At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release,
Every seven years, Israel had to wipe the slate clean for its debtors — not as charity, but as law, with God's own name on it. So what was released, why the seventh year, and what does a rule like this show about the God who gave it?
The seventh year did not belong to the lender. The release carries God's name, not the lender's, and the poor debtor was the one meant to feel it.
In the seventh year we see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this. It was "The Lord's release," so every poor debtor in the land, from one end of Israel to the other, was meant to feel its blessing. The Lord would give His people the high and holy privilege of sharing with Him in making the debtor's heart sing for joy. He would teach them, if only they would learn, how deeply blessed it is to forgive everything freely. This is what He Himself delights in — blessed for ever be His great and glorious Name!
Writers differ on whether the seventh year cancelled the debt outright or only paused it. One reading links the word "release" here with the same word used of the land resting in Exodus 23.
In Exodus 23:11 the same word used here for "release" is used of the land — letting it rest. That comparison shows us plainly that this was not a complete cancelling of all debt, but a temporary one, during the time the land rested, which might get in the way of payment. It did not apply to the foreigner, and that shows why he was exempt. God would have no poor among His people, though there would always be some, left to test and draw out the mercy of their brothers, who were to end their poverty by their care for them. And they need not fear losing by this freedom, for by acting so they would be blessed in all they put their hand to.
Others read it as the loan left with the borrower for good: "anything not repaid when the seventh year arrived, was to be released and left in the hand of the poor man" (F. B. Hole). Either way, the timing is the point. When the fields rested, the debts rested too. No one chased the poor man for money the year could not produce.
This law is not an isolated kindness. It sits inside a whole system of repeating reminders.
There was the morning and evening lamb, every day. There was the holy sabbath, every week. There was the new moon, every month. There was the Passover, every year. There was the tithing, every three years. There was the release, every seven years. And there was the jubilee, every fifty years.
The seventh year also pointed forward, to "a bright time when all debts would be cancelled, all loans disposed of, all burdens removed."
The reason given is not economics. Israel was to release others because God had released them.
They are reminded of their own place. They had been slaves themselves. If God had set them free, they should grow the same spirit He had shown. This was where they were to imitate God.
The poor man was never only the lender's problem. The lender who honoured God here was to depend on God for his own supply, "who would bless him for acting in this way according to His commandment; for the poor were His poor" (J. N. Darby).
A rule like this tests the lender far more than the borrower.
Nothing brings the hidden roots of evil in human nature to light like grace does. A person must be made new in the very deepest springs of his moral being before he can carry God's love to others. And even those who have been made new by grace must keep watch against the ugly forms of selfishness that our fallen nature dresses itself in.
This law pictures something far greater. God "required creditors to release debtors from their debts at the end of seven years. This surely reminds us of the grace of God in forgiving our great debt of sin through the sacrifice of His beloved Son" (Leslie M. Grant).
- Released — the seventh year cancelled or paused what the poor owed. The same word describes the land itself resting.
- The Lord's — it carries God's name, not the lender's. The creditor gave up what was never fully his to hold.
- Because freed — Israel forgave because God had freed them from slavery. The law was their way of imitating Him.
- Tested — mercy commanded on a fixed date exposes the selfishness a generous mood can hide.
- Foreshadowing — the cancelled debt points ahead to a greater one: God forgives our debt of sin through the sacrifice of His Son.
and this is the manner of the release Every creditor shall relax his hand from the loan which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not demand it of his neighbour, or of his brother; for a release to Jehovah hath been proclaimed.
Deuteronomy 15:2 sets out a law for Israel: every seventh year, a lender had to let go of what a fellow Israelite owed him. The release carried God's own name, and commentators ask how far it went, why it was called His, and what it exposed in the lender's heart.
One writer sets out what the law required and where it stopped.
Every seventh year was to be a year of release. A well-off Israelite might lend money to his poor neighbour. If the loan was not repaid when the seventh year came, he had to release it and leave it in the hand of the poor man. So the law demanded a spirit of gracious care for the poor among the people. This arrangement did not apply to strangers among them.
Everyone in Israel knew when the year was due. One writer notes the risk that created.
This was evidently a general year of release, not a release of any particular debt after seven years (v.9). Some people might take advantage of this to borrow money just before the time of release, but notice verse 9.
A man lent the money, yet God put His own name on the cancelling.
The seventh or sabbath year was the Lord's release for the Israelite who could not pay his debts (Deut. 15:1-15). It is beautiful and moving how God inspired the lawgiver to appeal to the hearts of those who had, on behalf of the poor brother who had not. But God's mind was clear and plain in this generous wiping out of debts. It came in the year when His own bounty to His people was so obvious, despite sad and frequent faults.
Commentators differ on whether the debt was wiped out for good or only paused. One writer settles it by comparing the word "release" with its use for the land.
Exodus 23:11 uses the same word for "release" about the land — the letting it rest. That comparison assures us plainly that this was not an absolute cancelling of all debt. It was a temporary one, lasting through the land's rest, which might make payment hard. Of course this did not affect the foreigner, and that shows why he was left out.
For the lender this was not simply a loss. God was offering him a share in what He Himself loves to do.
We see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this in the seventh year. It was "The Lord's release," and so its blessed influence was to reach every poor debtor from one end of the land to the other. The Lord would grant His people the high and holy privilege of sharing with Him in making the debtor's heart sing for joy. He would teach them, if they would only learn, the deep blessedness of freely forgiving all. This is what He Himself delights in.
The lender was not left to carry the cost alone.
They need not fear that they would lose by this generosity, for they would be blessed in all they put their hand to. What a tender witness this sabbath year was to the bounty of God, whose hand supported them all!
A law like this does more than move money. It puts the heart of the giver on trial.
Here the deep springs of the poor selfish heart are uncovered and judged. There is nothing like grace for making the hidden roots of evil in human nature show themselves. A man must be renewed in the very deepest springs of his moral being before he can carry divine love. Even those who are renewed by grace must keep watch against the ugly forms of selfishness that our fallen nature dresses itself in.
The seventh year pointed forward. One writer sets it beside Christ's visit to the house of a Pharisee.
How good to read that Christ was there to proclaim the year of release to the Lord's glory (Deut. 15:2). "The poor have good news preached to them" (Luke 7:22). God was there; He was there in grace, "not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Cor. 5:19). So He was also in the house of Simon the Pharisee. He was there, and though He was the creditor, He had not come to press His charges.
- His release. A neighbour held the debt, but the cancelling carried God's name. It fell in the year when God's bounty to Israel was clearest.
- His timing. The release ran by the calendar, not by each loan's age. Everyone knew the date, which could tempt people to work the system.
- His limit. Commentators differ. Some read a debt left with the poor man for good. Others read a pause that matched the year the land rested and payment was hard — the reason the foreigner was left out.
- His mirror. Grace to a debtor drags hidden selfishness into the light. The command tested hearts as much as it relieved poverty.
- His fulfilment. The seventh year was a foreshadowing of Christ, who came as the creditor and did not press His charges.