We are concluding our study of Chapter 25 today. We've been studying the Year of Jubilee and it's important for us to keep in mind that it's not only a year of reverence and thankfulness but also a year of mercy. We've already seen that lands are to be returned to their original owners during the Jubilee. The Lord has been very clear that people are to help their neighbors during the Jubilee (and always) by being generous even in a year when they are forbidden to plant and harvest. Today we learn that Israelites who have become indebted are to be set free of indebted servanthood during the Jubilee.
Continuing with the theme at the end of yesterday's study, the Lord talks about what is to happen if a person falls so deeply into poverty or debt that he must become what we'd call in more modern eras an indentured servant. "If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God." (Leviticus 25:39-43) An Israelite is not to be considered the property of a fellow Israelite. If a man becomes indebted to his neighbor in this manner, his neighbor doesn't own him and can't sell him. Also, no matter how much the indebted person owes, he is set free from his debt at the Jubilee whether or not he has worked enough years to make up for what he owes.
Israelites were not allowed to make their fellow citizens into slaves but they were allowed to own foreign slaves. You'll recall that Abraham and Sarah were given Egyptian slaves by Pharaoh, one of whom was Hagar who temporarily became a secondary wife to Abraham for the purpose of becoming a surrogate mother due to Sarah's infertility. We are not going to get into any kind of debate here about why God allowed Israel, and the ancient nations around them, to own other human beings. For one thing, I don't feel we're given enough information in the Bible to come to any firm conclusion as to why God didn't forbid it (at least to the Israelites; the heathen people wouldn't have obeyed Him anyway) and I am not comfortable trying to guess what was on His mind. The only thing we know for certain is that in the ancient world slavery was a common practice and although the Lord didn't forbid the Israelites to own slaves, He did forbid them to mistreat them.
We see in our next paragraph that a foreign slave does not go free in the Year of Jubilee. "Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly." (Leviticus 25:44-46)
An Israelite who becomes indebted to a foreigner is not doomed to lifelong slavery. They can buy back their freedom if they earn enough money. In some nations of the ancient world, slavery was not like in America where the masters thought they owned every minute of every day of their slaves' lives. In the ancient world it was allowed in some cultures for the slaves to still maintain their own occupations while not on the clock for their masters. Any money they earned on their off time was their money to keep, not the money of their master. So an Israelite might be able to earn enough to buy back his freedom or a relative could pay his debt off for him and he would be set free from slavery. "If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of a foreigner's clan, they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves. They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly. They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly." (Leviticus 25:47-53)
If the Israelite can't earn enough money to purchase his freedom, or if none of his relatives can afford to redeem him, he will be set free at the next Jubilee. "Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to Me as servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 25:54-55)
Spiritually speaking, my Year of Jubilee was 1992, for that was the year that the Lord Jesus Christ, my Kinsman Redeemer, bought me out of slavery to sin. It was that year that I gave my heart to Christ and He released me from bondage. I could never have redeemed myself. No mere human being could have paid my debt for me and redeemed me. But Jesus, who was fully man and fully God at the same time, was able to pay my debt in full and bring me out of slavery into the glorious and eternal freedom of the children of God.
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