SABBATICAL YEAR
EVERY SEVENTH YEAR WAS A SABBATICAL YEAR
THE COMMAND TO LET THE LAND REST
Exodus 23:10-11, Leviticus 25:1-7
What was commanded?
How is this like the sabbath?
What is the purpose of the command?
Allows cultivated land to rest and be restored. How is this relevant to
today's environmental concerns?
Provides for poor. The harvest distributed according to need.
Punishment for disobedience (see Leviticus 26:32-36)
The land will enjoy its sabbaths.
Historical overview
Sabbatical year neglected for ~500 years
II Chronicles 36:20-21
The 70 years of captivity allowed land to enjoy its sabbaths.
Reinstated by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:31)
Continued in intertestamental period by Maccabees
THE COMMAND TO CANCEL DEBTS (YEAR OF RELEASE)
Dueteronomy 15:1-11
What is commanded?
Debts of fellow Israelites to be cancelled on sabbatical year.
What is the purpose of the command?
Prevents absolute poverty and permanent indebtedness.
Person could not refuse to lend merely because the year of release was near
(see v. 9).
How might we apply the principles behind the command?
FEAST OF TABERNACLES
Law read to the people on sabbatical year at the Feast of Tabernacles (see
Deuteronomy 31:10-13).
YEAR OF JUBILEE (YEAR OF LIBERTY)
THE COMMAND
Leviticus 25:8-17
Seven sabbatical cycles of years (49) ended in Year of Jubilee on 50th year.
Year of Jubilee announced on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
Sounding of ram's horn
REST FOR LAND
Land left uncultivated for second consecutive year
God would bless the land (see Leviticus 25:20-22).
REDEMPTION OF LAND AND PROPERTY
Leviticus 25:23-24
Hereditary land and property restored to original family.
Why was command given?
Land cannot be sold permanently. The land is God's.
Discourages excessive accumulation of wealth and property.
See Isaiah 5:8 and Micah 2:2
Abolishment of poverty. Permits people to have a new start.
Preserves families and tribes.
FREEDOM OF ISRAELITE BONDSERVANTS
Leviticus 25:39-43 (see also Deuteronomy 15:12-18)
Penalty for disobedience (Jeremiah 34:8-17).
Why was command given?
Israelites belong to God as His servants. They were redeemed by God from
slavery.
Bondservants of Christ
Jesus announces the release of the captives as his call to ministry (Luke
4:18-19).
We are God's bondservants, redeemed by Christ's blood.
Romans 1:1 Paul calls himself a bondservant (Romans 1:1).
Keith
Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.ksu.edu
http://www.ksu.edu/~kbmill/