(Lev 25 NKJV)  And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, {2} "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD. {3} 'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; {4} 'but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. {5} 'What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. {6} 'And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, {7} 'for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land; all its produce shall be for food.

Is there a contradiction between verses—

{5} 'What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap,

and {6} 'And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,

 

How can the Sabbath produce be food for you if

you shall not reap?  The answer seems to lie in the idea of who is to be provided for:  “for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,”

 

I take this to mean that the owner is on a par with the non-owner, and that everyone can “glean” the field, but there is to be no formal harvest of the crop.

 

One further thought:  If you don’t plow, you don’t sow, you don’t prune your vineyard, how will there be much of a crop?

 What will you eat?  That question does come up, and is addressed later in this chapter:

(Lev 25:20) 'And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?" {21} 'Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. {22} 'And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

 

(Exo 16:22-25 NKJV)  And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. . . . {24} So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. {25} Then Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.

 

And what was the purpose?  To teach them to keep the Sabbath, and to teach them they are dependent on God and His provisions.

The year of Jubilee

 

(Lev 25:8) 'And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. {9} 'Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. {10} 'And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you;

§     and each of you shall return to his possession,

§     and each of you shall return to his family. {11} 'That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you;

§     in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine.

§      {12} 'For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you;

§     you shall eat its produce from the field.

§     {13} 'In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.

“In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.”

Now think about what that means!

(Lev 25:14) 'And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another. {15} 'According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. {16} 'According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. {17} 'Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God. {18} 'So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.

Somewhat of a conclusion:  (Lev 25:19) 'Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.  . . .

 

 

 

(Lev 25:23) 'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. {24} 'And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. {25} 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. {26} 'Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, {27} 'then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.

If all else fails, Jubilee will see the restoration:

 

(Lev 25:28) 'But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

 

 

(Lev 25:29) 'If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. {30} 'But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. {31} 'However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

Different rules for the Levites

 

(Lev 25:32) 'Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. {33} 'And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. {34} 'But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

 

 

(Lev 25:35) 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. {36} 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. {37} 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. (Lev 25:38) '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.

 

 

(Lev 26:15)  and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, . . .{33} I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. {34} Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

 

However, centuries after Moses lived, the year of Jubilee also came to be identified with judgment.

(Lev 26:15)  and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, . . .{33} I will scatter you among the nations . . .{34} Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

 

Why was the Sabbath law so important?

It was God’s law, so they should have observed it.  They didn’t, and they paid.

 

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