I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 24-25.

    Today’s passage speaks of the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee. The Sabbath Year encourages the people to allow the land to lie fallow every seventh year. This practice keeps farmers from draining all of the nutrients out of the soil, although there is more to it than just good land management. It is from this that we get the idea of the sabbatical, where certain types of professionals are encouraged to take a year off to “recharge” every seven years.

    The Year of Jubilee lays out a rule for maintaining social justice in a society. The biblical record suggests that the Israelites never truly implemented this law and I am not sure how you could do so in an established society. Nevertheless these rules lay out a principle of allowing people to recover from their economic mistakes over time. Slavery was not permanent (I am aware that these laws only applied to those who were Israelites to begin with). Selling your land was not permanent. In the Year of Jubilee, land would return to its original owners, or their heirs, and slaves would be freed. In between the Years of Jubilee, those who sold their land would have the right to buy it back at any time if they could raise the funds, relatives would have the right to buy the freedom of those who had become enslaved. In addition, there were instructions to the people of Israel to aid their brethren who had fallen into poverty and could not care for themselves. Those of us with the means should provide what we can to our fellow believers in need.