And Jehovah spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
Through most of Leviticus, God speaks from the tent of meeting, the tent where Israel worshipped. Chapter 25 opens from a mountain instead. Commentators read that one change of place as the key to the whole chapter.
One writer traces the whole chapter back to that one detail:
Most of what God says in the book of Leviticus comes "from the tent of meeting." This is easy to explain. Those words deal with the service, communion, and worship of the priests, or with the moral state of the people. Here, however, God speaks from quite a different place. The chapter we have now reached deals with Jehovah's claims as Lord of all the earth. It is not about the worship and communion of a priestly house, or about the internal ordering of the nation. It is about the claims of God in government — His right to give a certain part of the earth to a certain people, to hold as tenants under Him. In a word, this is not Jehovah in "the tabernacle," the place of worship. It is Jehovah on "Mount Sinai," the place of government.
What comes from Sinai is new, and it reaches into Israel's future:
Here, in chapter 25, God speaks to His servant Moses on Mount Sinai and gives him a new revelation. It runs through this chapter and the next. It deals with the land, and with Israel's return to it in the future. Any one of them might act so as to bring God's wrath down on himself. Even so, Jehovah had bound Himself to give the land to the descendants of Jacob, and He would surely keep His word. Yet the land, though given to them to hold, was never fully theirs. It was God's. So one day they will inherit it again. No one can override Jehovah's claim to it. But if it is His, then He had the right to set the terms on which the people held it and enjoyed it.
God gave this law early, while Israel was still in the desert. He tied it to a promise that made obedience possible:
Here was, to worldly ears, the strangest law ever laid on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, despot as he was, could not have dared to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander. Julius Caesar would have counted it sheer madness. Jehovah laid it down as a matter of course for a people set apart to Himself. And He did so this early in their wilderness history. He spoke it to Moses at Mount Sinai, which Israel left early in the second year. He told them then of their coming to the promised land. Yet many years had to pass, through their own sinful folly, before another generation followed the rebellious one. He knew the end from the beginning. Nor did Jehovah ever fail to make good the extraordinary means He adopted. While Israel obeyed, He gave them the produce of three years in every sixth year. That carried them through that year, the sabbath year, and the eighth year, when they sowed and waited for the harvest. So it was a constant working of divine power and goodness towards a people He was encouraging to trust and honour Him.
Israel already had a weekly day of rest. The seventh year applied the same principle to the ground itself, and in doing so said out loud who the owner was:
But the sabbath year was the same thing written large, to be read and seen by everyone. It brought the land into prominence: "a year of rest for the land," of which Jehovah was landlord, and Israel His tenants at will.
Letting go of the harvest for a year was how a farmer admitted the title was not his — and refusing to let go had a consequence:
By giving up his right of property every seventh year, the Israelite acknowledged the One he held it from. For that year he was not the owner. The harvest belonged to anyone else as much as to him. God set the year apart plainly as a sabbath to Jehovah. That year Jehovah fed everyone freely from what grew under His hand, without anyone farming it. Israel's whole hold on the land depended on recognising God's lordship. If they broke this command, the land would enjoy the sabbaths they had taken from it, lying empty while God cast the people out.
The seventh year also pointed beyond itself, to the jubilee:
The sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was the pledge of the jubilee. It came while the forty-nine years were still running — the age of man's confusion and disorder. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought back into the middle of the wilderness. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it still had its flavour. It did not bring the jubilee early, but it bore witness to it.
- Place — God speaks from Sinai, not the tent of meeting. He speaks as ruler of the earth, not as the One receiving worship.
- Claim — Because the land is His, He may set the terms on which His people hold it; they are tenants, not owners.
- Gift — God gave the law while Israel still had no land. He promised a triple harvest in the sixth year, so obeying meant trusting Him.
- Reach — Giving up one harvest in seven proved who owned the land. Taking that rest back cost Israel the land itself.
- Result — Every seventh year carried the taste of the jubilee ahead, a sample of the rest God intends.
Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I will give you, the land shall celebrate a sabbath to Jehovah.
God speaks this law at Mount Sinai, to people still camped in the desert who own no land yet. The command sounds strange — the land itself must rest — and it raises two questions: who owns the land, and how could a farming nation survive a year without sowing?
Notice where God speaks this law from, and who He says owns the land:
Israel could only keep the sabbath year after they came into the land... And the LORD spoke these words from Mount Sinai and not from the tabernacle (Lev. 1:1). Every seventh year, the land which belongs to the LORD, and which was not to be sold, had to enjoy complete rest... The LORD was the Lord of the land, the owner of the land, and Israel received the land as a gift; they were the tenants.
The land's rest is a claim on time and on crops. One commentator argues that God's claim was perfectly fair:
Just as Israel rested from all their work on the seventh day, the land was to rest from the farmer's work in the seventh year. The same word describes both... One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to keep as his own. The LORD had a right to do that, and this law showed strict righteousness. The farmer had full right to the produce of his own work. God claimed as His own, to give away, only what the land grew without the occupier's labour. The occupier was not to fill his barns and storehouses that year for his own profit.
No emperor would have dared to make such a law. God backed it with His own supply:
Here was, to worldly ears, the strangest law ever laid on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, despot as he was, could not dare to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander. The LORD laid it down as a matter of course for a people separated to Himself... While Israel obeyed, He gave them the produce of three years on every sixth year. That carried them through the sixth year, through the sabbath year, and through the eighth year, when they sowed and waited for its harvest. So divine power and goodness worked for them all the time, and He was encouraging them to trust and honour Him.
This rest was not a landowner's privilege:
The land was to enjoy her sabbaths, as a standing sign that it belonged to the Lord. So the land, as well as man, must share God's rest. Here, however, the poor and the beasts of the field are prominent. There was care for both — both alike, whatever the distance between them, being creatures of God. This reminded the children of Israel that they were only tenants.
One writer traces Israel's failure to a simple sum about profit:
If Israel had stuck to this, they would have been greatly blessed. The six years they worked would have provided more than enough to keep them through the seventh year. All they needed was faith to believe God. But we know how selfish our own hearts are. For six years their crops were so plentiful. Then selfishness would say, "Why not get the same profit from the seventh year too?" Instead of resting and giving God glory, Israel preferred their own works, and so lost instead of gaining. So Leviticus 26:31-35 foretells what followed: the people scattered and the land lying desolate, while God gave the land its needed rest.
The seventh year sits inside a forty-nine-year cycle. The jubilee closes that cycle, and the seventh year gives an advance taste of it:
The grapes of Eshcol were the down payment on Canaan to the camp of Israel while they were still in the wilderness or on the way... And the sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was the down payment on the jubilee. It came while the forty-nine years were still running — the age of the confusion and disorder of man's way. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought back into the middle of the wilderness. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it still had its flavour. It did not bring the jubilee forward, but it bore witness to it.
- Owner. The land is God's; Israel holds it as a gift and lives on it as His tenants.
- Claim. Because He owns it, He keeps back one year in seven, and that rest belongs to Him.
- Gift. He funded His own command, giving three years' produce in the sixth year, so obedience only ever cost faith.
- Reach. That rest reached past the landowner to the poor and even to the animals — all creatures of the same God.
- Result. Israel chose profit over rest and lost both — scattered from the land, while the land took the rest they had refused it.
Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and six years shalt thou prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof,
Leviticus 25 sets a seven-year rhythm for the land: six seasons of sowing and pruning, then a year when the ground rests. Verse 3 is the working half of that pattern, and it raises two questions — why God gives six years of labour, and by what right He stops the seventh.
Most of Leviticus comes from the tent where Israel worshipped. This chapter opens from somewhere else, and the change of place marks a change of subject.
Here, however, God speaks from quite a different place. "The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai." Every expression in Scripture has its own special meaning. So we are right to expect a different kind of message from "Mount Sinai" than from "the tent of meeting." And so it is. This chapter deals with Jehovah's claims as Lord of all the earth. It is not about the worship and communion of a priestly household, or the internal ordering of the nation. It is about the claims of God in government — His right to give a certain part of the earth to a certain people, to hold as tenants under Him.
The six years belong to the worker, and what his own effort produced is his. God keeps back only what no one laboured for.
One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to keep as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and this law was strictly righteous. The farmer had full right to the produce of his own tilling. God claimed as His only the increase of the land, on which the occupier had spent no labour...
Stopping work for a year was how an Israelite admitted where his field came from.
The land was the Lord's, as all land is, but here the Lord asserts His claim to it. By giving up his right of property every seventh year, the Israelite acknowledged from whom he held it. For that year he was not the owner: the harvest belonged to anyone as much as to him, appointed expressly as a Sabbath to Jehovah. That year Jehovah fed everyone with what sprang up under His hand, with no human farming. Israel's whole hold on the land depended on that recognition of the divine lordship.
A farmer who stopped in the seventh year faced two years without a fresh harvest. God's answer was a sixth-year crop big enough to cover both.
Now here was, to worldly ears, the strangest law ever imposed on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, despotic as he was, could not dare to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander. Jehovah laid it down as a matter of course for a people set apart to Himself... While Israel obeyed, He gave them the produce of three years in every sixth year. That carried them through not only that year, but the sabbatic year and the eighth, when they sowed and waited for the harvest. So it was a constant exercise of divine power and goodness toward a people whom He was encouraging to trust and honour Him.
The same pattern ran through Israel's calendar in other ways, and writers read all of them as pictures of a rest still to come.
The Jewish system held up the millennial rest to view in several ways worth noting. Every seventh day was a sabbatical day. Every seventh year was a sabbatical year. And every seven times seven years there was a jubilee. Each of these observances set before the eyes of faith the blessed prospect of a time when labour and sorrow would cease, when "the sweat of the brow" would no longer be needed to satisfy hunger.
Israel did not keep this law. One commentator names the motive, and the cost.
If Israel had kept to this, they would have been richly blessed... All they needed was faith to believe God. But we know how selfish our own hearts are. Their crops were so plentiful in the six years that selfishness would say, "Why not get the same profit from the seventh year too?" Instead of resting and giving God glory, Israel preferred their own works, and so lost instead of gaining... Despite much experience, we are slow to learn that selfishness defeats its own ends.
- Owner. The command comes from Sinai, the place of government. There God presses His right to give a portion of the earth to a people who hold it under Him.
- Allotment. Six years of sowing and pruning belong to the farmer. What grows on its own in the seventh year stays God's, to give away as He pleases.
- Acknowledgement. Giving up his right of property every seventh year, the Israelite admitted whose field it really was. His whole hold on the land hung on that.
- Trust. No ruler on earth would dare order a nation to stop farming. God backed the order with three years' produce in the sixth year, so obeying Him meant trusting Him.
- Loss. Israel wanted the seventh year's profit too. They worked instead of resting, and lost both the blessing and the rest the law pictured.
but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest for the land, a sabbath to Jehovah. Thy field shalt thou not sow, and thy vineyard shalt thou not prune.
Israel's calendar gave the soil itself a rest. One year in seven the fields were left alone, and the year belonged to the Lord. Why would God hold back a whole year's farming from His own people? And how were they meant to eat?
The law of the seventh day was now applied to the ground itself.
As on the seventh day they were to rest from all their work, so in the seventh year the land was to have rest from farming. The word used of the one is the word used of the other. It was to be a Sabbath of rest, "shabbath shabbathon."
The rest was not only for the soil's sake. It was the Owner's claim on His land, and Israel's hold on the country hung on admitting it.
The land was the Lord's, as all land is, but here the Lord asserts His claim to it. In giving up the right of property every seventh year, the Israelite acknowledged the One from whom he held it. For that year he was not the owner: the harvest belonged to anyone as much as to him, and it was expressly as a Sabbath to Jehovah that this was appointed. That year Jehovah fed everyone freely with what sprang up under His hand apart from human cultivation. It was upon this recognition of the divine lordship that Israel's hold on it all depended.
Picture the country during that year, and then ask who could have guaranteed it.
What a sight it must have been. In the Sabbatical year the land lay fallow everywhere. There was no sound of farming. The plough and the harrow lay idle. No one sowed seed or watered a field. The sixth year's crop had been unusually abundant, providing enough for three years. So the whole population had plenty, with no shortage for man or beast. Who could promise this? Who could fulfil such a promise, but one? He to whom the land belonged, the Lord Jehovah, the Creator.
Keeping the command cost nothing but confidence in God — which is exactly why it was not kept.
If Israel had held to this, they would have been greatly blessed. All that was needed was faith to believe God. But we know how selfish our own hearts are. When their crops were so abundant for six years, selfishness would say, "Why not get the same profit from the seventh year too?" Instead of resting and giving God glory, Israel preferred their own works, and so lost instead of gaining.
The missed years added up. One writer counts back from the seventy years of captivity to where the neglect began:
Now if seventy years of rest were given, it looks as if the land had not had its seventh-year rest for four hundred and ninety years. Seeing that Judah was carried away captive B.C. 610, four hundred and ninety years before that would bring us to B.C. 1100. This was just about the date when the children of Israel clamoured for a king, and when God said, "They have rejected me from being king over them" (1 Sam. 8:7).
(The original prints this date as "B.C. 120," an arithmetic slip.)
The seventh year also pointed past itself, to the fiftieth year — the jubilee.
The sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was the first instalment of the jubilee. It came while the forty-nine years were still running — the age of the confusion and disorder of man's way. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought into the wilderness again. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it still carried its flavour; it did not anticipate it, but it witnessed to it. On the fiftieth year the jubilee would restore every sold possession, and every sold Israelite, to the place appointed at the beginning.
Beyond the jubilee, the rested land points further still — to the thousand-year Millennium.
In the Sabbath of rest for the land and the jubilee Sabbath at the end of fifty years, we have the clear provision of God for the Millennium. God's eye is upon His inheritance. These Sabbaths picture the rest of God in His inheritance. If His people fail to let the land enjoy them, He Himself must step in, as we see later, with chastening.
- Owner. For one year in seven the harvest belonged to anyone as much as to him. Giving it up was how the Israelite admitted whose land it was.
- Rest. The same wording covers the seventh day and the seventh year: rest from all work, "a Sabbath to the LORD."
- Trust. Only the Creator could promise a sixth-year crop big enough for three years. Obeying meant taking God at His word.
- Refusal. Selfishness asked why a whole year's profit should be given up. Israel preferred their own works and lost instead of gaining, and the land took its missed rest later, in captivity.
- Reach. The rested land was an advance taste of the jubilee. It also pictures the rest of God in His inheritance — a rest He will have, even if it takes chastening.
That which springeth up from the scattered seed of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thine undressed vines thou shalt not gather a year of rest shall it be for the land.
This verse belongs to the law of the sabbatical year. Every seventh year Israel had to leave the ground alone. No sowing, no pruning, no harvest. So what happens to the crops that come up anyway? And how does a farming nation eat for twelve months with no harvest?
The weekly day of rest had a bigger version, one nobody could miss.
But the sabbath year was the same thing written large, so everyone could read and see it. It put the land in the spotlight: "a year of rest for the land," of which Jehovah was landlord, and Israel His tenants, who held it only at His pleasure.
The ban was not on eating. It fell on turning the year's free growth into business.
Though they did no work on the land, they could still expect fruit or grain to grow by itself. If so, they were not to reap it — that is, to store it or sell it (v. 5). For the sabbath produce of the land was to be food for them and their households (v. 6). In other words, they could use it as they needed it, but were not to make money from it.
God took a seventh of Israel's time and a seventh of the land's yield. Was that fair?
One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to keep as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and this law showed strict righteousness. The farmer had full right to the produce of his own work. God claimed as His own only the increase of the land on which the occupier had spent no labour… But this law was a test: would greed and disregard for others mark the people whom the Lord had brought out of Egypt?
Ordering a whole nation to stop farming for a year sounds like ruin.
Now here was, to worldly ears, the strangest law ever imposed on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, with all his absolute power, would not have dared to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander. Julius Caesar or his imperial nephew would have counted it stark madness… While Israel obeyed, He gave them the produce of three years in every sixth year. That carried them through that year, the sabbath year, and the eighth year, when they sowed and waited for the harvest. So His power and goodness were at work without a break, encouraging this people to trust and honour Him.
The words "undressed vine" point to a Hebrew term for something left uncut.
Leviticus 25:5, 11: in the 7th and the 50th year ("years of jubilee") the vines were not to be cut. Here the word "nasar" means "uncut" — presumably a reference to the uncut hair of the Nazirite [a person set apart to God by a vow].
Obedience here needed only one thing, and that one thing was missing.
If Israel had held to this, they would have been greatly blessed. The six years they worked would have provided more than enough to keep them through the seventh year. All that was needed was faith to believe God. But we know how selfish our own hearts are. When their crops were so rich for six years, selfishness would say, "Why not get the same profit from the seventh year too?" Instead of resting and giving God glory, Israel preferred their own works, and so lost instead of gaining. So Leviticus 26:31-35 foretells the desolation that would follow: the people scattered and the land lying empty, while God gave the land its needed rest. Despite much experience we do not easily learn that selfishness defeats its own ends.
The seventh year did not stand alone. It pointed on to the fiftieth year, the jubilee.
And the sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was a down payment on the jubilee. It came while the forty-nine years were still running, the age of man's confusion and disorder. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought back into the middle of the wilderness. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it had the flavour of it; it did not bring it forward, but it testified to it.
- Landlord. The seventh year showed who owned the land. God was the landlord. Israel were only His tenants.
- Limit. The farmer kept what his own work produced. God kept only what grew untouched by any spade. That was strict righteousness, not a seizure.
- Licence. "You shall not reap" banned storing and selling, not eating. The year's free growth was food to use, never a source of profit.
- Leaning. No ruler on earth would dare such a law. God backed it with three years' produce in the sixth year. Obedience here was trust, nothing more.
- Loss. Israel grasped at the seventh year's profit and gained nothing. The land took its rest anyway, in their exile. And that rest was still a taste of the jubilee to come.
And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you, for thee, and for thy bondman, and for thy handmaid, and for thy hired servant, and for him that dwelleth as a sojourner with thee, and for thy cattle,
Every seventh year Israel was to leave the fields alone. No sowing, no pruning, no harvest. This verse answers the obvious question that follows: if nobody works the land, what does anyone eat?
God did not forbid that year's growth. He took it out of trade.
Though doing no work on the land, they could still expect fruit or grain to grow voluntarily. If so, they were not to reap this, that is, to store it or sell it (v. 5). For the sabbath produce of the land was to be food for them and their households (v. 6). In other words, they could use it as they needed it, but were not to make money from it.
God's claim on that year has a reason behind it.
One-seventh of their time God did not allow them to use for their own ends. One-seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to possess as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and this law showed strict righteousness. The farmer had full right to the produce of his tillage. But God alone claimed the right to dispose of the increase of the land, on which the occupier had spent no labour. The land was to keep that year a Sabbath to the Lord. The barns and the storehouses were not to be filled that year for the occupier's profit.
The verse lists the owner, his slaves, his hired worker and the foreigner living with him. Nobody is left out, and the next verse adds the animals.
Here again notice the testimony to Jehovah's kindness to the humble, the needy, and the stranger who lived with the Israelite. It reached their cattle too, and the very wild animals in their land: none forgotten, all provided for. Yet in the sabbath year no one sowed a field or pruned a vineyard, reaped a field or gathered the grapes. What a witness for God, if Israel had obeyed!
A slave's share went further than food.
In this the law of Moses stands in contrast with other codes... Jewish slaves were entitled to circumcision among other privileges. They expressly enjoyed the Sabbatical rest — undeniably a benefit to none more than to them. They had their place at the solemn assemblies of the year. They joined in the feasts like others, in the fruits of the sabbath of the land every seventh year, and in the universal joy and liberty of the jubilee.
The arrangement only makes sense because the land is God's. Israel farmed it as tenants, and the seventh year showed what kind of landlord they had.
Here, then, we have the special feature of the Lord's land. He would have it enjoy a sabbatical year. That year was to show the rich abundance with which He would bless those who held as tenants under Him. Happy, highly privileged tenants! What an honour to hold directly under Jehovah! No rent! No taxes! No burdens!
God matched this command with a promise.
Now here was, to worldly ears, the strangest order ever imposed on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, as much of a despot as he was, could not dare to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander... Nor did Jehovah ever fail to make good the extraordinary means He used, as explained in verses 21, 22. He gave them, while Israel obeyed, the produce of three years on every sixth year... It was therefore a constant exercise of divine power and goodness towards a people whom He was encouraging in this way to trust and honour Him.
This rest pointed beyond itself.
And the sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was the pledge of the jubilee. It came while the forty-nine years still ran on — the age of the confusion and disorder of man's way. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought back into the middle of the wilderness. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it still had its flavour. It did not bring the jubilee early, but it bore witness to it.
That rest reaches past people to the creation itself.
Even the animal creation is going to share that rest when it comes. vv. 6, 7. Romans 8:21 teaches this. When God brings man into that rest at last, the creation he rules will come in too.
- Owner — the land is God's, and Israel held it as tenants. So He can stop the harvest and decide Himself what happens to that year's growth.
- Gift — what grows untended costs no one labour, so God hands it out instead of letting anyone store or sell it.
- Reach — the gift runs down the whole household: owner, slaves, hired worker, foreigner. The next verse adds the cattle and wild animals. None forgotten.
- Trust — no earthly ruler would dare give such a command. Obeying it meant trusting God's promise that the sixth year would feed three.
- Preview — this year of rest was a foretaste of the jubilee, and of a rest that creation itself will finally share.
and for the beasts that are in thy land all the produce thereof shall be for food.
This verse ends a list. In the seventh year the food went to the owner, his servants, the hired worker, the foreigner living among them — and now to the farm animals and the wild ones in the fields. Whatever grew on the unworked land was food. So whose year was it, and why did God's care reach the animals?
The weekly Sabbath was familiar. What changed when the rest ran for a whole year?
But the sabbath year was the same idea written large, for everyone to read and see. It brought the land into prominence: "a year of rest for the land," of which Jehovah was landlord, and Israel His tenants at will.
The phrase "all its yield" describes growth that appeared without sowing or pruning. One writer explains why God had a right to claim it, and who else that claim fed.
One seventh of the increase of the ground God did not allow the occupier to keep as his own. Jehovah had a right to do that, and this law showed strict righteousness. The farmer had full right to the produce of his own tillage. But God claimed as His only the increase of the land, the increase on which the occupier had spent no labour... And the Creator was to care for the cattle and the wild beasts, His creatures, no less than for man, His intelligent creature.
The verse says the yield "shall be for food." Did that leave room for the usual harvest and sale?
For the sabbath produce of the land was to be food for them and their households (v. 6). In other words, they could use it as they needed it, but were not to make money from it.
Telling a farming nation to stop farming for twelve months sounds reckless. Kelly points out that God backed the command with a supply that arrived a year early.
Now here was, to worldly ears, the strangest law ever imposed on a people. Nebuchadnezzar, despot as he was, would not have dared to issue it; nor Cyrus the Persian, nor Alexander... While Israel obeyed, He gave them the produce of three years in every sixth year. That carried them through that year, the sabbath year, and the eighth year, when they sowed and waited for the harvest. So His power and goodness worked for them without a break. In this way He encouraged the people to trust and honour Him.
Stuart pictures the whole country at rest, and asks who could promise such a thing.
What a sight it must have been! In the sabbatical year the land lay fallow everywhere. There was no sound of farm work. The plough and the harrow sat unused, no seed sown, no field watered... Who would have thought of this? Who could promise this? Who could keep such a promise, but one? He to whom the land belonged.
The law asked for one thing only. That is where Israel stumbled.
If Israel had kept to this, they would have been greatly blessed. The six years they worked would have provided more than enough to keep them through the seventh year. They needed only faith to believe God. But we know how selfish our own hearts are. Their crops were so abundant for six years that selfishness would say, "Why not get the same profit from the seventh year too?" Instead of resting and giving God glory, Israel preferred their own works, and so lost instead of gaining.
The sabbath year fell inside the forty-nine years that ran up to the jubilee. One writer reads it as a sample of that coming year, handed out early.
First, there is the principle of "earnest," a well-known principle in God's dealings with us... And the sabbath of the land, laid down in this scripture, was the earnest of the jubilee. The term of forty-nine years — the age of the confusion and disorder of man's way — was still running. It was a bunch of the fruit of the jubilee year brought back into the middle of the wilderness. This sabbath did not do the work of the jubilee, but it still had its flavour. It did not anticipate the jubilee, but it bore witness to it.
- Owner — The land was Jehovah's and Israel were His tenants; the seventh year was His claim on ground He had lent them.
- Gift — He claimed only the increase no one had laboured for, and gave it back as food, not as a crop to sell.
- Reach — That food went down the whole list: servants, the hired worker, the foreigner, the livestock, even the wild animals. Their Creator fed them too.
- Faith — God made the sixth year's harvest cover three years. The law asked one thing: trust a promise only the Owner could keep.
- Result — Israel chased one more year's profit and lost the blessing. The sabbath year was a taste of the jubilee in advance, so grasping cost them the sample as well as the rest.
And thou shalt count seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; so that the days of the seven sabbaths of years be unto thee forty-nine years.
Leviticus 25 gives Israel a calendar that spans a lifetime. Israel counts seven sets of seven years, out to forty-nine, and the fiftieth year becomes the jubilee. The count is not filler. It fixes when liberty comes, who declares it, and what it rests on.
God had already given Israel a sabbath day and a sabbath month. Here the same pattern stretches over years.
There was a sabbath day and a sabbath month. In the same way there was a sabbath year, and then one more year after seven times that year. This last one is the jubilee, and it comes when the cycle of seven sabbath years is complete. The first two concerned the people with Jehovah; the last two concerned the land... The land stands out in the sabbath year, and still more fully in the jubilee.
The verse names the multiplication — seven sevens — before it gives the total. That number is more than a sum.
Seven times seven years surely speaks of the fullness of God's time. Then the trumpet of the jubilee is blown and what happens? The captive slave is set free. The lost land is returned.
Between one jubilee and the next, land could be sold, families broken up, estates lost. One writer treats that whole span as a licence with a time limit on it.
This law tells us, if I may put it that way, that the Lord God will not let man have the last word. Man cannot take eternity into his own hand and do with it as he pleases. Man has a term of years granted him, in which it is left in his power to disturb God's order. But that licence is limited. It continues, as we have seen, only for forty-nine years. But "the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine," says the Lord (v. 23). In the fiftieth year the Lord will assert His right and restore all things according to His own mind.
The count ends. But the trumpet waits for one particular day.
Of all the Jewish ceremonies, the jubilee seems to have been the most soul-stirring and thrilling. It was directly connected with the great day of atonement. First the blood of the victim was shed. Then the freeing sound of the jubilee trumpet rang through the hills and valleys of the land of Canaan... The reach of the jubilee was as wide as the reach of the atonement it rested on.
The jubilee touched every level of life: homes, debts, land and families.
The exile came home. The captive went free. The debtor was released. Each family opened its arms to welcome back its long-lost members. Each inheritance received back its exiled owner. The sound of the trumpet was a welcome and stirring signal. The captive could escape. The slave could throw off the chains of his slavery. The manslayer could return to his home. The ruined and the poor could rise up and take back the inheritance they had lost.
So who is the picture for? One writer draws a firm line.
The jubilee is in no way a picture of what belongs to the Christian or the church. It is a picture of Israel and the land, for the day when Jehovah brings His people into the full blessing He promised them... It has to do above all with the people and the land. Christ is to have glory everywhere, and a people suited for the earth as well as for heaven.
The name of the year itself points back to a horn and a shout.
In Lev. 25:9 the Hebrew word is teruah, "loud of sound." Everywhere else the word is yobel. It is translated "trumpet" in Ex. 19:13, "rams' horn" in Joshua 6:4-6, and "Jubilee" in Lev. 25:10-15... Fürst traces the word back to yabal, "strong": so "a he-goat, ram," then "a ram's horn," and then "a cry of joy, a joyful noise."
- Count — seven sevens is not arithmetic for its own sake. It marks the fullness of God's time.
- Cross — the trumpet sounds only after the blood of the sacrifice is shed. The reach of the liberty matches the reach of the atonement.
- Cry — yobel and teruah mean a ram's horn and a loud shout; the jubilee arrives as noise everyone can hear.
- Claim — the forty-nine years are man's limited licence to disturb God's order. In the fiftieth year God asserts that the land is His.
- Come back — people go home: the captive freed, the debtor released, the exile back, the inheritance restored to its owner.
Then shalt thou cause the loud sound of the trumpet to go forth in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month; on the day of atonement shall ye cause the trumpet to go forth throughout your land.
Israel's year of freedom opened with a trumpet blast on the Day of Atonement, the day sacrifice dealt with the nation's sins. Why tie liberty to the year's most solemn fast, and what did that sound release?
The Hebrew word in this verse is not the word used elsewhere for the jubilee.
It is a much disputed point what the word Jubilee means, or from what root it comes.
Why does the freedom year start on a fast day, and not on the first of the month?
So there is careful, clear reason for basing the jubilee on the atonement-day offering, once made and accepted. It was the most solemn sacrifice of the year. The horn was to sound so loud, and bring in the proclamation of liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It sounded not on the first of the seventh month but on the tenth… But the tenth was the fast, when no one was to work… Christ's atonement alone accounts for this. His work, His suffering for sin, explains it all.
One note changed the standing of every person in the country.
People of every rank felt the holy, refreshing influence of this most noble institution. The exile came home. The captive and the debtor went free. Each family opened its arms to receive its long-lost members once more; each inheritance received back its exiled owner. The sound of the trumpet was the welcome, stirring signal for the captive to escape and for the slave to throw off the chains of his slavery. It was the signal too for the manslayer to return home, and for the ruined and poverty-stricken to take possession of the inheritance they had forfeited.
The order of that day matters.
On the day of atonement that trumpet of jubilee sounds. It sounds after the scapegoat has carried away the people's sins, where they are never found again. And again, how beautifully its birthday shows its gracious character! Now the whole year is set apart as holy, and so liberty is proclaimed to all. And still Jehovah provides for all the inhabitants of the land, without limit for anyone and without cutting short the abundance. The fruits grow of themselves; there is no curse anywhere.
So who does this freedom belong to?
The "liberty" that follows at once is the answer to that work of atonement completed and accepted. It is quite different from the deliverance from the law of sin and death that we know as Christians, traced in Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 3 and Galatians 5. The jubilee is in no way a picture of what belongs to the Christian or the church. It pictures Israel and the land, when Jehovah brings His people into their full promised blessing.
How long did Israel wait between the sacrifice and the good news?
The year of jubilee only began at the evening of the day of atonement. So Israel will only know deliverance when they have learned what their sins required, and how the Lord's death met their need. Yet as the day of atonement drew to a close, the jubilee trumpet sounded, for God did not let the priest put it off till the morning. People heard the trumpet blast before night closed on the scene.
The verse asks for a loud blast across the whole land. One writer hears in that a lesson for preaching.
Some people think preachers should be very quiet… speaking in a quiet, easy-going, take-it-or-leave-it way. The trumpet of jubilee must be loud of sound. See! The priests fill their lungs with air and blow a mighty blast that rings right across Jerusalem… Blast after blast rings out, from north to south, over hill and valley. The glad news sounds on until every captive has heard that liberty is theirs, and they step out free.
- Atonement first. The freedom year rests on the day of sacrifice. The horn sounds on the tenth of the seventh month, not the first.
- Sin gone. The trumpet follows the scapegoat. Sins go first; then the year turns holy and liberty goes out to all.
- Sound loud. "Loud of sound" is the very word this verse uses. The blast had to cross the whole land until every captive heard it.
- Everyone returns. Captives freed, debts released, families reunited, forfeited inheritances restored.
- Israel's day. Commentators read the jubilee as Israel's coming blessing in the land, not the Christian's freedom. Israel will know it once the nation learns what its sins required.
And ye shall hallow the year of the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty in the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; a [year of] jubilee shall it be unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
a year of jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you ye shall not sow, neither reap its aftergrowth, nor gather [the fruit of] its undressed vines.
Leviticus 25 brings Israel's whole calendar to a climax. After seven cycles of seven years, God sets the fiftieth year apart, and its first command is that nobody plants and nobody harvests. A whole nation stopping work for a year raises two questions. What would they eat? And what was God picturing?
The word itself points to the trumpet that opened the year. Writers disagree about where it comes from:
It is a very disputed point what the word Jubilee means, or what root it comes from… Fürst traces the word from yabal, "strong": so "a he-goat, ram," then "a ram's horn," and so "a cry of joy, a joyful noise," a name for the great Jubilee feast.
The ban on sowing and reaping is not an isolated rule. It is the largest of a series of rests in Israel's calendar:
Every seventh day was a sabbatical day; every seventh year was a sabbatical year; and every seven times seven years there was a jubilee. Each of these ceremonies was a picture. All of them held before the eye of faith the happy prospect of a time when labour and sorrow would cease, when "the sweat of the brow" would no longer be needed to satisfy hunger.
For a year they ate only what the ground gave on its own — grapes from unpruned vines and whatever seeded itself. That pointed to soil which would one day stop resisting the farmer:
It is a small witness of the great change to come, when the land will no longer be barren or grudging. It will yield its full increase, to honour the great King and to greet His people — no longer small, but mighty, exalted and blessed.
The forty-ninth year was already a sabbatical year. So obedience here meant missing two harvests in a row, and the command rested on nothing but a promise:
Verse 20 expects them to ask, "What shall we eat …?" In answer they had to rely on God's pledged word that the sixth year would bring enough for three years. So they would have enough even though they did not sow in the fiftieth year as well as the forty-ninth. The question came down to this: would they take God at His word? It is an ominous fact that their history holds no record of the jubilee year ever being kept.
Only one person could stand behind such an arrangement:
What a sight it must have been. In the sabbatical year the land lay fallow everywhere. No sound of farming was heard. The plough and the harrow lay idle, nobody sowed seed, nobody watered a field. The sixth year's crop had been so large that it provided enough for three years (20-22). The people had all they needed, and there was no shortage for man or beast. Who would have thought of this? Who could make such a promise and keep it, but one? He to whom the land belonged, the Lord Jehovah, the Creator.
The trumpet did not sound on just any day. Its timing tied the whole year to a sacrifice:
It stood directly connected with the great day of atonement. When the blood of the victim was shed, the freeing sound of the jubilee trumpet rang through the hills and valleys of the land of Canaan… The scope of the jubilee was as wide as the scope of the atonement it rested on.
Stopping work was only half of it. The same year gave people back what they had lost:
The exile returned. The captive went free. The debtor was released. Each family opened its arms to welcome its long-lost members again. Each inheritance received back its exiled owner. The trumpet's sound was the welcome, stirring signal — for the captive to escape, for the slave to throw off his chains, for the manslayer to return home, for the ruined and poor to rise up and take back the inheritance they had lost.
Commentators differ on how far the picture reaches. Kelly draws a firm line: "The jubilee is in no way a type of what belongs to the Christian or the church. It is a type of Israel for the land, when Jehovah's people will be brought into their full promised blessing" (William Kelly). Others use it as an illustration for believers, while agreeing on its main reference:
I do not say that the sounding of the jubilee trumpet was a type of the Lord's coming for us. I believe it pictures the time when the Lord will appear to the Jews as their Messiah and bring His ancient people into their promised liberty. But as an illustration it is striking… It shows that the value we attach to everything here matches our sense of how far off or how near the Lord's coming is.
- Sound. The year opened with a ram's-horn blast. The name itself carries the idea of a joyful noise.
- Sacrifice. The blast came on the Day of Atonement. The freedom it announced reached as far as the sacrifice behind it.
- Silence. No sowing, no reaping, no grape-gathering: a year picturing the end of toil under the sweat of the brow.
- Supply. The command tested their trust. God pledged a triple harvest in the sixth year — a promise only the owner of the land could make.
- Restoration. Slaves went free, debts ended, families and land came back — a picture of Israel's blessing under Messiah.
For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you; out of the field shall ye eat its produce.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.