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Leviticus
Chapter Twenty-five
Leviticus 25
Chapter Contents
The sabbath of rest for the land in the seventh year.
(1-7) The jubilee of the fiftieth year
Oppression forbidden. (8-22) Redemption
of the land and houses. (23-34) Compassion towards the poor. (35-38) Laws
respecting bondmen
Oppression forbidden. (39-55)
Commentary on Leviticus 25:1-7
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.
Commentary on Leviticus 25:8-22
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.
Commentary on Leviticus 25:23-34
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.
Commentary on Leviticus 25:35-38
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.
Commentary on Leviticus 25:39-55
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
Colossians 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
John 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.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 25
Verse 1
[1] And
the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai
saying
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.
Verse 2
[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.
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
1. For the assertion
of God's sovereign right to the land
in which the Israelites were but tenants
at God's will. 2. For the trial of their obedience. 3. For the demonstration of
his providence as well in general towards men
as especially towards his own
people. 4. 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. 5. To put them in mind of that blessed and eternal rest
provided for all good men.
Verse 4
[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.
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.
Verse 5
[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.
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.
Verse 6
[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
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.
Verse 9
[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.
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.
Verse 10
[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.
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
Leviticus 25:4
as immediately following the six
years
Leviticus 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
Leviticus 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
Genesis 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 1. 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. 2. 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. 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 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.
Verse 12
[12] For
it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof
out of the field.
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 Leviticus 25:5
and Exodus 23:11.
Verse 14
[14] And
if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour
or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand
ye shall not oppress one another:
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.
Verse 15
[15]
According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy
neighbour
and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell
unto thee:
Years of fruits —
Or
fruitful years; for there were some unfruitful years; those wherein they
were not allowed to sow or reap.
Verse 16
[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.
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.
Verse 21
[21] Then
I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year
and it shall bring forth
fruit for three years.
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.
Verse 22
[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.
Old fruit — Of
the sixth year principally
if not solely.
Verse 23
[23] The
land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and
sojourners with me.
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.
Verse 24
[24] And
in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
A redemption — A
right of redemption in the time and manner following.
Verse 25
[25] If
thy brother be waxen poor
and hath sold away some of his possession
and if
any of his kin come to redeem it
then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold.
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.
Verse 27
[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.
The years of the sale — That is
from the time of the sale to the jubilee. See above
Leviticus 25:15
16.
The overplus —
That is
a convenient price for the years from this redemption to the jubilee.
Verse 28
[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.
Go out —
That is
out of the buyer's hand
without any redemption money.
Verse 30
[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.
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.
Verse 31
[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.
In the villages —
Because they belonged to and were necessary for the management of the lands.
Verse 34
[34] But
the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their
perpetual possession.
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.
Verse 35
[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.
A sojourner —
Understand it of proselytes only
for of other strangers they were permitted to
take usury
Deuteronomy 23:20.
Verse 36
[36] Take
thou no usury of him
or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live
with thee.
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.
Verse 39
[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:
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.
Verse 41
[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.
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
Exodus 21:2
6.
Verse 42
[42] For
they are my servants
which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they
shall not be sold as bondmen.
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.
Verse 43
[43] Thou
shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.
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.
Verse 47
[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:
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.
Verse 50
[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.
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.
Verse 53
[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.
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.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
25 Chapter 25
Verses 2-55
A Sabbath of rest unto the land.
The sabbatic year and jubilee
1. I do not suppose that these sabbatic regulations referred
severally to separate and
distinct things. The seventh day
the seventh month
the seventh year
and the
year of jubilee
as I take them
all express the same great thought
and are related to each other
in signification as the different sections of a telescope. They fold into each
other. The one is
only a repetition of the other on
a larger scale. And
they all range in the same line to give a focus for gazing the further into the
depths and minuter details of one and the same scene. We have sabbaths of days
and sabbaths of
months
and sabbaths of years
and septenaries of years
all multiplied in each
other with augmenting interest
to indicate the approach of some one great
seventh of time when all God’s gracious dealings with man shall come to their
culmination
and to point the eye of hope to some one grand ultimate sabbath
in which the weary world shall repose from its long turmoil and all its
inhabitants keep jubilee.
2. The word “Jubilee” is of doubtful origin and signification. Some
derive it from a verb which means to recall
restore
bring back; which would
very appropriately designate an arrangement which recalled the absent
restored
the captive
and
brought back alienated estates. Some trace it to Jubal
the inventor of musical
instruments
and suppose that this year was named after him from its being a
year of mirth and joy
of which music is a common attendant and expression. Our
English word “jovial” may perhaps be traceable to this origin. Others think it
a word meant to denote the extraordinary sounding of trumpets with which this
particular year was always introduced
some making it refer to the kind of
instruments used
and others to the particular kind of note produced. But
after all
it may have been a name invented for the occasion
and intended to
carry its meaning in its sound
or to get it from the nature of the period
which it was thenceforward to designate. It is a word which
if not in sound
yet in its associations
connects with the sublimest joys
ushered in with
thrilling and triumphant proclamations.
I. First of all
it is to be A sabbath--a consecrated and holy rest. The year of jubilee was the
intensest and sublimest of the sabbatic periods. The Sabbath is the jewel of
days. It is the marked and hallowed seventh
in which God saw creation
finished
and the great Maker sat down complacently to view the admirable
products of His wisdom
love
and power--blessed type of a still more blessed
rest
when He shall sit down to view redemption finished
the years brought to
their perfect consummation
and the life of the world in its full and peaceful
bloom. The jubilee is therefore to be the crown of dispensations
and the
ultimate glory of the ages
when the Son of God shall rest from the long work
of the new creation
and sit down with His saints to enjoy it for ever and
ever.
II. In the next
place it is to be the period of restitution. Everything seemed to go back to
the happy condition in which God had originally arranged things. Man
in this
present world
is a dispossessed proprietor. God gave him possessions and
prerogatives which have been wrested from him. God made him but a little lower
than the angels
crowned him with glory and honour
and set him over the works
of His hands. All creatures were given to him for his service
and he was to
“have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” But where
is all that glory and dominion now? How has the gold faded and the power waned
How much are we now at the mercy of what was meant to serve and obey us! Gone
are our once glorious estates. Gone
the high freedom which once encompassed
man. Gone
all the sublime dignity which once crowned him. But we shall not
always remain in this poverty and disgrace. Those old estates have not gone
from us for ever. When the great joyous trump of jubilee shall sound
the
homesteads of our fathers shall return to us again
nor strangers more traverse
those patrimonial halls.
III. Again
it shall
be A time of release for all that are oppressed
imprisoned
or round. The year
of jubilee struck off the bonds of every Jewish captive
and threw open the
prison doors to all who had lost their liberty. We are all prisoners now.
Though the chains of sin be broken
the chains of flesh and remaining
corruption still confine us and abridge our freedom. Even those pious ones who
have passed away from earth are still held in the power of death. Their souls
may be at rest
but their bodies are still shut up in the pit of the grave. There
still is groaning and “waiting for the adoption
to wit
the redemption of our
body.” But when the great trump of jubilee shall sound these groanings shall
cease and these fetters all dissolve.
IV. Another feature
of that happy time is
that it shall be a time of regathering for the scattered
household. It is not possible in this world for families to keep together. A
thousand necessities are ever pressing upon us to scatter us out from our
homes. The common wants of life
to say nothing of aims and enterprises for
good
honour
or distinction
operate to drive asunder the most tenderly
attached of households. And if we should even succeed in overcoming dividing
forces of this kind
there are others which do their work in a way which we
cannot hinder. Death comes
and
one by one
the whole circle is mowed down
and sleep in separate graves
mostly far apart. But there cometh a day when all
the households of the virtuous and good shall be complete. The year of jubilee
shall bring back the absent one. For when the Son of man shall come
“He shall
send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet
and they shall gather together
His elect from the four winds
from the one end of heaven to the other.” Not
one shall be overlooked or forgotten.
V. But there is still
another feature of this blessed time to come to which I will refer. The
sounding of that trump shall be the summons to a sacred feast upon the stores
laid up by the industry of preceding years. Though no sowing or gathering was
to be done in the year of jubilee
Israel was to have plenty. The bountiful
hand of Heaven was to supply them. Years going before were to furnish abundance
for all the period of rest. The Sabbath of the land was to be meat for them.
Now is our harvest-time. The fields are waving with beautiful golden products
which God means that we shall gather and store for our jubilee. Industry and
toil are required.
We must thrust in the sickle
and gather the blessed sheaves
and lay up for
ourselves treasures in heaven. It will not do to play the sluggard while that
ripe vintage is inviting us to gather. We must work while we may
and lay up
while it is within reach. When once the trumpet sounds it will be too late to
begin to lay up for the year of rest. (J. A. Seiss
D. D.)
The year sabbath
The great year-sabbath carried with it many important advantages
and benefits that belonged to no other period; and it is interesting to observe
how accurately they all symbolised the blessings conferred by the redemptive
work of our Emmanuel.
I. One of these
was the universal extinction of debt. Here is a man who has inherited from his
ancestors a narrow strip of land on the rocky slopes of Mount Ephraim. He
cultivates a small vineyard on the hillside
sows a few patches of wheat and
barley
and has a few cows and bullocks grazing in his little meadow. With
health and good seasons he could supply the modest wants of his household
and
escape the necessity of debt. But calamities have befallen him. Under the
pressure of his needs he has been compelled to contract debts
hoping that more
auspicious days would enable him to discharge them. But those days come not.
His creditors grow stern and exacting
demand immediate payment
and threaten
to eject him from his heritage
cast him into prison
and sell his children
into slavery. Still he struggles on. Yet
toil as he may
he cannot master the
difficulties that environ him. The encumbrance is too heavy
the danger too
near and too pressing. But just as he is on the point of giving up all further
effort and resigning himself to despair
the morning of the jubilee breaks over
the land. The joyful acclamations that welcome its coming swell out on the air
and reach him among the hills. Blessed sounds are they to him! They tell him
that his trials are ended
his home secure; and that
by the benign decree of
Israel’s God
he may now go forth to his daily labour
safe from the peril that
has menaced him so long. Go with me to the debtor’s gaol in Jerusalem
and look
at another on whom adversity has dealt blows still more terrible. Liable to
claims which he could not meet
he was stripped of all that he possessed. There
was no kinsman rich enough
or generous enough
to redeem his property or
become surety for his person
and his creditors
having the power
shut him up in
prison. Many years have passed since then. He has lost all reckoning of
time--has forgotten to note the slow years
as they drag wearily by
him--forgotten that the hour of deliverance is drawing nigh. The Day of
Atonement dawns in the heavens
but he knows it not. He hears the loud trumpets
proclaiming the year-sabbath without any thought of their meaning. The door of
his cell is thrown open; he is told that the jubilee has come
and that he is
free. Rising listlessly from his bed of straw
he looks round amazed and
stupefied. The truth at last flashes upon him
and with a low
trembling cry of
thanksgiving
he goes forth to tread the green earth once more
to feel the
soft breath of spring
and exult in the bright sun and sky. Call to mind how
many cases
analogous to those now supposed
there must have been in Israel at
each recurrence of the year of release
and you will be able to form some
conception of the blessings connected with that sacred season. Nor can you fail
to perceive with what force and beauty the feature which we have considered
illustrates the grace of the gospel. By our numerous and aggravated sins we
have come under tremendous liabilities to the justice of God
and have incurred
an amount of obligation which no human arithmetic can compute
and no human
efforts can liquidate. Judgment has been entered against us in the court of
heaven
execution issued; and the stern messenger
Death
only awaits the
Divine signal to bear us away to the dungeons of hell. But in this fearful
exigency the Saviour has interposed for our rescue. By faith in His atoning
sacrifice our mighty debt is cancelled; the uttermost farthing is paid; the demands of the law are
satisfied; and through the suretyship of Him who died for us
we stand
exonerated before the tribunal of Infinite Holiness.
II. In the
year-sabbath there was an end of bondage. See that slave delving and sweltering
in the hot cane-fields of Jericho
condemned to toil through the long summer
day under a burning summer sun
without rest
and without reward. His childhood
was passed on the breezy heights of Carmel
among babbling brooks
the singing
of birds
and the odour of flowers. There he grew up
a bold
free-hearted
youth
erect and tall
with an eye keen as a falcon’s and a foot fleet as the roe
which he chased on the mountain-side. But misfortune
swifter still
overtook
him. A ruthless claimant
to whom his parents were indebted
seized him
and
doomed him to bondage. Look at him now. Slavery has bowed his strong frame
and
stiffened his elastic limbs
and on the brow
once so joyous
sits hopeless
gloom. As he bends to his task
what sad memories are busy within him! He
thinks of the dear ones far away--of his happy boyhood--of all that he might
have been--of the hard lot that has been his instead--and tears
bitter tears
are on his bronzed cheek. But while he thus muses and weeps his ear catches the
distant note of a trumpet. Now it is nearer
louder. It comes rolling down the
gorges of the wilderness in the way toward Jerusalem
bounding from cliff to
cliff
and pouring its jocund waves upon the plain below. Others take up the
strain
and send it from wall and housetop
from crag and valley
till the very
air seems alive with it. For a moment he listens uncertain; then shouting
“The
jubilee
the jubilee!” tears off the badge of his servitude--stands up a
freeman--and with the stride of a giant
journeys back to the scenes where his
heart has ever been. By nature we are all the subjects of a moral thraldom as
grinding as it is criminal. We are the slaves of our own depravity
“sold under
sin
” and “led by the devil at his will.” But the Cross of Christ touches our
chains
and they are shivered into fragments; His grace rends the serf-livery
from our spirits
and we walk forth in the joy of a blessed emancipation.
III. The jubilee
brought with it the restoration of property. Picture to yourselves an Israelite
thrust out by adversity from the inheritance of his ancestors. He has struggled
hard to keep the old home; but losses have fallen heavily upon him and he must
depart. The roof beneath which he was born
the streams by which he has walked
the fields he has tilled
the trees in whose shade he has reclined
the graves
where his fathers sleep
all must be left
and left
alas I in the keeping of
strangers. He casts one long
farewell look on the scene which he loves so
well
and then
with wife and little ones
goes forth an exile. Years pass on.
Farther and farther he wanders
finding no resting-place
and “dragging at each
remove a lengthening chain.” But
hark I a trumpet-blast breaks upon the air.
It is caught up and repeated from city and hamlet
from hill-top and glen
from
highways and byways
till the whole land rings with the joyous echo. The
wanderer hears it. His heart knows and feels it. It is the jubilee signal. Oh
with what rapture does he now hasten back to the home once more his own! Old
friends greet his return; old familiar faces smile upon him; hands that he
grasped in youth now grasp his in happy welcome. The days of his exile are
over. He is among his kindred again. And what an image is there here of our own
restoration by the gospel to the heritage which we have lost! Our condition
as
fallen creatures
resembles that of the beggared Jew driven out from his
birthright. Our sins have stripped us of cur all. The original holiness of our
nature
the likeness and favour of God
our kindred with angels
our title to a
blessed immortality
are gone
and gone beyond our power to recover. But the
mercy of God has provided for us a jubilee. By believing in His only-begotten
Son we receive back
aye
more than receive back
our alienated inheritance. We
are again invested with a glorious property
and made rich with a wealth which
empires could not bestow.
IV. The
year-sabbath was intended to be a season of harmony and repose. During its
continuance the land was to rest
the implements of husbandry to be put away
and labour to cease
that social intercourse and kindly feeling might be
cultivated without restraint. There was to be no strife
no oppression; all
disputes were to be laid aside
all contentions abandoned; and society in every
rank was to present one unbroken scene of brotherhood and peace. How
beautifully does this feature of the sacred year prefigure the results which
Christianity contemplates. Its design is to impart to all who truly embrace it
a peace which comes from heaven
and is the earnest of heaven
and then to
unite them to each other in one harmonious and holy fraternity. All its
elements
all its tendencies
are those of union and love. Mankind shall become
one great family. Public and private animosities
the jar of conflicting
interests
the opposition of classes
the insolence of the rich
the
overbearing of the strong
shall be remembered only to excite wonder that they
could ever have been. Then will be the jubilee of the creation
the great
Sabbath of the world. Over the face of humanity
long agitated by wrong
and
struggle
and sin
shall come a holy calm; like the quiet of a still eventide
after the turmoil of a tempestuous day
when the winds have gone down
and the
clouds disappear
and the blue sky breaks forth
and the setting sun sprinkles
gold over the smiling land and the sleeping waters. And this universal peace on
earth will be the prelude of everlasting peace in heaven.
V. One more
evangelic analogy of the year-sabbath may be traced in the extent and fulness
given to its proclamation. “Ye shall make the trumpet sound throughout all your
land.” The manner in which this was done was very interesting and suggestive.
As the time for proclaiming the jubilee drew on a company of priests was
stationed at the door of the Tabernacle or Temple
each with a silver trumpet
in his hand. The Levites in the cities and towns
and every householder in the
nation
were also furnished with silver trumpets. When the hour had arrived
the company of priests sounded the appointed signal. Those in their immediate
neighbourhood repeated it. It was answered by the Levites and the inhabitants
of the next town. And thus it was sent on from dwelling to dwelling
from city
to city
from mountain to mountain
from tribe to tribe
till the farthest
borders of the land echoed and re-echoed with the glad music. The sounding of
the silver trumpets was unquestionably a symbol of the proclamation of the
gospel. The ministers of Christ are commanded to publish redemption by His
blood
and to invite the disinherited and the ruined to return to their
Father’s house. And in the work of spreading this message all the people of God
are to bear part. The tidings of mercy announced by the priests and Levites are
to be taken up by private Christians and carried out into all the walks of
life. At the fireside
in the Sabbath-school class
in the social circle
in
the resorts of business
the trumpet is to be sounded. Neighbour should sound
it to neighbour
village to village
city to city
land to land
until the most
distant and secluded spot on the globe has been penetrated by the joyful
summons. And the hour is at hand when this blessed consummation shall be
realised. Peal out
O trumpet of redemption l along our storm-swept skies
ringing over land and sea
proclaiming the end of sin
the end of travail
and
heralding the birth of the new spiritual creation in which dwelleth
righteousness. (Dr. Ide.)
The purpose of the sabbatical year
The principal object of the sabbatical year
at least in the eyes
of the Levitical legislator
was not its economic usefulness in invigorating
the soil
or any other of the many material advantages which have been attributed
to it
but its spiritual significance as a general Sabbath devoted to God; for
as the week is a complete cycle for the labour of man
so is the year for the
cultivation and produce of the land; and man was to rest every seventh day
and
the land every seventh year
in order that
by sacrificing one day’s labour and
one year’s produce
the Israelite might express his gratitude to the mercy of
God who blesses his works
and who sustains him during the temporary suspension
of his efforts. He was to be reminded that the treasures of the earth were
indeed created for the benefit of man
but that he should not use them
selfishly and greedily; and on the other hand
that the soil had indeed been
laden with God’s curse
but that His bounty gives abundance and grants respite
from wearying toil. Who will assert that these and similar abstract ideas
which underlie the laws of the sabbatical year were conceived in the early
Mosaic age
or could be profitably conveyed to the untutored people who meant
to worship their Deliverer by dancing round the golden image of a calf? The
views of Philo
who gives the oldest comment on our laws
may be briefly
stated. Moses thought the number seven
he observes
worthy of such reverence
being “the pure and ever virgin number
” that he ordained in every seventh year
the remission of debts in order “to assist the poor
and train the rich to
humanity”; he commanded that then the people should leave the land fallow and
untilled
and “deliberately let slip out of their hands certain and valuable
revenues
” in order to teach them not to be “wholly devoted to gain
but even
willingly to submit to some loss
” and thus to prepare them to bear patiently
any mischance or calamity; he desired
moreover
to intimate that it was sinful
to weigh down and oppress man with burdens
since even the earth
which has no
feelings of pleasure or of pain
was to enjoy a period of relaxation; and that
all benefits bestowed upon our fellow-men are sure to meet with reward and
requital
since even the inanimate earth
after having been allowed to rest for
one year
gratefully returns this favour by producing in the next year much
larger crops than usual; just as athletes
by alternating recreation and
exertion “as with a well-regulated harmony
” greatly enhance their strength
and are at last able to perform wonders of endurance; or as nature has wisely
ordained man to work and to sleep by turns
that he may not be worn oat by
toil. But the lawgiver’s chief object was “humanity
which he thought fit to
weave in with every part of his legislation
stamping on all who study the Holy
Scriptures a sociable and humane disposition.” With this view he “raised the
poor from their apparent lowly condition
and freed them from the reproach of
being beggars
” by “appointing times when
as if they bad been deriving a
revenue from their own properties
they found themselves in the possession of
plenty
being suddenly enriched by the gift of God
who had invited them to
share with the possessors themselves in the number of the sacred seven.” In
these remarks the charitable and moral motives of the sabbatical year are
admirably
but its theocratic tendencies imperfectly
unfolded; nor can Philo
be expected to appreciate the gradual development manifest in the various Books
of the Pentateuch: in the law of Leviticus charity is no more than an
incidental and subordinate object. (M. M. Kalisch
Ph. D.)
A sabbath of rest unto the land
I. Divine
ownership in the soil
II. Man’s highest
interests are not material and earthly.
III. Neighbourliness
and benevolence should be cultivated.
IV. Reliance on
God
in implicit obedience to his will. To desist from effort to provide for
their own maintenance would--
1. Elicit their faith in the fatherly care of God.
2. Summon them to a religious use of the time which God had set free
from secular toils.
3. Incite them to grateful thoughts of God’s dealings with them as
His people
and win them to a renewed recognition that they were “not their
own
” but His
who had redeemed and still cared for them.
V. Sabbatic rest:
heaven’s gracious law for earthly toilers
Man needs the Sabbath pause
in
order to realise--
1. That higher possibilities are opened to him by God’s grace
than
to be a servant of the soil on which he dwells.
2. That God desires of men the devotion of fixed seasons
and
leisurely hours for sacred meditation and fellowship with the skies. (W. H.
Jellie.)
The Sabbath of the fields
1. Palestine was designed and arranged by God
when He laid the
foundations of the earth and divided to the nations their inheritance
to be a
natural fortress for the preservation of religious truth and purity; a home in
which a covenant people might be trained and educated
in the household of God
and directly under His eye
to be zealous of good works themselves
and to be a
royal priesthood to mankind--to carry out in their history God’s promise to the
founder of their race
that in him should all the families of the earth be
blessed. And therefore God surrounded it with natural fortifications which kept
it separate and secluded--even although placed in the very midst of the most
concentrated populations of the world
in the very focus towards which their
intercourse with one another radiated--until the objects of the hermit training
and discipline of its inhabitants were accomplished.
2. The Jews could not help being a nation of farmers. As a new seed
of Adam
subjected to a new trial of obedience
they were placed in this new
garden of Eden
to dress and keep it
in order that through their tilling of
the ground the wilderness and the solitary place might be made glad
and the
desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Their thoughts
bounded on every
side by impassable walls
were turned inward upon their own country for the
development of patriotism and the formation of a more compact and concentrated
national life. Their energies were employed exclusively in the cultivation of
the soil
and in developing to the utmost the resources of the land. And very
rich and varied were these resources. No other country in the world presented
within a similar limited area
such diversities of soil and climate.
3. It was in beautiful accordance with all these natural provisions
of the country for the isolation of the people during the ages of their
discipline under God’s special care to be the benefactors of mankind
that the
remarkable arrangements of the seventh or sabbatical year were Divinely
instituted. Every seventh year was holy unto the Lord
as well as every seventh
day. During that whole year the entire nation kept holiday. The people were
not
indeed
absolutely idle; for that would have proved demoralising
and
neutralised the beneficent nature of the whole arrangement. Much of their time
was spent in religious observances
and in hearing and studying the law of God.
Their attention was directed
from their ordinary material affairs to their spiritual concerns. And although
all cultivation of arable land was strictly forbidden
they had still to look
after their sheep
and cattle
and to tend with more or less care their gardens anti orchards; while
doubtless
a
good portion of their leisure would be occupied with
the repair of
their houses
implements of husbandry and domestic furniture
and in weaving and the
various other economical arts. At the end of a week
or seven of these sabbaths of the years--or after the
lapse of forty-nine years--the sabbatical scale
beginning with the seventh day
and going on to the seventh month and the seventh year
received its completion
in the year of jubilee. This was the great political sabbath of the people and
of the land. The sabbath day was the rest of the individual; the sabbath year
was the rest of each farm and household; while the jubilee was the rest of the
whole commonwealth
for it was only as a member of the state that each
Israelite could participate in its provisions.
4. What was the design of these remarkable sabbatical years
confining our attention solely to their agricultural relations
and leaving out
of sight their other provisions? Why were these sabbaths of the fields
instituted? The first reason must obviously have reference to the soil itself;
for the ladder of all the human relations
social
political
and religious
necessarily rests upon the tilling of the ground. It was to benefit the land
itself in the first instance
that the sabbaths of the fields were ordained.
The whole arable land of the country was to lie fallow a whole year at fixed
recurring intervals
so that during these long periods of rest it might
acquire
from the atmosphere
from the operations of the elements and of animal
life
and from the decay of the plants which it spontaneously produced
the
fertile substances which it had lost. More than most soils
that of Palestine
needed this complete periodical rest. Being principally composed of
disintegrated limestone
and very loose
light
and dry in its texture
it
parted
under the influence of an arid climate
very easily with its phosphates
and other fertilising materials. But upon this physical reason there were based
very important moral reasons for the sabbaths of the fields. It was required
that the whole land should rest periodically
not only that its fertility might
be preserved
but also in order to limit the rights and check the sense of
property in it. The earth and all the fulness thereof are indeed the Lord’s
as
the Creator and Preserver of all things; but
in a very special sense
the Land
of Promise was His property. He let out His vineyard to husbandmen who should
render unto Him the spiritual fruits thereof; and the rent which He required as
Superior was that one year in seven
and one year in forty-nine years
the land
should lie fallow--should pass from the yoke of man to the liberty of
God--should be offered up a sacrifice
as it were
unto Him upon the great
mountain-altar of Palestine. The very abstinence from agricultural work during
the sabbaths of the fields--the self-denial in refraining periodically for a
whole year to till the ground--the trustfulness needed in looking to God for
bread during so long a period of enforced rest--the confidence that He would in
previous years secure from the land an increase adequate to meet the strain
which the law of the sabbatical year laid upon its productive energies--all
this was but a repetition of the conditions annexed to the possession of Eden
namely
that Adam should abstain from eating the forbidden fruit. The sabbaths
of the fields were a trial of the faith of the Israelites
a test of their
obedience. Only so long as they kept these sabbaths
abstained from eating the
forbidden fruit of their fields
did the land yield to them its abundance
and
nourish them with its fruits of life. “The land is Mine
” said God
when
enacting this sabbatical law; “for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me.”
The Israelites were living as truly a tent life--a life of pilgrims and
strangers on earth amid their settled possessions in Canaan--as they had been
in their wanderings in the wilderness. But
further still
the sabbaths of the
fields connected
in a most beautiful and interesting manner
the agriculture
of the Israelites with the institutions of their religion. The law enacting
them was given in words corresponding to those of the fourth commandment: the
one was only an extension of the other. The natural
social
and spiritual uses
of the sabbath day suggested those of the sabbath year. The same sacredness and
Divine obligation attached to the one as to the other. Under the theocratic
government of Israel
the sanctuary and the farm lay within the same circle of
holy influences. But perhaps the most interesting of all the aspects of the
sabbaths of the fields was their relation to the future--their prophetic
character. As the sabbath day pointed forward to the true and final rest that
remaineth to the people of God
so the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee
pointed forward to the jubilee of the world--the times of refreshing and the
restitution of all things spoken of by all the prophets--the regeneration and
the glorious kingdom to be inherited by the true Israel of God when they shall
receive back an hundredfold all that they have lost. The sabbath day
commemorated the relief of man from the burden of toil imposed upon him because
of his sin; the sabbaths of the fields the relief of nature from the curse on
the ground for man’s sake. The year of rest for worn-out nature was a
prefiguration of the change which is in store for the outward world
when every wilderness
shall become a fruitful field
and instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir-tree
and out of which it shall issue as a new heaven and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
5. But
alas! beneficient as it was
a law so peculiar
and requiring
so much faith and self-denial
was not thoroughly and uninterruptedly observed.
After four centuries of obedience
during which the land preserved its
primitive fertility
and there were no famines arising from impoverishment of
the soil
but only from unusual droughts and other atmospheric causes
the
people ceased to keep the fallow year
not only through want of trust in God’s
providence amid so peculiar a mode of living
but also through the moral
corruption of the times. Then the land
originally the most fertile in the
world
became one of the most capricious and uncertain; the store of
fertilising materials was rapidly used up by incessant cultivation; and that
state of things which Moses foretold took place--“And your strength shall be
spent in vain
for your land shall not yield its increase.” Famine after
famine
some of them of excessive severity and long continuance
arising from
the overdriving and exhaustion of the soil
swept over the land and decimated
the people. Henceforth the disregard of the sabbatical year became the burden
of every prophetical denunciation
and “the voice of historian and prophet was
one continual wail of famine.” In this painful extremity of the country’s
fortunes
the judgment threatened by Moses against the violation of the fallow
year was inflicted--“And I will scatter you among the heathen
and will draw
out a sword after you
and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate
and ye be
in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths. As
long as it lieth desolate it shall rest
because it did not rest in your
sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it.” Throughout the Babylonish captivity there was
a continuous fallow of seventy years. During all that long period the fields of
Palestine lay desolate
were neither sown nor reaped; and by this timely and
much-needed rest the land recovered a large portion of its old fertility. And
thus God graciously mingled mercy and judgment; combined the punishment of His
people with the renovation of their inheritance. Weary
footsore
in tears
the
saddened exiles returned to their native land
taught by their own experience
that it is an evil and a bitter thing to sin against God. (H. Macmillan
D.
D.)
Lessons from the sabbatical year
I. That the lord
was the sole proprietor of the land.
II. That the land
had resting upon it
continually
the favour of the lord.
III. That the divine
favour provides for the well-being of every living thing.
IV. That of every
living thing
man is the nearest and dearest to the great creator.
V. That the great
creator teaches moral truths to man by means of works of nature. (F. W.
Brown.)
The year of jubilee.--
The jubilee year: its fourfold significance
I. The christian
dispensation of gospel liberty and rest (see Luke 4:18-21).
II. The believer’s
privileged life of sacred release and joy (cf. Ephesians 1:13-14; Hebrews 4:9; Hebrews 8:12)
.
III. The millennial
age
of established righteousness and peace (see Isaiah 66:18-23; Revelation 20:2-5).
IV. The heavenly
state of eternal security and serenity (see 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 21:4). In the application of
the jubilee incidents to each of these grand fulfilments of its symbolism
the
following facts stand out clearly:--
1. Bounty. God gave a supernatural abundance the year preceding the
jubilee
that in the enjoyment of vast supplies there should be no necessity
for toil
no occasion for care {see Leviticus 25:21). And assuredly there is
2. Rest. That sabbatic year was to be consecrated to repose; the land
was to be allowed to rest; the toiler was to cease from toil. Every want was supplied without the
weariness of labour. Equally true of the--
3. Liberty. All bondservants were set free the moment the jubilee
trumpet sounded (Leviticus 25:39-44). And assuredly this
finds verification in the--
4. Restitution. If the Israelite had parted with his inheritance
its
possession was restored to him in the year of jubilee
and that without payment
(Leviticus 25:25-37). So--
V. Let it be
marked that the jubilee
with all its blessings
was consequent upon atonement.
Not till the blood of expiation had been shed
and the living goat had borne
into the land of oblivion the sins which (ceremonially) had been transferred to
it
did the silver trumpets peal forth their exultant notes
proclaiming
liberty and rest
restitution and rectitude for the people. And it is because
of Christ’s atonement that--
The year of jubilee
I. Let us look at
the gospel age as the world’s jubilee. And notice particularly that the jubilee
year was ushered in on the Day of Atonement. Now
how is it with our jubilee?
Was it not also ushered in by atonement? The prophets foretold the coming of
the acceptable year
but there was no jubilee Until Christ came
and there was
no true trump of jubilee until after Christ had died. Three clays He lay in the
grave
and the third day He rose again
and then after forty days He ascended
the Great High Priest
and entered into the Holiest Place
bearing there His
own blood. Then
the atonement having been made
He sends down the Spirit on
the day of Pentecost
and His servants go forth everywhere preaching the
jubilee that had come in--a jubilee based upon an infinite atonement. Now
it
is equally true that the atonement of Christ must usher in all gospel
proclamations. There is no gospel without the atonement
any more than there
was any trump of jubilee without first the atonement day. A bloodless gospel is
no gospel
but hell’s choicest weapon. A gospel that ignores the Lamb slain is
worse than no gospel at all
for it not merely leaves men in their original
ignorance
but stupefies and chloroforms them with a fresh lie. Let us look for
a moment at a few of the chief things included in gospel preaching
and see how
they are all connected with the great day of Christ’s atonement.
1. Certainly
peace must be classed among the first and chiefest
notes. The gospel
like an angel
flies through the world
crying
“Peace!--Peace!--Peace!” Methinks
this is one of the sweetest notes in the
whole of gospel harmony. But what kind of peace is the gospel peace? It is
peace that is based on blood!
2. If peace be one of the chief notes in the gospel
surely we may
place by its side remission of sins. Oh
let us tell it out that God can
forgive all sin
though He cannot overlook one. By all means tell it out that
God can remit all iniquity--that there is no sinner so wicked that God cannot
forgive him
no sin so heinous that it cannot be pardoned; but remember
remission of sins
like peace
is based on the blood.
3. Cleansing is also one of the most sounded notes of the gospel
and
it is a blessed thing to be able to tell a sinner that however sin-stained he
is he can yet be purified
and that the soul that is black as perdition can be made
as white as wool
and that the soul that is crimson dyed with iniquity may yet
be so cleansed that even the driven snow shall look black in comparison. But
remember that it is the blood that cleanses. Now
notice next
that the jubilee
was proclaimed with trumpet-note.
The atonement has been made
and from every hill-top the note is
heard.
1. And who blows the trumpet? Why
man. It must have been joyous work
to him. No angel but would have coveted the honour
but it is man that receives
the commission for the work
and surely
he will blow it best
for as he blows
he says
“I am blowing good news unto myself.” Perhaps the man on yonder
hill-top owed a debt and knew not how to pay. Oh
with what right good will
would that man blow the trumpet! Says he
“I am blowing my own debt away.” Or
perhaps that other man had a boy that was in prison. Says he
“I will blow a
blast that shall be heard far and wide
for I am blowing a note that will open
the prison doors to my own boy.” He had got an exile
perhaps
afar off
and
for family reasons that boy had been unable to return home. “The moment this
note is heard
” says the trumpeter
“the exiled one will be able to come back
again.” So the man blows
ay
as no angel or seraph could have blown. So no
angel could preach the gospel like the man who is himself saved by the gospel.
When we preach Christ we may well preach Him with a holy ecstacy
for we preach
that which saves us; and when me are telling the tale of atonement made we may
tell it out with all the whole soul. The trumpets were blown by man.
2. And then observe
they were blown everywhere. This is what you and
I have to do. We have to help to sound the trumpet throughout all the land. Go
blow it amongst the great ones of the earth
and tell kings and potentates that
they must be born again. Go and blow the note amongst the humblest and the
poorest that fill our mission halls and theatres and tell how Christ can save
the vilest. Go and be Christ-like
and proclaim to the perishing everywhere that
the acceptable year of the Lord is come
and that He is willing to bind up
broken-hearted ones
and to open the prison-doors unto all captives.
3. We notice further that the notes of the jubilee trumpet and the
notes of the gospel
are identical. What was it that that trumpet proclaimed? First and foremost it
proclaimed a return to all exiles and to all who were banished from their
homes. I think I see the father when that trumpet sounds; he pulls the bolt
back and takes the chain down and says
“My boy will be back soon. For years he
has been shut out of the home. We did not care to have him in.” That boy
perhaps had offended in something
and did not care to show his face in the
neighbourhood
so for many a long year the father had sighed to see his face
again. But the moment he heard that note he says
“See that the door is not
fastened till he comes back. My boy has heard the note as quickly as I have.
Depend upon it that by this time his face is turned homeward.” The trumpet
sounded “home sweet home
” to all banished ones. There was a pale captive in a
dungeon; but the trumpet note found its way between the iron bars
and I think
I see him as he says
“Now jailor
off with these fetters I and off with them
quickly! You have no power to keep me in durance vile a moment longer.” See how
he flings the shackles down on the floor and stretches his unfettered arms with
ecstacy! That trump said to him the one glorious word “Liberty!” These were
some of the notes that the trumpet of jubilee sounded; but
oh
does not the
gospel trumpet sound not merely the same notes
but the same notes pitched to a
higher “Selah
” still.
II. now when does
the soul receive its jubilee? I can imagine one saying
“Well
my case is a
very bad one indeed. It is all very well to be talking about a jubilee age
but
that and a jubilee heart are two different things.” I know it
and I think I
can understand you. Do I not express your feelings when I put the matter
thus:--“I am everything that you have spoken about
I am an exile far from my
Father’s house
I am a captive
and the iron eats into my soul. I am a debtor
and I feel that I owe that which I can never pay. I am over head and ears; I am
drowned in debt. I am a miserable bankrupt. I cannot pay a farthing in the
pound. I am a lost man. How am I ever to have a jubilee?” Why
I tell thee
thou wilt have a jubilee the very moment thou believest the report of the
jubilee trumpet. Thank God
the jubilee of the soul can come any day. It is not
once in fifty years
or once in fifty days
or once in fifty hours
or once in
fifty minutes. God is willing to give salvation any moment. The moment thou
acceptest Christ
the moment thou believest the report of the gospel
that
moment shall thy jubilee come. Remember
that it is not enough to have the
gospel preached all round about you. It is not enough to live in a gospel age.
There must be a personal reception of the truth. (A. G. Brown.)
The jubilee
I. The tendency of
society to go wrong. The evils remedied by the jubilee were--
1. Debt.
2. Slavery.
3. Destitution.
4. Exhausting toil.
II. The constant
interposition of god to put society right. (Homilist.)
The year of jubilee
I. Man’s need of
occasional best from toil. The Hebrew system was remarkable for the number and
variety of its provisions for this. By the emphasis thus given to rest
God
hallowed it as being both a duty and privilege. It is needful in this age of
excessive labour
when the struggle for wealth consumes men’s energies so fast
and makes them so weary and prematurely old and broken. We can think of many
who ought to take a sabbatic year of rest
and then add to it a year of
jubilee.
II. All men are
entitled to a share of god’s bounty. Men were not allowed in the jubilee year
to store up aught of what grew in the fields. God was manifestly the sole
author of it. It was to be distributed
therefore
like the other pure bounties
of His hand
like the rain and the sunshine
to all alike. This happened every
sabbatic year
as well as in the jubilee. Christian faith endorses this. The
fact of holding a title to a piece of land does not warrant one in engrossing
to himself all that it yields. Christian charity says
“Distribute the benefit
of it.”
III. The welfare of
society is imperilled by the acquisition of great landed estates. The operation
of the jubilee was to prevent the accumulation of land in the hands of a few.
If in the course of fifty years such an accumulation occurred
the jubilee
redistributed it. The public good demanded its general division among the
people. Great Britain suffers greatly from excessive concentration in the
ownership of land. The principle of charity
if given full operation
would
restrain excessive accumulation.
IV. The dignity of
man viewed as a ransomed child of God is another idea embodied in the jubilee (Leviticus 25:42). (A. H. Currier.)
The year of jubilee
I. Its origin. It
stands connected with two of the leading Jewish institutions.
1. With the weekly sabbath. It comes from the sabbath by two steps;
first
by the institution of a sabbath for the land
falling on every seventh
year; and secondly
by the conferring of a special sanctity on the seventh of
these land sabbaths.
2. With the Day of Atonement.
II. Its provisions.
Restoration--
1. Debtor released from debts.
2. Slave released from bondage.
3. Exile restored to inheritance.
III. Its lessons for
ourselves.
1. The coming of Christ was the inauguration of a greater jubilee
bringing world-wide and lasting blessings. We too are debtors
debtors to the
law in the whole round of its requirements; we are slaves to sin and Satan; we
have forfeited our fair inheritance of innocence and heaven. But hear how
Christ ushers in His ministry (Luke 4:16-21).
2. With us as with the Jews it is still on the Day of Atonement that
the jubilee trumpet sounds. Our liberty and restoration have been dearly won (1 Peter 1:18-19). With the Jews the
neglect of the Day of Atonement led to the loss of the jubilee. And if the
atonement of which we speak so much has never yet been anything to us
in our
sense of the need of it
in our quest after the blessing of it
to us there has
been no jubilee--we are yet in our sins. Will we be less in earnest than the
debtor or the slave when we have so much more need to be in earnest? (Walter
Roberts
M. A.)
The year of jubilee
I. Its peculiar
features.
1. It was a great boon to all sorrowing ones.
2. All this was intimately connected with the Day of Atonement.
3. It was to be a year of perfect freedom from toil.
4. Every business transaction had reference to the year of jubilee.
II. Its typical
meaning.
1. It has special reference to the millennial glory of Israel in the
land which Jehovah keeps for them through all generations.
(a) There His throne and sanctuary were.
(b) There His priests ministered
and His prophets spoke.
(c) There His own Son was born
grew up
worked
wept
suffered
died
and rose again.
(d) When Jesus returns
His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.
2. It is a beautiful and correct type of heaven.
The jubilee; or
The degenerative and corrective forces of society
I. The
degenerative forces of society are in itself. Debt. Slavery. Poverty.
Materialism.
II. The corrective
forces of society are from God.
1. Man is superior to property. The violation of this truth is the
ruin of society
and it is violated every day.
2. God is the disposer of property. “The earth is the Lord’s
and the
fulness thereof.”
3. Society has higher wants than property. Spiritual services. (Homilist.)
The resemblance between the year of jubilee and the gospel
I. In the
blessings imparted.
1. Remission of debts (see Acts 13:38).
2. Liberation from bondage (see Romans 6:22).
3. Restoration of forfeited possessions (see 1 Peter 1:4).
4. Freedom from toil (see Hebrews 4:3).
5. Abundant provisions and universal joy (see 1 Peter 1:8).
II. The jubilee was
to be proclaimed on a particular day and in a peculiar way.
1. On the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9; see Luke 24:46-47).
2. It was announced by the sound of trumpets (Leviticus 25:9; see Romans 10:14-15). The proclamation was to
be to all (see Mark 16:15).
III. The blessedness
of the gospel dispensation as experienced by believers
1. The personal enjoyment of liberty (see Romans 8:21; Galatians 5:1).
2. The realisation of rest (see Isaiah 14:3).
3. The possession of abundance (see Romans 5:20-21).
4. The enjoyment of salvation (see Isaiah 12:2).
The joyful sound
One interpretation of the word “jubilee” connects it
in a wild
sort of way
with a rabbinical legend concerning the ram caught in the thicket
at the time when Abraham was tempted to sacrifice his son Isaac. It was fabled
in the foolish tradition that the body of this animal was burned to ashes
but
God raised it to life again afterwards by miracle. Then out of its skin was
made the mantle that Elijah wore in the wilderness; out of its entrails were
fashioned strings for the harp which David played upon. From one of its horns
was constructed the trumpet which was blown upon Mount Sinai; from the other
the trumpet which remained to be blown at the coming of the Messiah. So some of
the early commentators said that the term “jubilee” was derived from an Arabic
word that signified a ram. But the latter and better interpretation is referred
to an expression in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 6:5). There the verse would read
rendered literally
“as they draw out with the horn of jubilee.” The meaning
seems to be
that this name of “jubilee” was not given to the instrument
exactly
but to the note it uttered--the peculiar clanging
continuous
vibrating sound of a horn. The word most likely represents the prolonged
quick-rushing
far-reaching
deeply penetrating blast of the trumpet as it
swept across the whole land. As we press into the investigation of this most
interesting portion of Hebrew history
we must pause long enough at the
beginning to insist on the connection of the great Day of Atonement with the
great Day of Jubilee. It came right after it in date. It appears right after it
in the record of institution; and in spiritual teaching it is indispensably
associated with it. There can be no jubilee in God’s universe till atonement
for sin is completed.
I. The type.
1. What was the design of the jubilee year as God gave it? A
necessary question this is
but the answer will not be difficult if we take
into consideration the entire story of the institution. In general
it appears
to have been placed in the midst of human life as a barrier against the three
greatest ills humanity is heir to. It insisted on relief from overwork. One
grand idea of the ordinance was rest--rest to the soil
rest to the toilers
upon it. The jubilee also demanded deliverance from oppression. There will be
found reward for the closest study in just searching out in detail the skilful
provisions made to relieve the weight of every kind of bond-service permitted
in those times. A consideration for such exigency is inserted in the
commandment. There is one for the “brother
” and one for the “stranger
” and
one for the “sojourner.” All servants are here declared to be God’s servants
as the whole land is declared to be God’s land. And in this great year of grace
the time has come for all slaves to go free--free for ever. The jubilee
likewise ordered release from obligation. Among all the weights and worries of
human life surely one of the cruellest is debt. “Do not rich men oppress you
and draw you before the judgment seats?” It is only natural that they should;
for human nature knows little change. The wisest man in the world once said
plainly: “The rich ruleth over the poor
and the borrower is servant to the
lender.” Here again is an intervention from heaven in behalf of distressed
debtors. The law made provision for the restoration of estates
and clearance
from usury at the end of the fiftieth year.
2. What was the welcome of the jubilee as the people gave it
reception? There can be but one answer: A great glad day of universal rejoicing
it was through the length and breadth of the land.
II. The antitype.
In general
it may be said that the sound of those trumpets was the symbol of
the proclamation of Christ’s gospel over all the earth. The purpose of this
gospel was to check the deteriorating forces in human society; to set up
principles which would deliver men from all weights and oppressions of sin and
sinners.
1. So there is such a thing as a jubilee in the heart. When the
bondage of corruption is broken
the debt of transgression paid
the
handwriting that was against us (Colossians 2:14) taken away and nailed to
the Cross
the soul freed indeed because freed by the truth
our Redeemer
surely coming (Job 19:25) and certain to stand on the
earth--then it is that there seems to sound a great joy of deliverance through
all the nature of the regenerate man I
2. There is such a thing as a jubilee in the Church. Times have been
in history when piety was low
and godly men failed; the ways of Zion mourned
the city sat solitary
the fires on the altars were dim in the ashes. Then came
a rushing sound of spiritual presence
almost like a pressure
and a blast of
silver trumpets
calling to activity
to penitence
to singing
and to
religious life again. The Redeemer came to Zion (Isaiah 59:20)
and unto them that turned
from transgression in Jacob.
3. There is such a thing as a jubilee in the state. Poets are singing about
“the
good time coming”; but it has not
yet arrived. Still
it is promised (Isaiah 61:1-2).
4. There is such a thing as a jubilee in the world. This is the final
restitution
the day of all days on the earth. Of course
the blessing will come
through the Church;
but the whole race will share something of its vast benediction. (C. S. Robinson
D. D.)
The jubilee a type of the gospel
--
I. Its primary
purpose.
1. Kind and benevolent.
2. Wise and politic.
3. Good and beneficial.
II. Its typical
reference.
1. The jubilee of grace.
2. The jubilee of glory.
III. Its joyful
commencement (Psalms 89:15). (Wm. Sleigh.)
Jubilee gladness
The Old Testament jubilee was meant to be a type of the entire New
Testament dispensation in three points
imaging by its sabbatic character the
gospel rest in Christ
by its unreserved deliverance of captives and slaves the
Christian redemption from guilt and spiritual bondage
and by its universal
restitution of property to the poor and needy the fulness of that inheritance
which is treasured up for all the faithful in Christ
whose unsearchable
riches
like the national possessions
opened up by the jubilee
enrich all
without impoverishing any who make good their title.
I. The first
element of jubilee gladness
common to the Jew of old and the Christian amid the
celebrations of the gospel age
is the joy of distinction or of privilege.
There was not a single memorial of blessing or promise
temporal or spiritual
which the jubilee did not recall
and hold up before the eyes of that most
favoured nation
so that it was on God’s part an impressive reiteration of His
covenant
and on their part a grateful recognition that they were indeed a
“chosen generation
a royal priesthood
a peculiar people.” The Christian
Church
and we as members of it
are privileged--
1. As to safety.
2. As to character.
3. As to work.
4. As to suffering.
II. The second
great element of the gladness of jubilee is the joy of stability and
progression. Traces of progress are to be found in every leading country of the
Christian world. The last half century has seen the cause of missions pass
through all its phases
and encounter all its perils from ridicule
neglect
hope deferred
till now it ranks perhaps as the most distinctive and glorious
feature of our age.
III. The third
element in the jubilee gladness is the joy of anticipation or consummation. We
believe that faith and hope shall in God’s own time effect a marvellous
conquest of this long-revolted earth
and that love
working in a united and
purified Church
shall through great periods gather up and treasure the spoils
of victory. But it is to Christ’s coming that we look forward and hasten
as
the crown and consummation of Christian hope. (J. Cairns.)
Land tenure
All men ultimately get their living out of the soil. There never
will be a process by which the original elements that enter into food will be
manufactured into food. We may fly in the air
or travel around the earth with
the sun; but we shall never take the unorganised substances that form grass and
grain and the flesh of animals
and directly convert them into food; they must
first be organised into vital forms. Hence
questions pertaining to land are
the most imperative that come before men. To get man rightly related to the
soil
in such a way that he shall most easily get his food from it
this is the
underlying question of all history
its keynote and largest achievement. The
chief struggles in all ages and nations have turned upon this relation. There
are two forces at work in the matter
both proceeding out of what seems almost an instinct for
ownership of the soil. The earth is our mother
and she woos us perpetually to
herself. To own some spot of land
and be able to say
“This is mine
” is one
of the sweetest of personal feelings; it declares our kinship with this natural
world that nurses our life and upholds our feet. These two forces that draw men
to the soil are
first
a natural
almost instinctive sense of keeping close to
the source of life
as a wise general does not allow himself to be separated
from his supplies. The other force is the pride and greed and love of power of the
strong. Here is a triple-woven force out of which has sprung by far the greater
part of the injustice and oppression that have afflicted the race. The
possession of the soil is the surest exponent and standing-ground of worldly
force. Everything else may fail: the hearts of men
coined treasures
ships and
houses
bonds and promises to pay
but so long as society keeps a man in the
possession of land he is so far forth strong; he has a place to stand in
the
fortifications built by nature
and the arms and defences that spring
perpetually out of the earth; he realises the fable of Antaeus. The remarkable
feature of the Jewish Commonwealth is its anticipatory legislation against
probable
and otherwise certain abuses. The struggles of other nations
and the
skill of statesmanship
have been to correct abuses; in the Jewish Commonwealth
they were foreseen and provided against. There are no words to express the
wonder felt by the student of social science as he first measures the
significance of that feature of the Jewish state known as the year of jubilee.
It is little understood
hidden away in an uninteresting book
stated in
ancient and blind phraseology
a thing of long past ages
nevertheless it
remains the most exalted piece of statesmanship the world has known--an example of social sagacity
and broad
far-reaching wisdom
such as we look for in vain in the annals of
any other nation. It settled at the outset the problem that no other people
ever solved except through ages of struggle and revolution. The Hebrew nation
existed under the consciousness of a covenant with Jehovah. It would be petty
criticism that pried into the origin of this belief
moved by contempt at the
seeming presumption of this little nation of fugitive slaves--petty and narrow
indeed! It were wiser and more scientific to regard every nation as under
covenant with God
if it but had the wisdom to know it. That this nation
discerned the eternal fact
and wrought it into the foundations of their State
only shows its insight into the nature of the State
and its receptivity of
inspired truth. It does not lessen the wisdom of this legislation that it
probably did not meet the exigencies of the later development of the nation
nor even that its details may have become a hindrance in the more complex state
of society that followed the captivity
when it probably ceased to be enforced. Its wisdom is to be found in its
previsionary features
in its reversal of ordinary history
that is
it planted
the nation on equal rights at the outset instead of leaving them to be achieved
by struggle
and in its assertion of the general principle that it is wise to
keep the body of the people as near the source of their subsistence as
possible. It was not given up until it had educated and grounded the nation in
those conceptions of practical righteousness that are found in the pages of the
prophets
through whom they have become the inspiration of the world. Its
design and effect are evident. It was a bar to monopoly of the land. All greed
and pride in this direction were limited. One might add field to field for a
series of years
but after a time the process ceased and the lands went back to
their original owners. The purpose was to make such a habit unprofitable
to
keep the resources of society evenly distributed
to prevent the rich from
becoming too rich and the poor hopelessly poor
to undo misfortune
to give
those who had erred through sloth or improvidence an opportunity to improve the
lessons of poverty
to prevent children from reaping the faults of their
parents; one generation might squander its portion but the next was not forced
to inherit the consequences. Though a political measure
it is informed with
spiritual significance. It is throughout instinct with mercy. It taught
humanity. It rebuked and repressed the great sins. It was in keeping with the
underlying fact of the national history which was deliverance
and
as well
with the central idea of the world
which is redemption
redemption from evil
however caused and of whatever kind. It was an assertion of perpetual hope
hope which
though long delayed
comes at last to all
and every man returns to
the possessions
his Creator gave him. It was in its profoundest meaning a prophecy wrought into
the practical economy of a nation. It shadows forth the recovery from evil
the
undoing of all burdens that weigh down humanity
the eternal inheritance
awaiting God’s children when his cycle is complete. This ancient piece of
statesmanship is full of pointed lessons for these modern times. It cannot be
reproduced in form
but it still teaches the ever necessary lesson
float
nations and corporations
and individuals are always forgetting
that the world belongs to all men by the
gift of God. It teaches the wisdom of showing mercy to the poor and unfortunate
and the unwisdom of permitting endless monopolies and limitless increase of
wealth. It is the business of the State to see that these things are
restricted
as both right and safe
as necessary for the rich as for the poor.
The methods employed may sometimes seem to lack in technical justice
but there
is a righteousness that lies back of formal justice. As the world goes
the
forms of justice are apt to become the instruments of oppression in the hands
of the avaricious
the proud
and the strong. These three always lie in wait to oppress the poor
the humble
and
the weak; and their choicest instruments are those legal forms and institutions
that are necessary to society. But they have their limits by a law which is
above all such laws and formal institutions. When wealth oppresses the poor
or
keeps them at the mere living point
when monopolies tax the people
whenever a
few own the soil
however legal the form of possession
when there is any
process going on by which the rich are growing richer and the poor poorer
there is a Divine justice above all formal justice
that steps in and declares
that such processes must stop. (T. T. Munger.)
The year of jubilee
The principal and distinguishing point in the jubilee year was
that all landed property reverted to its original possessors. The institution
was this: the people coming as a whole people
consisting of distinct tribes
and families
and settling down upon the territory
God says
“This land is
Mine; I give it to you
in distinct portions for your distinct families
never
to be alienated.” So that the
proper way of putting it
in our modern
language
would be that the land
the freehold of any estate never could be
sold
but only the produce of it for so many years. It never could go entirely out
of the family to whom it belonged. But the price to be given would vary
according to the nearness or the distance of the jubilee year; according to the
number of years till that time
less or more would be paid for the produce of
the land; for when that time came the lands were given up by those who had
bought the produce of them till then
and everybody went back to his original
paternal possession. Houses that were built in villages
and connected with the
open field
were subject also to that law; and they went back. But houses that
were built in cities were not subject to that law. At any time during the years
that preceded the jubilee
any portion of land
any field or farm
could be
redeemed; if the man that had parted with it could go and offer the money it
was worth
he could demand it; any of his relatives could redeem it in the same
way. They could only do this for one year with a house in a city; after that it
went from them entirely. But the principal point in the jubilee year was this
liberty
this remission of debts
this return of everybody to their original
inheritance
which might have been parted with by vice
by improvidence
by
indiscretion
or which might have gone from them by misfortune and unavoidable
vicissitude. The objects of this very peculiar institution
I think it is fair
to suppose
might be such as these. It was intended to produce a recollection
in the mind of the people
of the manner in which God had brought them in
and
settled them there
and given them their possessions; and of course
of their
peculiar covenant relation to Him. It would have a tendency also to prevent the
rise of a large landed power
that might become an oppressive and tyrannical
aristocracy. It would certainly have a tendency also to make the people very
careful about their genealogies
in order that they might easily establish
their claim to such and such property. And that
we think--the distinctness and
clearness of the genealogy with respect to the tribes and families--had also a
bearing upon the prophecies respecting the Messiah and His coming through a
particular tribe and family. It was intended
perhaps
or at least it would
have that tendency
even to mitigate the evils that men by their indiscretion
and improvidence might bring upon themselves and upon their families; give to
them
as it were
another chance of recovering themselves
or at least to their
descendants
of recovering possessions that ought to have been kept. And
altogether
the influence of it would be
I think
to diffuse a very humanising
and kind and happy feeling throughout the whole community. (T. Binney.)
Results of jubilee year
It was in ancient Israel
as in the heavens above us
whose
luminaries
after a certain period of time has elapsed
always return to the
same place in the firmament
and the same relative position to each other. The
sun
for instance
although changing his place daily
shall rise and set
twelve months from this date
at the same hour
and appear at his meridian in
the same spot as to-day. Corresponding to that
or like the revolution of a
wheel
which restores every spoke to its former place
society
whatever change
meanwhile took place in personal liberty or hereditary property
returned
among the old Hebrews
to the very same state in which it was at the
commencement of those fifty years whose close brought in the jubilee. (T.
Guthrie
D. D.)
Liberty through Christ
It is a sad sight to see men bound with chains
so that they
cannot use their limbs. And if they arc shut up in prison
as well as bound with
chains
this is still more sad. But there are chains and prisons for the souls
of men
as well as for their bodies. If we give way to any sin
that sin binds
our souls so that they can have no more freedom of action than our bodies would
have if they were bound in chains of iron. This is what is meant in one of the
beautiful collects of our Church
in which we pray that we may “be delivered
from the bands of those sins which by our frailty we have committed.” And this
is the reason why the Bible speaks of men as being “taken captive by Satan at
his will” (2 Timothy 2:26). He tempts men to
commit sins
and then binds them in the chains of those sins; and in this way
they are made his prisoners or captives. And when Jesus seeks a poor sinner
and converts him by His grace; when He delivers him from the power of his sins
changes his heart
and helps
him to lead a new life
then it is that He is blessing that man by giving
liberty to the captive. But there are no chains that Satan makes for men so
strong as those which he fastens on the soul of the poor drunkard. He is bound
hand and foot. The prison in which he is made captive has walls so thick
and
doors so strongly bolted and barred
that he never can get out by any efforts
of his own. But Jesus is able to break the strongest chain by which any poor drunkard was ever bound
and to
open the prison door in spite of all the bolts and bars that may secure it.
Here is an illustration of this statement
which I know to be true. One day
while Mr. Moody was preaching in our city
I received a letter written by a
person who signed himself “A Reformed Drunkard.” He wished me to read this
letter in the noonday meeting for the encouragement of those who were trying to
break loose from the chains by which the drunkard is bound. And I did read it
there. The writer of this letter called to see me before I read it in public
that I might be sure it was all right. I was surprised at his appearance when I
saw him. He was as fine-looking
gentlemanly a man as I had ever seen. He was
intelligent and well educated. This was his story
as briefly as I can give it.
“My family
” he said
“is one of the most respectable in Philadelphia. They
belong to the Society of Friends. My mother
now in heaven
was formerly a
preacher in the Society. For seven years I had been a confirmed drunkard. By
this terrible evil I had lost my money
my business
my character
my health
my friends
and my self-respect. It had even separated me from my wife and
family
and made me an outcast from society. I was lost to all that was good. I
had tried again and again to stop drinking
but in vain. I had taken different
medicines
and had signed the temperance pledge a number of times
but without
any benefit. Everybody said my case was hopeless. At last
when I was in a
public hospital
sick with that dreadful disease which drunkenness causes
called delirium tremens
and was given up to die; then
as I believe
in answer
to the prayers of my sainted mother
I was led to look to Jesus. I called on
Him for help. He heard my cry
and helped me. By the power of His grace He
broke the strong chains of that dreadful sin by which I had been bound
and
which nothing but the grace of God can break. I rose from my sick bed a changed
man. By the help which Jesus gave me I was able to stop drinking. And now for
months I have been a sober man. I am restored to health
to happiness
and
usefulness
to my friends and to my family
and am on the way to heaven
where
I hope to meet that beloved mother through whose prayers I have been saved.
“Such was this man’s story. Here we see how Jesus gives deliverance to the
captives. And what He did for this poor prisoner of sin and Satan He is able
and willing to do for all who call upon Him. And if He has power to help men in
this way
then it may well be said that He was “sent to bless them.” (Richard
Newton
D. D.)
The sinner’s chains are self forged
It is told of a famous smith of mediaeval times
that having been
taken prisoner and immured in a dungeon
he conceived the idea of escaping
and
began to examine the chain that bound him
with a view to discover some flaw
that might make it easier to be broken. His hope was vain
for he found
from
marks upon it
that it was one of his own workmanship
and it had always been
his boast that none could ever break a chain that he had forged. And now it was
his own chain that bound him. It is thus with the sinner. His own hands have
forged the chain that binds him
a chain which in endless and evermultiplying
coils is around his soul
and which no human hand can break. Yet is there a
hand can break it--the hand of Him who brings “liberty to the captives
and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Preacher’s Lantern.)
Freedom through Christ
It is stated on good authority that when the old Emperor of Russia
died
he made the present Emperor promise to set all those serfs free. So the
present emperor called the Imperial Council together
and said
“I want to see
if you can make some plan by which we can set these men free.” They were the
proprietors of these serfs
and
of course
they didn’t want to free them. The
Imperial Council was in session for six long months
and one evening they sent
in their decision
sealed
that it was not right
and it is said that he went
down to the Greek Church
partook of the sacrament
and went to his palace; and
the next morning there was a great commotion
and people could not understand
it. Great cannons were brought up around his palace
and in a little while
65
000 soldiers were gathered around the royal palace; and just at twelve
o’clock at midnight there came out what we call a proclamation
but what they
call a ukase
to the serfs of Russia
that they were free for ever. It
spread through the empire
and a shout went through the nation
“The men born
in slavery are set free!” They had found one that had set them free. Wasn’t
that good news? But here is the news of the gospel
that every man born in sin
and taken captive by Satan
can be set free through the power of the Lord
Jesus.(T. De Witt Talmage.)
Deliverance from sin
Sin is the great evil of the world. It has infected all
hearts
and there is none righteous--no
not one. This is the witness of
Scripture: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But it needs no revelation to
tell men this. The wise ones of the heathen world before Christ came to bear
the same testimony
l learned Greek
called Xenophon
said
“It is clear that I
have two souls; when the good one gets the upper hand it does right; when the
evil it enters on wicked courses.” A still wiser man
named Plato
used the
image of a good and bad horse
yoked to a chariot
and driven by the same
charioteer. There are two powers at work in human nature
dragging in different
directions. And Crates
another great man of olden times
said that it was
impossible to find a man who had not fallen; just as every pomegranate had a
bad grain in it
so every character had some flaw
some seed of corruption. So we
find that men of heathen lands to-day
who have never heard the name of Christ
echo the cry of the Apostle Paul
“O wretched man that I Am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?” They feel their bondage to evil; they feel
their need of a deliverance. Now Jesus is the Saviour of men. Only Christ has
borne this great name. Mohammed is prophet; Buddha is teacher only; Jesus is
Saviour. He can deliver us from the bondage of sin. One of my friends
who is a
missionary in China
told me the other day that the creed of many a Christian
convert may be summed up in a sentence: “I believe that Jesus Christ is able to
deliver me from the opium habit.” The gospel wins them by the promise of
deliverance from that frightful vice. They begin with that. They put the saving
power of Jesus to the proof. “I am given up to every sin you can imagine
” said
Liu Kisa Shan; “I am an opium smoker
a libertine
a gambler
a drunkard
an
unfilial man
and everything that is bad. Can Christ Jesus save me?” He had
strolled into the chapel at Hankow
and the preacher’s words had stirred the
hope of deliverance in his heart. “Can Christ Jesus save me?” “Yes; He can
and
He will
” said the preacher. And they knelt down together and cried to Him for
salvation. And the new heart was given of which we were talking last week. And
Liu went home to his friends
to show them how great things the Lord had done
for him; and is to-day the centre of a gospel work where once he was notorious
for evil living. Jesus saves men to-day. He can save you
for “He is able to
save unto the uttermost all that come unto God through Him.” (Howard James.)
Released from debt
The great Henry Clay was once placed in a position where he
could not refuse a favorer
and yet where he would not have credited himself
with doing anything to earn the release he received. He owed £2
000 at the
Northern Bank of Kentucky
and his note for that amount had been renewed from
time to time
in spite of all his efforts to contrive a way to meet it--until
the debt became a source of almost hopeless anxiety to him. The thought of it
intruded upon him everywhere
and embarrassed his work
and worried his rest.
The day for payment would come again
and find him as helpless as ever. He
chafed like a lion in a net. Whether or not he ever betrayed his uneasiness
there were at least a few who came to know its secret--and with results such as
he was the last man to expect. He went into the bank one morning on the old
errand. “I have called to see about my debt.” The cashier replied
“It has been
paid; you don’t owe us anything.” He was struck with amazement
and
under
strong emotion
he turned and went out. Those men who paid the embarrassed
statesman’s debt did it because they loved him. Christ Jesus loved us so well
that He died to release us from the sins of the past
and became Surety Himself
for our debt to God’s broken law which we never could pay. We never earned such
a boon. It was only His love that gave it. (Christian Age.)
Ye shall not therefore
oppress one another.
The oppressor rebuked and the oppression removed
I. The oppression
which now exists
and which it is our duty to remove. There can be no doubt
that there is a fierce spirit of competition abroad--a spirit which pervades
every trade
which enters every profession
which stalks about our exchange
sits by the merchant and the banker at their desks
opens the shop early and
closes it late
excites angry feeling and envy
makes the man of business
anxious and excited abroad
sullen or fretful at home
which unfastens the
restraints of religion and honour
interposes between neighbour and neighbour
friend and friend
relation and relation: it suggests enterprises which are
rash
bargains which are hard
speculations of doubtful morality
and acts
which once would have made the honest cheek to glow with the blush of shame.
This spirit it is which leads to fearful embarrassments
unlawful expedients
a
wretched parsimony
a false appearance
a costly display
a feverish existence
an untimely end. Oh!
if there be a people to whom it is a duty to sound this warning
“Take heed and
beware of covetousness
” that nation is our own. It has been most truly said
that the “desire of accumulation is the source of all our greatness and all our baseness. It is at once our
glory and our shame. It is the cause of our commerce
of our navy
of our
military triumphs
of our enormous wealth
and our marvellous inventions; and
it is the cause of our factions and animosities
of our squalid pauperism
and the
worse than heathen degradation of our population.” This spirit has burst forth
with such a fearful wide-spreading influence that men begin to look aghast
and
wonder what it will lead to. Poets have sung of such a time; the Word of God
has warned us against it; statesmen are meditating upon it; the press is
thundering against it; and very late--alas! too late!-the pulpit is giving
utterance to the wise
loving counsels of One who said
“A man’s life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” Now
before
I proceed to place before you the oppression which prevails
and the serious
consequences which are resulting from it
let me ask
however this question may
affect yourself
whether you would wish such a state of things to go on
unchecked and unrebuked? Would you wish the fever of speculation
of
competition
to increase? Would you wish the spirit of dissatisfaction amongst
the working classes to strengthen? There can be no question that whilst many
schemes of Christian benevolence and piety have been started and carried out
having reference to other lands
there has prevailed amongst ourselves a
wretchedness and depth of
suffering which ought long ago to have been investigated and relieved. This
misery has been unheeded
not because other objects have enlisted sympathy and
received attention--for that would be a foul libel upon that charity which
“never faileth
” and can alike stretch forth its arms to succour the African
slave and bend down to whisper comfort and advice to the miserable at home--but
there has grown up so silently and gradually a monster evil
that even the
victims themselves have been slow to discern its character
and slower still to
suggest a remedy. The human frame is limited in its power of enduring fatigue;
and when we consider that there are thousands who are employed in constant
labour for more than twelve hours
often
too
in an unwholesome atmosphere and
in a constrained position
you will be prepared for the statement
made upon
medical testimony
that impaired
exhausted frames
and often an untimely
death
are the fruits of this system. Oh! think
I pray
of these bitter
wrongs; think of the agony of spirit
the long-protracted hopeless effort
the
attenuated frame
the hollow cheek
the chilled eye
the tottering limbs
the
constant heart weight
the cheerless room
the sleepless night
the voiceless
gnawing feeling of despair; yes
think of this occurring in London
with its
churches
and Houses of Parliament
and Exeter Hall meetings
and greetings to
Crimean heroes
and running to help some sturdy vagabond beggar
and then
remember
with shame and confusion of face
that it has been written
“Ye shall
not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God.”
II. It would not be
of any use if we were to content ourselves with sighing over all these
miseries
instead of inquiring what steps may be taken to alleviate and redress
them. I have
therefore
drawn your attention to that painful subject in the
hope of inducing you to sympathise with the efforts which are now made
especially
by the Early Closing Association
to ameliorate the condition of the working
classes. It is very satisfactory
then
and encouraging to feel
that the
interests of the employer and the employed are in this respect identical; for
it is evident that it cannot be for the advantage of the employer that
the
health
and energy
and spirit
and moral principle of those he employs should
be undermined. The manufacturer would soon suffer if the quality of his raw
material became deteriorated; and if the stamina of England’s working men
became weakened
her producing power would necessarily become less. Now it is
encouraging to find that the employers of labour are themselves becoming more
alive to the necessity of something being done. I could easily multiply
instances of employers who are alive to the duty as well as advantage of taking
steps to improve the condition of the employed. And what are these steps? The
closing earlier every day
the payment of wages on Thursday or Friday
or
at
all events
at an early
hour on Saturday
and the Saturday half-holiday. Are these inconsistent with
the interests of employers? Far from it. We have ample testimony to prove that
the labourers so relieved will apply themselves with increased alacrity to
their work
animated with gratitude to their employers
and stimulated by a
new-found hope. Then will the English home resume its cheerfulness; then will
the husband and
father taste the delights which purify and soften
and then
too
will the
Sabbath dawn on many who will spring forth to perform its hallowed duties
to
feel its soothing influence
and to worship in the courts of Him who hath
said--“Ye shall not oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am
the Lord your God.” (C. F. S. Money
M. A.)
Laws of trade-wages
It is said that John Wanamaker
when a girl told him that
she could not possibly live on the three and a half dollars a week that he
offered her
replied: “I know it
but the fact is that I am overrun with
applications from girls
daughters of mechanics
tradesmen
&c.
who have
their homes already
and use their wages merely for dress
and they set the
scale. “The story of the employer who coolly told a girl who came with the same
complaint: “Most of our girls have gentlemen friends who provide for them; you
had better do the same
” has been not only widely told
but widely believed. A
gentleman went to a wealthy importer on Broadway to ask for a situation for a
friend
and received the reply: “He had better not come here. The fact is
all
our men are underpaid
but we can get all we want at present wages. Why should
we pay any more?” It is notorious that an immense amount of the “piecework”
done by women for the great stores and manufactories is done by those who
merely wish to provide themselves with some additional comforts. So instances
innumerable might be given of the fact that the wage-earners suffer most from
the competition of those who are
at least in a measure
independent. That this
is wrong and unjust will be acknowledged at once by all right-minded people.
The remedy
however
is not so easily recognised. As a rule
it has been
supposed to lie with the employed themselves. It is said that these others have
no right to work at such low terms. Undoubtedly
if all were unselfish
there
would result much alleviation of the difficulty. There is
however
another
phase of the case to which we would call attention
and that is the
responsibility of the employer. How far is it right for a man to accept of
service for which he does not pay a fair price--i.e.
a price such that
the one who receives it can live upon it fairly and comfortably? There are
of
course
limitations. No iron rule can be laid down. Inexperience cannot claim
the same as experience
extravagance should not lay down the law for economy.
Yet
after all
every employer knows perfectly well whether or not he is paying
what are called “living wages.” It is much the fashion to decry the Mosaic laws
as belonging to a period and state of society entirely foreign to modern needs.
No one
however
who carefully studies those laws can fail to recognise the
fact that they touch very closely upon the demands that we hear on every side
for a more equal distribution of property
a more just relation between
employer and employed. The German Empire has already endorsed the same
principle in stating clearly the obligation of the community to provide for its
individual member’s. The Occident is not the Orient. Anglo-Saxons are not
Semites; but the fundamental law that one man shall not oppress another
by
taking advantage of his necessities is just as true now and here as it was in
the desert of Arabia many centuries ago. (Hom. Review.)
What shall we eat the
seventh year?--
I. Let us first
listen to the question. “What shall we eat the seventh year?” Now this was a
question of mere nature. Grace had nothing to do with it. It is man trusting in
his own native strength
man who judges all things by his own reason
man who
goes no further in his belief than what he can see and what he can understand.
Human nature can understand ploughing and reaping. Nature can comprehend
scattering the seed. Nature can believe in a self-dependent life
but nature
cannot understand renouncing all human activity and living absolutely on
Jehovah’s blessing
and
therefore
in a spirit of querulous unbelief
it asks
“But what shall we eat?” Asking this question is virtually to arraign God at
the bar of Reason
and say
“It is all very well to tell us that we are not to
plough
and not to gather
and not
to reap; but what shall we eat? We shall starve if we are only to feed on what
Thou givest us. If we do this thing we shall have empty barns
and empty barns
will mean empty mouths
and empty mouths will mean national ruin and death.”
Thus blinded nature always argues
and will not trust for more than it can see.
A plough that can be beheld is valued far before a God that can only be
believed. Now is not this a question continually being asked in the present
day? Is it not being put by some here this morning? There is one yonder asking
it in this wise: If I do all that God tells me
how shall I get on in life or
make my way? If I conduct my business according to high Christian principles
if I give absolute and complete obedience to all the commands of Scripture
if
I keep my fingers clean of those things that defile the world’s hands
and if I
maintain my integrity
and refuse to stoop to all the petty little meannesses that I find
common in the business of the world
well
then
what shall I eat? May I not as
well put up the shutters at once? This very matter was brought before me only
yesterday by a professing Christian. Said he
“Sir
it is all very well for you
to talk as you do
and right you
should
but if we don’t do these little things
our children will
have to suffer for it. We are living in the world
and we have to do in a
measure as the world does
for if we don’t
what shall we eat?” Thus unbelief
steps in
and says
“Perfect obedience to God means starvation.” Whilst on the
other hand faith replies
“Perfect obedience means a feast on blessing.” Faith
cares not from whence the supply may come; faith troubles not about probable
results; it obeys God’s commands
asks no questions
and raises no objections.
Let us not
however
be too hard on these persons
for this question is often
asked more in a spirit of anxiety than a disposition to cavil. A timid
believer
with no thought of limiting the Holy One of Israel
may put the
question in some such form as this: “Well
sir
it is all very true what you
say
and God forbid I should doubt His providence
but supposing I should be
sick during this year--supposing I should have a long
weary illness
that
keeps me from work for weeks! What should I do? Facts are stubborn things
and
if I cannot earn a penny
how am I to purchase anything for the family? If
there is to be a long cessation from employment
what shall we eat?” Or
it may
be
there are some already in this position
who are saying
“It is easy
sir
for you to
stand up on that platform and talk
but you would alter your language if you
were in my place. Look! When I scan the horizon
I cannot see one harvest-field
that I am likely to reap this year. If I go to all my barns I find them empty;
if I go to my trees I find them stripped. Humanly speaking
I can see no hope
of anything but hardship and privation
and the question of my heart this
morning is
‘What shall we eat this year?’ and though I have asked it a hundred
times
I seem no nearer the solution of the problem.” Well
dear friend
you
have my heart’s truest sympathy
and I would that I could help you
and all
like you
but yet I must say
“Trust in God and do the right.” “I will command
My blessing
” is God’s answer to your question of anxiety. Sometimes
however
the question is asked more from curiosity than even anxiety. It is in such
spirit that we ask the question this morning
“What shall we eat?” It is not a
question whether God will give us food or not; we know He will; but we should
like to know what manner of food it is He will put into our mouths this seventh
year. Will it be the same as last year or better? Will there be a new flavour
about it
or a repetition of the old savour? Shall it be fruit from a new tree
or new fruit from an old tree? What shall be our kind of experience during this
year? Shall we
during its months
eat of the fruit of Canaan
or shall we be
satisfied with the manna of the wilderness?
II. Well
we will
try now to give you the answer as you have it in the text. We shall live on the
blessing of our God. Israel had to learn one truth
and that one truth was this--that God’s
blessing was worth more than all their own efforts; that if God spake a word of
commanding blessing
it was worth more to them than all their ploughs and
agricultural labour. Beloved
is not this true for you? Have not you in three
ways to learn the lesson that the Lord will provide? It will be true this year
in your life as far as temporal matters are concerned. It is not the
expenditure of brain power
or the employment of arm muscle that will win you
your bread; it is the blessing of God resting on you. There is nought apart
from that; and we pray that you may acknowledge the precious truth
and at the
end of this year say
concerning your gettings
“It is because Jehovah has commanded
His blessing.” But there is a higher life you and I have to live
and that is
soul life. How will that be maintained this year? I answer--By the blessing of
God. No man has power to keep the fire within his own soul aglow; no man has
might sufficient to keep his own faith from staggering; no one has
self-contained ability to keep his own heart from wandering. And how true will
it be in reference to us as a Church! The preacher this year must look to God
for his texts. “The Lord will provide” must be recognised even in that. It is
not the service
it is the blessing on the service. It is not the word
it is
the blessing on the word. It is the dew that is on the manna that makes it so
refreshing; it is Jehovah’s benediction that alone satisfies; and though we may
drive our own plough
and though we may try and scatter the seed broadcast on
every hand
yet if you obtain one spiritual feast this year
the speaker steps
back and says it is not of him. If God makes him a means of blessing unto one
soul
it is neither he nor his sermon
it is the Lord’s commanded blessing that
has refreshed the heart. Had we time
we might show you how this applies to
everything in connection with the Church. Our schools will prosper just as
Heaven’s blessing is their portion. There is one other thought which arises naturally
out of the subject; it is this
that the answer to the question
“What shall we
eat the seventh year” is “Exactly the same as you had on the sixth year
”
because you will observe
if you look at the context
that God gave them a
double blessing on the sixth year
so that the
trees yielded twice their wont--treble rather--and the fields a threefold
harvest. So that on the seventh and eighth years they had no new kind of fruit
to that they had on the sixth. It was the same fruit
and of the same flavour.
(A. G. Brown.)
Man need not despair of--Providence
See
then
and sink it into your heart soundly
what God is able
to do for you touching all worldly necessaries
if you will obey Him and trust
in Him. Such a promise in Exodus He made also
to keep all things in safety for
them at home
while they were at Jerusalem serving Him according to this law.
And what loss had the shepherds when they left their flocks in the fields and
went to the child Jesus
according as the angel had told them? Let this place
again strengthen your faith against all objections of flesh and blood
made
from natural reasons and causes as they seem to men. For if the Lord be able
even then when the earth is weakest
having been worn out with continual
tillage
five years together
to make the sixth year bring forth a triple
blessing
enough for that year
for the seventh year
and for the eighth year
till harvest were ready; what unseasonable weather
what barrenness of land
what this
what that
shall make a man despair of God’s providence for things
needful? Leave God to Himself
and to His almighty power: do you your duty
fear Him
love Him
serve Him
obey Him with a true heart
call upon your
children and servants to do the like
and you shall see the lovingkindness of
the Lord to your comfort. These things shall be cast upon you
and He that
knoweth your charge
and gave you that charge
will never fail you nor them of
what is fit. You see here what He can do
and let it profit you. I will tell
you the feeling of my heart further in this point
and thus I reason: Can God
be thus strong when the land is weak
and will He be thus strong to the comfort
of His servants? Why
then
cannot He be
or why will He not be
strong in my
weakness
in your weakness
and in every man and woman’s weakness that believe
in Him? Away
Fear
away
I may not hearken unto thee! when I am weakest He
will be strongest. For His power is best seen in weakness
and I will put my
whole trust and confidence in Him
drawing an argument with David from my
weakness to move Him
and not to discomfort me. Heal me
O Lord
for I am weak.
My weakness shall drive me unto Thee
not from Thee
and I will tarry Thy good
leisure. Lord strengthen me
Lord comfort me
and under the covering of Thy
wings let me be safe from all temptations displeasing Thee and hurting me! (Bp.
Babington.)
Practical reliance upon God
A faithful and zealous Methodist minister in North Carolina
writes to a friend in Calcutta: “There are two cotton factories here
and my
charge consists chiefly of the proprietors
operatives
and others connected
with the factories. The proprietors are Christians and Methodists
and stand
ready to do what they can for the cause of Christ. The leading man takes a lively
interest in our Church work
and teaches a large class of little boys in our
Sabbath School
although weighed down by the cares of an immense business all
the week. When the new factory was built
the building
with all its machinery
was solemnly dedicated
by a public religious service
to be used for the glory
of God. Two years ago a great revival was in progress here. Mr.--stopped the
factory that all hands might attend the meetings. He received an urgent order
from New York for goods. He replied that the goods could not be furnished. They
telegraphed from New York that they must have the goods. Then the wires flashed
back the message: ‘ The Lord is at work; the factories will not run this week.’
Would that we had more such men! Christ requires that money as well as
intellect and heart
be consecrated to Him. ‘The silver is Mine
and the gold
is Mine
saith the Lord of hosts.’“ Surely the Lord would say to that
millowner
as He said to the Canaanitish woman
Great is thy faith! (Indian
Witness.)
The land is Mine;
for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me.--
The Hebrew system of land tenure
I. The first and
fundamental principle of the land system prescribed to the chosen people who
were to inhabit this typical land was
that the land belonged to Jehovah
and
was to be held by the people immediately of and under him
as their sovereign
and paramount superior and lord.
II. Flowing
naturally--indeed
one might say logically--from the principle of the Divine
ownership of the soil
and its possession by the Israelites as the Lord’s
chosen people
is the next feature of the Israelitish land system--viz.
The
equal partition of the land among the whole families constituting the nation
(see Numbers 26:1-65.). It is to be noticed
that
in the actual division of the land
each tribe was to receive its
allotment in proportion to its numerical extent
distinct from the others; and
that the tribal allotment was thereafter to be apportioned among the whole
families composing the tribe
so that each should have its own definite share.
Besides
it was subsequently
provided that an allotment in the territory of one tribe should never become
the possession of any member of a different tribe
so that heiresses or
heiress-portioners
could marry only “in the family of the tribe of their
father.” These subsidiary enactments
doubtless
had reference specially to the
peculiar character and aims of the Israelitish constitution. They tended to
preserve and perpetuate family and tribal traditions and sentiments; they
facilitated the keeping of accurate genealogical records; they provided a basis
for the practical operation of the law of jubilee; they promoted the
self-government of the people by the graduated judicatories of the family and
the tribe; and they
at the same time
welded the people into one compact
commonwealth
by the bonds of an equal interest in the soil. It is
of course
impossible here even to glance at the much-discussed question of the relative
merits of an aristocratic or a peasant proprietory
of large or small
landowners
of extensive or limited farms. But it is interesting to notice
that
in the Israelitish land legislation
we have precisely and practically
that system of peasant proprietory which we find existing and flourishing in
many countries
and to which not a few of those who have given the most
independent and thoughtful and earnest attention to the matter
look for the
solution of the difficulties which are gathering around the subject in our own
land.
III. The next
feature of the Israelitish land system is
that the return to be made by the
people for their lands was precisely the same as that which Joseph fixed to be
paid by the Egyptian crown tenantry--viz.
One-fifth of the gross annual
produce. In the case of the Israelites
however
this fifth was divided into
two-tenths
and its payment was prescribed in a form breathing the spirit
rather of grateful religious acknowledgment than of strict legal exaction.
IV. The next characteristic
of the Israelitish land system is
that the land thus allotted to the people
and held by them as the vassals of the Lord
was inalienable. “The land shall
not be sold for ever
for the land is Mine
saith the Lord.” It was clearly
requisite
for the maintenance of the essential characteristics of the
Israelitish constitution
and for the realisation of the national destiny
that
the land should be inalienable. A system which permitted of the aggregation
more or less rapidly
of the land of the country into the hands of the few; and
of the consequent detachment
more or less extensively
of the population from
the soil
would have been fatal to the preservation of the national existence
and to the realisation of the national destiny. The law distinctly and absolutely forbade the sale
or alienation of the land
and fortified the prohibition by the enactments
against usury or interest. The successive landholders had
therefore
in
reality
only a different interest in it; and it was equitable and conceivably
beneficial that they should possess the power of disposing of this limited
interest. Innocent misfortune might compel
or other causes might induce
them
to part with it. And this the law of jubilee enabled them to do. By that law
the landholder was enabled to dispose of the usufruct--the right to the
fruits--of the land for a period not exceeding
at its ultimate possible limit
the interval between the age of twenty
when a male Israelite attained full
majority
and seventy
the estimated end of a normal human life. All that the
landholder was empowered to dispose of was his own liferent interest. But
neither the seller nor the purchaser knew what would be the certain duration of
that interest; and in these days actuarial tables
exhibiting the average
expectation of human life
did not exist. The law of jubilee therefore stepped
in and converted each liferent interest into an interest terminating at the
next jubilee; and the purchaser paid for it a price corresponding to the number
of years intervening between the sale and the jubilee
under deduction of the
sabbatic or fallow years. But the disposal even of this limited interest in the
soil was not an absolute or irredeemable one. The power to sell it at all was a
concession to human frailty or necessity. It was not to be presumed that a
true-hearted Israelite would alienate his interest in the soil of the
covenanted land except under the
severe pressure of adverse circumstances. Indeed
so strong do we
find this attachment to the soil that even in the troublous times of Ahab
Naboth repels the overtures of the king for his land with the exclamation
“The
Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee” (1 Kings 21:3). And so
to afford an
opportunity for the redemption of the land
if the circumstances of the seller
should improve
or a kinsman be willing to take his place
the law of jubilee
provided that the seller or his kinsman should at any time be entitled to
redeem the liferent by paying to the purchaser the value of the usufruct for
the period still to elapse between the redemption and the jubilee
calculated
on the basis of the original price. It is only to be noticed further that the prohibition
to alienate did not
extend to dwelling-houses in walled cities. As these were not in any way
connected with the agricultural occupancy of the land they might be sold in
perpetuity; but to prevent coercion
or thoughtless disposal
or hardship from
other causes
the law provided a species of annus deliberandi
so that
the house could be redeemed at the stipulated price at any time before the
expiry of a year from the day of sale
after which it became irredeemable. The
law of jubilee had
of course
a national as well as an individual purpose
a
religious as well as a secular significance. It was part of that great system
of types which ran through the whole of Mosaism. It made provision for the
periodical removal or modification of the inequalities which sprang up among
the people in the course of years. It prevented families being permanently
impoverished through the incapacity
the profligacy
or the misfortune of an
individual member. It periodically restored all diverted lands to their true owners
freed of all encumbrances and trammels. It was a national rejuvenescence
a
periodical restoration and renewal of the original constitution of the
commonwealth
and an infusion of fresh life and spirit into the whole
community!
V. The only other
portion of the Israelitish land system that remains to be noticed is the law of
succession. The Israelitish law of inheritance is expressed in Numbers 27:8-11. The Mosaic law makes no
provision regarding the testamentary disposal of property; and the idea of such
a power is excluded both by its fundamental principle
to which we have
adverted
and by the system of heritable succession which it expressly
prescribes. The principle that the land was the Lord’s and that the successive
generations of Israelites were merely “strangers” temporarily “sojourning” upon
it
necessarily excluded the power of posthumous settlement no less than that
of alienation during life. (R. Reid.)
Sojourners with God
The institution of the jubilee year had more than one
purpose. As a social arrangement it tended to prevent extremes of wealth and
poverty. As a ceremonial institution it was the completion of the law of the
sabbath. It was appointed to enforce
and to make the whole fabric of the
national wealth rest upon
this thought contained in the text. The land was not
theirs to sell--they had only a beneficial occupation. They were only like a
band of wanderers settling for a while
by permission of the Owner
on His
estate.
I. Here is the
lesson of god’s proprietorship and our stewardship. “The land is Mine.”
1. This thought should nurture thankfulness. The darkest night is
filled with light
and the loneliest place blazes with angel faces
and the
stoniest pillow is soft to him who sees everywhere the ladder that knits earth with
heaven
and to whom all his blessings are as the messengers that descend it on
errands of mercy and lead up the heart to the God from whom they come.
2. This thought should bring submission. We should not murmur
however we may regret
if the Landowner takes back a bit of the land which He
has let us occupy. He does not take it away for His advantage
but “for our
profit”--that we may be driven to claim a better inheritance in Himself than we
can find even in the best of His gifts.
3. This thought should produce a sense of responsibility in the use
of all we have.
II. Here is the
lesson of the transiency
of our stay on earth. “Ye are strangers and sojourners.”
1. The contrast between the external world and our stay in it
2. The constant change and progression of life.
3. The true and only permanent home. Use the transient as preparation
for the eternal.
III. Here is the
lesson of trust. “With Me.” We have companionship even when most solitary.
Whoever goes
God abides. (Homilist.)
Land laws among other nations
Some knowledge of our ordinance reached heathen authors; thus
Diodor of Sicily writes: “Moses divided the land by lot
giving equal portions
to the private citizens
but larger ones to the priests; and he forbade the
former to sell their lands
lest some greedily buy up many allotments
eject
the less prosperous
and thus cause a decrease of the population.” Among other
ancient nations we find some arrangements slightly analogous to the Biblical
laws. Lycurgus
after having distributed the land essentially in equal parts
made it infamous for any one either to buy another’s possession or to sell his
own; yet by permitting the citizens to give their property away or to bequeath
it
he paved the way for that which eventually happened that “some had far too
much
others too little
by which means the land came into few hands.” Solon
enacted a law restraining persons from acquiring land beyond a given limit.
Plato believed that no one ought to possess more than four times as much as the
lowest income or as “a single lot.” The Locrians were forbidden to sell their
ancient patrimony or their original lots of land unless notoriously compelled
by distress; and in some other countries it was unlawful to sell such lands on
any account. The Dalmatae made a partition of their land every eighth year. With a
view of equalising the property of the citizens Phaleas of Chalcedon ordained
that the rich should give marriage portions
but never receive any
while the
poor should always receive but never give them. Yet even these and similar
measures
imperfect and desultory compared with the complete and well-balanced
law of the Pentateuch
were found impracticable
and for the most part remained
a dead letter. Aristotle thus comments on equality of property: “It is possible
that an equality of goods is established
and yet that this may be either too
great
when it leads to a luxurious living
or too little when it obliges the
people to live hard. Hence it is evident that the legislator must aim at a
proper medium or a moderate sufficiency for all. And yet it is even of more
consequence that the citizens should entertain a similarity of feelings than an
equality of property; but this can only be if they are properly educated under
the direction of the laws.” Would the great philosopher
had he known the
legislation of the Pentateach
have found in it the realisation of his ideal?
He certainly describes with precision its main features. (M. M. Kalisch
Ph.
D.)
Verse 35
And if thy brother be waxen poor.
Jewish benevolence
Mr. William Gilbert
describing in Good Words the cases of
mendicancy which he saw appear before the Jewish Board of Guardians
tells of a
Prussian Jew
quite blind
who was led into the room by a child of one of the lodgers of the
house he lived in. He informed the Board that he had been some weeks in
England
and was utterly destitute.
On being asked how he had contrived to live
he replied that the poor Jews in
Petticoat Lane had made a subscription for him
and he had received about eight
shillings a week from the pence they had subscribed.
Verses 39-55
If thy brother . . . be sold unto thee.
Slavery
I. Texts relating
to slaves.
1. Called bondmen (Genesis 43:18; Genesis 44:9).
2. By birth (Genesis 14:14; Psalms 116:16; Jeremiah 2:14).
3. By purchase (Genesis 17:27; Genesis 37:36).
4. Sometimes captives taken in war (Deuteronomy 20:14; 2 Kings 5:2).
5. Strangers
under certain restrictions (Leviticus 25:45).
6. Foreigners
might be purchased (Leviticus 25:44).
7. Debtors
liable to be sold (2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:4-5; Matthew 18:25).
8. Thieves were sold (Exodus 22:3).
9. Israelites to be kindly treated (Leviticus 25:39-40; Leviticus 25:46)
and to be liberated
after six years (Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12); or if they refused to
be free
then (Exodus 21:5-6; Deuteronomy 15:16-17)
when sold to
foreigners might be redeemed (Leviticus 25:47-55)
or be free at the
jubilee (Leviticus 25:10; Leviticus 25:40-41; Leviticus 25:54)
but could not demand
wife and child procured during bondage (Exodus 21:3-4); were to be furnished
liberally on regaining liberty (Deuteronomy 15:13-14).
10. Foreign slaves to rest on Sabbath (Exodus 20:10)
to share in national
rejoicing (Deuteronomy 12:18; Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14).
11. If ill-treated by masters
to be set free (Exodus 21:26-27).
12. Laws respecting killing slaves (Exodus 21:20-21).
13. If they ran away
not to be delivered up (Deuteronomy 23:15).
14. Sometimes rose to rank (Ecclesiastes 10:7)
and might intermarry
with master’s family (1 Chronicles 2:34-35).
15. Kidnapping condemned (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7; 1 Timothy 1:10).
II. Note on the
above texts. Consider--
1. The nature of slavery as practised by the heathen world (the
treatment of Israelites by Egyptians).
2. The restraint laid upon these Israelites in their conduct to
foreign bondsmen. But for these laws how might these people--who had been
slaves of foreigners themselves--have treated foreigners when in their turn
they became masters?
3. The relation of Israelitish slaves to Israelitish masters
with
their privileges (social and religious)
and certain freedom.
4. The causes for which alone they might become slaves.
5. Especially consider that while these laws ameliorated the
condition Of slavery as it then existed--eliminating the elements of cruelty
&c.
leaving
in fact
nothing of bondage but the name--they paved the way
by the training of justice and mercy
for the total extinction of slavery.
6. Christianity in spirit
precept
and practice against slavery.
1. No warrant for modern slavery in the Word of God (Isaiah 58:6).
2. Spiritual slavery the worst form (2 Timothy 2:26).
3. This may be the state of men who are politically free (John 8:34; 2 Peter 2:19).
4. Jesus the great Emancipator (John 8:32-36; Romans 6:18-22; Galatians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16). (J. C. Gray.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》