The law concerning

CHAP. XXV.

the Sabbatical year.

the great. Lawgiver on the occasion; the man was among them. But what shall we say of Christians, therefore secured till the mind of the Lord should be so called, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterknown. Moses, no doubt, had recourse to the taber-ness? Were every blasphemer among us to be stoned nacle, and received the directions afterward mentioned to death, how many of the people would fall in every from Him who dwelt between the cherubim. In what way the answer of the Lord was communicated we know not, (probably by Urim and Thummim,) but it came in such a manner as to preclude all doubt upon the subject: the man was declared to be guilty, and was sentenced to be stoned to death; and on this occasion a law is made relative to blasphemy in general. However sinful the Jews might have been at this time, we have reason to believe they did not take the name of the Lord in vain, and blasphemy was not known

corner of the land! God is longsuffering; may this lead them to repentance! We have excellent laws against all profaneness, but, alas for our country! they are not enforced; and he who attempts to put the laws in force against profane swearers, Sabbath breakers, &c., is considered a litigious man, and a disturber of the peace of society. Will not God visit for these things? This is not only contempt of God's holy word and commandments, but rebellion against the laws.

CHAPTER XXV.

The law concerning the Sabbatical or seventh year repeated, 1-7. The law relative to the jubilee, or fiftieth year, and the hallowing of the fiftieth, 8-12. In the year of jubilee every one to return unto his possessions, 13. None to oppress another in buying and selling, 14. Purchases to be rated from jubilee to jubilee, according to the number of years unexpired, 15-17.. Promises to obedience, 18, 19. Promises relative to the Sabbatical year, 20-22. No inheritance must be finally alienated, 23, 24. No advantage

to be taken of a man's poverty in buying his land, 25-28. Ordinances relative to the selling of a house in a walled city, 29, 30; in a village, 31. Houses of the Levites may be redeemed at any time, 32, 33. The fields of the Levites in the suburbs must not be sold, 34. No usury to be taken from a poor brother, 35-38. If an Israelite be sold to an Israelite, he must not be obliged to serve as a slave, 39, but be as a hired servant or as a sojourner, till the year of jubilee, 40, when he and his family shall have liberty lo depart, 41; because God claims all Israelites as his servants, having redeemed them from bondage in Egypt, 42, 43. The Israelites are permitted to have bond-men and bond-women of the heathens, who, being bought with their money, shall be considered as their property, 44-46. If an Israelite, grown poor, be sold to a sojourner who has waxed rich, he may be redeemed by one of his relatives, an uncle or uncle's son, 47-49. In the interim between the jubilees, he may be redeemed; but if not redeemed, he shall go free in the jubilee, 50-54. Obedience enforced by God's right over them as his servants, 55. A. M. 2514. ND the LORD spake unto ANI Moses in Mount Sinai, say

B. C. 1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. Abib or Nisan.

ing,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land a keep b'a Sabbath unto the LORD.

3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof:

4 But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the LORD:

thou shalt neither sow thy field,.
nor prune thy vineyard.

C

A. M. 2514.
B. C. 1490.
An. Exod. Isr. 2.
Abib or Nisan.

5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

6 And the Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that Heb. of thy separation.

a Heb. rest. Exod. xxiii. 10; see ch. xxvi. 34, 35; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21.- e2 Kings xix. 29.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXV.

Verse 2. The land keep à Sabbath] See this ordinance explained in the note on Exod. xxiii. 11. It may be asked here: If it required all the annual produce of the field to support the inhabitants, how could the people be nourished the seventh year, when no produce was received from the fields? To this it may be answered, that God sent his blessing in an especial manner on the sixth year, (see verses 21, 22,) and it brought forth fruit for three years. How astonishing and convincing was this miracle ! Could there pos

sibly be any deception here? NO! The miracle speaks for itself, proves the Divine authenticity of the law, and takes every prop and stay from the system that wishes to convict the Mosaic ordinances of imposture. See Exod. xxiii. 11. It is evident from this that the Mosaic law must have had a Divine origin, as no man in his senses, without God's authority, could have made such an ordinance as this; for the sixth year, from its promulgation, would have amply refuted his pretensions to a Divine mission.

Ordinance of

A. M. 2514.

LEVITICUS.

are in thy land, shall all the An. Exod. Isr. 2. increase thereof be meat.

B. C. 1490.

Verse 8. Thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years] This seems to state that the jubilee was to be celebrated on the forty-ninth year; but in ver. 10 and 11 it is said, Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and, A jubilee shall this fiftieth year be. Probably in this verse Moses either includes the preceding jubilee, and thus with the forty-ninth makes up the number fifty; or he speaks of proclaiming the jubilee on the fortyninth, and celebrating it on the fiftieth year current. Some think it was celebrated on the forty-ninth year, as is stated in ver. 8; and this prevented the Sabbatical year, or, seventh year of rest, from being confounded with the jubilee, which it must otherwise have been, had the celebration of this great solemnity taken place on the fiftieth year; but it is most likely that the fiftieth was the real jubilee.

the jubilee.

A. M. 2514.
B. C. 1490,

11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not An Exod. Isr. 2. sow, neither reap that which Abib or Nisan. groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of, thy vine undressed.

12 For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

13 In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

14 And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:

m

n

15 According to the number of years after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour; and according unto the number of years of the fruits, he shall sell unto thee:

* Ver. 6, 7.——————Ver. 10; chap. xxvii. 24; Num. xxxvi. 4. m Ver. 17; chap. xix. 13; 1 Sam. xii. 3, 4; Mic. ii. 2; 1 Cor. vi. 8. Chap. xxvii. 18, 23.

D

regarded by the Jews after the Babylonish captivity. Indeed, it is not mentioned under the second temple, and the observance must have ceased among the Jews when they were brought under a foreign.yoke.

The jubilee seems to have been typical, 1: Of the great time of release, the Gospel dispensation, when all who believe in Christ Jesus are redeemed from the bondage of sin-repossess the favour and image of God, the only inheritance of the human soul, having all debts cancelled, and the right of inheritance restored. To this the prophet Isaiah seems to allude, chap. xxvi. 13, and particularly lxi. 1-3. 2. Of the general resurrection. "It is," says Mr. Parkhurst, a lively prefiguration of the grand consummation of time, which will be introduced in like manner by the trump of God, 1 Cor. xv. 52, when the children and heirs of God shall be delivered from all ther forfeitures, and restored to the eternal inheritance allotted to them by their Father; and thenceforth rest from their labours, and be supported in life and happiness by what the field of God shall supply."

66

It is worthy of remark that the jubilee was not proclaimed till the tenth day of the seventh month, on the very day when the great annual atonement was made for the sins of the people; and does not this prove that the great liberty or redemption from thraldom, published under the Gospel, could not take place till the great Atonement, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, had been offered up? See ver. 9.

Verse 11. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be] The literal meaning of the word jubilee, har yabel in Hebrew, and yobil in the Samaritan, has not been well ascertained. Josephus and the rabbins have caused many to err; the former says the word signifies liberty; Ελευθερίαν δε σημαινει τούνομα, Antig., I. 3, cap. 12, edit. Haverc., vol. i., p. 184; but the word liberty signifies rather the intention of the institution, than the meaning of the Hebrew term. The rabbins say it signifies a ram's horn, because the trumpets which were used in proclaiming this solemnity were made out of ram's horns. This meaning is adopted in a few places in our translation, but none of the ancient versions acknowledge this sense of the Verse 14. Ye shall not oppress one another] Ye term, the Chaldee excepted, Some derive it from shall take no advantage of each other's ignorance yabal, to bring, carry away, because the Israelites either in buying or selling; for he that buys an article at this time carried away the right of repossessing at less than it is worth, or sells one for more than it is their inheritances which had been forfeited or alien-worth, taking advantage in both cases of the ignorance ated. The most natural derivation is from ho- of the vender or buyer, is no better than a thief, as bil, to cause to bring back, or recall, because estates, he actually robs his neighbour of as much property as &c, which had been alienated, were then brought he has bought the article at below or sold it above its back to their primitive owners. This was a wise and current value. excellent institution, but appears to have been little

Verse 15. According to the number of years] The

Concerning the redemption of

A. M. 2514. B. C. 1490. An. Exod. Isr. 2. Abib or Nisan.

CHAP. XXV.

16 According to the multitude for

persons, lands, houses, &c

A. M. 2514.
B. C. 1490.

the land is mine; for ye
strangers and sojourners An. Exod. Isr. 2.

of
b
thou shalt increase the are
years,
price thereof; and according to

the fewness of years, thou shalt diminish the
price of it: for according to the number of the
years of the fruits, doth he sell unto thee.
17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one
another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I
am the LORD your God.

18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.

19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.. 20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, u we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase :

21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

W

22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. 23 The land shall not be sold for ever: • Ver. 14. Ver. 43; chap. xix. 14, 32. Chap. xix. 37. Chap. xxvi. 5; Deut. xii. 10; Psa. iv. 8; Prov. i. 33; Jer. xxiii. 6. Chap. xxvi. 5; Ezek. xxxiv. 25, 27, 28.- - Matt. vi. 25, 31. Ver. 4, 5.- - Deut. xxviii. 8; see Exod. xvi. 29.2 Kings xix. 29.- Josh. v. 11, 12.—y Or, to be quite cut off.

purchases that were to be made of lands were to be regulated by the number of years unelapsed of the current jubilee. This was something like buying the unexpired term of a lease among us; the purchase is always regulated by the number of years between the time of purchase and the expiration of the term.

Verse 20. What shall we eat the seventh year?] A very natural question, which could only be laid at rest by the sovereign promise in the next verse: I will COMMAND MY BLESSING upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for Three years, See on

verse 2.

Verse 23. The land shall not be sold for ever-the land is mine] As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favourable to, their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling that they had nothing which they could call their own upon earth, they must frequently, by this, be put in mind of the necessity of having a permanent dwelling in the heavenly inheritance, and of that preparation without which it could not be possessed.

Verse 25. Any of his kin come to redeem it] The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim

Abib or Nisan.

with ine.
24 And in all the land of your possession.
ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

25 c

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

26

and

And if the man have none to redeem it, himself be able to redeem it;

27 Then flet him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.

28 But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it, until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

z Heb. for cutting off. a Deut. xxxii. 43; 2 Chron. vii. 20;

Psa. lxxxv. 1; Joel ii. 18; iii. 2.-1.Chron. xxix. 15; Psa. xxxix. 12; cxix. 19; 1 Peter il. 11. Ruth ii. 20; iv. 4, 6. See Ruth iii. 2, 9, 12; Jer. xxxii. 7, 8.- Heb. his hand hath attained, and found sufficiency; chap. v. 7.— Ver. 50, 51, - Ver. 13.

52.

between jubilee and jubilee, by the former owner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the text i goel or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus? That he might have a right to redeem man, he took upon him human nature, and thus became a kinsman of the great family of the human race, and thereby possessed the right of redeeming that fallen nature of which he took part, and of buying back to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by transgression. :

Verse 29. Sell a dwelling house in a walled city] A very proper difference is put between houses in a city and houses in the country. If a man sold his house in the city, he might redeem it any time in the course of a year; but if it were not redeemed within that time, it could no more be redeemed, nor did it go out even in the jubilee. It was not so with a house- in the country; such a house might be redeemed during any part of the interim; and if not redeemed, must go out at the jubilee. The reason in both cases is sufficiently evident; the house in the city might be built for purposes of trade or traffic merely, the house in the country was built on or attached to the inheritance which God had divided to the respective families, and it was therefore absolutely necessary that the same law should apply to the house as to the inheritance. But the same necessity did not hold good with respect to

The houses of the

A. M. 2514.
B. C. 1490.

Abib or Nisan.

30 And if it be not redeemed or a sojourner; that he may live

An. Exod. Isr. 2. Within the space of a full year, with thee.
then the house that is in the
walled city shall be established for ever to
him that bought it, throughout his generations:
it shall not go out in the jubilee.

i

pos

31 But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about them, shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. 32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their session, may the Levites redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

A. M. 2514.
B. C. 1490.
An. Exod. Isr. 2.
Abib or Nisan.

36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

8

38 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. 39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant : 40 But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee :

W

41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. 42 For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

12. r Ver. 17; Neh. v. 9.———— - Chap. xxii. 32, 33.- Exod.
xxi. 2; Deut. xv. 12; 1 Kings ix. 22; 2 Kings iv. 1; Neh.
v. 5; Jer. xxxiv. 14.- Heb. serve thyself with him with
the service, &c.; ver. 46; Exod. 14; Jer. xxv. 14; xxvii.
7;
Xxx. 8.- v Exod. xxi. 3. - Ver. 28. Ver. 55;
Rom. vi. 22; 1 Cor. vii. 23.- Heb. with the sale of a
bondman.

A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time in the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why? "Because Moses framed his laws so much in favour of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges?" &c. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favoured that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.

35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt • relieve him yea, though he be a stranger, Heb. redemption belongeth unto it. Sce Num. xxxv. 2; Josh. xxi. 2, &c.- Or, one of the Levites redeem them. 1 Ver. 28.- m See Acts iv. 36, 37.- - Heb. his hand faileth. • Heb. strengthen.P Deut. xv. 7, 8; Psa. xxxvii. 26; xli. 1; cxii. 5, 9; Prov. xiv. 31; Luke. vi. 35; Acts xi. 29; Rom. xii. 18; 1 John iii. 17.- - Exod. xxii. 25; Deut. xxiii. 19; Neh. v. 7; Psa. xv. 5; Prov. xxviii. 8; Ezek. xviii. 8, 13, 17; xxii. the house in the city and as we may presume the one. : house in the city was merely for the purpose of trade, when a man bought such a house, and got his business established there, it would have been very inconvenient for him to have removed; but as it was possible that the former owner might have sold the house rashly, or through the pressure of some very urgent necessity, a year was allowed him, that during that time he might have leisure to reconsider his rash act, or so to get through his pressing necessity as to be able to get back his dwelling. This time was sufficiently long in either of the above cases; and as such occurrences might have been the cause of his selling his house, it was necessary that he might have the opportunity of redeeming his pledge. Again, as the purchaser, having bought the house merely for the purpose of trade, manufacture, &c., must have been at great pains and expense to fit the place for his work, and establish his business, in which himself, his children, and his children's children, were to labour and get their bread; hence it was necessary that he should have some certainty of permanent possession, without which, we may naturally conjecture, no such purchases ever would be made: This seems to be the simple reason of the law in both cases.

Verse 32. The cities of the Levites] The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise

Verse 36. Take thou no usury of him] Usury, at present, signifies unlawful interest for money. Properly, it means the reward or compensation given for the use of a thing, but is principally spoken of money. See the definition of the original term in the note on Exod. xxii. 25.

Verse 42. For they are my servants] As God redeemed every Israelite out of Egyptian bondage, they were therefore to consider themselves as his property, and that consequently they should not alienate them-' selves from him. It was in being his servants, and devoted to his work, that both their religious and po

Thou shalt not rule over | him, of his family, may redeem with rigour; but shalt him; or if he be able, he may An. Exod. Isr. 2. fear thy God. redeem himself.

44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, 50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him, from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him.

45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land and they shall be your possession.

46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit 52 And if there remain but few years unto them for a possession; they shall be your the year of jubilee, then he shall count with bondmen for ever: but over your brethren him, and according unto his years shall he the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one give him again the price of his redemption. over another with rigour.