ask of the ninth year comes in. The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it. He can then go back to his own property, but if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee and he can then go back to his property.
Speaker 2:If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed and they are to be returned in the Jubilee. The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns which they possess. So the property of the Levites is redeemable. That is, a house sold in any town they hold and is to be returned in the Jubilee. Because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. But the pasture land belonging to their towns must not be sold. It is their permanent possession.
Speaker 2:If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God. So that your countrymen may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
Speaker 2:If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you. He is to work for you until the year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God. Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you. From them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Speaker 2:If an alien or temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself.
Speaker 2:One of his relatives may redeem him An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or, if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man, hired from year to year. You must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly. Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.
Speaker 1:I am the Lord, your God. The last time we were together we looked at the lamp and the bread of sanctuary, as well as an eye for an eye loss. Today we are looking at the sabbatic year in the year of Jubilee, are looking at the sabbatic year and the year of jubilee. The first thing we want to look at is we start this chapter out by seeing where god is speaking and to who. Notice verse 1 of leviticus 25. The lord then spoke to moses at mount sinai. So, as always, particularly in these old testament passages, I like to always remind the readers excuse me, I should say the readers and the listeners of who the lord is speaking to, because that is always important. The lord is speaking to moses and he is at mount sinai. Now, before we move on in this discussion and discuss the sabbatic year, let's look at what happened to Israel when they did not obey God and do this, turn writing your Bibles to Second Chronicles, second Chronicles and we want chapter 36. Second Chronicles, 36 and verse 21 to fulfill the word of the lord by the mouth of jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its sabbats all the days of its desolation, it kept sabbath until 70 years were complete. So that's just to give you a little idea of what we're getting into right here. Now back to Leviticus. We are looking at the sabbatic year. In verses two through seven, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them when you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Now the Lord is talking about the land. Verse three six years you shall sow your field and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop. So for six years they are going to go out in their field and whatever their crop is that they're going to prune and take care of it for those six years. But during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath to rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyards. In year seven they are to do nothing. Verse five your harvest after growth, you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather. The land shall have a sabbatical year and all of you shall have the Sabbath produce of the land for food, for yourselves, excuse me yourselves and your male and female slaves, and your hired men and your foreign residents, those who live as aliens with you. Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat In six years. The Lord is saying that he is going to provide everything that they need for that seventh year.
Speaker 1:Now, the next part we want to look at is the year jubilee. Notice verses 8 through 16. You are also to count off seven sabbats of years for yourselves, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years, namely 49 years. You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad. On the 10th day of the seventh month, on the day of atonement, you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the 50th year and proclaim its release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
Speaker 1:You shall have the 50th year as a jubilee. You shall not sow nor reap his after growth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines, for it is a jubilee, it shall be holy to you. You shall eat his crops out of the field. On this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property, if you make a sale, moreover, to your friend, or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy from your friend. He is to sell to you, according to the number of years, of crops. In preparation to the extent of the years, you shall increase its price and in preparation to the fineness of the years, you shall, uh, demise its price. Excuse me, you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you now.
Speaker 1:This year of jubilee was exactly what it sounded like in the 50th year. Everything was supposed to start all over, and, man, in the times that we live in, wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't it be nice that, if we got to a 50th year and everything just reset? So what the lord has going on here in israel is exactly what it sounds like. If you were an indentured servant to a man, ie a slave, during this time, you were to be set free. If you owed a man money for his property, it was forgiven. If you owed him something, I don't know, say you, you took some of his animals, or use some of his animals, or you owed him a debt to it that debt would be forgiven. Everything would be forgiven in this 50th year. Now, for those 49 years they celebrated their Sabbaths, they did all the preparations that they were supposed to do, but in that 50th year, everything was forgiven and it was a fresh start, which brings us to our next part.
Speaker 1:The Lord tells Israel to observe his statues. We see this. We're gonna start at verse 16 through 22. In preparation to the extent, the years, you shall increase its price, and in preparation to the fineness of the years, you shall diminish its price, for its number of crops is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your god, for I am the lord, your god. So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord, your God. You shall thus observe my statues and keep my judgments so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. Then the land will yield its produce so that you can eat your field and live securely on it. But if you say, what are we going to eat on the seventh year, if we do not sow or gather in our crops, then in other words, you're questioning what the Lord said Then I will so order my blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old, until the ninth year when this crop comes up.
Speaker 1:Next we are looking at what we go. Next we are looking at what a man of little wealth must sell his land. A man of little wealth must sell his land. We see this in verses 24 through 28, because now we are talking about laws of redemption, so I'm sorry, I said 24, I should say 23 through 28. The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine, for you are but aliens and sojourners with me. Thus, for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.
Speaker 1:If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. Or, in a case, a man has no kinsman but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for his redemption. Then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it and so return to his excuse me and so return to his property. But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of his purchaser until the year of jubilee, but the jubilee it shall revert, that he may return to his property. In verse 25 we notice that it is mentioning the kinsman's redeemer. Now keep that in mind when we get to the book of ruth, because that is going to come up again where she is going to have a kinsman redeemer.
Speaker 1:But for right here what we're looking at is exactly what it sounds like. If, if I owned a piece of land and I became so poor that I needed to sell, let's say, a part of the land, my kinsman redeemer that would be my cousin, my uncle, my nearest of kin. If he has the means, he would come and buy that land so it could stay in the family and then, when we get to year jubilee, it could be given back to me. The next part we're looking at is selling a house in a walled city. Look at verses 29 and 30. Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from his sale. His right of redemption lasts a full year. But if it is not brought back from him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the wall city passes permanently to his purchasers throughout his generation. It does not revert in the jubilee.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm gonna give you an example here. This is kind of like a pawn shop. Now I'm not gonna act like I'm an expert and I'm super familiar with pawn shops, but I do know that you can take, let's say, um, you could take your computer to a pawn shop. You really need money and you take your very expensive gaming computer that you pay $2,000 for to a pawn shop. The owner of the pawn shop says I'll give you $500 for this computer. Of course that's not what it's worth, but that's what he'll give you. But he'll tell you but I'm giving you one month. If you don't come back in a month, then it's mine and I'm gonna put it up for sale. Now what he'll tell you is is that you have to come back and give me back that for a price. If you don't, I'm putting it up for sale. That's the same thing that's happening here. It's this man who has his house in the wall city has one year to come back with the price, and if he doesn't, then he doesn't even get it back in the jubilee.
Speaker 1:Moving on selling a house outside of the walled city. Look at verse 31. The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be considered as open fields. They have redemption rights and revert in the jubilee. But if you have a house outside of the walled city, then you can get that house back into Jubilee.
Speaker 1:Next, part eight we look at what about the Levites, verses 32 through 34. As for cities of the levites, the levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. What therefore belongs to the levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts into jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the levites are their possession among the sons of Israel, but pasture fields of their city shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession. We need to remember that the Levites survived off the goodness of the people. They did not inherit land like the other 11 tribes, but they were given pasture land adjacent. Actually, we can look at that right now. Go to your bible to the right and go to the book of numbers, numbers, chapter 35, numbers 35, verses 1 through 5.
Speaker 1:Now the lord spoke to moses in the plains of moab by the jordan opposite jericho, saying command the sons of israel that they give to the Levites, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to live in. And you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities, and the cities shall be theirs to live in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for their beasts. And the pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around. You shall also measure outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pastor lands for the cities. So we see how they have their pastor lands adjacent.
Speaker 1:The next part we're looking at is what was supposed to happen to a brother in deep debt. Look at verses 35 through 38. Now, in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Do not take, do not take your serious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countrymen may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. In other words, you were to take care of your brother, who was in deep debt, and you were not to just weigh him. Weigh him and bog him down.
Speaker 1:Next, the brother who sells himself to another. Notice verses 39 through 46. And if a countryman of yours become so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. A slave's service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if we were a sojourner excuse me as if he were a sojourner with you into the year jubilee. Let me stop real quick when it says that you shall not subject him to a slave service. Remember, this is your, your brother in our, in our covenant, we will be talking about a brother in christ in their their time. They were talking about a fellow Israelite, a fellow member of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. A slave would have been someone that they captured in war. Remember, wars were going on here and part of some time, part of the spoils of war were people. So the Lord is saying that he is not to have the same subjection as someone who you took as a spoil of war.
Speaker 1:Back to verse 41. He shall then go out from from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family that he may return to the property of his forefathers, for they are my servants, whom I brought out from the land of egypt. They are not to be sold in a slave sale. You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your god. As for your male and female slaves, whom you may have, you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you you, you got that right from the pagan nations around you. Then too, it is out excuse me, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you, you may gain acquisition, and out of their families, who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land, they also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you to receive as a possession. You can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you should not rule with severity over one another.
Speaker 1:Now it is very interesting that if you've ever looked at the slave Bible that this is, they took out a whole I want to say like 80 percent of the Bible. They took out a whole, I want to say like 80 percent of the Bible these people took out to try to teach a certain people, the people who were slaves here in North America during the 16th and 17th century. They this is one of the verses they will use to say see, see, we can keep you as slaves for for life. But I want to remind you of something this is talking about israel, and it's talking about israel and their pagan, pagan nations. This is not talking about people centuries later being able to use this and say see, this is what the bible says. Now, a lot of people like to play that game and say well, the bible condones slavery or, uh, you know, it says here blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and this is why people use this and they use Christianity.
Speaker 1:Listen, we're talking about evil men. Yeah, I'm gonna say it. We're talking about evil men who took the word of God out of its context, out of its meaning, and they use this to harm a people that it was not meant for. This is particularly talking about the sons of Israel. Where did you get that from? Where'd you get that from, brother? Go back to verse 1 of chapter 25 that we're in right now.
Speaker 1:The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying verse 2 speak to the sons of Israel. That's how I know that this is referring to Israel during that time. This is how things were done during that time. Remember the Lord brought these people out of the land of Egypt. He's bringing them into another land and the lord is showing his power that he brought this small, nothing nation out from egypt. He took them out of the hands of a tyrant and he's bringing them into a land that they will call their own now. Nowhere in, even though the lord said that they can keep them for possession. They can keep them for life.
Speaker 1:I want to be very clear. There's nowhere in here where the Lord said it's okay to mistreat these people, to misuse these people. There were nowhere. Doesn't say that. But this is what happened during war. In that time, people, it's just. It just is what it is. When you conquer the nation, you took the people and you took the people in to do work. That's, that's just how it was. But I want to close out once again by saying that this had nothing to do with thousands of years from this time for people to use and say see, this is why it's okay for us to do this to you, because this is what the Lord said. No, this is what the Lord told Israel that they could do with their nations. Thousands of years later, israel had dispersed and none of this applied to the people in those nations, because this was part of that old covenant.
Speaker 1:All right, moving on, when a jew was so poor, he sold himself to a gentile. We see this in verses 47 to 55 to close out the chapter. Now, if the means of a stranger or a sojourner with you become sufficient and the countrymen of yours become so poor with regard to him as do so himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger's family, then you shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him okay, you following along right. Or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him that would be your cousin. Or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him. Or, if he prospers, he may redeem himself. This is talking about a man who sells himself to an outsider. To a gentile hit one of his family members. The kinsman redeemer can redeem him or he can redeem himself verse 50.
Speaker 1:He then, with his purchaser, shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee, and the price of his sales shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. If there are still many years, he shall reform part of his purchase price in preparation to them. For his own redemption he can redeem, israelite can redeem himself. And if few years remain until the year jubilee, he shall so calculate with him in preparation of excuse me to his years. He is to refund the amount of his redemption like a man hired, year by year. He shall be with him. He shall not rule over him with severity in your sight. Even if he is not redeemed by these means, he shall still go out in the year jubilee, he and his sons with him. Listen, the israelite still could go out in the year jubilee.
Speaker 1:Verse 55, for the sons of Israel are my servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. The Lord is making it very clear that Israelite could be a slave. He could be sold to a stranger, to a Gentile, but he could absolutely be redeemed in the year of Jubilee. Why? Because I am the lord, your god. The lord says it. That's just what it has to be. All right, people. That brings us to the end of leviticus 25.
Speaker 1:I hope that you got something out of the chapter. Thank you for joining me. As always, wherever you are hearing this podcast, give it a, a comment or whatever it is to get it out there. Share with your family and friends. Let them know. There is a brother out here who goes through books of the Bible, verse by verse, so we get every drop of the word of God. As always, I am praying for you and I'm asking you to always pray for me to have the strength to keep doing this thing and to keep sharing with you. That's all for now, god bless. Thank you.