A Devotional on LEVITICUS
In “A devotional on Leviticus” Jefferson Vann shares a section of his new book.
Leviticus 25
Leviticus 25:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, and this is what he said,
Leviticus 25:2 "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land that I give you, the land will keep a Sabbath to Yahveh.
Leviticus 25:3 For six years you will plant your field, and for six years you will prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits,
Leviticus 25:4 but in the seventh year there will be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahveh. You will not plant your field or prune your vineyard.
Leviticus 25:5 You will not reap what grows of itself in your harvest or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It will be a year of solemn rest for the land.
Leviticus 25:6 The Sabbath of the land will provide food for you, for yourself and your male and female slaves, and for your hired worker and the guest who lives with you,
Leviticus 25:7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield will be for food.
Shenandoah 25:1-7
In the classic Jimmy Stewart movie, “Shenandoah,” Charlie Anderson is saying grace: “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn’t be here, and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you, Lord, just the same for the food we’re about to eat, Amen.”
But, later in the movie, when war and its effects are all around them, Charlie prays again, and that prayer reflects the reality that everyone — even Charlie and his family — needs God’s help.
Every seven years, the Israelites were reminded that they needed God. That year, the cycle of planting, pruning, and gathering was halted, and only gathering took place. For an entire year, the whole nation learned that their survival and blessing depended not on their work but on God’s provision of grace.
LORD, thank you for your constant provision and for the occasional reminder that we are not doing it all ourselves.
Leviticus 25:8 "You will count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years will give you forty-nine years.
Leviticus 25:9 Then you will sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Reconciliations, you will sound the trumpet throughout all your land.
Leviticus 25:10 And you will consecrate the fiftieth year and cry out “liberty” throughout the land to all those who stay there. It will be a liberation for you when each of you returns to his property, and each of you will return to his clan.
Leviticus 25:11 That fiftieth year will be a liberation for you; in it, you will neither plant nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines.
Leviticus 25:12 Because it is a liberation. It will be sacred to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
the sound of freedom 25:8-12
The jubilee year was to be a reminder that no matter how bad things became, there would always be a future when freedom and blessing returned. All around the Israelites, there would be reminders of bondage, failure, and brokenness. So, God built into their cultural heritage reminders that he plans to undo all that and restore them by his grace. When the trumpet sounded on the tenth day of the seventh month, it was a call to quit work and go home. It was the sound of freedom.
LORD, thank you for a future that will be free from all the things which bind us.
Leviticus 25:13 "In this year of liberation each of you will return to his property.
Leviticus 25:14 And if you make a sale to your associate or buy from your associate, you will not wrong one another.
Leviticus 25:15 You will pay your associate according to the number of years after the liberation, and he will sell to you according to the number of years for crops.
Leviticus 25:16 If the years are many, you will increase the price, and if the years are few, you will reduce the cost because of the number of crops he is selling to you.
Leviticus 25:17 You will not oppress -- a man against his associate, but you will fear your God, because I am Yahveh your God.
freedom and fairness 25:13-17
The Jubilee laws were about more than freedom. It was indeed a chance for those who had amassed debt and sold their property to have their freedom to use it restored. However, the stipulations of this freedom included making sure that buyers and sellers were treated with fairness. All the Israelites were to be treated with the same preference, regardless of their economic status. That equality would reflect the fundamental equality that comes from being created equal. The only limits to that equality were temporary and went from the personal choices made by those under the covenant.
Under the new covenant, the only limits to our equality are individual choices. And a day is coming when even those temporary inequalities will be eliminated. God’s judgement will make everything fair and every believer free.
LORD, thank you for creating us equal and promising us eternal fairness and freedom.
Leviticus 25:18 "Therefore you will do my prescriptions and keep my judgments and perform them, and then you will stay in the land securely.
Leviticus 25:19 The land will yield fruit, and you will eat your fill and stay in it securely.
Leviticus 25:20 And if you say, 'What will we eat in the seventh year, noticing we may not plant or gather in our crop?'
Leviticus 25:21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.
Leviticus 25:22 When you plant in the eighth year, you will eat some of the old crops; you will eat the old until the ninth year when its crop arrives.
abundant grace 25:18-22
The entire old covenant was a lesson in grace. This passage shows that. God promised the Israelites that if they just followed his simple instructions and let him do what he said he would do, they would have plenty and could stay in the land he gave them. If they dared to trust his provision during the Sabbath year, then the leftovers from the sixth year would keep them fed until the ninth year. That is abundant grace.
LORD, thank you for your provision of abundant grace.
Leviticus 25:23 "The land will not be sold in perpetuity, because the land is mine. Because you are guests and temporary residents with me.
Leviticus 25:24 And in all the country you possess, you will allow a redemption of the land.
Leviticus 25:25 "If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer will come and redeem what his brother has sold.
Leviticus 25:26 If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
Leviticus 25:27 let him figure out 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.
Leviticus 25:28 But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold will remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of liberation. In the liberation, it will be released, and he will return to his property.
hope of recovery 25:23-28
One of the benefits of the law of land redemption is that it prevented wealthy landowners from swallowing up all the property and creating an upper class to oppress others. No matter how bad things got, you could always plan on the restoration of your property at the end of a fifty-year cycle. There was also provision for a kinsman to bail you out in the meantime. Even if your poverty was your fault, there was still hope of recovery.
Many around us are caught in a trap of extreme poverty, and they have no hope of recovery. These need to know that God has a future planned for them — a future of blessing and dignity.
LORD, show us how to reach the poor with the good news.
Leviticus 25:29 "If a man sells a house where he stays in a walled city, he may redeem it until a year is finished.[1] For a whole year, he will have the right of redemption.
Leviticus 25:30 If it is not redeemed within an entire year, then the house in the walled city will belong in perpetuity to the buyer throughout his generations; it will not be released in the liberation.
Leviticus 25:31 But the villages' houses with no wall around them will be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and they will be released in the liberation.
Leviticus 25:32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem permanently the houses in the cities they possess.
Leviticus 25:33 And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess will be released in the liberation. Because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel.
Leviticus 25:34 But the fields of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, because that is their possession permanently.
law abuse 25:29-34
These further laws of jubilee redemption were designed to prevent people from profiting off of the jubilee event. These laws were signs of God’s grace and meant to prevent the rich from taking over all the land and property. They were designed to eliminate loopholes. There need to be stipulations in laws that control the laws from themselves, promoting evil. For another example, is anyone else tired of people telling them that they cannot get married because they will lose their government benefits? I sure am.
LORD, give us the courage to obey the law and the wisdom not to abuse it to do wrong.
Leviticus 25:35 "If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you will make him strong[2] as though he were a foreign guest and a temporary resident, and he will live with you.
Leviticus 25:36 Take no interest from him or profit but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.
Leviticus 25:37 You will not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
Leviticus 25:38 I am Yahveh your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
a hand up and out 25:35-38
Keeping the poor from becoming poorer is better for everyone. Society itself suffers when the poor are left with no way to find relief. Debt destroys people from the inside out. Most people only see the outward, visible signs of poverty. But the feeling of hopelessness, the fear of being trapped forever with no way out, eats away at your life. The heart begins to suspect even the generous of wrong motives, leading to a general mistrust and loss of joy. A soul who would never dream of hurting others suddenly begins to ask what can be done to get out — even thinking about the wrong ways out.
God wanted his community to be a safe place where the poor could get a hand up and out of their captivity without losing their dignity. The new covenant community should be a safe place for that, too.
LORD, help us to help the poor out of their poverty, because you are our God, who rescues the captives.
Leviticus 25:39 "If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you will not make him serve as a slave:
Leviticus 25:40 he will be with you as a hired worker and as a temporary resident. He will serve with you until the year of the liberation.
Leviticus 25:41 Then he will leave you, he and his children with him, and return to his clan and the possession of his fathers.
Leviticus 25:42 Because they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they will not be sold as slaves.
Leviticus 25:43 You will not judgment over him ruthlessly but will fear your God.
brothers yet to be liberated 25:39-43
The Jubilee laws created a society where landowners were responsible for treating the poor fairly. It was not perfect—in an ideal society, there would be no poor—but it was a way of giving hope to those who had not yet achieved stability. There was hope for redemption and restoration. Poverty itself became a kind of symbol of lostness, and the people of God were to understand that the poor and temporary Gentile residents among them were to be protected because of their potential.
In the same way, those societies where Christians enjoy a majority should demonstrate kindness and fairness toward the lost among them. They are not enemies; they are brothers yet to be liberated.
LORD, we resolve to pray for and protect the lost around us.
Leviticus 25:44 As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you.
Leviticus 25:45 You may also buy from among the temporary residents who are guests with you and their clans with you, who have been given birth to in your land, and they may be your property.
Leviticus 25:46 You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a permanent possession. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers, the people of Israel, you will not judge one over another ruthlessly.
not over your brothers 25:44-46
The Mosaic laws conceded slavery, which was conceded by everyone else in the Ancient Near East, but they stopped short of endorsing it. In fact, God’s law included a limit that set Israel apart. They were not to allow the slavery of other Israelites. The whole covenant community had been set free by God’s grace. The whole community was responsible for ensuring one another’s perpetual freedom.
LORD, we are our brother’s keepers. Show us how to ensure that we all stay free from bondage.
Leviticus 25:47 "If a stranger or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the foreign guest or temporary resident with you or to a member of the temporary resident's clan,
Leviticus 25:48 then after he is sold, he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him,
Leviticus 25:49 or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or an actual close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich, he may redeem himself.
Leviticus 25:50 He will figure out with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of liberation, and the price of his sale will vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner will be rated as the time of a hired worker.
Leviticus 25:51 If there are still many years left, he will pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price.
Leviticus 25:52 If there remain but a few years until the year of liberation, he will figure it out and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service.
Leviticus 25:53 He will treat him as a worker hired year by year. He will not judgment ruthlessly over him in your sight.
Leviticus 25:54 And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he and his children with him will be released in the year of liberation.
Leviticus 25:55 Because 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 Yahveh, your God.
identifying with God 25:47-55
Even though an Israelite was not allowed to make another Israelite his slave, he could sell himself into slavery in order to survive. But the difference was that foreigners understood that there would be limits to his enslaving an Israelite. There would always be a year of liberation set in which slavery would end. There would also always be ways for the Israelites to get out of the contract. The reason was that the people were God’s possession whom he had already redeemed from slavery. No matter what their present condition, their identity was in the LORD.
LORD, our identity is in you. Rescue us from anything that does not glorify you.
[1] תָּמַם = finish. Leviticus 25:29; 26:20.
[2] חָזָק= make strong.
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