The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
These are the notes to Session 24.
In our last two sessions we talked about chapters 25 and 26 where the focus was on Israel in their land. In fact, the word land is used thirty-nine times in these two chapters.
If the Israelites were to possess and enjoy their land, they had to recognize and respect some basic facts, the first of which was that God owned the land. Because He owned the land He had every right to dispose of it as He saw fit.
When we last met, we talked about the commandment of the Law that told the people what they were to do after seven Sabbath year. They were to celebrate a Jubilee year in which they were to do what they did in the Sabbath year and that was to rest for the normal activities. In addition, something else was to happen in the Jubilee year and that was that not only were all debts canceled, but any land that had changed hands and to go back to the original owner.
Today we are going to start talking about the redemption of the poor during the year of Jubilee
In our last two sessions we talked about chapters 25 and 26 where the focus was on Israel in their land. In fact, the word land is used thirty-nine times in these two chapters.
If the Israelites were to possess and enjoy their land, they had to recognize and respect some basic facts, the first of which was that God owned the land. Because He owned the land He had every right to dispose of it as He saw fit.
Leviticus 25:2, 23, 38 NIV “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. “ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
God also owned the people of Israel, because He had redeemed them from Egyptian bondage.
Leviticus 25:55 NIV for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Because they belonged to Him, all the Jews were to treat one another as brothers and sisters and not take advantage of one another when it came to personal debts or property claims.
We talked about rest for the land each seventh year called the Sabbath year when they were not to do the normal agricultural things they did in the other years. They were to depend on God to provide for them the seventh year and until the harvest of the next year. In the Sabbath year all debts of Jews to Jews were forgiven, any Jew who had indentured themselves was to be released. When they met for the feast of Tabernacles the priests went over the entire Law that year. The other thing that we learned was that there is no evidence that they ever observed a single Sabbath year.
Jeremiah 25:8-11 NIV Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 NIV He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.
When we last met, we talked about the commandment of the Law that told the people what they were to do after seven Sabbath year. They were to celebrate a Jubilee year in which they were to do what they did in the Sabbath year and that was to rest for the normal activities. In addition, something else was to happen in the Jubilee year and that was that not only were all debts canceled, but any land that had changed hands and to go back to the original owner.
Leviticus 25:8-17, 23-24 NIV “ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath 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 of you is to return to your family property and to your 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 their own property. “ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are 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 is really being sold to you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
23-24“ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
There were four elements to the year of Jubilee
Repentance
Leviticus 25:9 NIV 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.
It’s significant that the Year of Jubilee started with the Day of Atonement, a day when the Jews were commanded to deny themselves and repent of their sins.
Release.
Leviticus 25:10, 13 NIV Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.
At the start of the Year of Jubilee, the people were commanded to release their indentured servants so that they might return to their own lands and families. A Hebrew servant was to serve for only six years and then be set free. How could the Jews celebrate this special year if some of their people were in bondage and separated from their loved ones and their land?
Rest
Leviticus 25:11-12 NIV 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.
During the Year of Jubilee, the people were forbidden to carry on their normal agricultural pursuits but had to live on whatever the land produced. This gave both them and the land an extra year of rest, since the previous year would have been a Sabbath Year.
They had to rely on the Lord to keep His promises and supply sufficient food for almost three years, since they wouldn’t be able to work the land until the fifty-first year, and even then, they’d have to wait for the harvest.
Restoration
Leviticus 25:13-17 NIV “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property. “ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are 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 is really being sold to you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
Restoration includes redemption of the land and houses that were sold or lost between years of Jubilee
The redemption of land (vv. 25–28).
Leviticus 25:25-28 NIV “ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.
If the former owner of the land was too poor to redeem his land, then a kinsman could do it for him.
The redemption of houses (vv. 29–34).
Leviticus 25:29-34 NIV “ ‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller 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 the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the 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 pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.
A house in a walled city would be much more valuable than one in the open land because it afforded protection from invaders. The former owner had only one year in which to redeem the house. After that, it belonged to the new owner and wouldn’t even revert to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee. After all, nobody would want to purchase an expensive house, move his family in, and then wonder how long he’d be living there!
Houses in unwalled villages could be redeemed at any time and would revert to the original owner at the Year of Jubilee. If a Levite sold his house in one of the forty-eight Levitical cities, he could redeem it at any time (Num. 35; Josh. 21).
If he didn’t redeem it, the house would revert to him or his family at the Year of Jubilee. The Levites were given no tribal land allotment because the Lord was their inheritance but they were given pasture lands adjacent to their cities
Joshua 13:14, 33 NIV But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them. But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them.
Today we are going to start talking about the redemption of the poor during the year of Jubilee
The redemption of the poor (vv. 35–55).
Moses deals with three possible scenarios; a person in debt, a person who had become a servant to another Israelite, and a person who had become a slave to a Gentile.
(1) A bankrupt brother in debt (vv. 35–38)
Leviticus 25:35-38 NIV “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. You must not lend them money at interest or sell them 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.
Leviticus 19:33-34 NIV ““ ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
A bankrupt Israelite could expect his “brother” Jews to assist him with an interest-free loan, for the Jews were to treat one another compassionately, like members of the same family. The Jews were allowed to charge interest to Gentiles but not to fellow Jews.
Deuteronomy 23:19-20 NIV Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
Since any debt incurred would be remitted during the Year of Jubilee, assisting others was truly an act of faith.
The early church was quick to pick up this principle and put it into practice in helping widows and other needy believers.
Acts 2:44-47 NIV All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
A poor brother who became the slave of a Jew (vv. 39–46)
Leviticus 25:39-46 NIV “ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 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 bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
A Jew that had to sell himself as an indentured servant could expect to be treated like a hired worker and not a slave. His master was to treat him and his family with kindness, for the Jews were once slaves in Egypt, and the Lord graciously delivered them. How could a Jew enslave a brother whom the Lord had set free? A Jewish slave was to serve only six years and go free at the Sabbath Year, but if the Year of Jubilee came first, he was a free man.
The Jews were allowed to own slaves from the Gentile nations around them or the aliens living in their land, but a Jew could never enslave a fellow Jew. Slaves were considered the property of the owner and could be made a part of the family inheritance. In other words, Gentile slaves had no hope of being set free, unless they could secure the purchase price, or the master decided to set them free.
Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
Passages like these were used to justify slavery and to prove that it was biblical and right for people to own and sell slaves. But it must be noted that God’s laws didn’t establish slavery; they regulated it and actually made it more humane. Slavery was an institution that had existed for centuries before Moses gave the law, and the law of Moses forbade the Jews to enslave one another. God had to eliminate slavery in Israel before He could deal with it in the Gentile nations. Had the Jews treated one another as the law required, Israel would have been a testimony to the Gentile nations of the grace and kindness of the Lord. Instead, Israel failed to obey and eventually became slaves themselves, as recorded in the book of Judges.
Even in the New Testament, you find neither Jesus nor Paul openly attacking slavery, although historians tell us there were probably 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire in that day. But Jesus and Paul brought the message of salvation to individuals, and it would be through saved individuals that the institution of slavery would finally be abolished. Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and they make their influence felt through example and persuasion.
Matthew 5:14-16 NIV “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
If the early church had launched a militant crusade against slavery, it would have identified Christianity as a political movement, and this would have hindered the spreading of the gospel in the Roman world. Since there were no democracies or popular elections in those days, the church had no vehicle for overthrowing slavery. When you consider how difficult it’s been for the contemporary civil rights movement even to influence the Christian church, how much more difficult it would have been to wage such a war in the days of Caesar!
For reasons that are known only to Him, the Lord chooses to change people and society gradually, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the truth of the Word of God. While the principles of God’s will are the same from age to age, we have no authority to apply to society today the laws that regulated the nation of Israel during the dispensation of the Mosaic law. Because Jesus came to fulfill that law.
Matthew 5:17-20 NIV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
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