Leviticus 25 commentary

All labour was to cease in the seventh year, as much as daily labour on the seventh day. These statues tell us to beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists not in the abundance of his possessions. We are to exercise willing dependence on God's providence for our support; to consider ourselves the Lord's tenants or stewards, and to use our possessions accordingly. This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ. Through Him we are eased of the burden of wordly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us; and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith.

The word “jubilee” signifies a peculiarly animated sound of the silver trumpets. This sound was to be made on the evening of the great day of atonement; for the proclamation of gospel liberty and salvation results from the sacrifice of the Redeemer. It was provided that the lands should not be sold away from their families. They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and then returned to the owner or his heir. This tended to preserve their tribes and families distinct, till the coming of the Messiah. The liberty every man was born to, if sold or forfeited, should return at the year of jubilee. This was typical of redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and of being brought again to the liberty of the children of God. All bargains ought to be made by this rule, “Ye shall not oppress one another,” not take advantage of one another's ignorance or necessity, “but thou shalt fear thy God.” The fear of God reigning in the heart, would restrain from doing wrong to our neighbour in word or deed. Assurance was given that they should be great gainers, by observing these years of rest. If we are careful to do our duty, we may trust God with our comfort. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all neither sowed or reaped. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in obedience. Some asked, What shall we eat the seventh year? Thus many Christians anticipate evils, questioning what they shall do, and fearing to proceed in the way of duty. But we have no right to anticipate evils, so as to distress ourselves about them. To carnal minds we may appear to act absurdly, but the path of duty is ever the path of safety.

If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.

Poverty and decay are great grievances, and very common; the poor ye have always with you. Thou shalt relieve him; by sympathy, pitying the poor; by service, doing for them; and by supply, giving to them according to their necessity, and thine ability. Poor debtors must not be oppressed. Observe the arguments here used against extortion: “Fear thy God.” Relieve the poor, “that they may live with thee;” for they may be serviceable to thee. The rich can as ill spare the poor, as the poor can the rich. It becomes those that have received mercy to show mercy.

A native Israelite, if sold for debt, or for a crime, was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh. If he sold himself, through poverty, both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are required to give to their servants that which is just and equal, Col 4:1. At the year of jubilee the servant should go out free, he and his children, and should return to his own family. This typified redemption from the service of sin and Satan, by the grace of God in Christ, whose truth makes us free, Joh 8:32. We cannot ransom our fellow-sinners, but we may point out Christ to them; while by his grace our lives may adorn his gospel, express our love, show our gratitude, and glorify his holy name.

8. And thou shalt number seven. The third kind of Sabbath follows, which was composed of forty-nine, or seven times seven years. This was the most illustrious Sabbath, since the state of the people, both as to their persons and their houses and property, was renewed; and although in this way God had regard to the public good, gave relief to the poor, so that their liberty should not be destroyed, and preserved also the order laid down by Himself; still there is no question but that He thus added an additional stimulus to incite the Jews to honor the Sabbath. For it was a kind of imposing memorial of the sacred rest, to see slaves emancipated and become suddenly free; houses and lands returning to their former possessors who had sold them; and in fine all things assuming a new face. They called this year Jobel, from the sound of the ram’s horn, whereby liberty and the restitution of property were proclaimed; but as I have said, its main feature was the solemnity which shewed them to be separated from other nations to be a peculiar and holy nation to God; nay, the renewal of all things had reference to this, that being redeemed anew in the great Sabbath, they might entirely devote themselves to God their Deliverer.

Leviticus 23

Leviticus 23:1-44

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

1. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

2. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

2. Alloquere filios Israel, et die illis, Hae sunt feriae quas vocabitis convocationes sanctas, hae sunt solennitates meae.

3. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

3. Sex diebus fiet opus, die autem septimo Sabbathum est quietis, convocatio sancta: nullum opus facietis: Sabbathum est Jehovae in cunctis habitationibus vestris.

4. These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

4. Hae sunt feriae quas celebrabitis: hae sunt feriae Jehovae sanctae, quas celebrabitis temporibus suis.

5. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.

5. Mense primo, quartadecima mensis, ad vesperam Pesah Jehovae est.

6. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

6. Quintodecimo autem die mensis hujus, solennitas erit infermentatorum Jehovae, septem diebus infermentata comedetis.

7. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

7. Die primo convocatio sancta erit vobis: nullum opus servile facietis.

8. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

8. Offeretis autem oblationem ignitam Jehovae septem diebus: die septimo erit convocatio sancta, nullum opus servile facietis.

9. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

9. Adhaec loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

10. Alloquere filios Israel, et dic eis, Quum ingressi fueritis terrain quam ego do vobis, et messueritis messem ejus, tunc offeretis omnes primitias messis vestrae ad sacerdotem.

11. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

11. Qui offert omer coram Jehova, ut sit acceptum pro vobis: in crastino Sabbathi offerer illud sacerdos.

12. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

12. Facietisque die quo offeretis omer, agnum integrum anniculum, in holocaustum Jehovae:

13. And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

13. Et minham ejus, duas decimas similae permistae oleo, oblationem ignitam Jehovae in odorem quietis: et libamen ejus vini quattam partem hin.

14. And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

14. Panem vero et polentam, et spicam plenam non comedetis usque ad hunc ipsum diem, donec obtuleris munus Dei vestri: statutum perpetuum erit in generationibus vestris, in cunctis habitaculis vestris.

15. And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

15. Numerabitis autem vobis dies a postero die Sabbathi, a die qua obtuleris omer elevationis, septem hebdomades plenae erunt.

16. Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

16. Usque ad posterum diem Sabbathi septimi numerabitis quinquaginta dies, et offeretis oblationem novam Jehovae.

17. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

17. Ex habitaculis vestris offeretis panem oblationis: duae ex dunbus decimis similae erunt: cum fermento coquentur primitiae Jehovae.

18. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

18. Offeretisque cum pane illo septem agnos integros anniculos, et juvencum filium bovis unum, et arietes duos, erunt holocaustum Jehovae: et oblatio eorum libaminaque eorum, oblatio ignita erit odoris quietis Jehovae.

19. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

19. Facietis quoque hircum caprarum unum pro peccato, et duos agnos anniculos in sacrificium prosperitatum.

20. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits, for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

20. Offeretque sacerdos illa ultra panem primitiarum, elevationem coram Jehova cum duobus agnis, sanctitas erunt Jehovae sacerdoti.

21. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

21. Et celebrabitis hoc ipso die celebritatem, convocatio sancta erit vobis: nullum opus servile facietis: statutum perpetuum erit in cunctis habitaculis vestris, in generationibus vestris.

22. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: ...

22. Et cum messueritis messem terrae vestrae, non complebis angulum agri tui in messe tua: nec quod residuum erit in messe tua colliges.

23. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

23. Loquutus est praeterea Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

24. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

24. Alloquere filios Israel, dicendo, Mense septimo, primo die ejusdem erit vobis Sabbathum monimentum clangoris, convocatio sancta.

25. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

25. Nullum opus servile facietis, et offeretis oblationem ignitam Jehovae.

26. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

26. Loquutus est quoque Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

27. Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

27. Veruntamen (vel, utique) in decimo mensis hujus septimi, dies expiationum erit: convocatio sancta erit vobis, afiligetisque animas vestras, et offeretis sacrificium ignitum Jehovae.

28. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

28. Nullum opus facietis hoc ipso die, quid dies expiationum est ad expiandum vos (vel, super vos, ant pro vobis) coram Jehova Deo vestro.

29. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

29. Omnis enim anima quae non fuerit afflicta eo ipso die, excidetur e populis suis.

30. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

30. Et quisquis fecerit quodcunque opus eo ipso die, perdam animam illam e medio populi.

31. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

31. Nullum opus facietis: statutum perpetuum erit in generationibus vestris, in cunctis habitationibus vestris.

32. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

32. Sabbathum quietis est vobis, et affligetis animas vestras nona mensis in vespera: a vespera usque ad vesperam quiescetis in Sabbatho vestro.

33. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

33. Loquutus est et Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

34. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

34. Alloquere filios Israel, dicendo, Decimo quinto die mensis septimi hujus, solennitas tabernaculorum erit septem diebus Jehovah.

35. On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

35. Die primo erit convocatio sancta, nullum opus servile facietis.

36. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

36. Septem diebus offeretis sacrificium ignitum Jehovae, die octavo convocatio sancta erit vobis, et offeretis sacrificium ignitum Jehovah, solennitas est, nullum opus servile facietis.

37. These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

37. Istae sunt festivitates Jehovae quas vocabitis convocationes sanctas, ut offeratis in els sacrificium ignitum Jehovae, holocaustum et oblationem, sacrificium et libamina suo quodque die.

38. Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

38. Praeter Sabbatha Jehovae, et praeter dona vestra, praeterque omnia vota vestra, et praeter omnes spontaneas oblationes vestras, quas dabitis Jehovae.

39. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

39. Veruntamen (vel, utique) decimo quinto die mensis septimi, quando congregaveritis fructum terrae, celebrabitis celebritatem Jehovae septem diebus: die primo erit Sabbathum, die quoque octavo erit Sabbathum.

40. And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

40. Sumetisque vobis die primo fructum arboris decorae, et ramos palmarum, et ramos arboris densarum frondium, et salices torrentis, et laetabimini coram Jehova Deo vestro septem diebus.

41. And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

41. Celebrabitis, inquam, istam celebritatem Jehovae septem diebus quotannis: statutum perpetuum erit in generationibus vestris, mense septimo celebrabitis illam.

42. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

42. In tabernaculis habitabitis septem diebus: onmis indigena ex Israele habitabit in tabernaculis.

43. That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

43. Ut sciant generationes vestrae quod in tabernaculis habitare feci filios Israel quando eduxi eos e terra Aegypti: ego Jehova Deus vester.

44. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

44. Loquutus est igitur Moses de solennitatibus Jehovae ad filios Israel.

20. And if ye shall say. Men will never be obedient to God’s precepts, unless their distrust of Him is corrected, and will be always ingenious in laying hold of pretexts for disobedience. The difficulty, however, in this matter was a specious excuse for the Jews; for famine might have destroyed them in these two years, since in the seventh year they neither sowed nor reaped; and for reaping they were obliged to wait till the end of the eighth year. Now, whence were they to get seed enough to sow after the land had rested for a whole year? It is not without reason, then, that God delivers them from this doubt, promising them that He will give such abundance in the sixth year as shall suffice for the two following ones. The phrase must be observed, that God would “command His blessing” in an especial manner, and beyond the usual course, so that the land should be twice or thrice more fertile. Hence is suggested to us no ordinary ground of confidence in asking for our daily bread. But this was a special promise, that food should not fail the Jews on account of the Sabbatical year; a manifestation of which God had already given in the desert, when supplied a double portion of manna to those who gathered it on the day before the Sabbath. Now-a-days this inconvenience is avoided by the industry of farmers, who so divide their acres that the land should never lie fallow altogether, but that one part should supply the deficiency of another. This distribution did not obtain with the Jews. Therefore God relieved them from the fear of famine down to the harvest of the eighth year; although He seems at the same time to accustom them to frugality, lest they should waste in intemperance and luxury what He afforded in sufficient abundance to last for two years. To this precept He alludes, when He declares by the Prophets that the land “enjoyed her Sabbaths,” when it had vomited forth its inhabitants, (2 Chronicles 36:21;) for since they had polluted it by violating the Sabbath, so that it groaned as if under a heavy burden, He says that it shall rest for a long continuous period, so as to compensate for the labor of many years.

The Year of Jubilee

Leviticus 25

Leviticus 25:8-13

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.

8. Numerabis quoque tibi septem hebdomadas armorum, id est septem annos septem vicibus; qui quidem dies septem Sabbathorum annorum efficient tibi quadraginta novem annos.

9. Then shalt thou cause 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.

9. Tunc transire facies tubam jubilationis mense septimo die mensis, id est die expiationum: transire inquam, facietis tubam per universam terrain vestram.

10. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty 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 family.

10. Sanctificabitisque annum quinquagesimum, et proclamabitis libertatem in terra cunctis habitatoribus ejus: Jobel ipse erit vobis: et revertemini quisque ad possessionem suam, et quisque ad familiam suam revertemini.

11. A jubile 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.

11. Jobel ipse annus quinquaginta annorum erit vobis: non seretis, neque metetis quae sponte produxerit terra: neque vindemiabitis separationes ejus.

12. For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

12. Quia Jobel est, sanctus erit vobis, agri comedetis fructum.

13. In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

13. Anno Jobel isto revertemini singuli ad possessionem suam.

23. The land shall not be sold for ever. Since the reason for this law was peculiar to the children of Abraham, its provisions can hardly be applied to other nations; for so equal a partition of the land was made under Joshua, that the inheritance was distributed amongst the several tribes and families; nay, in order that each man’s possession should be more sacred, the land had been divided by lot, as if God by His own hand located them in their separate stations. In fact, that allotment was, as it were, an inviolable decree of God Himself, whereby the memory of the covenant should be maintained, by which the inheritance of the land had been promised to Abraham and his posterity; and thus the land of Canaan was an earnest, or symbol, or mirror, of the adoption on which their salvation was founded. Wherefore it is not to be wondered at that God was unwilling that this inestimable benefit should ever be lost; and, lest this should be the case, like a provident father of a family, He laid a restraint on His children, to prevent them from being too prodigal; for, when a man has any suspicions of his heir, he forbids him to alienate the patrimony he leaves him. Such, therefore, was the condition of the ancient people; yet it cannot be indiscriminately transferred to other nations who have had no common inheritance given them. Some vestige of it appears in the right of redemption; “Redemptio in Law, a faculty or right of re-entering upon lands, etc., that have been sold and assigned, upon reimbursing the purchase-money with legal costs. Bargains wherein the faculty, or, as some call it, the equity of redemption is reserved, are only a kind of pignorative contracts. A certain time is limited, within which the faculty, of redemption shall be exercised; and beyond which it shall not extend. — Chambers’s Encyclopaedia. but, because that depends on the consent of the parties, and is also a special mode of contract, it has nothing to do with the law of Moses, which entirely restored both men and lands, (in the year of jubilee, Added from Fr. ) That God should call the land of Canaan His, is, as it were, to assert His direct Lordship “La seigneurie directe (qu’on appelle,) ou fonsiere.” — Fr. (dominium,) as they call it, over it; as He immediately afterwards more clearly expresses His meaning, where He says that the children of Israel sojourn in it as His guests. Addition in Fr., “Ou fermiers, ou grangiers.” For although their condition was the best in which just and perpetual owners can be placed, still, as respected God, they were but His tenants (coloni,) only living there at His will. In fine, God claims the freehold (fundum) for Himself, lest the recollection of tits having granted it to them should ever escape them.

24. And in all the land of your possession. Before the jubilee came, He permits not only the relations to redeem land sold by a poor man, but the seller also, if no other redeemer interposed. The same power was also given to relations amongst other nations, though with a different object, viz., the preservation of the family name; still, the seller was never allowed to redeem, unless a special clause to that effect was contained in the contract. But God desired that the lands should be retained by their legal possessor, in order that the people might deviate as little as possible from the division made by Joshua. Meanwhile, He had in view the private advantage of individuals; but in the perpetual succession to the land He considered Himself rather than men, in order that the recollection of His kindness should never be lost. Finally, He orders all lands to return in the year of jubilee to their original owners; and all sales to be cancelled, as if, in the fiftieth year, he renewed the lot for the division of the land.

29. And if a man sell a dwelling-house. He here distinguishes houses from lands, providing that the power of redemption should not extend beyond a year; and also, that the purchase should hold good even in the jubilee. A second distinction, however, is also added between different kinds of houses, viz., that houses in towns might be altogether alienated, whilst the condition of those in the country should be the same as that of the lands themselves, as being annexed so as to form part of them. As regarded houses fix towns, because they were sometimes burdensome to their owners, it was an advantage that they might pass into the hands of the rich who were competent to bear the expenses of building. Besides, a house does not supply daily food like a field, and it is more tolerable to be without a house than a field, in which you may work, and from the cultivation of which you may support yourself and family. But it was necessary to except houses in the country, because they were appendages to the land; for what use would there be in harvesting the fruits, if you had no place to store them in? Nay, what would it profit to possess a farm which you could not cultivate? for how could oxen plough without any stalls in its vicinity? Since, then, lands without farm-buildings or cottages are almost useless, and they cannot be conveniently separated, justly did God appoint that, in the year of Jubilee, every rural possession should revert to its former owner.

32. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites. Another exception, that the Levites should recover the houses they had sold, either by the right of redemption, or gratuitously in the year of jubilee. And this is not only appointed out of favor to them, but because it concerned the whole people, that they should be posted like sentries in the place which God had assigned to them. As to the suburbs, or the lands destined for the support of their cattle, God forbids their alienation, because thus they would have forsaken their proper station and removed elsewhere; whereas it was of importance to the whole people that such a dispersion should not occur.

Deuteronomy 20

Deuteronomy 20:19, 20

19. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down, (for the tree of the field is man’s life,) to employ them in the siege:

19. Si obsederis urbem, diebus multis pugnando adversus eam, ut capias eam, non disperdes arbores ejus, impellendo in eas securim: quia ex illarum fructibus vesceris, propterea ipsas non succides: (quia an homo arbor agri ut ingrediatur a facie tua in munitionem?)

20. Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

20. Veruntamen arbores quas noveris non esse fructiferas, disperdes, et succides: et aedificabis munitionem adversus urbem illam quae tecum dimicat, donec descendat ipsa.

39. And if thy brother. He now proceeds further, i e., that one who has bought his brother should treat him with humanity, and not otherwise than a hired servant. We have seen, indeed, just above, that the labor of a slave is estimated at twice as much, because the humanity of his master will never go so far as to indulge or spare his slave as if he were a hireling. It is not, therefore, without reason that God puts a restraint upon that rule, which experience shows to have been often tyrannical. Still He prescribes no more than heathen philosophers did, Seneca de Benef. 3:22. “Servus (ut placet Chrysippo) perpetuus mercenarius est.” See also Sen. Epp. 6:47, in which the following beautiful sentiment occurs: “Haec tamen mei praecepti summa est, Sic cum inferiore vivas, quemadmodum tecum superiorem velis vivere.” viz., that masters should treat their slaves like hired servants. And this principle of justice ought to prevail towards all without exception; but since it was difficult to prescribe the same rule respecting strangers as respecting their brethren, a special law is enacted, that at least they should observe moderation towards their brethren, with whom they had a common inheritance and condition. First:. therefore, it is provided as to Hebrew slaves that they should not be treated harshly and contemptuously like captives (mancipia;) and then that their slavery should come to an end in the year of jubilee. But here the question arises, since their liberty was before accorded to them in the, seventh year, why it is now postponed to the fiftieth? Some get over the difficulty by supposing that So the Hebrew doctors, and Ainsworth, Caietan, and Willet. Michaelis supposes that servants were regularly restored to freedom after six years’ service, (not on the Sabbatical year, but on the seventh from the sale;) but supposing them bought less than six years before the jubilee, they received their freedom on that year. Laws of Moses, vol. 2 p. 176. — Brightwell. if the jubilee occurred during the six years, they must then be set free, although they had not completed the whole term; but this is too forced a conjecture. The view that most approves itself to me is, that the word יבל, yobel, is extended to mean every seventh year, or, at any rate, that moderation towards those slaves is specially prescribed who were most exposed to violence and other injurious treatment. For they would not have dared to oppress at pleasure their slaves, who were soon afterwards to be free; but those who, by having their ears bored, had subjected themselves to the longer period of slavery, would have been more outrageously harassed, unless God had interposed. And this opinion I freely adopt, that although their slavery lasted to the jubilee, yet flint their masters were to treat them with moderation and humanity. This too is confirmed by what immediately follows, where it is enjoined that the children should be set free with their fathers, which did not take place in the seventh year.

42. For they are my servants. God here declares that His own right is invaded when those, whom He claims as His property, are taken into subjection by another; for He says that He acquired the people as His own when He redeemed them from Egypt. Whence He infers that His right is violated if any should usurp perpetual dominion over a Hebrew. If any object that this is of equal force, when they only serve for a time, I reply, that though God might have justly asserted His sole ownership, yet He was satisfied with this symbol of it; and therefore that He suffered by indulgence that they should be enslaved for a fixed period, provided some trace of His deliverance of them should remain. In a word, He simply chose to apply this preventative lest slavery should altogether extinguish the recollection of His grace, although He allowed it to be thus smothered as it were. Lest, therefore, cruel masters should trust that their tyranny would be exercised with impunity, Moses reminds them that they had to do with God, who will at length appear as its avenger. Although the political laws of Moses are not now in operation, still the analogy is to be preserved, lest the condition of those who have been redeemed by Christ’s blood should be worse amongst us, than that of old of tits ancient people. To whom Paul’s exhortation refers:

“Ye masters, forbear threatening your slaves, knowing that both your and their Master is in heaven.” See Margin of A. V. (Ephesians 6:9.)

44. Both thy bond-men, and thy bond-maids. What God here permits as regards strangers was everywhere customary among the Gentiles, viz., that their power over their slaves should exist not only until their death, but should continue in perpetual succession to their children; for this is the force of the expression, “ye shall possess them for your children,” that the right of ownership should pass to their heir’s also; nor is there a distinction made only as to perpetuity, “Or la diversite d’entre les estrangers, et les enfans d’Israel n’est pas seulement mis, etc.;” now the diversity between strangers and the children of Israel is not only placed, etc. — Fr. but also as to the mode of their treatment. For we must observe the antithesis, “ye shall make use of their service, but over his brother no man shall rule with rigor;” See Margin of A.V. on ver. 46. “His in perpetuum tanquam servis utamini, popularibus vero vestris Israelitis ne severius imperetis.” — Dathe. whence it appears that a restraint was imposed upon them lest they should imperiously rule the children of Abraham, and not leave them half their liberty in comparison with the Gentiles. Not that a tyrannical or cruel exercise of power oyer strangers was allowed, but that God would have the race of Abraham, whose liberator lie was, exempted by certain privileges from the common lot.

47. And if a sojourner or a stranger. A caution is here introduced as to the Israelites who had enslaved themselves to strangers. But by strangers understand only those who inhabited the land of Canaan; for, if any one ]lad been carried away into other countries, God would have enacted this law as to their redemption in vain. A power, therefore, of redeeming the slave is granted to his relatives, or, if he had himself obtained sufficient to pay his price, the same permission is accorded to himself. The mode and the form of this are then expressed: that a calculation of the time which remained before the jubilee should be made, and the period which had already elapsed should be subtracted from the sum, viz., if he had been sold for fifty shekels he should only pay ten shekels in the fortieth year, because only a fifth part of the time remained. But if none of his family aided him, and the unhappy man’s hope of redemption was frustrated, He commands that he should be set free in the jubilee year, in which a general enfranchisement took place as regarded the children of Abraham. The object of the law was, that none of those whom God had adopted, should be alienated from their race, and thus should depart from the true worship of God Himself. The whole of this is comprehended in the last verse, where God declares that the children of Abraham were His property, inasmuch as He had led them forth from the land of Egypt, and, on the other hand, that He is their peculiar God. For, whilst it was just that they should enjoy His blessing, so also it behooved that they should be kept sound in His pure and undivided worship; whereas, if they had been the slaves of Gentiles, not only would the elect people have been diminished in numbers, but circumcision would have been corrupted and a door opened to impious perversions. Yet God so mitigates His law as to lay no unjust burden upon sojourners, since He concedes more to them, with respect to Hebrew slaves, than to the natives of the land; for if they had sold themselves to their brethren, they went forth free in the seventh year, whilst their slavery under sojourners was extended to the fiftieth year. This exception only was introduced that the stranger who had bought slaves should enfranchise them on the payment of their value. Since God had previously promised to His people a large and manifold abundance of all good things, the poverty here adverted to could only occur from the curse of God; Addition in Fr., “Et d’un juste chastiment de leurs pechez;” and as a just chastisement of their sins. we see, therefore, that of His incomparable loving-kindness He stretches forth His hand to the transgressors of His law; and, whilst He chastises them with poverty, still looks upon them, unworthy as they are, and provides a remedy for the ills which their own guilt had brought upon them.

Leviticus 25

Leviticus 25:23-34

23. The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

23. Terra autem non vendetur absolute, quia mea est terra: vos enim peregrini, et advenae estis apud me.

24. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

24. In universa autem terra possessionis vestrae redemptionem dabitis terrae.

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.

25. Quum attenuatus fuerit frater tuus, et vendiderit de possessione sua: tunc veniet redemptor ejus propinquus ipsi: et redimet venditionem fratris sui.

26. And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;

26. Et, si non fuerit viro redemptor, sed apprehenderit manus ejus, et invenerit quod sufficit ad ejus redemptionem;

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.

27. Tunc supputabit annos venditionis suae, et restituet quod superest viro cui vendidit, et revertetur ad possessionem suam.

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 jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.

28. Si vero non invenerit manus ejus quod sufficiat ad reddendum illi, tum erit venditio ejus in manu ejus, qui emit illum, usque ad annum Jubilaei: at egredietur in Jubilaeo, reverteturque ad possessionem suam.

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.

29. Vir autem quum vendiderit domum habitationis in urbe murata, erit redemptio ejus donec compleatur annus venditionis ejus: anno uno erit redemptio ejus.

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.

30. Quod si non redimatur donec impleatur illi annus integer, remanebit domus quae fuerit in civitate cui est murus, absolute ementi illam in generationibus ejus: non egredietur in Jubilaeo.

31. But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about them, shall be counted as the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.

31. Domus autem villarum quibus non est murus in circuitu, secundum agrum terrae aestimabitur, redemptio erit ei, et in Jubilaeo egredietur.

32. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

32. Urbium autem Levitarum, et domorum urbium possessionis eorum, redemptio perpetua erit Levitis.

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.

33. Qui autem emerit a Levitis, egredietur venditio domus, et urbis possessionis ejus in Jubilaeo, quia domus urbium Levitatum est possessio eorum in medio filiorum Israel.

34. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

34. Ager autem suburbii urbium eorum non vendetur, quia possessio perpetua est illis.

CHAPTER 25

Le 25:1-7. Sabbath of the Seventh Year.

2-4. When ye come into the land which I give you--It has been questioned on what year, after the occupation of Canaan, the sabbatic year began to be observed. Some think it was the seventh year after their entrance. But others, considering that as the first six years were spent in the conquest and division of the land (Jos 5:12), and that the sabbatical year was to be observed after six years of agriculture, maintain that the observance did not commence till the fourteenth year.

the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord--This was a very peculiar arrangement. Not only all agricultural processes were to be intermitted every seventh year, but the cultivators had no right to the soil. It lay entirely fallow, and its spontaneous produce was the common property of the poor and the stranger, the cattle and game. This year of rest was to invigorate the productive powers of the land, as the weekly Sabbath was a refreshment to men and cattle. It commenced immediately after the feast of ingathering, and it was calculated to teach the people, in a remarkable manner, the reality of the presence and providential power of God.

Le 25:8-23. The Jubilee.

8-11. thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years--This most extraordinary of all civil institutions, which received the name of "Jubilee" from a Hebrew word signifying a musical instrument, a horn or trumpet, began on the tenth day of the seventh month, or the great day of atonement, when, by order of the public authorities, the sound of trumpets proclaimed the beginning of the universal redemption. All prisoners and captives obtained their liberties, slaves were declared free, and debtors were absolved. The land, as on the sabbatic year, was neither sowed nor reaped, but allowed to enjoy with its inhabitants a sabbath of repose; and its natural produce was the common property of all. Moreover, every inheritance throughout the land of Judea was restored to its original owner.

12. ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field, &c.--All that the ground yielded spontaneously during that period might be eaten for their necessary subsistence, but no persons were at liberty to hoard or form a private stock in reserve.

13. ye shall return every man unto his possession, &c.--Inheritances, from whatever cause, and how frequently soever they had been alienated, came back into the hands of the original proprietors. This law of entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral property. Hence the tribe and family of Christ were readily discovered at his birth.

17. Ye shall not oppress one another, but thou shalt fear thy God--This, which is the same as Le 25:14, related to the sale or purchase of possessions and the duty of paying an honest and equitable regard, on both sides, to the limited period during which the bargain could stand. The object of the legislator was, as far as possible, to maintain the original order of families, and an equality of condition among the people.

21-22. I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years, &c.--A provision was made, by the special interposition of God, to supply the deficiency of food which would otherwise have resulted from the suspension of all labor during the sabbatic year. The sixth year was to yield a miraculous supply for three continuous years. And the remark is applicable to the year of Jubilee as well as the sabbatic year. (See allusions to this extraordinary provision in 2Ki 19:29; Is 37:30). None but a legislator who was conscious of acting under divine authority would have staked his character on so singular an enactment as that of the sabbatic year; and none but a people who had witnessed the fulfilment of the divine promise would have been induced to suspend their agricultural preparations on a recurrence of a periodical Jubilee.

23-28. The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families--who, however, held it of Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect a temporary sale. But they possessed the right of redeeming it, at any time, on payment of an adequate compensation to the present holder; and by the enactments of the Jubilee they recovered it free--so that the land was rendered inalienable. (See an exception to this law, Le 27:20).

29-31. if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold--All sales of houses were subject to the same condition. But there was a difference between the houses of villages (which, being connected with agriculture, were treated as parts of the land) and houses possessed by trading people or foreigners in walled towns, which could only be redeemed within the year after the sale; if not then redeemed, these did not revert to the former owner at the Jubilee.

32-34. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, &c.--The Levites, having no possessions but their towns and their houses, the law conferred on them the same privileges that were granted to the lands of the other Israelites. A certain portion of the lands surrounding the Levitical cities was appropriated to them for the pasturage of their cattle and flocks (Nu 35:4, 5). This was a permanent endowment for the support of the ministry and could not be alienated for any time. The Levites, however, were at liberty to make exchanges among themselves; and a priest might sell his house, garden, and right of pasture to another priest, but not to an Israelite of another tribe (Jr 41:7-9).

35-38. if thy brother be waxen poor, ... relieve him--This was a most benevolent provision for the poor and unfortunate, designed to aid them or alleviate the evils of their condition. Whether a native Israelite or a mere sojourner, his richer neighbor was required to give him food, lodging, and a supply of money without usury. Usury was severely condemned (Psa 15:5; Eze 18:8, 17), but the prohibition cannot be considered as applicable to the modern practice of men in business, borrowing and lending at legal rates of interest.

39-46. if thy brother ... be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant--An Israelite might be compelled, through misfortune, not only to mortgage his inheritance, but himself. In the event of his being reduced to this distress, he was to be treated not as a slave, but a hired servant whose engagement was temporary, and who might, through the friendly aid of a relative, be redeemed at any time before the Jubilee. The ransom money was determined on a most equitable principle. Taking account of the number of years from the proposal to redeem and the Jubilee, of the current wages of labor for that time, and multiplying the remaining years by that sum, the amount was to be paid to the master for his redemption. But if no such friendly interposition was made for a Hebrew slave, he continued in servitude till the year of Jubilee, when, as a matter of course, he regained his liberty, as well as his inheritance. Viewed in the various aspects in which it is presented in this chapter, the Jubilee was an admirable institution, and subservient in an eminent degree to uphold the interests of religion, social order, and freedom among the Israelites.

The land keep a Sabbath - See this ordinance explained, Exo 23:11 (note). It may be asked here: if it required all the annual produce of the field to support the inhabitants, how could the people be nourished the seventh year, when no produce was received from the fields? To this it may be answered, that God sent his blessing in an especial manner on the sixth year, (see Lev 25:21, Lev 25:22), and it brought forth fruit for three years. How astonishing and convincing was this miracle! Could there possibly be any deception here? No! The miracle speaks for itself, proves the Divine authenticity of the law, and takes every prop and stay from the system that wishes to convict the Mosaic ordinances of imposture. See Exo 23:11. It is evident from this that the Mosaic law must have had a Divine origin, as no man in his senses, without God's authority, could have made such an ordinance as this; for the sixth year, from its promulgation, would have amply refuted his pretensions to a Divine mission.

Thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years - This seems to state that the jubilee was to be celebrated on the forty-ninth year; but in Lev 25:10 and Lev 25:11 it is said, Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and, A jubilee shall this fiftieth year be. Probably in this verse Moses either includes the preceding jubilee, and thus with the forty-ninth makes up the number fifty; or he speaks of proclaiming the jubilee on the forty-ninth, and celebrating it on the fiftieth year current. Some think it was celebrated on the forty-ninth year, as is stated in Lev 25:8; and this prevented the Sabbatical year, or seventh year of rest, from being confounded with the jubilee, which it must otherwise have been, had the celebration of this great solemnity taken place on the fiftieth year; but it is most likely that the fiftieth was the real jubilee.

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be - The literal meaning of the word jubilee, יובל yobel in Hebrew, and יוביל yobil in the Samaritan, has not been well ascertained. Josephus and the rabbins have caused many to err; the former says the word signifies liberty; Ελευθεριαν δε σημαινει τουνομα, Antiq., l. 3, cap. 12, edit. Haverc., vol. 1, p. 184; but the word liberty signifies rather the intention of the institution, than the meaning of the Hebrew term. The rabbins say it signifies a ram's horn, because the trumpets which were used in proclaiming this solemnity were made out of ram's horns. This meaning is adopted in a few places in our translation, but none of the ancient versions acknowledge this sense of the term, the Chaldee excepted. Some derive it from יבל yabal, to bring, carry away, because the Israelites at this time carried away the right of repossessing their inheritances which had been forfeited or alienated. The most natural derivation is from הוביל hobil, to cause to bring back, or recall, because estates, etc., which had been alienated, were then brought back to their primitive owners. This was a wise and excellent institution, but appears to have been little regarded by the Jews after the Babylonish captivity. Indeed, it is not mentioned under the second temple, and the observance must have ceased among the Jews when they were brought under a foreign yoke. The jubilee seems to have been typical,

1. Of the great time of release, the Gospel dispensation, when all who believe in Christ Jesus are redeemed from the bondage of sin - repossess the favor and image of God, the only inheritance of the human soul, having all debts cancelled, and the right of inheritance restored. To this the prophet Isaiah seems to allude, Isa 26:13, and particularly Isa 61:1-3.

2. Of the general resurrection. "It is," says Mr. Parkhurst, "a lively prefiguration of the grand consummation of time, which will be introduced in like manner by the trump of God, 1Cor 15:52, when the children and heirs of God shall be delivered from all their forfeitures, and restored to the eternal inheritance allotted to them by their Father; and thenceforth rest from their labors, and be supported in life and happiness by what the field of God shall supply."

It is worthy of remark that the jubilee was not proclaimed till the tenth day of the seventh month, on the very day when the great annual atonement was made for the sins of the people; and does not this prove that the great liberty or redemption from thraldom, published under the Gospel, could not take place till the great Atonement, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, had been offered up? See Lev 25:9.

Ye shall not oppress one another - Ye shall take no advantage of each other's ignorance either in buying or selling; for he that buys an article at less than it is worth, or sells one for more than it is worth, taking advantage in both cases of the ignorance of the vender or buyer, is no better than a thief, as he actually robs his neighbor of as much property as he has bought the article at below or sold it above its current value.

According to the number of years - The purchases that were to be made of lands were to be regulated by the number of years unelapsed of the current jubilee. This was something like buying the unexpired term of a lease among us; the purchase is always regulated by the number of years between the time of purchase and the expiration of the term.

What shall we eat the seventh year? - A very natural question, which could only be laid at rest by the sovereign promise in the next verse:

I will Command my Blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for Three Years. See on Lev 25:2 (note).

The land shall not be sold for ever - the land is mine - As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favorable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling that they had nothing which they could call their own upon earth, they must frequently, by this, be put in mind of the necessity of having a permanent dwelling in the heavenly inheritance, and of that preparation without which it could not be possessed.

Any of his kin come to redeem it - The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim between jubilee and jubilee, by the former owner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the text גאל goel or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus? That he might have a right to redeem man, he took upon him human nature, and thus became a kinsman of the great family of the human race, and thereby possessed the right of redeeming that fallen nature of which he took part, and of buying back to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by transgression.

Sell a dwelling house in a walled city - A very proper difference is put between houses in a city and houses in the country. If a man sold his house in the city, he might redeem it any time in the course of a year; but if it were not redeemed within that time, it could no more be redeemed, nor did it go out even in the jubilee. It was not so with a house in the country; such a house might be redeemed during any part of the interim; and if not redeemed, must go out at the jubilee. The reason in both cases is sufficiently evident; the house in the city might be built for purposes of trade or traffic merely, the house in the country was built on or attached to the inheritance which God had divided to the respective families, and it was therefore absolutely necessary that the same law should apply to the house as to the inheritance. But the same necessity did not hold good with respect to the house in the city: and as we may presume the house in the city was merely for the purpose of trade, when a man bought such a house, and got his business established there, it would have been very inconvenient for him to have removed; but as it was possible that the former owner might have sold the house rashly, or through the pressure of some very urgent necessity, a year was allowed him, that during that time he might have leisure to reconsider his rash act, or so to get through his pressing necessity as to be able to get back his dwelling. This time was sufficiently long in either of the above cases; and as such occurrences might have been the cause of his selling his house, it was necessary that he might have the opportunity of redeeming his pledge. Again, as the purchaser, having bought the house merely for the purpose of trade, manufacture, etc., must have been at great pains and expense to fit the place for his work, and establish his business, in which himself, his children, and his children's children, were to labor and get their bread; hence it was necessary that he should have some certainty of permanent possession, without which, we may naturally conjecture, no such purchases ever would be made. This seems to be the simple reason of the law in both cases.

The cities of the Levites - The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise one. A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time in the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why? "Because Moses framed his laws so much in favor of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges?" etc. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favored that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in: and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.

Take thou no usury of him - Usury, at present, signifies unlawful interest for money. Properly, it means the reward or compensation given for the use of a thing, but is principally spoken of money. For the definition of the original term, See the note on Exo 22:25.

For they are my servants - As God redeemed every Israelite out of Egyptian bondage, they were therefore to consider themselves as his property, and that consequently they should not alienate themselves from him. It was in being his servants, and devoted to his work, that both their religious and political service consisted. And although their political liberty might be lost, they knew that their spiritual liberty never could be forfeited except by an utter alienation from God. God therefore claims the same right to their persons which he does to their lands; See the note on Lev 25:23.

Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor - What is rigorous service? "Service which is not determined, and service whereof there is no need." This is the definition given by the Jews; but much more is implied in this command than is expressed here. Labour beyond the person's strength, or labor too long continued, or in unhealthy or uncomfortable places and circumstances, or without sufficient food, etc., is labor exacted with rigour, and consequently inhuman; and this law is made, not for the Mosaic dispensation and the Jewish people, but for every dispensation and for every people under heaven.

The price of his sale shall be, etc. - This was a very equitable law, both for the sojourner to whom the man was sold, and to the Israelite who had been thus sold. The Israelite might redeem himself, or one of his kindred might redeem him; but this must not be done to the prejudice of his master, the sojourner. They were therefore to reckon the years he must have served from that time till the jubilee; and then, taking the current wages of a servant per year at that time, multiply the remaining years by that sum, and the aggregate was the sum to be given to his master for his redemption. The Jews hold that the kindred of such a person were bound, if in their power, to redeem him, lest he should be swallowed up among the heathen; and we find, from Neh 5:8, that this was done by the Jews on their return from the Babylonish captivity: We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, who were sold unto the heathen.

For unto me the children of Israel are servants - The reason of this law we have already seen, (See on Lev 25:42 (note)), but we must look farther to see the great end of it. The Israelites were a typical people; they represented those under the Gospel dispensation who are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But these last have a peculiarity of blessing: they are not merely servants, but they are Sons; though they also serve God, yet it is in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. And to this difference of state the apostle seems evidently to allude, Gal 4:6, etc.: And because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a Servant, but a Son; and if a Son, then an Heir of God through Christ; genuine believers in Christ not being heirs of an earthly inheritance, nor merely of a heavenly one, for they are heirs of God. God himself therefore is their portion, without whom even heaven itself would not be a state of consummate blessedness to an immortal spirit. The jubilee was a wonderful institution, and was of very great service to the religion, freedom, and independence of the Jewish people. "The motive of this law," says Calmet, "was to prevent the rich from oppressing the poor, and reducing them to perpetual slavery; and that they should not get possession of all the lands by way of purchase, mortgage, or, lastly, usurpation. That debts should not be multiplied too much, lest thereby the poor should be entirely ruined; and that slaves should not continue always, they, their wives and children, in servitude. Besides, Moses intended to preserve, as much as possible, personal liberty, an equality of property, and the regular order of families, among the Hebrews. Lastly, he designed that the people should be strongly attached to their country, lands, and inheritances; that they should have an affection for them, and consider them as estates which descended to them from their ancestors which they were to leave to their posterity, without any fear of their going ultimately out of their families." But this institution especially pointed out the redemption of man by Christ Jesus:

1. Through him, he who was in debt to God's justice had his debt discharged, and his sin forgiven.

2. He who sold himself for naught, who was a bondslave of sin and Satan, regains his liberty and becomes a son of God through faith in his blood.

3. He who by transgression had forfeited all right and title to the kingdom of God, becomes an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. Heaven, his forfeited inheritance, is restored, for the kingdom of heaven is open to all believers; and thus, redeemed from his debt, restored to his liberty, united to the heavenly family, and re-entitled to his inheritance, he goes on his way rejoicing, till he enters the paradise of his Maker, and is for ever with the Lord.

Reader, hast thou applied for this redemption? Does not the trumpet of the jubilee, the glad tidings of salvation by Christ Jesus, sound in the land? Surely it does. Why then continue a bond-slave of sin, a child of wrath, and an heir of hell, when such a salvation is offered unto thee without money and without price? O suffer not this provision to be made ultimately in vain for thee! For what art thou advantaged if thou gain the whole world and lose thy soul?

In mount Sinai - That is, near mount Sinai. So the Hebrew particle beth is sometimes used. So there is no need to disturb the history in this place.

When ye come into the land - So as to be settled in it; for the time of the wars was not to be accounted, nor the time before Joshua's distribution of the land among them. Keep a sabbath - That is, enjoy rest and freedom from plowing, and tilling. Unto the Lord - In obedience and unto the honour of God. This was instituted, For the assertion of God's sovereign right to the land, in which the Israelites were but tenants at God's will. For the trial of their obedience. For the demonstration of his providence as well in general towards men, as especially towards his own people. To wean them from inordinate love, and pursuit of worldly advantages, and to inure them to depend upon God alone, and upon God's blessing for their subsistence. To put them in mind of that blessed and eternal rest provided for all good men.

A sabbath of rest to the land - They were neither to do any work about it, nor expect any harvest from it. All yearly labours were to be intermitted in the seventh year, as much as daily labours on the seventh day.

Of its own accord - From the grains that fell out of the ears the last reaping time. Thou shalt not reap - That is, as thy own peculiarly, but only so as others may reap it with thee, for present food. Undressed - Not cut off by thee, but suffered to grow for the use of the poor.

The sabbath of the land - That is, the growth of the sabbath, or that fruit which groweth in the sabbatical year. For thy servant - For all promiscuously, to take food from thence as they need it.

The jubilee - Signified the true liberty from our spiritual debts and slaveries to be purchased by Christ, and to be published to the world by the sound of the gospel. The seventh month - Which was the first month of the year for civil affairs; the jubilee therefore began in that month; and, as it seems, upon this very tenth day, when the trumpet sounded, as other feasts generally began when the trumpet sounded. In the day of atonement - A very fit time, that when they fasted and prayed for God's mercy to them in the pardon of their sins, then they might exercise their charity to men in forgiving their debts; and to teach us, that the foundation of all solid comfort must be laid in repentance and atonement for our sins through Christ.

The fiftieth year - The year of jubilee was not the forty and ninth year, as some learned men think, but precisely the fiftieth. The old weekly sabbath is called the seventh day, because it truly was so, being next after the six days of the week and distinct from them all: and the year of release is called the seventh year, Lev 25:4, as immediately following the six years, Lev 25:3, and distinct from them all. And in like manner the jubilee is called the fiftieth year, because it comes next after seven tines seven or forty - nine years, Lev 25:8, and is distinct from them all. Unto all the inhabitants - Understand such as were Israelites; principally to all servants, even to such as would not and did not go out at the seventh year, and to the poor, who now were acquitted from all their debts, and restored to their possessions. Jubilee - So called either from the Hebrew word Jobel which signifies first a ram, and then a ram's horn, by the sound whereof it was proclaimed; or from Jubal the inventor of musical instruments, Gen 4:21, because it was celebrated with music and all expressions of joy. Unto his possession - Which had been sold or otherwise alienated from him. This law was not at all unjust, because all buyers and sellers had an eye to this condition in their bargains; but it was expedient in many regards, as To mind them that God alone was the Lord and proprietor both of them and of their lands, and they only his tenants; a point which they were very apt to forget. That hereby inheritances, families, and tribes, might be kept entire and clear until the coming of the Messiah, who was to be known as by other things, so by the tribe and family out of which he was to come. And this accordingly was done by the singular providence of God until the Lord Jesus did come. Since which time those characters are miserably confounded: which is no small argument that the Messiah is come. To set bounds both to the insatiable avarice of some, and the foolish prodigality of others, that the former might not wholly and finally swallow up the inheritances of their brethren, and the latter might not be able to undo themselves and their posterity for ever, which was a singular privilege of this law and people. His family - From whom he was gone, being sold to some other family either by himself or by his father.

It shall be holy - So it was, because it was sequestered in great part from worldly employments and dedicated to God, and to the exercise of holy joy and thankfulness; and because it was a type of that holy and happy jubilee which they were to expect and enjoy under the Messiah. The increase thereof - Such things as it produced of itself. Out of the field - Whence they in common with others might take it as they needed it; but must not put it into barns, See Lev 25:5, and Exo 23:11.

Ye shall not oppress - Neither the seller by requiring more, nor the buyer by taking the advantage from his brother's necessities to give him less than the worth of it.

Years of fruits - Or, fruitful years; for there were some unfruitful years; those wherein they were not allowed to sow or reap.

Years of fruits - Or, For the number of the fruits. The meaning is, he selleth not the land, but only the fruits thereof, and that for a certain time.

For three years - Not compleatly, but in great part, namely, for that part of the 6th year which was between the beginning of harvest and the beginning of the 7th year, for the whole 7th year, and for that part of the 8th year which was before the harvest, which reached almost until the beginning of the ninth year. This is added to shew the equity of this command. As God would hereby try their faith and obedience, so he gave them an eminent proof of his own exact providence and tender care over them in making provisions suitable to their necessities.

Old fruit - Of the sixth year principally, if not solely.

For ever - So as to be for ever alienated from the family of him that sells it. Or, absolutely and properly, so as to become the property of the buyer: Or, to the extermination or utter cutting off, namely, of the seller, from all hopes and possibility of redemption. The land is mine - Procured for you by my power, given to you by my grace and bounty, and the right of propriety reserved by me. With me - That is, in my land or houses: thus he is said to sojourn with another that dwells in his house. Howsoever in your own or other mens opinions you pass for lords and proprietors, yet in truth, ye are but strangers and sojourners, not to possess the land for ever, but only for a season, and to leave it to such as I have appointed for it.

A redemption - A right of redemption in the time and manner following.

If any of his kin come - Or, If the redeemer come, being near akin to him, who in this was an eminent type of Christ, who was made near akin to us by taking our flesh, that he might perform the work of redemption for us.

The years of the sale - That is, from the time of the sale to the jubilee. See above, Lev 25:15,16. The overplus - That is, a convenient price for the years from this redemption to the jubilee.

Go out - That is, out of the buyer's hand, without any redemption money.

It shall not go out - The reasons before alledged for lands do not hold in such houses; there was no danger of confusion in tribes or families by the alienation of houses. The seller also had a greater propriety in houses than in lands, as being commonly built by the owner's cost and diligence, and therefore had a fuller power to dispose of them. Besides, God would hereby encourage persons to buy and possess houses in such places, as frequency and fulness of inhabitants in cities, was a great strength, honour and advantage to the whole land.

In the villages - Because they belonged to and were necessary for the management of the lands.

May not be sold - Not sold at all, partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it.

A sojourner - Understand it of proselytes only, for of other strangers they were permitted to take usury, Deu 23:20.

Of him - That is, of thy brother, whether he be Israelite, or proselyte. Or increase - All kinds of usury are in this case forbidden, whether of money, or of victuals, or of any thing that is commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus. If one borrow in his necessity, there can be no doubt but this law is binding still. But it cannot be thought to bind, where money is borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other improvements. For there it is reasonable, that the lender share with the borrower in the profit.

As a bond - man - Neither for the time, for ever, nor for the manner, with the hardest and vilest kinds of service, rigorously and severely exacted.

Then shall he depart - Thou shalt not suffer him or his to abide longer in thy service, as thou mightest do in the year of release, Exo 21:2,6.

They are my servants - They, no less than you, are members of my church and people; such as I have chosen out of all the world to serve me here, and to enjoy me hereafter, and therefore are not to be oppressed, neither are you absolute lords over them to deal with them as you please.

Fear thy God - Though thou dost not fear them who are in thy power, and unable to right themselves, yet fear that God who hath commanded thee to use them kindly, and who can and will avenge their cause, if thou oppress them.

The flock - Heb. root, that is, one of the root or flock. So the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it. He seems to note one of a foreign race and country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root amongst the people of God, yet even such an one, though he hath some privilege by it, shall not have power to keep an Hebrew servant from the benefit of redemption.

According to the time of an hired servant - Allowance shall be made for the time wherein he hath served, proportionable to that which is given to an hired servant for so long service, because his condition is in this like theirs; it is not properly his person, but his work and labour that was sold.

In thy sight - Thou shalt not suffer this to be done, but whethe thou art a magistrate, or a private person, thou shalt take care according to thy capacity to get it remedied.

1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

(i. e.) Near mount Sinai. So the Hebrew particle beth is sometimes used, as Gen. 37. 13. Ios. 5. 13. Iudg. 8. 5. 2 Chron. 33. 20. compared with 2 King. 21. 18. So there is no need to disturb the order of the I[illegible: 1+ letters]story in this place.

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 sabbath unto the LORD

So as to be settled in it, for the time of the wars was not to be accounted, nor the time before Ioshua's distribution of the land among them, Ios. 14. 7, 10.

(i. e.) Enjoy rest and freedom from plowing, tilling, &c.

(i. e.) In obedience and unto the honour of God. This was instituted partly for the assertion of Gods soveraign right to the land, in which the Israelites were but tenants at Gods will, partly for the trial and exercise of their obedience, partly for the demonstration of his providence aswell in the general towards men, as more especially towards his own people, of which see below ver. 20, 21, 22. partly to wean them from inordinate love and pursuit of or trust to worldly advantages and to inure them to depend upon God alone and upon Gods blessing for their subsistence, partly to put them in mind of that blessed and eternal rest provided for all good men wherein they should be perfectly freed from all worldly labours and troubles and wholly devoted to the service and enjoyment of God. See on Exod. 23. 11. and lastly, that by their own straits in that year they might learn more compassion to the poor who were under the same straits every year.

Marginal references: Heb. rest.; Exod. 23. 11. See ch. 26. 34.

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▪

From the grains that fell out of the ears the last reaping time.

(i. e.) As thy own peculiarly, but onely so as others may reap it with thee, for present food.

Heb. the grapes of thy separation, i. e. The Grapes which thou hast separated or set apart to the honour of God and to the ends and uses appointed by God or, the grapes of that year, which are in this like the Nazarites hair, not cut off by thee, but suffered to grow to the use of the poor.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] King. 19. 29.; Heb. of thy separation.

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 the stranger that sojourneth with thee.

(i. e.) The growth of the Sabbath, or that fruit which groweth in the Sabbatical year. See on Levit▪ 23. 38. where the word, Sabbath, is taken in the like sense.

For all promiscuously, to take food from thence as they need it.

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.

Which signified the true liberty from our spiritual debts and slaveries to be purchased by Christ and to be published to the World by the sound of the Gospel.

Which was the first month of the year for civil and worldly affairs, which were mainly concerned in the Jubilee. And therefore it began in that moneth, and, as it seems, upon this very tenth day, when the trumpet sounded, as other feasts generally began when the trumpet sounded.

A very fit time, that when they fasted and prayed for Gods mercy to them in the pardon of their sins, then they might exercise their Charity and kindness to men in forgiving their debts, which is the true fast, as is noted, Isa. 58. 6. and to teach us, that the foundation of all solid comfort and joy must be laid in bitter Repentance and atonement for our sins through Christ.

Marginal references: Heb. loud of sound.; chap. 23. 27.

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.

By which it seems most probable, that the year of Jubilee was not the forty and ninth year, as some learned men think, but precisely the fiftieth year. Which may appear, 1. Because the Jews account it so, which is confessed by the adversaries of this opinion, who say, that the Iews erre in the computation of the Iubilee, as they do in Christ, the great end and antitype of the Iubilee. But it is not probable that the Jews should universally erre in a matter of constant practise among themselves, especially when there was nothing of interest or prejudice in the case, as there was in reference to Christ. 2. Because it is expresly called the fiftieth year here, and ver. 11. that fiftieth year, which was not true, if it was but the nine and fortieth year. It is said, it is called so popularly, and it was so, if you take in the foregoing Jubilee. But it must be remembred, that there was not yet any foregoing Jubilee, but the very first of the kind is expresly called the fiftieth year, which in truth it was not, if the Jubilee was ended ere the fiftieth year began. 3. From the common course of computation. The old weekly Sabbath is called the seventh day, because it truly was so being next after the six days of the week and distinct from them all: and the year of release is called the seventh year, ver. 4. as immediately following the six years, ver. 3. and distinct from them all. And therefore in like manner the Jubilee must needs be called the fiftieth year, because it comes next after seven times seven or forty nine years, ver. 8. and is distinct from them all. From ver. 11, 12. where it is said, ye shall not sow, nor reap, &c. For it is the Iubilee, &c. which looks like a vain and useless repetition, if this year were but one of the seven years, for this very command was given concerning every seventh year, ver. 4. but if this year of Jubilee was, as indeed it was, a year distinct from and coming after the seven sevens of years, then this repetition and application of that command to it was highly necessary, because otherwise it might seem hard and unreasonable that they should forbear sowing and reaping two years together, which hereby they are commanded to do. Two things are objected against this 1. That the Jubilee was onely a revolution of forty nine years. But that seems a great mistake, for it is most expresly distinguished from them all, and by way of distinction called the fiftieth year, therefore surely none of the forty nine. 2. The difficulty propounded v. 20. concerns onely the 7th. year, whereas it had been a greater difficulty, if it had been extended to the Jubilee, and the Jubilee had been another vacant year coming next after the seventh year. But though the difficulty was greater for the Jubilee, yet it was more frequent for the seventh year: and the resolution of the one made the way plain for the satisfaction of the other. For as God promised so to bless every sixth year, that it should bring forth fruit for three years, ver. 21. so when the case was extraordinary, as in the Jubilee, it was but reasonable to expect an extraordinary blessing from God upon that sixth year which went next before the last of the seventh years or the forty ninth year that it should then bring forth fruit for four years.

Understand such as were Israelites; principally to all servants, even to such as would not and did not go out at the seventh year, and to the poor, who now were acquitted from all their debts, and restored to their possessions.

So called either from the Hebrew word Iobel which signifies first a ram, and then a rams horn, by the sound whereof it was proclaimed; or from Iubal, the inventour of Musical instruments, Gen. 4. 21. because it was celebrated with Musick and all expressions of joy.

Which had been sold or otherwise alienated from him. This Law was not at all unjust because all buyers and sellers had an eye to this condition in their bargains, but it was necessary and expedient in many regards, as 1. To mind them that God alone was the Lord and owner and proprietor both of them and of their lands, and they onely his Tenants and Farmers, a point which they were very apt to forget: 2. That hereby Inheritances, Families, and Tribes, might be kept entire and clear until the coming of the Messias, who was to be known as by other things, so by the Tribe and Family out of which he was to come. And this accordingly was done by the singular providence of God until the Lord Jesus did come. Since which time those characters are miserably confounded: Which is no small argument that the Messias is come. 3. To set bounds both to the insatiable avarice of some, and the foolish prodigality of others, that the former might not wholly and finally swallow up the inheritances of their brethren, and the latter might not be able to undo themselves and their posterity for ever, which was a singular priviledge of this Law and People.

From whom he was gone being sold to some other Family either by himself or by his Father.

11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of it self in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

Though it come immediately after a seventh year, wherein also this was forbidden to you.

12 For it is the jubilee, it shall be holy unto you, ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

So it was, because it was sequestred in great part from worldly employments and dedicated to God, and to the exercise of holy joy and thankfulness; and because it was a type of that holy and happy Jubilee which they were to expect and enjoy by and under the Messias.

Such things as it produced of it self: For the year before nothing was sowed.

Whence they in common with others might take it as they needed it; but must not put it into barns. See ver. 5. and Exod. 23. 11.

14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbours hand, ye shall not oppress one another.

Neither the seller by requiring more, nor the buyer by taking the advantage from his brothers necessities to give him less than the worth of it.

15 According to the number of years after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee.

Or, Of years of fruits, or, of fruitful years; for there were some unfruitful years, to wit, such wherein they were not allowed to sow or reap, &c.

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.

Or, For the number of the fruits. The meaning is, he selleth not the land, but onely the fruits thereof, and that for a certain time.

20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase.

A like objection. See Exod. 34. 23, 24.

21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

Not compleatly, but in great part, to wit, for that part of the sixth year which was between the beginning of harvest and the beginning of the seventh year, for the whole seventh year, and for that part of the eighth year which was before the harvest, which reached almost until the beginning of the ninth year. And by this expression we may understand the meaning of that eminent passage of Christs being three days and three nights in the grave, to wit, one whole day and part of two days: Of which more, if God please, in its proper place. This is added to shew the equity of this command. As God would hereby try their Faith and exercise Obedience, so he gave them an eminent proof of his own exact providence and tender care over them in making provisions suitable to their necessities. Albeit it be also probable, that divers of them, especially such as were more solicitous or distrustful of Gods providence, did lay up something of the fruits of former years against this time.

Marginal references: (i. e.) Give. Commanding is oft used in Scripture either for the performance of promised blessings, as Deut. 28. 8. Psal. 111. 9. and 133. 3. or for the execution of threatned judgements, as Isa. 5. 6. Amos. 9. 4. both being acts of Gods providential will as the command is of his legislative will.

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.

Of the sixth year principally, if not solely.

(i. e.) The fruits of the eighth year.

23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

Or, absolutely and properly, so as to become the propriety of the buyer: Or to the extermination or utter cutting off, to wit, of the seller from all hopes and possibility of Redemption.

Procured for you by my power, given to you by my meer grace and bounty, and the right of propriety reserved by me and to be disposed of by you onely to such persons and in such manner as I shall have ordained.

(i. e.) In my land or houses thus he is said to sojourn with another that dwells in his house. Thus the poor decayed Israelites and the strangers are said to live with them i. e. with the other Israelites, to wit, in the land or houses, here ver. 35, 36, 40, 45. Or, before me, in my sight, or in my account. Howsoever in your own or other mens opinions you pass for Lords and Proprietors, yet in truth, according to which my judgment always is, you are but strangers, and sojourners not to possess the land for ever but onely for a season, and to leave it to such as I have appointed for it.

Marginal references: Or, to be quite cut off.; Heb. for cutting off.; Psal. 119. 19. 1 Pet. 2. 11.

24 And in all the land of your possession, ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

(i. e.) A right of redemption in the time and manner following.

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.

To wit, in the fields, but not in cities, ver. 29.

Or, If the redeemer come being near akin to him, to whom the right of Redemption belonged, Ruth 3. 2, 9, 12. Ier. 32. 7. who in this act was an eminent Type of Christ, who was made near akin to us by taking our flesh that he might perform the work of Redemption for us.

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.

(i. e.) From the time of the sale to the Jubilee. See above ver. 15, 16.

(i. e.) A convenient price for the years from this Redemption to the Jubilee.

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 go out, and he shall return▪ unto his possession.

(i. e.) Out of the buyers hand, without any Redemption mony.

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.

The reason is from the great difference between such houses and lands. The reasons before alledged for lands do not hold in such Houses, there was no danger of confusion in Tribes or Families by the alienation of Houses. The seller also had a greater propriety in Houses than in Lands, as not coming to him by Gods meer gift, but being commonly built by the owners cost and diligence, and therefore had a fuller power to dispose of them. Besides, God would hereby encourage persons to buy and possess Houses in such places which frequency and fulness of Inhabitants in Cities was a great strength, honour and advantage to the whole Land.

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.

Because they belonged to and were necessary or very convenient for the management of the lands.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] belongeth unto it.

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.

Or thus, But he that shall redeem it shall be or must be of the Levites, i. e. No person of another Tribe, though by Marriage near akin to the selling Levite, shall redeem it, but Levites onely, and any of them shall have the same power to redeem it, which in other Tribes onely the nearest kindred have: and, in case none of them redeem it, yet the house that was sold, and the City of his possession, i. e. his share or interest in the City of his possession, shall go out and return to the Levites without any redemption.

Marginal references: Or, one of the Levites redeem them.

34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.

Of which see on Numb. 35. 5.

Not sold at all, partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their Cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a City had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it. Some conceive, that this Law was altered in ensuing ages, which they gather from Ier. 32. 7, 8. &c. and Act. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 36, 37. But those examples do not prove it. That sale of Ieremiahs was made by a particular dispensation and command of God, and that in a time when the Levites, as well as the people, were to be destroyed or dispersed and carried into captivity, and therefore could receive no considerable injury by it: and besides this sale was onely made formally and for signification, as it is explained, ver. 14, 15. And for the land sold by Barnabas a Levite Act. 4. as it was at a time when the Jewish Church was dissolved, and their state upon the brinks of utter ruine, so it is not evident that it was such Suburb land, which would have yielded but a small price, but it might be other land, either such as he might have in right of his wife, or such as he might have purchased. For though the Levites in general had no other share of land beside this, allotted them by God, yet it is conceived that particular Levites might purchase lands to themselves.

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.

Heb. his hand [illegible: 1 word] or faileth or is decayed, so that he hath not power to get or keep wealth, as the phrase is, Deut. 8. 18. as on the contrary, when a man is able, his hand is said to attain and find sufficiency, as here above, ver. 26.

Heb. strengthen him, comfort his Heart, and strengthen his Hand.

Understand it of Proselytes onely, for of other strangers they were permitted to take usury, Deut. 23. 20.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

36 Take thou no usury of him , or increase , but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.

(i. e.) Of thy brother, whether he be Israelite, or Proselyte.

This some conceive relates to the fruits of the earth, food, &c. as [illegible: 1 word] doth to mony. But here may rather feem to be two words expressing the same thing, to meet with the subtil evasions of crafty and covetous men who make gain of their poor brethren (for of such onely he speaks here, as is evident from ver. 36.) by the lending of mony or other things, and that they may quiet their consciences, and palliate their sin they disguise it under other names, and to shew that all kinds of usury are in this case forbidden, whether of mony, or of victuals, or of anything that is commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus, as it is said Deut. 23. 19.

Marginal references: Exod. 22. 25. Deut. 23. 19. Prov. 28. 8. Ezek. 18. 8. and 22. 12.; Nehem. 5. 9.

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 bond-servant .

Neither for the time for ever, nor for the manner, with the hardest and vilest kinds of service rigorously and severely exacted from him.

Marginal references: Exod. 21. 2. Deut. 15. 12. Jer. 34. 14.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of him with the service, &c.

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.

Thou shalt not suffer him or his to abide longer in thy service, as thou mightest do in the year of release, Exod. 21. 2, 6.

42 For they are my servants , which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

They, no less than you are members of my Church and People, such as I have chosen out of all the world to serve me here, and to enjoy me hereafter, and therefore are not to be oppressed or abused, neither are you absolute Lords over them to deal with them as you please.

Marginal references: Heb. with the sale of a bondman.

43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God .

Though thou dost not fear them who are in thy power and unable to right themselves, yet fear that God who hath commanded thee to use them kindly, and who can and will avenge their cause, if thou dost oppresse them.

Marginal references: Eph. 6. 9. Col. 4. 1.

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 strangers family:

Heb. root, i. e. one of the root or stock. So the word ro[illegible: 1+ letters]t is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it, as Numb. 13. 28. 2 Chron. 22. 10. He seems to note one of a forreign race and countrey transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root amongst the people of God, yet even such an one though he hath some priviledge by it, yet he shall not have power to keep an Hebrew servant from the benefit of Redemption.

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.

Allowance shall be made for the time wherein he hath served proportionable to that which is given to an hired servant for so long service, because his condition is in this like theirs, that it is not properly his person, but his work and labour that was sold.

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 .

Thou shalt not suffer this to be done, but whether thou art a Magistrate, or a private person, thou shalt take care according to thy capacity to get it remedied.

Lev 25:1

The law for the sabbatical and jubilee years brings to a close the laws given to Moses by Jehovah upon Mount Sinai. This is shown by the words of the heading (Lev 25:1), which point back to Exo 34:32, and bind together into an inward unity the whole round of laws that Moses received from God upon the mountain, and then gradually announced to the people. The same words are repeated, not only in Lev 7:38 at the close of the laws of sacrifice, but also at Lev 26:46, at the close of the promises and threats which follow the law for the sabbatical and jubilee years, and lastly, at Lev 27:34, after the supplementary law concerning vows. The institution of the jubilee years corresponds to the institution of the day of atonement (ch. 16). Just as all the sins and uncleannesses of the whole congregation, which had remained unatoned for and uncleansed in the course of the year, were to be wiped away by the all-embracing expiation of the yearly recurring day of atonement, and an undisturbed relation to be restored between Jehovah and His people; so, by the appointment of the year of jubilee, the disturbance and confusion of the divinely appointed relations, which had been introduced in the course of time through the inconstancy of all human or earthly things, were to be removed by the appointment of the year of jubilee, and the kingdom of Israel to be brought back to its original condition. The next chapter (ch. 26) bears the same relation to the giving of the law upon Sinai as Exo 23:20-33 to the covenant rights in Ex 20:22-23:19.

Lev 25:2-4

The Sabbatical Year. - When Israel had come into the land which the Lord gave to it, it was to sanctify it to the Lord by the observance of a Sabbath. As the nation at large, with its labourers and beasts of burden, was to keep a Sabbath or day of rest every seventh day of the week, so the land which they filled was to rest (to keep, שׁבּי שׁבת as in Lev 23:32) a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years they were to sow the field and cut the vineyard, i.e., cultivate the corn-fields, vineyards, and olive-yards (Exo 23:11 : see the remarks on cerem at Lev 19:10), and gather in their produce; but in the seventh year the land was to keep a Sabbath of rest (Sabbath sabbathon, Exo 31:15), a Sabbath consecrated to the Lord (see Exo 20:10); and in this year the land was neither to be tilled nor reaped (cf. Exo 23:10-11). זמר in Kal applies only to the cutting of grapes, and so also in Niphal, Isa 5:6; hence zemorah, a vine-branch (Num 13:23), and mazmerah, a pruning-knife (Isa 2:4, etc.).The meaning to sin and play, which is peculiar to the Piel, and is derived from zamar, to hum, has hardly anything to do with this. At all events the connection has not yet been shown to be a probable one. See Hupfeld, Psa 4:1-8 pp. 421-2, note.

The omission of sowing and reaping presupposed that the sabbatical year commenced with the civil year, in the autumn of the sixth year of labour, and not with the ecclesiastical year, on the first of Abib (Nisan), and that it lasted till the autumn of the seventh year, when the cultivation of the land would commence again with the preparation of the ground and the sowing of the seed for the eighth year; and with this the command to proclaim the jubilee year on “the tenth day of the seventh month” throughout all the land (Lev 25:9), and the calculation in Lev 25:21, Lev 25:22, fully agree.

Lev 25:5

“That which has fallen out (been shaken out) of thy harvest (i.e., the corn which had grown from the grains of the previous harvest that had fallen out) thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thine uncut thou shalt not gather.” נזיר, the Nazarite, who let his hair grow freely without cutting it (Num 6:5), is used figuratively, both here and in Lev 25:11, to denote a vine not pruned, since by being left to put forth all its productive power it was consecrated to the Lord. The Roman poets employ a similar figure, and speak of the viridis coma of the vine (Tibull. i. 7, 34; Propert. ii. 15, 12).

Lev 25:6-7

“And the Sabbath of the land (i.e., the produce of the sabbatical year or year of rest, whatever grew that year without cultivation) shall be to you for food, for thee and thy servant,...and for the beasts that are in thy land shall all its produce be for food.” The meaning is, that what grew of itself was not to be reaped by the owner of the land, but that masters and servants, labourers and visitors, cattle and game, were to eat thereof away from the field (cf. Lev 25:12). The produce arising without tilling or sowing was to be a common good for man and beast. According to Exo 23:11, it was to belong to the poor and needy; but the owner was not forbidden to partake of it also, so that there can be no discrepancy discovered between this passage and the verse before us. The produce referred to would be by no means inconsiderable, particularly if there had not been a careful gleaning after the harvest, or the corn had become over-ripe. In the fertile portions of Palestine, especially in the plain of Jezreel and on the table-land of Galilee, as well as in other parts, large quantities of wheat and other cereals are still self-sown from the ripe ears, the over-flowing of which is not gathered by any of the inhabitants of the land. Strabo gives a similar account of Albania, viz., that in many parts a field once sown will bear fruit twice and even three times, the first yield being as much as fifty-fold. The intention of his law was not so much to secure the physical recreation of both the land and people, however useful and necessary this might be for men, animals, and land in this sublunary world; but the land was to keep Sabbath to the Lord in the seventh year. In the sabbatical year the land, which the Lord had given to His people, was to observe a period of holy rest and refreshment to its Lord and God, just as the congregation did on the Sabbath-day; and the hand of man was to be withheld from the fields and fruit-gardens from working them, that they might yield their produce for his use. The earth was to be saved from the hand of man exhausting its power for earthly purposes as his own property, and to enjoy the holy rest with which God had blessed the earth and all its productions after the creation. From this, Israel, as the nation of God, was to learn, on the one hand, that although the earth was created for man, it was not merely created for him to draw out its powers for his own use, but also to be holy to the Lord, and participate in His blessed rest; and on the other hand, that the great purpose for which the congregation of the Lord existed, did not consist in the uninterrupted tilling of the earth, connected with bitter labour in the sweat of his brow (Gen 3:17, Gen 3:19), but in the peaceful enjoyment of the fruits of the earth, which the Lord their God had given them, and would give them still without the labour of their hands, if they strove to keep His covenant and satisfy themselves with His grace. This intention of the sabbatical year comes out still more plainly in the year of jubilee, in which the idea of the sanctification of the whole land as the Lord’s property is still more strongly expressed, and whose inward connection with the sabbatical year is indicated by the fact that the time for observing it was regulated by the sabbatical years (Lev 25:8).

The law for the Year of Jubilee refers first of all to its observance (Lev 25:8-12), and secondly to its effects (a) upon the possession of property (vv. 13-34), and (b) upon the personal freedom of the Israelites (vv. 35-55).

Lev 25:8-9

Keeping the year of jubilee. Lev 25:8, Lev 25:9. Seven Sabbaths of years - i.e., year-Sabbaths or sabbatical years, or seven times seven years, the time of seven year-Sabbaths, that is to say, 49 years - they were to count, and then at the expiration of that time to cause the trumpet of jubilee to go (sound) through the whole land on the tenth of the seventh month, i.e., the day of atonement, to proclaim the entrance of the year of jubilee. This mode of announcement was closely connected with the idea of the year itself. The blowing of trumpets, or blast of the far-sounding horn (shophar, see at Lev 23:24), was the signal of the descent of the Lord upon Sinai, to raise Israel to be His people, to receive them into His covenant, to unite them to Himself, and bless them through His covenant of grace (Exo 19:13, Exo 19:16, Exo 19:19; Exo 20:18). Just as the people were to come up to the mountain at the sounding of the יובל, or the voice of the shophar, to commemorate its union with the Lord, so at the expiration of the seventh sabbatical year the trumpet-blast was to announce to the covenant nation the gracious presence of its God, and the coming of the year which was to bring “liberty throughout the land to all that dwelt therein” (Lev 25:10), - deliverance from bondage (Lev 25:40.), return to their property and family (Lev 25:10, Lev 25:13), and release from the bitter labour of cultivating the land (Lev 25:11, Lev 25:12). This year of grace as proclaimed and began with the day of atonement of every seventh sabbatical year, to show that it was only with the full forgiveness of sins that the blessed liberty of the children of God could possibly commence. This grand year of grace was to return after seven times seven years; i.e., as is expressly stated in Lev 25:10, every fiftieth year was to be sanctified as a year of jubilee. By this regulation of the time, the view held by R. Jehuda, and the chronologists and antiquarians who have followed him, that every seventh sabbatical year, i.e., the 49th year, was to be kept as the year of jubilee, is proved to be at variance with the text, and the fiftieth year is shown to be the year of rest, in which the sabbatical idea attained its fullest realization, and reached its earthly temporal close.

Lev 25:10

The words, “Ye shall proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” are more closely defined by the two clauses commencing with היא יובל in Lev 25:10 and Lev 25:11. “A trumpet-blast shall it be to you, that ye return every one to his own possession, and every one to his family:” a still further explanation is given in Lev 25:23-34 and 39-55. This was to be the fruit or effect of the blast, i.e., of the year commencing with the blast, and hence the year was called “the year of liberty,” or free year, in Eze 46:17. יובל, from יבל to flow with a rushing noise, does not mean jubilation or the time of jubilation (Ges., Kn., and others); but wherever it is not applied to the year of jubilee, it signifies only the loud blast of a trumpet (Exo 19:13; Jos 6:5). This meaning also applies here in Lev 25:10, Lev 25:11 and Lev 25:12; whilst in Lev 25:15, Lev 25:28, Lev 25:30, Lev 25:31, Lev 25:33, Lev 27:18, and Num 36:4, it is used as an abbreviated expression for יובל שׁנת, the year of the trumpet-blast.

Lev 25:11-12

The other effect of the fiftieth year proclaimed with the trumpet-blast consisted in the fact that the Israelites were not to sow or reap, just as in the sabbatical year (see Lev 25:4, Lev 25:5). “For it is יובל,” i.e., not “jubilation or time of jubilation,” but “the time or year of the trumpet-blast, it shall be holy to you,” i.e., a sabbatical time, which is to be holy to you like the day of the trumpet-blast (Lev 25:23, Lev 25:24).

Leviticus 25:13-34

One of the effects of the year of freedom is mentioned here, viz., the return of every man to his own possession; and the way is prepared for it by a warning against overreaching in the sale of land, and the assignment of a reason for this.

Leviticus 25:35-55

The second effect of the jubilee year, viz., the return of an Israelite, who had become a slave, to liberty and to his family, is also introduced with an exhortation to support an impoverished brother (Lev 25:35-38), and preserve to him his personal freedom. Lev 25:35 “If thy brother (countryman, or member of the same tribe) becomes poor, and his hand trembles by thee, thou shalt lay hold of him;” i.e., if he is no longer able to sustain himself alone, thou shalt take him by the arm to help him out of his misfortune. “Let him live with thee as a stranger and sojourner.” וחי introduces the apodosis (see Ges. §126, note 1).

The Sabbatical Year. (b. c. 1490.)

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 sabbath unto the Lord . 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 of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. 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 meat.

The law of Moses laid a great deal of stress upon the sabbath, the sanctification of which was the earliest and most ancient of all divine institutions, designed for the keeping up of the knowledge and worship of the Creator among men; that law not only revived the observance of the weekly sabbath, but, for the further advancement of the honour of them, added the institution of a sabbatical year: In the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, v. 4. And hence the Jews collect that vulgar tradition that after the world has stood six thousand years (a thousand years being to God as one day) it shall cease, and the eternal sabbath shall succeed—a weak foundation on which to build the fixing of that day and hour which it is God's prerogative to know. This sabbatical year began in September, at the end of harvest, the seventh month of their ecclesiastical year: and the law was, 1. That at the seed-time, which immediately followed the end of their in-gathering, they should sow no corn in their land, and that they should not in the spring dress their vineyards, and consequently that they should not expect either harvest or vintage the next year. 2. That what their ground did produce of itself they should not claim any property or use in, otherwise than from hand to mouth, but leave it for the poor, servants, strangers, and cattle, v. 5-7. It must be a sabbath of rest to the land; they must neither do any work about it, nor expect any fruit from it; all annual labours must be intermitted in the seventh year, as much as daily labours on the seventh day. The Jews say they "began not to reckon for the sabbatical year till they had completed the conquest of Canaan, which was in the eighth year of Joshua; the seventh year after that was the first sabbatical year, and so the fiftieth year was the jubilee." This year there was to be a general release of debts (Deut. xv. 1, 2), and a public reading of the law in the feast (Deut. xxxi. 10, 11), to make it the more solemn. Now, (1.) God would hereby show them that he was their landlord, and that they were tenants at will under him. Landlords are wont to stipulate with their tenants when they shall break up their ground, how long they shall till it, and when they shall let it rest: God would thus give, grant, and convey, that good land to them, under such provisos and limitations as should let them know that they were not proprietors, but dependents on their Lord. (2.) It was a kindness to their land to let it rest sometimes, and would keep it in heart (as our husbandmen express it) for posterity, whose satisfaction God would have them to consult, and not to use the ground as if it were designed only for one age. (3.) When they were thus for a whole year taken off from all country business, they would have the more leisure to attend the exercises of religion, and to get the knowledge of God and his law. (4.) They were hereby taught to be charitable and generous, and not to engross all to themselves, but to be willing that others should share with them in the gifts of God's bounty, which the earth brought forth of itself. (5.) They were brought to live in a constant dependence upon the divine providence, finding that, as man lives not by bread alone, so he has bread, not by his own industry alone, but, if God pleases, by the word of blessing from the mouth of God, without any care or pains of man, Matt. iv. 4. (6.) They were reminded of the easy life man lived in paradise, when he ate of every good thing, not, as since, in the sweat of his face. Labour and toil came in with sin. (7.) They were taught to consider how the poor lived, that did neither sow nor reap, even by the blessing of God upon a little. (8.) This year of rest typified the spiritual rest which all believers enter into through Christ, our true Noah, who giveth us comfort and rest concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed, Gen. v. 29. Through him we are eased of the burden of worldly care and labour, both being sanctified and sweetened to us, and we are enabled and encouraged to live by faith. And, as the fruits of this sabbath of the land were enjoyed in common, so the salvation wrought out by Christ is a common salvation; and this sabbatical year seems to have been revived in the Christian church, when the believers had all things common, Acts ii. 44.

Institution of the Jubilee; the Year of the Jubilee. (b. c. 1490.)

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 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. 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. 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. 12 For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In the year of this jubilee 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 oppress one another: 15 According to the number of years after the jubilee 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 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. 17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God. 18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, 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 seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21 Then I will command my blessing 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.

Here is, I. The general institution of the jubilee, v. 8, &c.

1. When it was to be observed: after seven sabbaths of years (v. 8), whether the forty-ninth or fiftieth is a great question among learned men: that it should be the seventh sabbatical year, that is, the forty-ninth (which by a very common form of speech is called the fiftieth), seems to me most probable, and is, I think, made pretty clear and the objections removed by that learned chronologer Calvisius; but this is not a place for arguing the question. Seven sabbaths of weeks were reckoned from the passover to the feast of pentecost (or fiftieth day, for so pentecost signifies), and so seven sabbaths of years from one jubilee to another, and the seventh is called the fiftieth; and all this honour is put upon the sevenths for the sake of God's resting the seventh day from the work of creation.

2. How it was to be proclaimed, with sound of trumpet in all parts of the country (v. 5), both to give notice to all persons of it, and to express their joy and triumph in it; and the word jobel, or jubilee, is supposed to signify some particular sound of the trumpet distinguishable from any other; for the trumpet that gives an uncertain sound is of little service, 1 Cor. xiv. 8. The trumpet was sounded in the close of the day of atonement; thence the jubilee commenced, and very fitly; when they had been humbling and afflicting their souls for sin, then they were made to hear this voice of joy and gladness, Ps. xi. 8. When their peace was made with God, then liberty was proclaimed; for the removal of guilt is necessary to make way for the entrance of all true comfort, Rom. v. 1, 2. In allusion to this solemn proclamation of the jubilee, it was foretold concerning our Lord Jesus that he should preach the acceptable year of the Lord, Isa. lxi. 2. He sent his apostles to proclaim it with the trumpet of the everlasting gospel, which they were to preach to every creature. And it stands still foretold that at the last day the trumpet shall sound, which shall release the dead out of the bondage of the grave, and restore us to our possessions.

3. What was to be done in that year extraordinary; besides the common rest of the land, which was observed every sabbatical year (v. 11, 12), and the release of personal debts (Deut. xv. 2, 3), there was to be the legal restoration of every Israelite to all the property, and all the liberty, which had been alienated from him since the last jubilee; so that never was any people so secured in their liberty and property (those glories of a people) as Israel was. Effectual care was taken that while they kept close to God these should not only not be taken from them by the violence of others, but not thrown away by their own folly.

(1.) The property which every man had in his dividend of the land of Canaan could not be alienated any longer than till the year of jubilee, and then he or his should return to it, and have a title to it as undisputed, and the possession of it as undisturbed, as ever (v. 10, 13): "You shall return every man to his possession; so that if a man had sold or mortgaged his estate, or any part of it, it should then return to him or his heirs, free of all charge and encumbrance. Now this was no wrong to the purchaser, because the year of jubilee was fixed, and every man knew when it would come, and made his bargain accordingly. By our law indeed, if lands be granted to a man and his heirs, upon condition that he should never sell or alienate them, the grant is good, but the condition is void and repugnant: Iniquum est ingenuis hominibus (say the lawyers) non esse liberam rerum suarum alienationem—It is unjust to prevent free men from alienating their own possessions. Yet it is agreed in the books that if the king grant lands to a man in fee upon condition he shall not alienate, the condition is good. Now God would show his people Israel that their land was his, and they were his tenants; and therefore he ties them up that they shall not have power to sell, but only to make leases for any term of years, not going beyond the next jubilee. By this means it was provided, [1.] That their genealogies should be carefully preserved, which would be of use for clearing our Saviour's pedigree. [2.] That the distinction of tribes should be kept up; for, though a man might purchase lands in another tribe, yet he could not retain them longer than till the year of jubilee, and then they would revert of course. [3.] That none should grow exorbitantly rich, by laying house to house, and field to field (Isa. v. 8), but should rather apply themselves to the cultivating of what they had than the enlarging of their possessions. The wisdom of the Roman commonwealth sometimes provided that no man should be master of above 500 acres. [4.] That no family should be sunk and ruined, and condemned to perpetual poverty. This particular care God took for the support of the honour of that people, and the preserving, not only of that good land to the nation in general, but of every man's share to his family in particular, for a perpetual inheritance, that it might the better typify that good part which shall never be taken away from those that have it.

(2.) The liberty which every man was born to, if it were sold or forfeited, should likewise return at the year of jubilee: You shall return every man to his family, v. 10. Those that were sold into other families thereby became strangers to their own; but in this year of redemption they were to return. This was typical of our redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and our restoration to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Some compute that the very year in which Christ died was a year of jubilee, and the last that ever was kept. But, however that be, we are sure it is the Son that makes us free, and then we are free indeed.

II. A law upon this occasion against oppression in buying and selling of land; neither the buyer nor the seller must overreach, v. 14-17. In short, the buyer must not give less, nor the seller take more, than the just value of the thing, considered as necessarily returning at the year of jubilee. It must be settled what the clear yearly value of the land was, and then how many years' purchase it was worth till the year of jubilee. But they must reckon only the years of the fruits (v. 15), and therefore must discount for the sabbatical years. It is easy to observe that the nearer the jubilee was the less must the value of the land be. According to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price. But we do not find it so easy practically to infer thence that the nearer the world comes to its period the less value we should put upon the things of it: because the time is short, and the fashion of the world passeth away, let those that buy be as though they possessed not. One would put little value on an old house, that is ready to drop down. All bargains ought to be made by this rule, You shall not oppress one another, nor take advantage of one another's ignorance or necessity, but thou shalt fear thy God. Note, The fear of God reigning in the heart would effectually restrain us from doing any wrong to our neighbour in word or deed; for, though man be not, God is the avenger of those that go beyond or defraud their brethren, 1 Thess. iv. 6. Perhaps Nehemiah refers to this very law (ch. v. 15), where he tells us that he did not oppress those he had under his power, because of the fear of God.

III. Assurance given them that they should be no losers, but great gainers, by observing these years of rest. It is promised, 1. That they should be safe: You shall dwell in the land in safety, v. 18, and again, v. 19. The word signifies both outward safety and inward security and confidence of spirit, that they should be quiet both from evil and from the fear of evil. 2. That they should be rich: You shall eat your fill. Note, If we be careful to do our duty, we may cheerfully trust God with our comfort. 3. That they should not want food convenient that year in which they did neither sow nor reap: I will command my blessing in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years, v. 21. This was, (1.) A standing miracle, that, whereas at other times one year did but serve to bring in another, the productions of the sixth year should serve to bring in the ninth. Note, The blessing of God upon our provision will make a little go a great way, and satisfy even the poor with bread, Ps. cxxxi. 15. (2.) A lasting memorial of the manna which was given double on the sixth day for two days. (3.) It was intended for an encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty, and to cast their care upon him. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in our obedience.

23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers 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, 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. 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. 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 jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return 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 jubilee. 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. 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 jubilee: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession. 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. 36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, 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.

Here is, I. A law concerning the real estates of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and the transferring of them. 1. No land should be sold for ever from the family to whose lot it fell in the division of the land. And the reason given is, The land is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me, v. 23. (1.) God having a particular propriety in this land, he would by this restraint keep them sensible of it. The possessions of good people, who, having given up themselves to God, have therewith given up all they have to him, are in a particular manner at his disposal, and his disposal of them must be submitted to. (2.) They being strangers and sojourners with him in that land, and having his tabernacle among them, to alienate their part of that land would be in effect to cut themselves off from their fellowship and communion with God, of which that was a token and symbol, for which reason Naboth would rather incur the wrath of a king than part with the inheritance of his fathers, 1 Kings xxi. 3. 2. If a man was constrained through poverty to sell his land for the subsistence of his family, yet, if afterwards he was able, he might redeem it before the year of jubilee (v. 24, 26, 27), and the price must be settled according to the number of years since the sale and before the jubilee. 3. If the person himself was not able to redeem it, his next kinsman might (v. 25): The redeemer thereof, he that is near unto him, shall come and shall redeem, so it might be read. The kinsman is called Goel, the redeemer (Num. v. 8; Ruth iii. 9), to whom belonged the right of redeeming the land. And this typified Christ, who assumed our nature, that he might be our kinsman, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and, being the only kinsman we have that is able to do it, to him belonged the right of redemption. As for all our other kinsmen, their shoe must be plucked off (Ruth iv. 6, 7); they cannot redeem. But Christ can and hath redeemed the inheritance which we by sin had forfeited and alienated, and made a new settlement of it upon all that by faith become allied to him. We know that this Redeemer liveth, Job xix. 25. And some make this duty of the kinsman to signify the brotherly love that should be among Christians, inclining them to recover those that are fallen, and to restore them with the spirit of meekness. 4. If the land was not redeemed before the year of jubilee, then it should return of course to him that had sold or mortgaged it: In the jubilee it shall go out, v. 28. This was a figure of the free grace of God towards us in Christ, by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God, and become entitled to paradise, from which our first parents, and we in them, were expelled for disobedience. 5. A difference was made between houses in walled cities, and lands in the country, or houses in country villages. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the immediate gift of God's bounty; and therefore, if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it any time within a year after the sale, but otherwise it was confirmed to the purchaser for ever, and should not return, no, not at the year of the jubilee, v. 29, 30. This provision was made to encourage strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them. Though they could not purchase land in Canaan to them and their heirs, yet they might purchase houses in walled cities, which would be most convenient for those who were supposed to live by trade. But country houses could be disposed of no otherwise than as lands might. 6. A clause is added in favour of the Levites, by way of exception from these rules. (1.) Dwelling houses in the cities of the Levites might be redeemed at any time, and, if not redeemed, should revert in the year of jubilee (v. 32, 33), because the Levites had no other possessions than cities and their suburbs, and God would show that the Levites were his peculiar care; and it was for the interest of the public that they should not be impoverished, or wormed out of their inheritances. (2.) The fields adjoining to their cities (Num. xxxv. 4, 5) might not be sold at any time, for they belonged, not to particular Levites, but to the city of the Levites, as a corporation, who could not alienate without a wrong to their tribe; therefore, if any of those fields were sold, the bargain was void, v. 34. Even the Egyptians took care to preserve the land of the priests, Gen. xlvii. 22. And there is no less reason for the taking of the maintenance of the gospel ministry under the special protection of Christian governments.

II. A law for the relief of the poor, and the tender usage of poor debtors, and these are of more general and perpetual obligation than the former.

1. The poor must be relieved, v. 35. Here is, (1.) Our brother's poverty and distress supposed: If thy brother be waxen poor; not only thy brother by nation as a Jew, but thy brother by nature as a man, for it follows, though he be a stranger or a sojourner. All men are to be looked upon and treated as brethren, for we have all one Father, Mal. ii. 10. Though he is poor, yet still he is thy brother, and is to be loved and owned as a brother. Poverty does not destroy the relation. Though a son of Abraham, yet he may wax poor and fall into decay. Note, Poverty and decay are great grievances, and very common: The poor you have always with you. (2.) Our duty enjoined: Thou shalt relieve him. By sympathy, pitying the poor; by service, doing for them; and by supply, giving to them according to their necessity and thy ability.

2. Poor debtors must not be oppressed: If thy brother be waxen poor, and have occasion to borrow money of thee for the necessary support of his family, take thou no usury of him, either for money or victuals, v. 36, 37. And thus far this law binds still, but could never be thought binding where money is borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other improvements; for there it is reasonable that the lender share with the borrower in the profit. The law here is plainly intended for the relief of the poor, to whom it is sometimes as great a charity to lend freely as to give. Observe the arguments here used against extortion. (1.) God patronizes the poor: "Fear thy God, who will reckon with thee for all injuries done to the poor: thou fearest not them, but fear him." (2.) Relieve the poor, that they may live with thee, and some way or other they may be serviceable to thee. The rich can as ill spare the hands of the poor as the poor can the purses of the rich. (3.) The same argument is used to enforce this precept that prefaces all the ten commandments: I am the Lord your God which brought you out of Egypt, v. 38. Note, It becomes those that have received mercy to show mercy. If God has been gracious to us, we ought not to be rigorous with our brethren.

Oppression of Brethren Forbidden. (b. c. 1490.)

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: 40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee: 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 fear thy God. 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. 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 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 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; or if he be able, he may redeem himself. 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. 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 jubilee, 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 jubilee, both he, and his children with him. 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.

We have here the laws concerning servitude, designed to preserve the honour of the Jewish nation as a free people, and rescued by a divine power out of the house of bondage, into the glorious liberty of God's sons, his first-born. Now the law is,

I. That a native Israelite should never be made a bondman for perpetuity. If he was sold for debt, or for a crime, by the house of judgment, he was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh; this was appointed, Exod. xxi. 2. But if he sold himself through extreme poverty, having nothing at all left him to preserve his life, and if it was to one of his own nation that he sold himself, in such a case it is here provided, 1. That he should not serve as a bond-servant (v. 39), nor be sold with the sale of a bondman (v. 42); that is, "it must not be looked upon that his master that bought him had as absolute a property in him as in a captive taken in war, that might be used, sold, and bequeathed, at pleasure, as much as a man's cattle; no, he shall serve thee as a hired servant, whom the master has the use of only, but not a despotic power over." And the reason is, They are my servants, v. 42. God does not make his servants slaves, and therefore their brethren must not. God had redeemed them out of Egypt, and therefore they must never be exposed to sale as bondmen. The apostle applies this spiritually (1 Cor. vii. 23), You are bought with a price, be not the servants of men, that is, "of the lusts of men, no, nor of your own lusts;" for, having become the servants of God, we must not let sin reign in our mortal bodies, Rom. vi. 12, 22. 2. That while he did serve he should not be ruled with rigour, as the Israelites were in Egypt, v. 43. Both his work and his usage must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are still required to give to their servants that which is just and equal, Col. iv. 1. They may be used, but must not be abused. Those masters that are always hectoring and domineering over their servants, taunting them and trampling upon them, that are unreasonable in exacting work and giving rebukes, and that rule them with a high hand, forget that their Master is in heaven; and what will they do when he rises up? as holy Job reasons with himself, Job xxxi. 13, 14. 3. That at the year of jubilee he should go out free, he and his children, and should return to his own family, v. 41. This typified our redemption from the service of sin and Satan by the grace of God in Christ, whose truth makes us free, John vii. 32. The Jewish writers say that, for ten days before the jubilee-trumpet sounded, the servants that were to be discharged by it did express their great joy by feasting, and wearing garlands on their heads: it is therefore called the joyful sound, Ps. lxxxix. 15. And we are thus to rejoice in the liberty we have by Christ.

II. That they might purchase bondmen of the heathen nations that were round about them, or of those strangers that sojourned among them (except of those seven nations that were to be destroyed); and might claim a dominion over them, and entail them upon their families as an inheritance, for the year of jubilee should give no discharge to them, v. 44, 46. Thus in our English plantations the negroes only are used as slaves; how much to the credit of Christianity I shall not say. Now, 1. This authority which they had over the bondmen whom they purchased from the neighbouring nations was in pursuance of the blessing of Jacob, Gen. xxvii. 29, Let people serve thee. 2. It prefigured the bringing in of the Gentiles to the service of Christ and his church. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, Ps. ii. 8. And it is promised (Isa. lxi. 5), Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your vine-dressers; see Rev. ii. 26, 27. The upright shall have the dominion in the morning, Ps. xlix. 14. 3. It intimates that none shall have the benefit of the gospel jubilee but those only that are Israelites indeed, and the children of Abraham by faith: as for those that continue heathenish, they continue bondmen. See this turned upon the unbelieving Jews themselves, Gal. iv. 25, where Jerusalem, when she had rejected Christ, is said to be in bondage with her children. Let me only add here that, though they are not forbidden to rule their bondmen with rigour, yet the Jewish doctors say, "It is the property of mercy, and way of wisdom, that a man should be compassionate, and not make his yoke heavy upon any servant that he has."

III. That if an Israelite sold himself for a servant to a wealthy proselyte that sojourned among them care should be taken that he should have the same advantages as if he had sold himself to an Israelite, and in some respects greater. 1. That he should not serve as a bondman, but as a hired servant, and not to be ruled with rigour (v. 53), in thy sight, which intimated that the Jewish magistrates should particularly have an eye to him, and, if he were abused, should take cognizance of it, and redress his grievances, though the injured servant did not himself complain. Also he was to go free at the year of jubilee, v. 54. Though the sons of strangers might serve them for ever, yet the sons of Israel might not serve strangers for ever; yet the servant here, having made himself a slave by his own act and deed, should not go out in the seventh year of release, but in the jubilee only. 2. That he should have this further advantage that he might be redeemed again before the year of jubilee, v. 48, 49. He that had sold himself to an Israelite might, if ever he was able, redeem himself, but his relations had no right to redeem him. "But if a man sold himself to a stranger," the Jews say, "his relations were urged to redeem him; if they did not, it was fit that he should be redeemed at the public charge," which we find done, Neh. v. 8. The price of his ransom was to be computed according to the prospect of the year of jubilee (v. 50-52), as in the redemption of land, v. 15, 16. The learned bishop Patrick quotes one of the Jewish rabbin for an evangelical exposition of that appointment (v. 48), One of his brethren shall redeem him. "This Redeemer," says the rabbi, "is the Messiah, the Son of David." They expected this Messiah to be their Redeemer out of their captivity, and to restore them to their own land again; but we welcome him as the Redeemer who shall come to Zion, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for he shall save his people from their sins; and under this notion there were those that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

CHAP. XXV.

[non-Latin text not transcribed]

ANd Iehovah spake unto Moses, in mount Sinai, saying. Speake unto the sonnes of Israel, and say unto them: When yee come into the land, which I give unto you: then shall the land rest, a sabbath, unto Iehovah. Six yeers, thou shalt sow thy field; and six yeeres, thou shalt prune thy vineyard: and shalt gather, the revenue thereof. And in the seventh yeere, shall bee a Sabbath of sabbatisme, unto the land; a Sabbath, for Iehovah: thou shalt not sow, thy field; nor prune, thy vineyard. That which groweth-of-it-owne-accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reape; and the grapes of thy separation, thou shalt not gather: it shall be unto the land, a yeere of sabbatisme. And the Sabbath of the land, shall bee unto you for meat, unto thee, and unto thy man servant, and unto thy woman servant: and unto thy hired servant, and unto thy sojourner; the strangers, that are with thee. And unto thy cattell; and unto the beast, that are in thy land: shall all the revenue therof bee, for to eat.

And thou shalt number unto thee seven Sabbaths of yeeres; seven yeers, seven times: and the daies of the seven Sabbaths of yeers, shall be unto thee, nine and forty yeers. And thou shalt cause-to-sound, the trumpet ofloud sound, in the seventh moneth; in the tenth day of the moneth: in the day of Atonements, shall yee cause the trumpet to sound, throughout all your land. And yee shall sanctifie, the yeere of fiftie yeeres; and proclaime liberty, throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof: a Iubile it shall be unto you; and ye shall returne, every-man unto his possession; and every-man unto his family, shall returne. A Iubile shall it be, a yeere of fifty yeeres, shall it be unto you: ye shall not sow; neither shall yee reape, that which groweth-of-it-selfe in it, neither shall ye gather the grapes, of the separations therof. For, it is the Iubile; holinesse, shall it bee unto you: out of the field, yee shall eate the revenue thereof. In this yeere of Iubile; ye shall returne, every-man unto his possession. And if ye sell a sale, unto thy neighbour; or buy, of thy neighbours hand: doe not ye oppresse, any man his brother. According to the number of yeeres, after the Iubile; thou shalt buy, of thy neighbour: according to the number of the yeeres of the revenues, he shall sell unto thee. According to the multitude of yeeres, thou shalt multiply the price thereof; and according to the diminution of yeeres, thou shalt diminsh the price thereof: for, (according to) the number of the revenues, doth he sell unto thee. And ye shall not oppresse, any man his neighbor; but thou shalt feare thy God: for, I am Iehovah, your God. And yee shall doe my statutes, and keepe my judgements, and do them: & ye shall dwell on the land, in confident-safety. And the land, shall give her fruit; and ye shall eate, to the full: and dwell thereon, in confident-safetie. And if ye shall say, what shall we eat, in the seventh yeere? behold, we shall not sow; neither shall we gather our revenue. Then I will command my blessing upon you, in the sixt yeer: and it shall bring forth revenue, for three yeeres. And ye shall sow, the eight yeere: and shall eat, of the old revenue: untill the ninth yeere, untill her revenue come in, ye shall eate of the old. And the land, shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners, with me. And in all the land of your possession; yee shall grant a redemption, for the land.

If thy brother be waxen poore; and hath sold, some of his possession: then the redeemer thereof, he that is neere unto him, shall come; and shall redeeme, the sale of his brother. And a man, if he have not a redeemer: and his hand hath attained, and found sufficiencie for the redemption thereof. Then he shall count, the yeeres of the sale thereof; and restore the overplus, unto the man to whom he sold it: and hee shall returne, unto his possession. And if his hand finde not sufficiencie to restore unto him; then his sale shall be, in the hand of the buyer therof, untill the yeere of Iubile: and it shall goe-out, in the Iubile: and he shall returne, unto his possession.

And a man, if he sell a dwelling house, in a walled citie; then the redemption thereof shall be, until the end of the yeere of the sale there of: a yeere of daies, shal be the redemption thereof. And if it be not redeemed, untill a whole yeere be fulfilled thereto; then the house, which is in the citie that hath [illegible: 1 span] not a wall, shall bee confirmed for ever, to [illegible: 1 span] him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not goe-out, in the Iubile. But the houses of the villages which have no wall, round-about; shall be every-one counted, as a field of the countrie: redemption shall be for it; in the Iubile it shall goe-out. And the cities of the Levites; the houses of the cities of their possession: a redemption ever, shall be to the Levites. And he which shall redeeme, (shall be) of the Levites; and the sale of the house, and the citie of his possession, shall goe-out in the Iubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites, that is their possession; among the sonnes of Israel. And the field, of the suburbs of their cities, shall not be sold: for it is to them, a possession for ever.

And if thy brother be waxen poore; and his hand fayleth, with thee: then thou shalt strengthen him; even the stranger and the sojourner, that he may live with thee. Take not thou of him, biting-usury or increase; but feare thy God: and let thy brother live with thee. Thy mony, thou shalt not give unto him, upon biting-usurie: not give him thy meat, upon increase. I, am Iehovah your God; which brought you forth, out of the land of Egypt: to give unto you, the land of Canaan; to be unto you, a God.

And if thy brothr be waxen-poore, with thee, and be sold unto thee: thou shalt not serve thy selfe with him, with the service of a servant. As an hired servant as a sojourner, he shall be with thee: unto the yeere of Iubile, he shall serve with thee. And hee shall goe-out from with thee; he, and his sonnes with him: and shall returne, unto his family; and unto the possession of his fathers, shall he returne. For they are my servants; whom I brought, out of the land of Egypt: they shal not be sold, with the sale of a servant. Thou shalt not rule over him, with rigour: but shalt feare thy God. Both thy man-servant and thy woman-servant, which thou shalt have: (shall be) of the heathens, that are round-about you; of them shall ye buy, man-servant and woman-servant. And also, of the sons of the sojourners, that doe sojourne with you, of them ye shall buy; and of their familie, which are with you; which they beget, in your land: and they shall be to you, for a possession. And ye shall take them as an-inheritance for your sons after you, to inherit for a possession; for ever, with them ye shall serve your selves: but over your brethren, the sons of Israel, any-man over his brother; thou shalt not rule over him, with rigour.

And if the hand of the stranger and sojourner with thee, doe attaine; and thy brother be waxen-poore, by him: and be sold, unto the strāger the sojourner, with thee; or to the stocke, of the strangers familie. After that he is sold, a redemption shall bee for him: one of his brethren, shall redeeme him. Either his uncle, or his uncles sonne, shall redeeme him; or any of the neere-kin of his flesh, of his family, shall redeeme him: or if his hand hath attained, then he shall redeeme himselfe. And he shall count, with him that bought him; from the yeere, that he was sold to him; unto the yeere of Iubile: and the money of his sale, shall be according to the number of yeeres; as the daies of an hired servant, shall he be with him. If there be yet many, of the yeeres: according unto them, shall he restore his redemption; out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remaine but a few, of the yeeres, unto the yeere of Iubile, when hee hath counted with him: according to his yeeres, hee shall restore his redemption. As an hired-servant of the yeere, by the yeere, shall he be with him: he shall not rule over him with rigour, before thine eyes. And if he bee not redeemed, by these: then he shall goe-out, in the yeere of Iubile, hee, and his sonnes with him. For unto mee, the sons of Israel are servants; they are my servants; whom I brought-forth, out of the land of Egypt: I am Iehovah your God.

Annotations. [non-Latin text not transcribed] These letters signifie the beginning of the two and thirtieth section, or lecture of the Law: see Gen. 6. 9. IN mount Sinai] or, by the mount; that is, in the plaine about it, where Israel camped still, Numb. 10. 11. 12. So Manasses is sayd to bee buried in his house, 2 Chro. 33. 20. when it was but in the garden of his house, 2 King. 21. 18. And here God beginneth to teach his people the profession and practise of their obedience unto him, in their land and possessions, sanctified by the Sabbaths & Iubilees. Which were a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ, Coloss. 2. 17. 12. Therefore these were the ordinances of mount Sinai, which brought forth children unto bondage: but wee are come unto mount Sion, where the Lambe (Christ) standeth with his 144. thousand, that have his Fathers name written in their foreheads; and by faith doe enter into his rest. Gal. 4. 25. Rev. 14. 1. Heb. 12. 22. and 4. 3. Vers. 2. rest] or keepe sabbath. a Sabbath] or, a rest: the Chaldee calleth it a release or remission; which word Moses useth in Deut. 15. 1. This Law tooke place when they had possession of the land, which was conquered by Iosua in 7. yeeres; so the eight yeere after Moses death, was the first to be reckned towards the Sabbath yeere, and yeere of Iubile; as appeareth by Ios. 14. 1. 2. 7. 10. &c. For Caleb was 40. yeeres old when hee was sent to veiw the land, in the second yeere after their comming out of Egypt, Numb 13. Deut. 1. and they were 38. yeers under Moses in the wildernes, Deut. 2. 14. and when Caleb was 85. yeeres old, the land was given them for inheritance, Ios. 14. 7. 10. that in the 8. yeere of Iosua, they beganne the count; and the seventh yeere after was the first Sabbath yeere, and the fiftieth yeere after, the first Iubile. V. 3. the revenue] or, income, that is, the fruit, as the Greeke translateth. And under these principalls, all other worke belonging to husbandry, is implied. V. 4. Sabbath of sabbatisme] that is, of rest: which two words signifie an exact rest, as is noted on Exodus 16. 23. unto the land] which should have rest every seventh yeere, from being ploughed, digged, dounged, or manured; from being reaped, or mo[illegible: 1 span]en, or the like. As the Sabbath day (wherein men rested) was to teach Israel that they themselves were the Lords: so the Sabbath yeere was to teach that the land was the Lords; therefore he addeth a Sabbath unto Iehovah, meaning unto his honour, and in signe of homage unto him; which the Chaldee translateth a release before the Lord. The Sabbath day was a rest from their labours, laid upon man for sinne, Gen. 3. 19. the Sabbath yeere was a rest for the ground, which for mans sin, God had cursed, Gen. 3. 17. In this yeer, at the feast of boothes, there was a solemn reading of Gods Law, before all Israel, Deut 31. 10.—13. and at the end of this yeer, a release of debts, Deut. 15. 1. 2. &c. It was a figure of the Sabbath or rest, which Christ was to give unto his Church; of the understanding, which they should have in his Law; and the remission of their sins, (which were their debts, Mat. 6. 12. Luk. 11. 4.) when the time of grace, the acceptable yeere of the Lord should be proclaimed, Esay 61. 1. 2. Luke 4. 18. 19. &c. 1 Cor. 6. 2. Thus every seventh yeere, was for them to meditate of, and in faith to expect Christ; who is the true Noe, that giveth us comfort and rest from our worke, and from the sorrow of our hands; because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed, Genesis 5. 29. prune] or, cut thy vineyard, meaning the superfluous branches of the vines, which the husbandman cutteth off, to make the trees more fruitfull. Therefore to signifie that God would leave the vine of his Church wast, he saith, it shal not be pruned, Esa. 5. 6. And under these, all other worke of husbandry is forbidden. The Hebrew canons shew it thus. It is commanded to rest from tilling of the land, and dressing of trees, in the seventh yeere, Lev. 25. And who so doth worke of tillage of land or trees, in that yeere, be frus[illegible: 1 letter]ateth a commandement, and transgresseth against a prohibition, Lev. 25. 4. They may not plant in the seventh (yeere) though they bee trees that beare no fruit; nor cut off k[illegible: 2 letters]bs from the trees, nor brush off withered lea[illegible: 1 span] boughes, nor binde up the branches, nor make a sm[illegible: 1 span] under them to kill the wormes, nor cover the pla[illegible: 3 letters], with any thing whrein dung is, that the fowles might not eat them when they are tendor, nor cover the [illegible: 1 word] fruits, &c: and so all other culture (or husbanaing) o[illegible: 1 letter] trees. For sowing or pruning, or reaping, or gatharing fruits this yeere, a man was to be beaten; whether they were the fruits of the vineyard, or of other trees; for other works not expressed in the Law, he was not beaten but chastised (or scourged.) He that pla[illegible: 1 span] in the seventh yeere, either of ignorance, or presum[illegible: 1 span] ously; (that which he planted) was plucked-up-by the roots. He that ploughed or dounged his ground in the seventh yeere; that it might be the fitter to sow whe[illegible: 1 letter] the seventh yeere was out, they amearsed him, & he might not sow it, at the going out of the seventh yeere. If he removed thorns, or gathered out stones, to fit it against the seventh yeere went out; for asmuch, as he [illegible: 1 word] that which was not lawfull; he was amearsed: but [illegible: 1 letter]ee might sow it, at the going out of the yeere, &c. Maimony tom. 3. in Iobel (or treat. of the Intermission [illegible: 1 word] Iubile,) chap. 1. The outward rest of Israel from these laborious works, figured a better rest which all the people of God should have by Christ, ceasing from their owne works, and doing the worke of God, beleving in his Sonne, by whom they shall find rest unto their soules. Heb. 4. 9. 10. Iohn. 6. 29. Mat. 11. 28. 20. Vnlesse they did thus, the land injoyed not her Sabbathes, Lev. 26. 34. 35. Ver. 5. That which groweth of it owne accord] called in Hebrew, by one word, Saphiach: which is said to be All that the earth bringeth forth in the seve[illegible: 3 letters] yeer, either of the seed which fell into it before the sev[illegible: 3 letters] yeere, or of the roots which were reaped, and did grow and beare againe. Maimony in Iobel ch. 4. sect. 1. shall not reape] to weet, after the manner that they reaped every other yeere; he that so reaped it, was to be beaten, but he reaped a little at once, and did [illegible: 1 word] out, and eate it. Maimony ibidem ch. 4. sect. 1. of thy separation] which were separated and exempted from the owners, from salt and merchandise and by the word of God made free and common for all. The Greeke translateth of thy sanctifi[illegible: 1 span], the Chaldee of thy leaving, that is, which thou art to leave in common. Or they may be so called, because the land and trees were to bee left un[illegible: 1 span] red and undressed, and so after a sort sepa[illegible: 1 span]ō the owners care & husbandry. The Hebrewes say, The seventh yeere is of more weight then the holy thing: for he that redeemeth an holy thing, it goeth out am[illegible: 2 letters]g the common things, and they take the price for [illegible: 1 span] the seventh yeere, not so: for if one sell the fruits of the seventh yeere, they take the price, and make it as the fruits of the seventh yeere: and the fruits thems[illegible: 1 span] (which were sold) are not profaned, or made as [illegible: 1 word] fruits of other yeeres. Mat. in Iebel ch. 6. sect. 6. Vers. 6. the Sabbath] that is, the fruits of the S[illegible: 1 span] bath, to weet of the seventh yeere. for [illegible: 1 word] and for drinke, and for anointing, and for suc[illegible: 2 letters] ther uses as the creatures naturally served, [illegible: 1 word] men and beasts. But that which was for [illegible: 1 word] meat, the Hebrewes say, might not bee imployed to other uses; nor sold as merchandise: see the [illegible: 1 span] on Exod. 23. 11. thy sojourner] the stranger [illegible: 1 word], that dwelt in the land: and so in common for all in differently, the owner had no more right in it, then any other man; wherefore whosoe [illegible: 1 span] locked up his vineyard, or hedged in his field in the seventh yeere, broke a commandement. And so if he gathered all his fruits into his house; but all was to be free, and every mans hand alike in every place. Maimony in I[illegible: 2 letters]el ch. 4. sect. 24. But they might not carie the fruits out of the land, nor feed the heathens with them, nor [illegible: 1 span]elings (of the heathens,) except they had agreed to find them meat: but strangers that were guests might eate of them. Maim. ibid. ch. 5. sect. 13. Vers. 7. the beast] or, as the Greeke translateth, the wilde beasts: under which the fowles also are comprehended. But the fruits which were properly m[illegible: 2 letters]s mea[illegible: 1 letter], they might not feed cattell with them. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 5. sect. 5. the revenue] or in-come, which properly is the fruit when it is ripe, and fit to be gathered into the barne. Whereupon the Hebrewes say, they might not gather in the fruits of the seventh yeer, when they were unripe; they might eate a little of them in the field, before they were ripe, as they did others yeeres, but not bring any to bee eaten within their houses, till the season of the tithes. Maimony ibid. chap. 5. sect. 15. for to [illegible: 1 word]] for meat. From hence the Hebrewes gather, that the fruits of the seventh yeere, might not bee eaten (by men,) save so long as the same kind (of fruits) were found in the field: so long as the beast did eate of that kinde, out of the field, thou maist eate of it that is in the house. If it be all consumed for the beast, out of the field, a man is bound to put that kinde (of meat) out of his house. And after the putting away, it is unlawfull to be eaten, either of poore or rich, Maimony in Iobel, ch. 7. sect. 1. This Sabbath or Rest of the Lords land, and common participation of all the fruits thereof, prefigured the spirituall Rest of his Church which they enter into by the faith of Christ, Heb. 4. and the communion of all graces and good things; as the scriptures mention the common faith, Tit. 1. 4. the common salvation, Iude, ver. 3. and the communion of the mystery thereof, Ephes. 3. 9. whiles both Iewes and Gentiles are fellow-heires, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise of Christ by the Gospell, Ephes. 3. 6. Besides communion also in outward things, as need requireth; as when all that beleeved, were together, and had all things common; & sold their possessions & goods, and p[illegible: 1 span]ed them to all men, as every man had need; and continuing daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eate their meat with gladnesse, and singlenesse of heart; and the multitude of them that beleeved, were of one heart, and of [illegible: 1 word] soule; neither said any of them, that ought of the things which hee possessed was his owne, but they had all things common. Act. 2. 44. 45. 46. and 4. 32. Vers. 8. thou shalt number] The Hebrewes hold, that this comandement of numbring seven times seven yeeres, and the commandement of sanctifying the fiftieth yeere, vers. 10. was given to the high Sy[illegible: 2 letters]drion (or great Senate of Israel) onely: unto whom the care of proclaiming the [illegible: 1 letter]ubile and lib[illegible: 3 letters]ies of the same, did belong. Ma[illegible: 1 span]. treat. of the Intermission and Iubile, ch. 10. sect. 1. seven Sabbathes] in Greeke, seven Rests: in Chaldee, sev[illegible: 1 span] Releases (or Intermissions.) 49. yeeres] which nine and fortieth yeer was the seventh rest or Sabbath yeere. And the beginning of this numbring, fell out in the 8. yeere of Iosua, as is shewed before on vers. 2. but the Hebrewes misse generally in this computation, saying that the beginning of this count, was fourteene yeers after they came into the land; for six yeeres (were spent) in conquering the land, and seven yeeres in parting of it. Mam. in Iobel. c. 10. s. 2. But this agreeth not with Calebs speech in Ios. 14. 7.—10. neither was the land so long inparting. Wherfore as they have missed of Christ, unto whō all their Sabbathes and Iubilees led them: so God hath given them over to misse in the computation of their Iubilees, wherby they are the more hardened in their errour. Even the Storke in the heaven, knoweth her appointed times; and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow, observe the time of their comming: but the Iewes know not the judgment of the LORD; Ier. 8. 7. O ye hypocrites, ye can discerne the face of the skie, yet can ye not discerne the signes of the times? Matt. 16. 3. Vers. 9. shalt cause to sound] Hebrew shalt cause to passe: which word when it is used of sounds or voices, meaneth to proclaime, publish, or declare, [illegible: 1 word] the Greeke here translateth it; so after, and in [illegible: 1 letter]zr. 1. 1. They caused the trompet to passe throughout all the borders of Israel: saith Maim. in Iobel ch. 10. sect. 10. the trompet] or, the cor[illegible: 2 letters]t: see [illegible: 1 letter]ev. 23 24. The trompet of the Iubilee, and of the beginning of the yeer, is one, in every respect. Maim. in Iobel, ch. 10. sect. 11. and Talmud in Rosh hasshanath, chap. 3. of loud-sound] or of alarme, as is Englished in Numb. 10. 5. See the notes on Lev. 23. 14. It is commanded to blow with the trompet, in the tenth (day) of Tisri (that is Sebtember,) in the yeere of Iubile, and this commandement is given to the Synedrion first, as it is written, And thou shalt cause to sound, &c. and every particular person is bound to blow, as it is written, yee shall cause the trompet to sound; &c. Maimony ibidem ch. 13. sect. 10. This blowing with trompets, figured the preaching of the Gospel, Luk. 4. 18. 19. as is shewed also on Levit. 23. day of Atonements] or of expiation, which was the Fasting day, when the whole Church every yeere afflicted their soules, and the high priest made atonement for them in the most holy place, Lev. 16. ch. & 23. 27. And though the yeere began tenne dayes before, (the first of the moneth,) yet as our spirituall bondage was not done away, but by the atonemēt made through the death of Christ, Heb. 2. 14. 15. so neither was the type hereof performed in Israel till the day of Atonement. The Hebrewes say, From the beginning of the yeere untill the day of Atonement, the servants were not released unto their owne houses, nor from being in servitude to their masters: Neither were the fields returned to their owners: but the servants did eate and drinke, and rejoyce, & weare crownes (or garlands) upon their heads. When the day of Atonement came, the Magistrates (the Synedrion) blew the trompet, the servants were released to their owne houses, and the lands returned to their owners. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 10. sect. 14. Vers. 10. the yeere of fiftie yeeres] an Hebrew Phrase, meaning the yeere even the fiftieth yeere: so that they misse which count every nine and fortieth yeere to be the Iubile: that was the seventh seven, the ordinarie Sabbath and yeere of Rest, and the yeere following, was the Iubile, even the fiftieth, so two holy yeeres came came together. Thus the Hebrew canons declare it; The yeere of Iubile commeth not in the count of the yeeres of the seven; but the nine and fourtieth yeere is the Release, and the fiftieth yeere the Iubile; and the one and fifteth yeere beginneth the sixe yeeres of the Seven (following:) and so in every Iubile. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 10. sect. 7. And againe, The nine and fortieth yeere it selfe, is the (yeere of) Release: and after it is the Iubile, in the fiftieth yeer. R. Menachem on Lev. 25. proclaime libertie] for Hebrew servants, from their Masters, Ier. 34. 8. 9. Such as went not out at the seventh yeere of their servitude, but were bored through the eare to serve for ever, went out at the Iubile; for then their ever was at an end, as is noted on Exod. 21. 2. 6. & as after followeth in this chap. v. 39. 40. 41. Wherefore the other legal ordinances which are commanded to be kept for ever, had also their end at the Iubile of the Gospel, as the Apostle sheweth, Heb. 9. 9. 10. 11. Colos. 2. 14. 16. 17. And the Iewes which urge the obseruation of them, may be answered from their owne writers. It is a knowne thing, that this word (legnolam) For ever, is sometime spoken of a time determined, as, Hee shall serve him for ever, (Exod. 21. 6.) that is to say, unto the ever of the Iubilee. And sometime it is spoken of length of dayes, without knowledge of their limit, but yet they have a limit and an end; as, Let King David live for ever, (1 King. 1. 31.) And sometimes it is spoken of a time which hath none end, as, The Lord shall reigne for ever and aye, (Psal. 10. 16.) saith R. Menachem on Lev. 25. This yeere of liberty, figured the yeere of grace by Christ, who dying in the last Iubile that ever the land had, did deliver them who through feare of death, were all their life time subject to bondage, Heb. 2. 14. 15. such as were the servants of sinne, whom the Sonne making free, they are free in deed, Iohn 4. 34. 36. Of this time of grace Christ prophecying, calleth it the yere of his redeemed, Esay 63. 4. and the acceptable yeere of the LORD, Esay 61. 2. And the Apostle exhorting us, that we receive not the grace of God in vaine, saith, Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation, 2 Cor. 6. 1. 2. a Iubile] in Hebrew Iobel, which the Chaldee calleth Iobela; the Greeke here interpreteth it, a yeere of remission of signification. In Ezek. 46. 17. it is called the yeere of libertie. The Hebrewes some of them thinke it hath the name (from the Arabike) of a rammes horne, whereof the Cornets sounded this yeere, were made: so the trompets of Iobelim, in Ios. 6. 4. are in Chaldee expounded, trompets of rams horne. But the Hebrew word signifieth neither ram, nor horn, but hath the name of carying, or leading-alōg, Iob 10. 19. and 21. 32. Psal. 60. 11. whereupon Iuball is a streame, or water course, that runneth along, and carieth things with it, Ier. 17. 8. Esay 44. 4. And thus R. Menachem, (on Lev. 25.) and the Zohar, derive the name Iobel, from Iubal: Streame, or water-course, according to that phrase in Ier. 17. 8. It seemeth also to have the name of the long-sound of the trompet; as in Exod. 19. 13. Iobel is the sound of the trompet: and because this yeere was joyfull to servants and poore people; of the joyfull shout which they made, and sound of trompets, the Latines have borrowed the word Iubile, which is to make a joyfull shout. And in mysterie, the Iubile is so named, as carying men to Christ, by whose redemption all the faithfull have cause to shout and rejoyce. When hee sounded the Trompet of his Gospel, (as God hath sent him to preach the Gospell to the poore, to preach deliver a[illegible: 1 span] to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blinde, to set at libertie them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable yeere of the Lord.) then he said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your eares; and all bare him witnesse, and wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, Luk. 4. 18.—22. his possession] his tenement, meaning lands and houses which had beene sold, and now must be returned to the first owners: a figure of our restoring by Christ into Paradise: the possession whereof, Adam lost by sinne: Gen. 3. Luk. 23. 43. So there were three things especiall unto this yeere; the sounding of trompets, the freedome of servants, and the restoring of lands or tenements: but the resting of the land was one with the seventh yeers rest, vers. 4. 11. And here note the accord and the difference betweene the Sabbath (or seventh) yeere, and the Iubile, which the Hebrewes lay, downe thus: The Law of the Iubile for the resting of the land, and the Law of the yeere of Release, is one in every respect. Whatsoever is forbidden in the sevēth yeere concerning the tilling of the land, is forbiaden in the yeere of Iubile: and whatsoever is lawfull in [illegible: 1 word] seventh yeere, is lawfull in the Iubile: & that work for which they are beaten if they doe it in the seventh yeere they are beaten for the same in the Iubile. And the Law for the fruits of the yeere of Iubile, concerning eating, or selling, or putting them away, is as the law for the fruits of the seventh yeere in every respect. The seventh yeere is above the Iubile, in that the seventh yeere releaseth (debts of) money, (Deut. 15. 1. [illegible: 1 word].) which the Iubile doth not: and the Iubile is above the seventh yeere, in that the Iubile letteth servants goe out (free,) and releaseth lands, [which the seventh yeere doth not.] Lev. 25. 24. The Iubile releaseth lands, in the beginning of the same: but the seventh yeere releaseth not moneyes, till the end of the same, (Deut. 15. 1.) Maim, in Iobel, chap. 10. sect. 15. 16. Further, from these words, yee shall returne every man, &c. they gather, that he which gave his field f[illegible: 1 span] a gift (though he sold it not,) yet it was restored [illegible: 1 word] him in the yeere of Iubilee: Maim. ibid. ch. 11. s. 19. his familie] from which hee was departed whiles through poverty he was sold unto another familie, vers. 39. 40. 41. It figured our returning unto God the Father, through our Lord Iesus Christ; of whom the whole familie in heaven and e[illegible: 1 span] is named, Eph. 3. 15. Vers. 11. A Iubile shall it be] or, That Iubile, [illegible: 1 word] be unto you, the yeere of fiftie yeeres; that is, even in the fiftieth yeere. The Greeke translateth it, (A yeer) of remission of signification shall it be unto you; the fiftieth yeere shall the yeere bee unto you. of the separations thereof] which the Greeke calleth the sanctified fruits thereof. They were separated from the owners, and sanctified of God to bee common for all; like the fruits of the seventh yeere, as before is noted. See vers 4. 5. 7. Vers. 12. it is the Iubile] in Greeke, it is the signification of remission. holinesse] that is, a most holy yeere, to be hallowed or sanctified unto the Lord, by the obedience of these his precepts, & meditation of a better rest, freedome & holynes, wch should be obtained by Christ, in the acceptable yeere of the Lord, Luk. 4. 18. 19. 21. out of the field] and not out of the barne; see the notes on ver. 5. and on Exodus 23. 11. By this, God also led them to depend upon him for their daily bread, and not to care for the morrow, Mat. 6. 31. 34. and to w[illegible: 1 letter]ane them from the world, that they that buy, may bee as though they possessed not, and they that use this world, as though they used it not, 1 Cor. 7. 30 31. Vers. 14. if ye sell] that is, if any of you: the Greeke for more plainness, changeth the number, if thou sell: so after, the Greeke sayth oppresse (or [illegible: 1 span]ing) not thou. not oppresse] or, not vexe, not make a prey. This Moses here and in the next ve[illegible: 1 letter]se shewe[illegible: 2 letters]l to concerne both buyer and seller: so that if a man sold too deare, the buyer was oppressed; and if a man bought a thing too chcape, the seller was oppressed. V. 15. According to] or By the number of yeeres: which two phrases doe explaine one another, and are used sometime indifferently: as [non-Latin text not transcribed] In (or by) the word of Gad, 1 Chron. 21. 19. is by another Prophet set downe, [non-Latin text not transcribed] According to the word of Gad, 2 Sam. 24. 19. And so the Greeke translateth it here, According to. So after, in vers. 50. and in Numb. 14. 34. yeeres of the revenues] that is, of the fruits: so that the land properly was not sold, but the fruits thereof, v. 16. See after on vers. 23 25. From this word yeeres, the Hebrewes gather, that Who so selleth his field, he cannot redeeme it till after two yeers, because it is said, according to the number of the yeeres of the revenues, hee shall sell unto thee. Yea though he that bought it would consent, yet he may not: till after two yeeres from the sale thereof. And the buyer must eat two revenues of two yeeres, and afterward it may bee redeemed. Therefore if the seventh yeere be one of the two yeeres, or if it be a yeere of blasting or m[illegible: 1 letter]ldew, it is not reckned in the number. And if hee buy it one yeere before the Iubile, bee eateth of it the second yeere after the Iubile; for it is written, THE YEERES OF THE REVENVES. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 11. sect. 9. 10. 12. Vers. 16. the number of the revenues] that is, according to the number of yeeres of the revenues: as verse [illegible: 1 word]. Verse. 17. feare thy God] by abstaining from this evill, and doing the contrary good; for; by the feare of the Lord, men depart from evill, Prov. 16. 6. and whereas it is said, in 1 King. 8. 40 that they may feare [illegible: 1 span] as long as they live: another Prophet openeth [illegible: 1 letter]t thus, that they may feare thee, and walke in thy waies as long as they live: 2 Chro. 6. 31. But the want of the feare of God, is the fountaine of evill deeds, Deut. 25. 18. Psal. 36. 2. Rom. 3. 18. So Nehemias blaming cruelty in the Iewes towards their brethren, said, Ought yee not to walke in the feare of our God? Neh. 5. 9. V. 18. my statutes] the Gr. addeth, all my st[illegible: 1 span]tes and all my judgments: which addition is here implyed, as elsewhere the Holy Ghost explain[illegible: 2 letters]h him-selfe: for, to stablish the words of the Law: D[illegible: 1 span] [illegible: 1 word]. 26. meaneth all things written in the bo[illegible: 1 letter]ke o[illegible: 1 span] Law, Gal. 3. 10. and They did eate, Luk 9. 17. M[illegible: 1 letter]r 7. 8. is expounded, They did all eat, Mat. 14. 20. and 15. 37. & many the like. See the notes on Ex. 25. 40 in confident-safety] or, with boldnes and security. The originall word signifieth both the confidence or boldnes which men that trust in God, and walk in his wayes, have within themselves, and the safety and secure estate, wherein God serreth them; frō danger of evill. This promise is often renewed; as in Lev. 26. 5. Deut. 12. 28. & 23. 12. 28 Prov 1. 33. Ezek. 28 26. & 34. 27. 28. and under this promi[illegible: 1 letter]e, eternall life is figured; as is shewed on Gen. 12. 5. Vers. 19. give] or yeeld her fruit: which was a signe of Gods blessing, Lev. 26. 3. 4. Psalme 67. [illegible: 1 word] 7. and a figure of heavenly blessings in Christ, Esay 45. 8. Psal. 85. 11. 12. 13. Ezek 34 26. 27. eate to the full] or, eate unto satie[illegible: 2 letters]e: see the notes on Lev. 26. 5. Vers. 20. behold we shall not sow] the Greeke [illegible: 1 span] teth it, if we sow not, nor gather, &c. This saying or thought of theirs, God approveth not o[illegible: 1 letter]: for hee teacheth men, by the s[illegible: 1 letter]wles of the aire, and lilies of the field, to take no thought, what to eate or drinke, or wherewith to be clothed, Matt. 6. 25. 26. &c. But preventeth the objection of humane infirmitie, by promise of extraordinary blessing, to them that obey his Law. The like hee doth in Exodus 34. 23. 24. about their going up to this solemne feasts; and in Mitthew 6. 33. to all that seeke his kingdome and righteousnesse. Verse 21. will command] that is, will powerfully send: as the Greeke interpreteth, I will send: but it noteth the power and efficacie of Gods word, who sendeth his edict upon earth, and his word runneth very swiftly, Psalme 147. 15. So Moses againe speaketh of commanding the blessing, Deuteronomie 28 8. and David, in Psalme 133. 3. and of commanding salvation, Psalme 44. 5. and 71. 3. of commanding strength, Psalme 68. 29. and other things, which hee effectually pr[illegible: 4 letters]eth and causeth to come to passe, 2 Samuel 17. 14. Verse 22. yee shall eate] This promise of blessings and the fruition of them, was to encourage them in obedience to Gods Law; for godlinesse is profitable unto all things; having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Timothie 4. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound towards us, that wee alwayes having all-sufficiencie in all things, may abound to every good worke. And he that ministreth seed to the sower; will both minister bread for your food, and multiply our seed sowen, and increase the fruits of our righteousnes, 2 Cor. 9. 8. 10. Vers. 23. for ever] or absolutely, precisely: Hebrew to binding-fast; meaning unto the buyer, as ver. 30. and this the Greeke version favoureth, translating, unto confirmation; that is, to bee firme and fast unto him that bought it, as his owne for ever. And as the originall word is sometime used for cutting off, so it may here bee Englished; and then it meaneth, it should not bee sold so as to bee cut off off from redemption, (as vers. 24.) or to bee absolutely cut-off from the first owner. The Chaldee translateth, absolutely or properly, for the proprietie of him that buyeth the same. Hereupon Naboth would not sell his inheritance to the King, 1 King, 21. 3. See also Ezek. 48. 14 where the oblation of land given to the Priests and Levites, they might not sell it, neither exchange, nor alienate the first fruits of the land: because it was holy, unto the LORD. is mine] Though the whole earth be the Lords, and the plentie thereof, Psal. 24. 1. yet the land of Canaan was his in more speciall manner, (even as Israel to whom he gave it, was his peculiar people above others, Exod. 19. 5.) because he had sanctified it to be the inheritance of his Church here on earth, Gen. 12. 7. and a figure of the inheritance of his saints in heaven, Hebrewes 11. 9. 10. Therefore it is called THE LORDS land, Hos. 9. 3. and Immanuels (that is, Christs) land, Esay 8. 8. and the holy land, Zach. 2. 12. and so being Gods, men had no right to sell it; and it taught them, that the gift of God may not be purchased with money, Act. 8. 20. and that the heavēly heritage which he hath prepared for his in Christ, cannot bee alienated from them; but is surely confirmed in his blood, and reserved in heaven for them; unto which they shall returne at the great Iubile of his second appearing, when the trompet of God shall sound, Rom. 8. 38. 39. Iohn 10. 28. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 4. 5. 1 Thes. 4. 16. 17. sojourners with mee] that is, as the Greeke and Chaldee expound it, before me. Thus David professed, I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner as all my fathers, Psalme 39. 13. and so hee speaketh of all I[illegible: 1 letter]rael, in 1 Chron. 29. 15. (where in sted of with thee, he saith before thee.) So that as the heathens that became proselytes, had no inheritance in the land, but dwelt therein as sojourners, so was Israel in the sight of God. Hereby he taught them, to desire and seeke a better country, that is, an heavenly; where there remaineth a rest for the people of God: Heb. 11. 13. 14. 16. 9. 10. and 4. 8. 9. See the annotations on Gen. 12. 5. and 13. 15. Some understand this with me, as if the Lord himselfe were but as a sojourner in this world, and his people with him; whereupon R. Menachem, (on this place) bringeth an exposition of more ancient Doctors thus: For ye are strangers and sojourners with me; it is enough for the servant, that he be as his master. This may have use, if it bee referred unto Christ, and his sojourning here in our flesh; who also himselfe used this proverb unto his, saying, It is enough for the disciple, that he be as his master; and the servant, as his Lord, &c. Mat. 10. 25 Vers. 24. grant] or give a redemption, that is, suffer it to be redeemed; (for giving, is often used for suffering, as is noted on Gen. 20. 6.) And this redemption, is by the yeere of Iubile, when every man was to let the land returne to the owner, as being redeemed for him by the Lord. Of mens redeeming their lands by money, &c. he speaketh afterward. Hereupon the Hebrew canons say, the land of Israel, which was parted among the tribes, may not be sold for ever, Lev. 25. 23. And if a man selleth for ever, both of them [the seller and the buyer] doe transgresse against a prohibition: and it availeth them nothing; for in the Iubile, the land returneth to the owner thereof. The Iubile is above the seventh yeere, for that the Iubile letteth servants goe out free, and releaseth land: and this is the right of the sale of fields, spoken of in the law, and is a thing commanded, as it is written, YE SHALL GRANT A REDEMPTIO[illegible: 1 letter] FOR THE LAND. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 11. sect. 1. and chap. 10. sect. 16. This figured the land and state of grace, which all Gods people by the Iubile of the Gospel doe returne unto by repentance and faith in Christ, though by their former sinnes, they have for a time deprived themselves of their inheritance in his Church, 2 Cor. 2. 7. 8. 1 Iohn 1. 9. V. 25. waxen-poore] or brought low, as the Greeke translateth it in v. 39. though here both the Greek and Chaldee expound it waxen poore. Hereupon the Hebrew canons say, A man may sell his house, or field of his possession, (although they returne againe unto him after the time,) unlesse he be a poore man, Lev. 25. 25. But sell them for to put the [illegible: 1 span]ony in his purse, or to make merchandise with it, or to get vessels, or servants, or beasts therewith, he may not; save for food onely. Yet if hee transgresse and sell, the sale notwithstanding is confirmed. Maim. in Iobel, c. 11. s. 3. the redeemer] the Hebrew Goel, is also a kinsman, Numb. 5. 8. Ruth 3. 9. unto whom the right or redeeming lands, houses, or persons doth belong, & also theavenging of their blood (if they be slaine) Num. 35. 10. Which kinsman, in this worke of redemption, was often a figure of Christ, who being neer unto us, and allied in the flesh (in that he rock part of the same flesh and blood with us, Heb. 2. 14.) is called our Goel, that is, Redeemer or Deliverer: as, the Redeemer shall come to (and out of Sion: Esay 59. 20. Romanes 26. And hee it is, that hath redeemed us, & our heavenly inheritance unto us in our low depressed and poore estate, Hos. 13. 14. 1 Thes. 1. 10 2 Cor. 8. 9. Rom. 5. 6. 8. 10. The Hebrewes in Tan[illegible: 1 letter]huma upon this place, say, the Redemer thereof, this is the holy blessed (God) as it is said (in Ier. 30. 34.) their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name, &c. he that is [illegible: 1 word] unto him, this is the holy blessed (God) as it is said (in Psal. 148. 14.) a people neere him. Thus they saw somewhat a far off; though their eyes are darkned, that they cannot perceive how God was in Christ our redeemer, whom they crucified. neere unto him] or next, to weet, in blood: as Lev. [illegible: 1 letter]1. 2. 3. Num. 27. 11. the sale of his brother] that w[illegible: 1 span] his brother hath sold. This dutie of the naturall kinsman, shadowed the duty of love which all Christians should shew one to another, by spiritual alliance; in helping to recover them that are occasionally fallen, and restoring them with the spirit of [illegible: 1 letter]ecknes, Gal. 6. 1. 2. 1 Ioh. 5. 16. Vers. 26. hath attained] in Greeke, aboundeth, or, [illegible: 1 word]; which word is used in Act. 11. 29. every man according to his abilitie. From hence the Hebrewes conclude, that a man must redeeme it with his owne; for if he borroweth (of an other,) to redeeme it with all; they hearken not unto him. Maim. in Iobel, c. 11. s. 17. found sufficiency for] or, even the sufficiency of theredemption. This the Hebrewes understand to bee of such things as he hath gotten after the sale; wherefore they say, He that selleth a field of his possession, and hath hath other fields, and selleth of them fields, enough to redeeme the field which hee sold; they hearken not unto him: for it is written, AND FOVND SVFFICIENCY FOR THE REDEMPTION, that is, when hee hath found something, which was not found with him, at the time of the sale. Maimony ibid. ch. 11. s. 17. V. 27. restore the overplus] The Hebrewes explaine it thus; As if there remaine unto the Iubile ten yeeres, and he selleth him his field for an hundered crownes, & [illegible: 1 letter]e that bought it, hath eaten of (the fruits) of it three yeere, and then the seller would redeeme it, hee is to give [illegible: 1 letter]0. crownes, and the other is to restore him his field. And so if he have eaten of it six yeeres, he is to give him fortie (crownes) and the other restoreth him the field. If he redeeme it not, but leave it in the hand of him that bought it, untill the yeere of Iubile; then it returneth to the (first) owner, without price. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 11. sect. 5. Vers. 28. the Iubile] in Greeke, the Remission. to his possession] that is, to his land, but trees and the like, are by the Hebrewes excepted. If a man sell trees; he cannot redeeme them before two yeeres, [as is before noted on vers. 15.] and if hee doe not redeeme them, they returne not to the owner, in the Iubile: for it is written, HE SHALL RETVRNE to his possession, he saith not to the trees. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 11. sect. 14. See more in Lev. 27. This returning of the poore to their possessions, figured the grace of God toward us in Christ, whereby we are restored into his favour, and shall be to his heavenly inheritance, Col. 1. 12. 13. 14. and 3. 24. Ephes. 1. 10. 11. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 4. compared with Esay 60. 2[illegible: 1 letter]. and 61. 7. and 65. 9. Contrariwise it was a signe of wrath, when God threatned, the seller shall [illegible: 1 word] returne to that which is sold, Ezek. 7. 13. Vers. 29. a walled city] Hebrew, citie of wall, which the Greek explaineth walled; the Chaldee, compassed with a wall, the end] or, the perfection, the whole accomplishment of the yeere; in Greeke, till the yeere be fulfilled; meaning, that it might bee redeemed by the owner any time within the yeere; but not after. dayes] understand, a yeere of dayes, as the Hebrew sometime expresseth, Gen. 41. 1. meaning an whole or perfect yeere, (as the next verse sheweth,) which consisteth of 365. dayes and sixe houres. Thus the sale and redemption of houses, differed from lands; wch in the Hebrew canons is explained thus. He that selleth an house within a citie compassed with a wall, hee may redeeme it all a twelve moneths (space) from the day that hee sold it, at any time that he pleaseth, yea though it bee the same day that be sold it. And when he pleaseth to redeeme it, he giveth all the price which be tooke. and abateth nothing to him that bought it. And his neer ki[illegible: 1 letter]ne may not redeeme it [as they might doe his land, verse 25.] but the seller himselfe, if his hand can attaine is it; and he may sell his goods to redeeme it: but hee may not borrow, and redeeme it therewith. If he that bought it be dead, he may redeeme it out of the hand of his sonne: so if he that sold it, be dead; his sonne may redeeme it all the twelve moneths. If the 12. moneths be out, and it is not redeemed: then it is absolutely confirmed in the hand of him that bought it. And so if he gave his house for a gift, and redeemed it not within twelve moneths, it is absolutely his to whom he gave it. If it bee leapeyeere, [that is, a yeere of thirteene moneths, as the Hebrewes had two Adars or Februaries, by reason of odde dayes:] it is not absolutely made away till the end thereof, as it is written. TILL A WHOLE YEERE BE FVLFILLED. Lev. 25. 30. to imply the moneth that is overplus. If the twelve moneth day become, and he cannot be found that bought it, that it may be redemed from him: then (the owner) leaveth the money with the Synedrion, and breakes open the doore, and goeth into his house; and when he comes that bought it, hee goeth (to the Synedrion,) and taketh his m[illegible: 1 letter]ny. Ma[illegible: 1 letter]mony in Iobel, ch. 12. sect. 1.—7. Vers. 30. hath not a wall] this because it seemeth contrarie to the former, is written and noted in the Hebrew margine to be read, hath a wall; there being in the letters a difference, but not in the pronunciation; as the like hath beene before in Exod. 21. 8. Lev. 11. 21. The Greeke and Chaldee also translate, hath a wall, and that the meaning is so, the words foregoing shew. Yet is not the text corrupted, (as is observed from the Hebrewes in Exodus 21. 8.) but it seemeth, may thus be reconciled; that if it were in a city which sometimes had a wall, but for the present had none, or very ruinous (as was the case of Ierusalem, 2 King. 25. 10.) then the order here set, should stand for the sale of the house. And here I will add[illegible: 1 letter] what the Hebrewes write concerning this: The citie which was not compassed with a wall, at the time when Iosua conquered the land; though it bee walled now, yet it is like the houses of the villages: and the city which was compassed with a wall in Iosuahs dayes, though it [illegible: 1 letter]ee not walled now, yet it is as if it were walled. And when they went into captivity, at the first desolation (of the Temple, 2 Kings 25.) the holinesse of the walled Cities which had beene in Iosuahs time, ceased: when Ezra came up, at the second comming into the land. (Ezra 1.) all the walled Cities were sanctfied at that time; because their comming in in the dayes of Ezra, which was the second comming, was at their comming in in the dayes of Iosuah: &c. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 12. sect. 15. for ever] or, to the cutting off of all redemption; the Greeke translateth, firmely, the Chaldee absolutely: see verse 23. And as this is expresly spoken of the house, so the Hebrewes say, that gardens, and bathes to wash in, and dovehouses, which were within the wals of the city, these were as the houses: but fields if any were within the city, were to be redeemed as fields that were without the citie. So for Ierusalem; they say, no house might be absolutely sold in it: likewise, that an house builded upon the wall; [as was Rahabs, Ios. 2. 25.] was not as the (other) houses of a walled citie. Maim. in Iobel, c. 12. s. 11. in the Iubile] Greek, in the remission. Likewise, if one sold an house in a walled citie, and the Iubile came within the yeere of the sale, it was not returned in the Iubile; but remained in the hand of him that purchased it; till it pleased the seller to redeeme it all the yeere of the sale, or that the yeere were fulfilled, and so it was absolutely gone. Maim. in Iobel. ch. 12. sect. 9. Vers. 31. villages] or, open-places; the word is elsewhere used for Courtyards. no wall-round-about] meaning a wall properly, of earth, stone or the like. For, a citie that had the gardens thereof for a wall, or that had the Sea for a wall, was not (counted) a walled citie. No place was called a walled citie, till it had in it three villages (or courtyards) or moe; and in every of those villages, two houses or moe; and it were compassed with a wall at first, and afterward they builded villages within it. But a place that was first inhabited, and afterward walled about; or wherein there were not three villages with two houses in every of them, it was not a walled citie; but the houses therein, where as the houses of the villages. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 12. sect. 13. 14. redemption shal be to it] that is, it may be redeemed at any time, at the fields before mentioned; or it may be redeemed as the houses forementioned. Both are shewed by the Hebrewes thus; He that selleth any house in the villages, or in a citie which hath no wall, as is meet for it; it may be redeemed as liketh him best, according to the law of the field, or according to the Law of the house in a walled city. As, if he will redeeme it out of hand, hee may redeeme it according to the law for houses: [that is, without abating any thing to him that bought it.] If the 12. moneths be expired, and he hath not redeemed it; loe hee may redeeme it till the yeere of Iubile, according to the law for fields. And when he redeemeth it, he is to count with him that bought it, and abate unto him, for the time that he injoyed it. If the Iubile come, and hee hath not redeemed it: the house returneth (to the owner) without price, after the manner that fields doe. Maimony in Iobel, ch. 12. sect. 10. Vers. 32. of the Levites] which were the sixe cities of Refuge, & forty two cities moe, (48. in all,) given them to dwell in, and the suburbs of them, for to feed their cattell, Num. 35. Ios. 22. a redemption ever] that is, they may ever (or at any time) be redeemed by the Levites: to the Greeke explaineth it. And the Hebrewes say, The Priests and Levites may redeeme their houses in walled cities, at any time when they please, though it bee after many yeeres. Maim. in Iobel, ch. 13. sect. 7. shall be to the Levites] This caution respecteth the possessiōs which the Levites injoyed in their cities; and so doth that which followeth in vers. 33. that the redeemer must be of the Levites. Wherfore the Hebrewes have this rule: An Israelite which is heyre to his mothers father a Levite, he redeemeth as the Levites doe, though he be not a Levite; yet sieing the cities or fields are the Levites, he may redeeme (at any time) for ever. For this right dependeth upon those places, and not upon the owners. And a Levite which is heyre to his mothers father an Israelite; he redeemeth as an Israelite, and not as the Levites doe: for it is not said that the Levites may redeeme at any time for ever, but in the cities of the Levites. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 13. sect. 8. 9. Vers. 33. redeeme, of the Levites] understood, [illegible: 1 word] shal be of the Levites, and it shall not be redeemed by other Israelites. Some take redeeming here, for buying or purchasing: though I finde not the word so to meane, any other where. the sale of the house] that is, the house which is sold, as vers. 28. and the citie] the Greek translateth, and the sale of the houses of the citie of their possession, shall got out: and so it agreeth with the reason following. shall go out] unto the first owner, as ver. 28. out of the hands of any Israelite that had bought it, or of any other Levite that had redeemed it. their possession] whereas the Levites might have no part in the spoiles of the heathens that were conquered, not inheritance in the houses and lands which were divided to the other Israelites, Deut. 18. 1. God gave them cities and suburbs, for them and their cattell, which was all the possession they had: therefore he confirmed this gift unto them, with a stricter law both for sale and redemption, then the Israelites had for their possessions. Ver. 34. the field] that is, the fields: as the Greeke translateth. of the suburbs] which wee three thousand cubits every way, from the wall of the city and outward; see Numb. 35. 4. 5. with the annotations. not be sold] this seemeth to be an absolute prohibition, that though the Levites might sell their houses, yet not their lands at all: which yet was but a figurative restraint (as the other legall ordinances,) untill the Iubile of the Gospel; for then, Barnabas a Levite sold his field, that hee might injoy a better inheritance among the saints Act. 4. 36. 37. Howbeit the Hebrew doctors understand this Law otherwise, and say; The Priests and the Levites, which sell any field of their cities, [illegible: 1 span] ny house, &c. doe redeeme them after this manner: they sell fields, though it be neer to the Iubile, and redeeme them out of hand and they redeeme houses in the walled cities, at any time when they please, though it bee after many yeeres, Lev. 25. 32. Maimony in Iobel, chap. 13. sect. 7. And this law against selling, they expound of alteration or changing, thus: In the Levites cities, they may not make of a citie the suburbs; nor of the suburbs a citie, nor of the suburbs a field, nor of a field suburbs, as it is written, the field of the suburbs of their cities shall not be sold, Lev. 25. 34. We have beene taught, that this which is said SHALL NOT BEE SOLD, meaneth shall not be altered; but the field, and the suburbs, and the citie, shall all three of them be as they are, for ever. Maimony ibidem sect. 4. 5. Vers. 35. waxen poore] or brought low, as vers. 25. and 39. hand faileth] or, hand is moved, which the Greeke translateth, and he bee weake (or impotent) in his hands by thee, that is, unable to relieve himself. This phrase is here once applied to the land, in Deut. 32. 35. and often other where to the foot, the moving or sliding whereof, is also a decay or falling into evill. strengthen him] or, take hold on him, and so confirme his weake hands; that is, as the Greeke translateth, helpe or relieve him. So God is sayd to strengthen or hold the right hand of Cyrus, when he inabled him to subdue nations, Esay 45. 1. so of Christ, in Esay 42. 6. and of his people, when hee helpeth them against their enemies, Esay 41. 12. 13. According to this law, is that in Deut. 15. 7. 8. 10. where God commandeth to open the hand, to lend and to give unto the poore: and it is reckoned for one of the sinnes of Sodom, that shee strengthened not the hand of the poore and needy, Ezek. 16. 49. even the stranger] that is, though he be a stranger, and none of thine owne nation: or, as the Greeke translateth, thou shalt helpe him as a stranger and saj[illegible: 1 letter]urner. Wherby God may intend the naturall Israelites, which were but strangers and sojourners with him, verse 13. which is also the state of all the Saints on earth, 1 Pet. 2. 11. that he may] or, and hee shall live: so the Gr. saith, and thy brother shall live with thee. By living, is meant the recovering of him-selfe out of his miserie, as elsewhere life is opposed to sicknesse, ruine, and other miseries, Esay 38. 9. Nehem. 4. 2. 1 Chron. 11. 8. Gen. 45. 27. Therefore God commandeth to let the poore man have sufficient for his need, Deuteronomy 15. 8. see the annotations there. Hereby also was figured, that such as are poore in spirit, ought to bee comforted: and such as are impoverished by sinne, should bee sought after for their recovery, by admonition, exhortation, prayer &c. that life may be given them; 1 Thes. 5. 14. 1 Ioh. 5. 16. Iam. 5. 16. 20. V. 36. biting-usurie] of this, see what is noted on Ex. 22. 25. increase] or multiplication, overplus; that is, when one taketh more then he lent. So in Ezek. 18. 8. 13. 17. Spirituall usury and exaction (which under this Law is also forbidden) is when the Law is urged upon the conscience of repentant sinners, more then is meet; whereby his life with God (which is by faith in Christ,) is empeached: or when the rudiments of the Law (which Christ hath freed his people from,) are layd as a yoke upon their neckes, and burden upon their consciences; both which are hinderances of that true life and joy, which God by the Gospel and Spirit of his Sonne, ministreth unto the Saints, Matth. 18. 28.—33. Gal. 2. 14.—21. and 4. 9. 10. 11. and 5. 1. 2. &c. Acts 15. 1. 10. 11. Esay 9. 8. Vers. 39. waxen poore] in Greeke, be humbled, or, brought low: as vers. 25 be sold] for extreame povertie, debt, or theft; as 2 King. 4. 1. Exod. 22. 3. See the notes on Exod. 21. 2. not serve thy selfe] in Greeke, hee shall not serve thee. of a servant] of a slave, or bondman, as to compell him to doe base and slavish works. The Hebrewes say, It is unlawfull for an Israelite when he buyeth any Hebrew servāt to make him serve in things vile, which are proper for servants (or slaves) to doe; as to cary his vessells after him to the bath, or to untie his shoes &c. Lev. 25. 49. Which is to be understood of an Hebrew servāt, because his soule is east downe by his sale: but an Israelite which is not sold, it is lawfull to use his ministerie as a servants; for lo he doth not such worke but willingly and of his owne minde. Maimony tom. 4. treat. of Servants, chap. 1. sect. 7. This Law Solomon kept, as it is said, but of the sons of Israel did Solomon make no servant: but they were men of warre, & his servants, & his princes, & his captatins, &c. 1 Kin. 9. 22. Vers. 40. as a sojourner] in Greeke, or a sojourner: meaning that he should be used kindly, reverently, and as a brother, vers. 46. The Hebrew canons say, Every Hebrew servant or handmaid, their master is bound to make them equall to himselfe in meat, in drinke, in clothing & in dwelling; as it is said (in Deut. 15. 16.) because he is well with thee: so that thou maist not eate white bread, and he eate browne bread; or thou drinke old wine, and he drinke new; or thou sleepe on a fetherbed, and he sleepe on straw, &c. Hereupon they say, who so buyeth an Hebrew servant, buyeth himselfe a master: &c. Neverthelesse it is necessary that the servant behave himselfe with a servants behaviour, in those services which he doth unto him. Maim. in Servants, ch. 1. s. 9. yeere of Iubile] which was the yeere of liberty for all manner Hebrew servants: therefore, No Hebrew maid, or Hebrew manservant was in use (in Israel) but at the time when the Iubile was in use: whether it were a servant that sold him-selfe, or that was sold by the Synedrion. Maimony in servants. chap. 1. sect. 10. Vers. 41. goe out from with thee] the Greek saith, he shall goe out to remission, (into liberty.) For what cause, or after what sort soever he hath beene sold, the Iubile released him: which was a figure of the time of grace, whereby now Christ hath freed us from the servitude of sin and Satan: Ioh. 8. 32. 36. Rom. 6. 14 18. The Hebrew doctors say, He whom the Synedrion sold, served six yeeres (Exod. 21. 2.) from the day of his sale; and in the beginning of his seventh yeere, hee went out a free man. If the yere of release (Deut. 15. 1.) Fel within those six yeers yet he did serve therein: but if the yeere of Iubile fel in them, though he were sold but a yeer before the Iubile, he goeth out free. (Lev. 25. 40. 41.) A man may soll himselfe for mee then six yeeres; if he sell himselfe for 10. or 20 yeeres, and the Iubile fall out, though within a yeere, he goeth out at the Iubile. If a man have sold himselfe or beene sold by the Synedrion, and he runs away: he is bound to make up the six yeeres; but if the Iubile fall, he goeth out free. If he have been sicke, either by a continued sicknes yeere after yeere, or beene sicke by fits; if the whole time (of his sickene) be lesse then foure yeers, they are reckned among the six (yeeres service:) out if he have been foure yeers sick. he is bound to make good all the dayes of his sicknes as it is written (Lev. 25. 40.) As an hireling, as a sojourner: if the Iubile fall, he goeth out. Maim. in Servants, ch. 2. sect. 2. 3. 4. 5. his sons with him] that is, his children (as the Greek translateth,) whether sonnes, or daughters. In Exod. 21. 3. there is the like, for his wife. And by the parable in Matth. 18. 25. it seemeth that in Israel men might be sold for debt, they, their wives, and their children, and all that they had: and in 2 King. 4. 1. the credit or would take the children bondmen, for their fathers debt. Howbeit the Hebrew Doctors understand these otherwise, saying; Every Hebrew servant, his master is bound to finde his wife meat &c. and so he is bound to finde his sons and daughters meat. Of him whom the Synedrion sold, it is said (in Exod. 21. 3.) if hee were the husband of a wife, then his wife shall goe out with him. If thou thinkest that when hee was bought, his wife became a servant; it is not so: but to teach that his master was bound to give her food. And of him that sold himself, it is said (in Lev. 25. 41.) he and his sons with him. And of him that was sold to an heathen, it is said (in Lev. 25. 54▪) he and his sonnes with him. Whether they were the wife and children which he had at the time when he was sold; or wife and children which he had after he was sold, so that he tooke her with his masters consent; but if he tooke her without his consent, his master is not bound to finde her meat. Though his master bee bound to finde his wife and children meat, yet hath hee nothing of the labours of their hands, but the wives labours are her husbands: and whatsoever is due from a husband to his wife, is due to her, forasmuch as he is an Hebrew servant. Maimony, treat. of Servants, ch. 3. sect. 1. 2. Vers. 42. my servants] their redemption from Pharaoh, figured the redemption from Satan by Christ; and their freedome, that of which it is said, ye are bought with a price, [illegible: 1 letter]ee not the servants of men▪ 1 Cor. 7. 23. and now being made free from sinne, and made servants to God; ye have your fruit unto holinesse, and the end everlasting life, Rom. 6. 22. the sale of a servant] that is, not after the manner that servants (or slaves) are sold in the market, publikely; but privately and by way of honour, Maimony in Servants. ch. 1. sect. 5. Ver. 43. with rigour] as the Egyptians ruled over Israel, Exod. 1. 13. The Hebrewes describe it thus: What is rigorous service? It is service which is not determined, and service whereof there is no need: but (the masters) purpose is to make him worke, and onely that he should not cease. Hereupon our wise men have said, that (the master) should not say unto him, Digge under the vines untill I come; for loe he giveth him no determined stint: but hee is to say unto him, dig till such an houre, or unto such a place. And so hee may not say to him, Dig this place; when there is no need to doe it, &c. Maimony in Servants, chap. 1 sect. 6. But this rigor, fiercenesse or crueltie here forbidden, extendeth forther, even to all overmuch labour, above that which is meet, and they are able; as the Greeke here translateth, Thou shalt not racke him (or afflict, torment him) with labour: beating if their worke be not done, Exod. 1. 14. and 5. 7. 8. 14. and threatning with hard words; Ephes. 6. 9. and the like. feare thy God] and thereby abstaine from this evill: see verse 17. V. 44. of the heathens] as the Hebrew servants set at liberty by the Iubile, figured Gods elect, set free by Christ: so the heathens brought into subjection and bondage, may figure the reprobates, whom Christ and his people shall rule with an yron rod, Psal. 2. 9. Rev. 2. 26. 27. Or, being understood of such servants as were bought and brought unto the faith of God, & were circumcised, (as in Gen. 17. 27.) it might foreshadow the conversion of the heathens, and bringing them into the perpetuall service of Christ and his Church; Esay 56. 3. 6. 7. and 60. 3. 7. 10. 12. Compare that promise made by the Prophet, The Lord will have mercy [illegible: 1 word] Iakob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in the[illegible: 2 letters] own land; & the strangers shall be joyned with them, & they shall cleave to the house of Iakob. And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possesse them in the land of the Lord, for servants and handmaids, and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors, Esay 14. 1. 2. Verse▪ 45. of the sojou[illegible: 1 letter]n[illegible: 2 letters]s] or, of the stranger▪ inhabitants; meaning such as were in the land, but not joyned to the Church of Israel; as the Chaldee paraphrast here calleth them uncircumcised sojourners: these sojourners are opposed to the heathens out of the land, round about them, verse 44. that doe sojourne] or, that are strangers: in Greeke, that are among you. of their fa[illegible: 2 letters]the] in Chaldee, of their seed. And this might bee, if the mother onely were a stranger. An Israelite, the lyeth with a Canaanitish bondwoman, for as much as she is a bondwoman, he begetteth a Canaanite [illegible: 1 word] every respect; and he is fold and bought, and made to ser[illegible: 2 letters] for ever, as other bondmen. Maimony in Servants▪ chap. 9. sect. 1. which accordeth with that law in Exod. 21. 4. Vers. 46. as an inheritance for your sonnes] the Greeke translateth, you shall divide (or impart) them unto your children. These words, possession and [illegible: 2 letters] heritance, applyed thus to servants; meane their subjection under their masters; according to which phrase, God is said to inherite in all nations, Ps. 82. 8. and Christ, to have the heathens &c. for his inheritance and possession, Psal. 2. 8. And in saying for your sons, hee implieth a prohibition to sell the[illegible: 1 letter] to strangers, especially if the servant were turned to the faith; and by the Hebrew canons, hee that sold his servant to the heathens, the servant were out free, and his master was compelled to redeeme him out of the heathens hand. Maimony in Servants, ch. 8. s. 1. for ever] they and their [illegible: 1 span] dren after them, are bondmen; until they be made free. They were free by Gods Law, if their master had maymed them, as Exod. 21. 26. 27. and by the Hebrew canons, their freedome might be bought by themselves, or their friends: Maimony in Servants, chap. 5. sect. 2. serve your selves] o[illegible: 1 letter], bring them into servitude, use them as servants. not rule over him] in Chaldee, not serve your selves with him: in Greek, not racke (or afflict) him with labours; as vers. 43. But might they then rule over the heathens with rigour? The Hebrewes say, It is lawfull to make a Canaanitish servant serve with rigour: but not with standing this right, it is the property of mercy, and way of wisedome, that a man should bee compassionate, and follow justi[illegible: 2 letters], and not make his yoke heavie upon his servant, nor afflict him. And to give him meat and drinke of all sorts. The first wise men, used to give their servants of all meats that they did eat themselves; and they gave their beasts and their servants meat, before they themselves did eat▪ Loe he s[illegible: 2 letters]th (in Psalme 123. 2.) as the eyes of servants, unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a mayden, unto the hand of her mistresse: Also they used not a servant contēp[illegible: 2 letters]ously, by hand, or by words: the seript[illegible: 3 letters] giveth them for service, not for shame and contempt. And let him not much crie out against him, or shew in [illegible: 1 span], but speake gently to him, and heare his plea▪ [illegible: 1 word] s[illegible: 1 letter] it is expressed in the good wayes of Iob, for which be commendeth himselfe. If I despised the cause of my servant or of my handmaid when they contended with [illegible: 1 word] ▪ did not [illegible: 1 letter]e that made me in the wombe, make him, &c. Iob▪ 31. 13. 15. Ne[illegible: 2 letters]her should cruelty and hardnesse be found, s[illegible: 1 letter]ve among the idolatrous heathens: but th[illegible: 1 letter] s[illegible: 2 letters]do[illegible: 1 letter] Abraham our father, upon whom the blessed God hath poured out the good things of his Law, and commanded them stat[illegible: 2 letters]es and judgements which are righteous; they shall be mercifull towards all. And so among the properties of the holy blessed God, which we are commanded to imitate, he saith, His tender mercies are over all his workes, (Psal. 145. 9.) and who so sheweth mercy, mercy shall be shewed unto him, &c. Maimony treat▪ of Servants, chap. 9. sect. 8. Vers. 47. the stranger] which the Chaldee expoundeth, the uncircumcised: so after. doe attaine] in Greeke, doe finde, to weet, enough to buy a poore Israelite; that is, if he be rich and able: so in verse 26. and 49. the stocke] or, the stumpe, as this word is Englished in Dan. 4. 15. that is, any of the linage or kinred remaining. The Chaldee translateth, to the Aramite (that is, to a paynim or [illegible: 1 letter]eathen,) of the familie of a stranger (or Pros[illegible: 1 letter]lyte:) meaning one that was of a proselytes stocke, but was not himself a proselyte, or of the faith of Israel. Vers. 48. redemption shall be to him] that is, hee shall have right to be redeemed. his brethren] that is, his kinred; as is after explained. Vers. 49. his uncle] in Greeke and Chaldee, his fathers brother. his hand hath attained] to weet, wealth enough; if he be able of himselfe. The Hebrew canons say, He that is sold to a stranger, if his owne hand attaine not to redeeme himselfe, his kinred are to redeeme him; and one kinsman before another, as it is said, his uncle, or his uncles sonne, &c. And the Synedrion are to compell his kindred to redeeme him, that he be not drowned (or swallowed up) among the heathens. If his kinred redeeme him not, or his owne hand cannot attaine to i[illegible: 1 letter] ▪ every man of Israel is commanded to redeem him. And whether his kinred doe redeeme him, or any other man, he is to goe out free, [and not to be a servant to him that redeemed him.] And he may borrow, for to [illegible: 2 letters]deeme himselfe from an heathen, and hee may redeeme by the halfe (or in part.) But hee that is sold to an Israelite, his kinred may not redeeme him, neither may [illegible: 1 letter]e borrow to redeeme himselfe; neither is redeemed by the halfe (or part,) but if his hand be able to give according to the yeeres that remaine, hee may give and goe out, otherwise he goeth not out. Maimon. in Servants, chap. 2. sect. 7. A practise of this, we finde in Nehem. 5. 8. We, after our abilitie, have redeemed our [illegible: 1 word] the Iewes, which were sold unto the heathen: and will you even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold [illegible: 1 word] us? Vers. 50. with him that bought him] This is a common equitie; whether he had sold himselfe to an Israelite, or to an heathen, or had beene sold by the Magistrates, hee aba[illegible: 1 letter]ed of his redemption, and went out, Maimony ibidem, chap. 2. sect. 8. the money] Hebr. the silver: this the Hebrewes hold strictly, to be money, not moneyes worth, as fruits, vessels, or the like. Maimony ibidem, chap. 2. sect. 8. dayes of an hired servant] that is, a precise or set number of dayes, not more nor fewer. So this phrase elswhere noteth, as in Iob. 7. 1. 2. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? and are not his dayes like the dayes of an hireling? &c. And in Esa. 16. 14. In three yeeres, as the yeeres of an [illegible: 1 letter]ireling: and in Esa. 21. 16▪ yet a yeer; according to the yeeres of an hireling: that is, precisely, without longer day. Vers. 52. according to his yeeres] As▪ if hee had sold himselfe for an hundred (crownes,) and there remained unto the [illegible: 1 letter]ubile from the yeere of his sale, ten yeeres: hee shall re[illegible: 1 letter]kon ten (crownes) for every yeere that hee hath served him, and abate the price of them, and returne the rest in money, Maim. in Servants, chap. 2. sect. 8. V. 53. As an hired servant of the yeere, by the yeere] that is, as a yeerely hireling: see verse 50. before thine eyes] that is, thou shalt not suffer the stranger to rule over him with rigour, and thou winke at it. But every Israelite was bound to forbid: him this; and because it was a stranger that dwelt in the land, the Magistrates of Israel, might restrain him from rigour. V. 54. by these] Greeke, by these things (or means:) that is, neither by others, nor by himselfe, before the Iubile. of Iubile] Greeke, of Remission: which was a yeere of full discharge of all servants from the hands of al other masters, that they might be the Lords, and serve him onely. Which thing Christ hath fulfilled for us in truth, who dying in the last Iubile, the acceptable yeere of the Lord; hath set us free from all sinfull servitude; that sinne should reigne no more in our mortall bodie, nor wee obey it in the lusts thereof; but present our selves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead; and our members as instruments of righteousnesse unto God, Rom. 6. 11. 12. 13. Ioh. 8. 34. 36. Heb. 2. 14. 15.