25:1. “And the
Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,”
25:2. “Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come in to the land
which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord.
This continues God’s
pronouncements relative to the requirements of His law, and their being made
in mount Sinai, which means my thorns, is the reminder that it was
Adam’s disobedience that had brought man under Divine condemnation, the
perpetual reminder of that condemnation being the earth’s production of
thorns and thistles, see Genesis 3:18.
It is instructive to note
that the first thing said about the land Israel was to inherit was connected
with rest, for the sabbath is synonymous with rest, and Israel’s entering
into rest in Canaan is the typological picture of the believer’s experience
the moment he trusts Christ as his Savior and Lord, His promise to believers
being, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30. Faith in Christ delivers man from
the wearying hopeless toil of trying to fit himself for heaven, and brings
him into the enjoyment of a rest which is but the foretaste of the eternal
rest to be enjoyed in heaven.
The sabbath is the
perpetual reminder of the fact that it is only by faith in Christ, not by
works, that man enters into the enjoyment of eternal rest.
25:3. “Six
years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard,
and gather in the fruit thereof;”
Those six years represent
the productive life of the average man, but God’s command to the Israelite
to sow his field, and prune his vineyard is invested with a spiritual
significance that transcends the literal: it is His command to believers to
sow the good seed of the Gospel in the “field,” symbol of the world, see
Matthew 13:38 “The field is the world....”
The vineyard, on the other
hand, represents a man’s personal life, pruning portraying the cutting out
of the life all that is displeasing to God, and therefore profitless to the
man himself. As the pruned vineyard enriched its owner, so does the
spiritually “pruned” life yield eternal profit to the man who cuts out of it
everything that doesn’t promote God’s glory.
“... and gather in the
fruit thereof.” The pruning resulted in correspondingly greater production
of fruit; and so will it be also in the spiritual realm. There will be
greater glory for God, and increased spiritual enrichment for the
individual, not only here on earth, but also in heaven, Paul having written,
“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall
receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers
together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building,” 1
Corinthians 3:8-9.
25:4. “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.”
Since seven is the number
of completeness or perfection, the seventh year, in the present context,
represents the eternal state, in which the believer will rest from his
labors, and enter into the enjoyment of his eternal rest, as it is written
in Revelation 14:13, “... Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and
their works do follow them.”
25:5. “That
which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither
gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the
land.”
Whatever grew in that
seventh year, whether grain or grape, was not to be gathered, this being the
tacit acknowledgement of the fact that what God had given in the preceding
six years was ample to meet the peoples’ needs in the seventh. This OT
ordinance points symbolically to the principle that is to govern the life of
the believer during this present dispensation of grace, as declared by the
Lord Himself, “... take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? ... for your heavenly
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.... Take therefore no
thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself,” Matthew 6:34.
In a broader context, this
emphasizes the truth that he who knows Christ as his Savior need have no
anxious care as to what follows death. That man will be at home in heaven
with the Lord.
25:6. “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,”
This verse is also
translated, “The sabbath of the land will itself feed you and your servants,
men and women, your hired laborer, your guest, and all who live with you,”
The Jerusalem Bible; “While the land has its sabbath, all its produce
will be food equally for you yourself and for your male and female slaves,
for your hired help and the tenants who live with you,” The New American
Bible; “Any crops that do grow that year shall be free to all - for you,
your servants, your slaves, and any foreigners living among you,” Taylor.
His willingness to allow
the land to lie fallow each seventh year testified to the reality of the
Israelite’s faith, his obedience demonstrating that he trusted God to
provide for all his needs.
The ordinance of the
sabbatic year has no application to this present age of grace, except to
teach the truth that we can confidently trust in God to provide for all our
needs, as long as we walk in obedience before Him. But the command to rest
from work on the first day of each week does apply today, for it was
enjoined at the beginning of creation, and has never been abrogated; but
today’s blatant disobedience relative to keeping it as a day of rest bears
eloquent testimony to humanity’s rebellion, and refusal to trust in God. It
is also the glaring demonstration of man’s avarice.
25:7. “And for
thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase
thereof be meat.”
God’s care extended also
to Israel’s livestock, and to the wild animals on their land, reminding us
of the Lord’s assurance to us as recorded in Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two
sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground
without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
25:8. “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.”
Because seven is the
scriptural number of perfection or completeness, Israel was to keep careful
record of the passing years, and to celebrate by a special festival the
completion of forty-nine years - the number of multiplied perfection of
God’s faithful protection, and abundant provision for all their needs. We
too should never forget His same care for us, our gratitude being expressed
in obedient lives, for it is written, “Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams,” 1 Samuel 15:22.
25:9.
“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee 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.”
The day of atonement was
the one day on which the sacrificial blood was carried into the Most Holy
Place, this being the typological acknowledgement that all the blood shed
throughout the past year had been ineffective to make full atonement for the
people’s sin. The uniqueness of that blood points to the fact that only the
precious blood of Christ could atone for sin, the NT assurance of that fact
being conveyed in the words, “The blood of Jesus Christ his (God’s) Son
cleanseth us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7.
The trumpet “of jubilee”
was the sounding forth of an acclamation of joy. The people were to unite
in the glad proclamation of their thanksgiving to God for His unfailing
protection, and abundant provision during the past forty-nine years
The sounding of the
trumpet throughout all the land ought to remind us of the need to also
return Him thanks for His similar watchful care, and faithful provision for
our every need; no small part of that grateful acknowledgement being our
trumpeting forth the good news of the Gospel, as the Lord Himself has
commanded, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature,” Mark 16:15.
25:10. “And ye
shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye
shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man
unto his family.”
Hallow
as used here means to make clean. Fifty, the factors of which
are 5 x 10; 2 x 5 x 5, speaks first of man’s responsibility - of which
five is the biblical number - under the government of God, of which
ten is the number; and also of the witness, of which two is the
number, to man’s double responsibility, as signified by 5 x 5, before God
and man, to be obedient to that government.
The proclamation of
liberty during that fiftieth year reminds us that true liberty can be
enjoyed only by those who obey God, for obedience brings blessing; but
disobedience, chastisement and loss.
“... unto all the
inhabitants,” i.e., God’s people. This teaches the lesson that only His
own, i.e., believers, have the ability to do His will, for every unbeliever
is the bondslave of Satan who compels his minions to do his will,
which is to defy God, and thus accomplish their own destruction.
That fiftieth year also
represents the moment when the sinner trusts Christ, and thus delivers
himself from Satan’s bondage. The Israelite’s “possession,” i.e., his
God-allotted portion of the land of Canaan, answers to what God desires
every man to have: a place in heaven eternally.
The man was also enabled
to return to his family, from which his indebtedness had caused him to be
separated by the bondage into which debt had brought him. The believer
enjoys the equivalent restoration: he is restored to God’s family, and to
the certain enjoyment of an eternal inheritance in heaven.
25:11. “A
jubilee 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 thy vine
undressed.”
They were not to sow in
that fiftieth year, nor were they to reap what had grown from the previous
year’s sowing; nor were they to gather the grapes produced by their vines on
that year of jubilee. Their leaving in their fields and vineyards all that
had grown of itself that year was their symbolic grateful acknowledgement of
the fact that God was the Giver of everything which the land brought forth.
Apart from Him they would have had nothing.
Since we are indebted to
Him, not only for temporal blessings, but for those which are spiritual and
of transcendent worth, it is surely incumbent upon us to express our
gratitude in the manner which affords Him the greatest pleasure: the
presentation of obedient lives, see again 1 Samuel 15:22.
25:12. “For it
is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof
out of the field.”
Taylor has rendered this
verse, “That year your food shall be the volunteer crops that grow wild in
the fields.”
25:13. “In the
year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.”
Adverse circumstances
might have required a man to sell his land, but the sale was not to be
permanent. In the year of jubilee possession reverted to the original owner
25:14. “And if
thou sell ought unto thy neighbor, or buyest ought of thy neighbor’s hand,
ye shall not oppress one another:”
25:15.
“According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy
neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell
unto thee:”
25:16.
“According to the multitude 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.”
25:17. “Ye
shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I
am the Lord your God.”
The value of land
increased or decreased in relation to the number of years remaining between
the year of sale and the year of jubilee when possession reverted to the
original owner. A purchaser buying land on the first year after jubilee
would pay a higher price than one buying it in the year just before jubilee,
because he would have a longer time in which to enjoy its produce, and vice
versa.
25:18.
“Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and
ye shall dwell in the land in safety.”
Israel’s obedience to
God’s government would ensure their safe dwelling in the land.
25:19. “And
the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell
therein in safety.”
Their obedience would also
secure an abundant supply to satisfy all their needs, and ensure their
safety in the land.
25:20. “And if
ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow,
nor gather in our increase:”
It was only natural that
they should ask such questions, for what God was promising was completely
contrary to all the laws of nature with which they were familiar. They had
to learn that He isn’t limited by the laws of nature. He is the God of the
supernatural.
25:21. “Then
will I command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring
forth fruit for three years.”
Six
is the number of man, weakness, and sin; but three is the number of
resurrection, and Jehovah is the God of resurrection. Only when man is
willing to admit that there is associated with him all the weakness and evil
connected with the number six, can God come in and “do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think,” Ephesians 3:20. When we confess ourselves
to be condemned sinners, and trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord, then
God pardons all our sin, lifts us up out of spiritual death, imparts His
gift of eternal life, and blesses us “with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places (things) in Christ,” Ephesians 1:3.
This is the truth being
declared symbolically in God’s promise to give in the sixth year what would
be sufficient for three years.
25:22. “And ye
shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of the old fruit until the ninth
year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.”
The produce of the sixth
year would furnish food for that year, and for the seventh and eighth, and
at the same time leave enough also for sowing in the eighth year, and until
the harvest of the ninth year was ready for gathering.
It is instructive to note
that for 490 years Israel disobeyed God’s command relative to observance of
the sabbatic year, their punishment being that He had them carried out of
the land into a seventy-year captivity in Babylon, during which time the
land did enjoy her sabbaths, the seventy years of captivity being the
exact number of sabbatic years of which greedy Israel had robbed the land of
its God-appointed rest. He who attempts to rob God robs himself.
25:23. “The
land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers
and sojourners with me.”
The prohibition against
selling the land in perpetuity was the reminder that it belonged to God, the
people being merely granted the use of it as each generation died, and was
replaced by a new one, the only One who was permanent, being God Himself,
the eternally existing One.
Men have largely forgotten
this fact as they fight and scrabble for this world’s wealth, and in the
process bankrupt themselves relative to eternal riches, the Lord’s warning
being, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves do not break through and steal: for where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also,” Matthew 6:19-21.
25:24. “And in
all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.”
This is also translated,
“... you shall allow land which has been sold to be redeemed; in every
contract of sale there must be a stipulation that the land can be redeemed
at any time by the seller.” This was more than the guarantee that his land,
his inheritance, would never pass out of the hereditary possession of the
man to whom it had first been given: it is also the typological assurance of
the fact that the believer can never lose his salvation.
25:25. “If thy
brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any
of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold.”
The Berkeley
translation renders this “When you brother is impoverished and sells some of
his property, then his nearest relative shall come and buy back what he has
sold.” Boaz’ redemption of the property of the deceased Elimelech, as
recorded in the book of Ruth, is an example of such a redemptive purchase,
that transaction, like every other, being a beautiful type of the Lord’s
redemption of this world and of men’s souls, see the present author’s
commentary on the book of Ruth, also
available on this web site.
25:26. “And if
the man has none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;”
25:27. “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.”
This declares the
procedure to be followed when one became sufficiently wealthy to buy back
property which poverty had earlier compelled him to sell. The New
American Bible translates this, “... he shall make a deduction from the
price in proportion to the number of years since the sale, and then pay back
the balance to the one to whom he sold it, so that he may thus regain his
own property.”
25:28. “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 unto the year of jubilee: and in the
jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.”
In the event that the man
whom poverty had compelled to sell his land, never became rich enough to buy
it back, it remained in the possession of the purchaser, but only until the
year of jubilee, at which time it reverted to the original owner. Keeping
in mind that the purchaser had benefited by his having the use of the land
in the time between his purchase of it and the year of jubilee, he was being
fairly treated, for what he had paid for the use of it was proportionate to
the produce it would yield in those remaining years.
25:29. “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.”
25:30. “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 jubilee.”
The difference between a
piece of land outside the city, and a dwelling house within it, was that the
land had been given by God, but the house was the work of man’s hand. The
land yielded food for man and beast perpetually, but the house provided
nothing except shelter. The land possessed outside the city represents the
eternal life given by God in response to faith; the house in the city
represents the works by which the unbelieving man expects to merit entrance
to heaven, only to learn too late the worthlessness of that upon which he
had built his hopes for eternity.
Its not going out in the
jubilee, i.e., not returning to the possession of the man, or his heirs, to
whom God had originally given it, declares the truth that the good works
which it represents, have no eternal worth. Its not being redeemed within a
full year, but remaining perpetually in the possession of the man who
purchased it, is the symbolic warning that he who refuses to be redeemed in
God’s way and in His time, but who expects to purchase entry to heaven by
good works, will remain for ever unredeemed, i.e., damnation will be his
eternal inheritance.
In the present context the
man-made wall around the city is the symbolic declaration of man’s faith in
his own works, and his lack of faith in God. The walled city, in fact,
represents the great harlot system centered in Rome: Roman Catholicism. Its
teaching is inimical to everything that is of God, for it is a system of
works, and not faith. For God’s specific condemnation of this iniquitous
system see Revelation 17-18, and the present
author’s book on Revelation relative to these two chapters, also
available on this web site.
25:31. “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 jubilee.”
The unwalled villages, on
the other hand, represent those small scripturally ordered local churches,
composed of true believers, i.e., those whose faith rests in the efficacy of
Christ’s sacrifice to make complete atonement for all their sins, and which
assures them of entry into heaven at the end of life’s journey.
The absence of walls is
the symbolic declaration of their complete faith in Christ and His finished
work, and not in any works they themselves might do, see Ephesians 2:8-9,
“For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” and again, “Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” Titus
3:5-6.
Its being said of these
village dwellers that “they may be redeemed,” is the OT typological way of
saying that true believers are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ; and
the further assurance that “they shall go out in the jubilee,” is the
symbolic guarantee that at the end of life’s journey every believer will go
out to enjoy eternal bliss with Christ in heaven.
25:32.
“Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of
their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.”
Levi, the tribe chosen by
God to be His priests, means joined, that meaning undoubtedly having
reference to their unique priestly relationship to Jehovah. There was no
time limit imposed on them relative to the redemption of property. Unlike
other Israelites who must redeem a mortgaged house within a year, the
Levites could exercise the right of redemption at any time,
this provision being the
virtual guarantee of perpetual possession. It is the OT foreshadowing of
the NT truth that the believer can never lose the certainty of having his
“house” in heaven eternally.
25:33. “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 jubilee: for the houses of the
cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.”
Unlike the man mentioned
in verse 30, a Levite unable to redeem his mortgaged house within a year,
didn’t lose it: in the year of jubilee he or his heir regained ownership.
This continues to declare the truth that the believer can never loose his
salvation.
25:34. “But
the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their
perpetual possession.”
While a Levite’s house
might become the legal possession of his creditor until the year of jubilee,
the fields belonging to the Levitical cities were never to be sold. God had
given them to the Levites in perpetuity as pasture land for their animals.
As discussed above, the
Levites represent Church-age believers as a royal kingdom of priests, some
of whom God has gifted to serve as evangelists, pastors (elders), or
teachers, see 1 Corinthians 4:11. The apostles and prophets were only for
the early apostolic age, but the evangelists, elders, and teachers are to
continue until the rapture of the Church. The evangelist or teacher is
almost invariably called to a fulltime ministry, thus precluding the
possibility of his engaging in “secular” work, his material needs being met
by the gifts of those to whom he ministers.
Since the nature of the
work done by the pastors (elders) very rarely makes it impossible for them
to continue also in “secular” work, there is rarely any need for them to
receive financial support from their brethren. The Levites were the OT
counterparts of the NT elders, and the fields given them in perpetuity by
God for the production of crops, were symbolic of the fact that elders, with
very rare exceptions, are to be self-supporting.
25:35. “And if
thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt
relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live
with thee.”
“... waxen poor” means to
become poverty-stricken; and “fallen in decay” in the present context is
usually understood to mean “to become weak and infirm by reason of age.” It
didn’t matter whether the victim of these circumstances were a resident
Gentile, or an Israelite, he was to be treated with compassion.
While this same attitude
is to govern us literally in our dealings with others, the same principle is
to govern us in our conduct towards the unconverted relative to their
spiritual need, for literal destitution is a figure or type of the
corresponding spiritual state.
25:36. “Take
thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that they brother may
live with thee.”
The debtor was not to be
charged interest, either in money or goods, the exhortation to “fear thy
God” being the warning that that same God would visit with retribution every
breach of this command.
25:37. “Thou
shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for
increase.”
This repeated command not
to lend money at interest, or to give food on the condition that it be
repaid with an additional amount added on as a charge for the loan of it, is
to emphasize the importance of this ordinance. Surely no spiritual mind
will fail to see in this the annunciation of a principle that is to govern
us in our dealings with others. The Lord’s words to the disciples in
Matthew 10:8, apply also to us, “... freely ye have received, freely give.”
This however, is not to be
understood as teaching that we are to be prodigal with the money which God
has entrusted to us, but rather that we are not to refuse to minister to
genuine need.
25:38. “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.”
This sets God before us as
the perfect Giver. When Israel was destitute, and enslaved to the
Egyptians, He delivered them, providing for all their needs for forty years
in the wilderness, and then bringing them into the enjoyment of Canaan’s
milk and honey.
Their deliverance is the
typological picture of our deliverance from Satan’s bondage; and their
enrichment, the type of ours, as it is written, “Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places (things) in Christ,” Ephesians 1:3.
“... and to be your God.”
As such, He was to be honored and obeyed, for obedience to Him is the truest
expression of love for Him, He Himself having declared, “If ye love me, keep
my commandments .... He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it
is that loveth me: and He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I
will love him, and will manifest myself to him,” John 14:15-21.
25:39. “And if
thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou
shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:”
25:40. “But as
an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve
thee unto the year of jubilee;”
This envisages the case of
an Israelite who was compelled by poverty to sell himself to another
Israelite. The buyer was forbidden to treat the bankrupt as a bondslave,
but as an employee. In the present context a sojourner was a temporary
resident, a hired hand, who would be restored to his own inheritance in the
year of jubilee. No matter to what straits poverty might have reduced him,
an Israelite was never to be compelled to become a bondservant, this being
the typological assurance that those who trust Christ as Savior and Lord
have been made free, with no possibility of their ever being brought again
into Satan’s bondage, as it is written, “If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed,” John 8:36.
25:41. “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.”
This return in the year of
jubilee may well be a typological picture of the rapture of the Church, and
also of the entrance of the believing remnant of Israel into enjoyment of
the millennial kingdom at the end of the Great Tribulation.
25:42.
“For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt:
they shall not be sold as bondmen.”
The truth presented here
typologically is explicitly stated in 1 Corinthians 7:22-23, “For he that is
called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he
that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. Ye are bought with a
price; be not ye the servants of men.” And relative to our service to
Christ, it is to be, “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the
servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will
doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,” Ephesians 6:6-7.
Their having been “brought
forth out of the land of Egypt,” has also its spiritual lesson, for Egypt
represents the world of business and pleasure, where unbelieving men, the
unwitting bondslaves of Satan and sin, live in defiant independence of God.
It is from our bondage to that same evil world that we have been delivered
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Its being said of the
redeemed Israelites that “they shall not be sold as bondmen,” is the
assurance that believers are no longer the bondslaves of sin: when they sin,
it is by an act of their own free will, not, as formerly, by the compulsion
of their corrupt Adamic nature, which they were powerless to resist.
25:43.
“Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor; but shalt fear thy God.”
“... rigor” is also
translated severity; ruthless severity.
This enjoined principle
continues to emphasize the gentleness of Christ’s lordship over His own, as
declared in His own words, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.
25:44. “Both
thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the
heathen that are round about you: of them shall ye buy bondmen and
bondmaids.”
The complete emancipation
of the believer, in stark contrast with the bondage of the unbeliever, is
symbolically declared here, for in the context of this verse the bondmen and
bondmaids represent unbelievers, their subjugation being also a metaphoric
picture of the subjection of the millennial nations to Israel.
25:45.
“Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of
them shall be buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat
in your land: and they shall be your possession.”
Israel was permitted to
buy as bondslaves not only the Gentiles living in the surrounding countries,
but also those living with them in the land of Canaan; and though at first
the symbolic message may be less apparent, closer examination reveals its
clarity. Those Gentiles represent the unbelievers who occupy a place in the
professing local churches, but who are not members of the true Church which
is comprised of genuine believers only. They are in fact still the
bondslaves of sin and Satan.
25:46. “And ye
shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit
them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your
brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with
rigor.”
In this perpetual
subjugation of the bondslaves, God would have us see the eternal duration of
the misery of all who die without having trusted in Christ as Savior and
Lord; but in the continued supremacy of the Israelites we are being shown
the everlasting continuance of the believers’ reign with Christ, “they shall
reign for ever and ever,” Revelation 22:5.
25:47. “And if
a sojourner or a 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 (descendant) of the stranger’s family:”
Implicit in the enrichment
of the sojourner or stranger is the assurance that earthly riches are never
the criterion by which to measure God’s favor. Many of God’s choicest
saints possess little of this world’s wealth.
25:48. “After
that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem
him:”
It isn’t difficult to see
in the nameless man who would fill the role of kinsman-redeemer, a figure of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It was for the very purpose of redeeming men’s souls
that He became man, so that He could “give his life a ransom for many,”
Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45, for as God He could not die.
25:49. “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; or if he be able, he may redeem
himself.”
Male kinship was a
prerequisite of those who would play the part of kinsman-redeemer. This
confutes Roman Catholicism’s idolatrous worship of Mary, and their tacit
relegation of the Lord Jesus Christ to an inferior place.
Relative to a man’s
redeeming himself, it was possible when the redemption involved only
deliverance from bondage to man, but it is an utter impossibility when it
comes to redemption from the terrible and eternal consequences of sin, “None
of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for
him: (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for
ever:)", Psalm 49:8. None but Christ could redeem men’s souls.
25:50. “And he
shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him
unto the year of Jubilee: 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.”
This verse is variously
rendered as follows: “With his purchaser he shall compute the years from the
sale to the jubilee, distributing the sale price over these years as though
he had been hired as a day laborer” - The New American Bible; “With
his buyer he shall count from the year when he was sold to him until the
coming year of jubilee and the price of his release shall be according to
the number of years, rating his time as that of a hired hand” - Berkeley
Version; “In doing so, he will reckon up the number of years from the
time of his sale to the next jubilee, and divide the price he was sold for
by the number of years, as if he was a hireling paid yearly wages” - Knox.
25:51. “If
there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the
price of his redemption of the money that he was bought for.”
The New American Bible
translates this verse, “The more such years there are, the more of the sale
price he shall pay back as ransom.”
25:52. “And if
there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count
with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of
his redemption.”
Taylor
renders this, “If the years have passed and only a few remain until the
jubilee, then he will repay only a small part of the amount he received when
he sold himself.”
25:53. “And as
a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule
with rigor over him in thy sight.”
This continues God’s
directions to the elders of Israel: they were responsible to ensure that the
impoverished Israelite who had sold himself as a bondservant was treated
humanely by his purchaser, the comments on verse 43
applying here also.
25:54. “And if
he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of
jubilee, both he, and his children with him.”
The comments already made
on verse 43 apply here also.
25:55.
“For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom
I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
The comments on
verse 42 apply here also.