Leviticus 25 - Sabbath Rest for the Land and Year of Jubilee

READING: Leviticus 25

REVIEW:
Levitcus 25 discusses two commandments of the Lord regarding 1) the idea of Sabbath rest for the land, and 2)the Year of Jubilee.

The land, commands the Lord, requires a Sabbath rest just as His people do. Just as we are to rest on the seventh day, the land which belongs not to people but to God alone (v. 23) also requires a rest every seventh year. So while people can farm their land for six years, the land must be left fallow for the seventh year. I remember reading somewhere that leaving the land fallow every seventh year keeps the crops from using all the land's nutrients. Our Lord is so perfectly practical and has made His land to rest every seven years so it can truly produce its best for His people.

The Year of Jubilee requires that when a week of Sabbath rests has passed (7X7=49), the next year, the 50th, will be the Year of Jubilee. The Hebrew word for "jubilee" is defined in Strong's as: "clamor, i.e. acclamation of joy or a battle-cry; especially clangor of trumpets, as an alarum." So the 50th year is to be a year of joy and celebration, and the Lord commands that many things should happen in that year, such as the proclamation of liberty for Hebrew slaves and the return of land to original "owners" (although God Himself is the true owner of land, v. 23). The land is to remain fallow once again for the jubilee "shall be holy unto you" (v. 12). Did you know that part of verse 10 is inscribed on the Liberty Bell? I didn't -- "PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X" -- how cool!

In verse 23, God proclaims, "... for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." He is the true Owner of His Creation, as He made it. We can use land with the knowledge that it doesn't truly belong to us but to Him Who made it.

Isaiah 61:1 mentions several of the themes we read in Leviticus 25; the former verse states, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." In the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel, Jesus reads this verse aloud in the synagogue in Nazareth, and then states, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." When Jesus stopped reading in the middle of the second verse of Isaiah 61, he was indicating that the day of vengeance (i.e., Final Judgment) had not yet come.

REFLECTION:
Leviticus 25 also gives the Lord's direction regarding redeeming the poor and servants. The Lord cares for ALL of His people, and those who need Him the most are by no means forgotten; the commandments given by the Lord concerning the poorest and slave classes of society are such that allow the Hebrews to raise themselves out of their situations and better their lots. His mercy is manifold; His grace and lovingkindness are manifold. I love that our Lord is intimately concerned with the lives of His people and wants the very best for them.

PRAYER:
O Lord, we thank You that You give us rest each Sabbath. Help us to take advantage of this weekly Sabbath and use it to rest our bodies and refresh our spirits in You, just as your land is refreshed when it lays fallow every seven years. May we also celebrate the Jubilee -- the joy in the forgiveness of our debts, of our total restoration to freedom and liberty from slavery -- the Jubilee that comes to us each and every day since Christ rose again, bringing us perfect restoration both now and evermore. Amen.