This chapter is about two main themes: Sabbath / the Year of Jubilee, and redemption (not redemption from sin, but from debt, servitude, slavery and loss).
To summarize the Sabbath years and Year of Jubilee: every seventh year was a Sabbath for the land to rest (no sowing or pruning). Every seven times seven years (49 years) the following would be a Year of Jubilee (every 50th year). Not only would it be a year of Sabbath for the land, it would be a year of redemption – setting the slaves/servants free and returning property to its rightful owners (if it was purchased/received through bankruptcy).
“If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property. But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property. If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers.” (v25-28,39-41)
These commands may seem a little odd at first, until we discover God’s reasons behind the allowance for redeeming the land and the people: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.” and “For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” (v23,55)
God is very clear that all land and all people are His, not ours. Ultimately everyone and everything should serve God, for He is their Lord – we are not lord over anything without God’s imparted authority. He is the creator, who fashioned the land in the beginning (Gen 1-2) and fashioned each of us in our mother’s wombs (Psa 139:13-14). No matter what human laws/ indicate, We cannot “own” the land and people, we can merely work with them for a time.
My challenge for us today is to hold the things of this world loosely – don’t be so caught up in our earthly (temporary) treasure that we loose sight of our heavenly (eternal) treasure. Everyone’s physical presence in this world is temporary, so the best thing we can do is pray for others’ eternal well-being and follow the Spirit’s leading when interacting with others. Let’s preach the gospel through our actions (how/where we store our treasure), our words (how we invest in others’ eternity) and our obedience to our true Lord (our faith in action).
Father God, Almighty Lord, Creator, we are Your humble servants.It may not always feel like we’re serving You in the 9-5, however, we can only serve one master, You or the world. Please help us to keep our eyes on You, our hearts singing Your praises, and our hands obeying Your will. Please enact Your will in and through us, so eternity would be made known to those around us. May You help us to love our neighbors through the respect and service we give them, and may their hearts be softened toward You, their one true Lord. Father we humbly pray for the eternal well-being of each person in our lives, we commit them to You, and ask You to please intercede on their behalf. We love You Lord, in the power of Jesus’ redeeming name we ask this, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training