38. Sanctification of the Possession of Land: Sabbatical year and Jubilee (Lev 25:1-28)

In Leviticus, the Lord asks for the holiness of His people. Not only their offerings but also their bodies, their lives, and their possession were to be sanctified. 

πŸ‘‰ Read Leviticus 25:1-28

“When you enter the land that I am giving you, (                ) must observe a Sabbath to the Lord.”

The year of Jubilee came after (            ) Sabbatical years, every 50 years. They sounded a trumpet and announced the Jubilee on the day of (                     ) of that year. They must return to their (              ) that God has given them.

The price of the land was marked according to the number of years until (                 ).

“The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are (              ), and you may live (              ) in the land. I will command my (             ) for you in the sixth year so that it may yield the produce for (            ) years.”

 

Answers and Meditation

The land

Everything God has given them should be sanctified. They were supposed to let their land keep the Sabbatical rest.  

 

“Sabbath to the Lord” The rest was not for the Lord’s sake, but for the land’s sake. The fall of Adam has imposed restless labor on the land. Whenever the land takes the Sabbatical rest, it waits for the redemption of God’s children and anticipates joining the rest of God.

The Bible emphasizes that the land must rest. People can eat its fruit. But no agricultural activities were allowed, like sowing and gathering. Those activities were imposed on humans as a result of the sin. Therefore, on the sabbatical year, they and the land were released from the burden of punishment. Thus, the command of the Sabbatical rest could be interpreted as God’s promise to deliver them from the burden of sins in the future.

 

Seven, Atonement, property

The seven Sabbatical rests are consummate to releasing all sorts of bondages in the Jubilee Year. Such progress of deliverance makes us wait for the complete redemption of the Lord from sin and death.

Though they didn’t farm, they were allowed to eat. They were released from labor for food.

‘return to his property’ This expression is a bit awkward for us who think the land belongs to individuals. The Bible says the land belongs to the Lord. You cannot sell it arbitrarily at your disposal. It cannot be sold without a reclaimable option. It was given temporarily to him as a place of work and residence (23-24). Our money, time, any resource, and life is the same. They are given to us so we can manage and work on them to God's glory.


Jubilee

On Jubilee, the land will return to the original owner. Therefore, the sales of land were basically the sales of the produce of the land. (16)


Satisfied, securely, blessing, three

The Lord wants to teach them; the Lord wants to bless them. As they trust the Lord in keeping the Sabbath year and Jubilee, they can experience the blessing.

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