Old Testament Commentary - Leviticus 25

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 25 Each seventh year to be kept as a sabbath year—Each fiftieth year to be one of jubilee, in which liberty is proclaimed throughout the land—Laws revealed for sale and redemption of lands, houses, and servants—The land is the Lord's, as are the servants—Usury forbidden.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, 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 keep a ^asabbath unto the LORD.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
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. 5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes ^aof thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
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 are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be ^ameat.		1^a Lev. 10:1 (1-2) 2^a Heb. 9:12 (7, 12, 24-25); Heb. 10:19 (19-22) ^b TG Veil ^c Ex. 25:22; Ex. 29:42 (42-43); Ex. 40:34 (34-35); D&C 97:16 (15-17); D&C 109:5 (5, 12-13); Abr. 2:19 (19-20)
8 ¶ And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou ^acause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall ^ahallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim ^bliberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his ^cfamily.
11 A ^ajubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of ^bthy vine undressed. 12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not ^aoppress ^bone another: 15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: 16 According to the ^amultitude of years thou shalt increase the 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 ^aoppress ^bone another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.
18 ¶ Wherefore ye shall ^ado my statutes, and keep my ^bjudgments, 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 ^aseventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21 Then I will command my ^ablessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 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: for the land is mine; for ye are ^astrangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
25 ¶ If thy brother be waxen poor^a, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to ^aredeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. 26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; 27 Then let 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.	25^a If thy brother be waxen poor The best application of this is also a significant factor in the ancestry of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Due to the famine in the land Elimelech and family removed to Moab, having sold their place in Ephrathah/Bethlehem. When Naomi returned husbandless, sonless and with only her daughter-in-law Ruth, they were required to live by gleaning in the fields. Whatever possessions of any amount having been sold and spent. Yet historically they held their Law of Moses right to reclaim their ancestral lands if they could. They could not. Ploni Almoni their nearest kinsman would redeem the family land but he would subject to be claimed by the son of Ruth who for the House of Elimelech's benefit came with the deal. Only Boaz, a more distant relative by maternal marriage, acousin of Mahlon was willing to perform both the roll of the redeeming kinsman and the surrogate doner and parent of that seed which would inherit and be born to and consider to be the seed of the House of Elimelech (see Ruth 4:4-6). Note: for who may qualify as a 'brother' see verse 49 and consider Laban calling himself Jacob's brother though they were but cousins by maternal marriage.
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 jubile: and in the jubile it shall ^ago out, and he shall ^breturn 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. 30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, 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 jubile.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile. 32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, 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 jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the ^afield of the ^bsuburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
35 ¶ And if thy brother be waxen poor, and ^afallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. 36 Take thou no ^ausury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon ^ausury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. 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 ^asold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a ^bbondservant: 40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile: 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. 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt ^afear thy God. 44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the ^aheathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
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 ^ainheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen ^bfor ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.
47 ¶ And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: 48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: 49 *Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any* that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him^a**; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.	49^a Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him This application of the 'redeemer', that is the one who may redeem one from bondage or even the lands of him who once sold it did apply unto Boaz of the family of Elimelech, Mahlon, Naomi and Ruth. That property of the family of Elimelech and Mahlon which had fallen unto another because of the famime and the poorness of that family was what Boaz would redeem. But he was not the nearest of kin, another was. Thus we are left to presume that Boaz was one such as was nigh of kin, an uncles son or a cousin, even by maternal marriage it would be considered that he might act as the 'redeeming kinsman' for the family of Naomi and by his taking Ruth after she was the wife of Mahlon, the first born son, Obed, would be seed of the house of Elimelech, of Mahlon and of Naomi. And all that family property which Boaz would redeem in the name of that family would fall unto Obed and be considered that of the household of Elimelech and Mahlon as Obed was indeed considered to be Naomi's son, the heir of her husband and her son Mahlon.
50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. 51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. 52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption.
53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight. 54 And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him. 55 For unto me the children of Israel are ^aservants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.