And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
The Lord speaking to Moses in Mount Sinai introduces special laws for Israel's use of the land and soil. Those laws were to take effect after Israel settled in Canaan, with the seventh year to be observed as a Sabbath year. Every seventh year cultivation was to stop, with no planting or sowing, so the land kept a sabbath and rested to renew worn-out soil.
In that year the land's spontaneous natural growth was to be shared as food, free to the poor, strangers, servants, and flocks, herds and livestock. The instruction given here also introduces the fiftieth-year jubilee. The land belongs to the Lord as its Householder and owner, and the people are His tenants. The rest taught Israel that God, not nature, governs and supervises the earth and its produce, providing or withholding blessings, so the people depended on His providential care and learned faith in His provision.
The injunctions are practical duties of people to one another, which are true missionary work and the principles of Christianity, the gospel of the Old Testament, showing Israel had communication from heaven and that the Lord is over the whole earth. These provisions teach liberality, overcome stinginess, and show by special provision that the Lord cares for the poor. Obedience brings His blessing to make the land productive, including a sixth-year yield sufficient for three years.
The Lord speaking to Moses in Mount Sinai introduces special laws for Israel's use of the land and soil. Those laws were to take effect after Israel settled in Canaan, with the seventh year to be observed as a Sabbath year. Every seventh year cultivation was to stop, with no planting or sowing, so the land kept a sabbath and rested to renew worn-out soil.
In that year the land's spontaneous natural growth was to be shared as food, free to the poor, strangers, servants, and flocks, herds and livestock. The instruction given here also introduces the fiftieth-year jubilee. The land belongs to the Lord as its Householder and owner, and the people are His tenants. The rest taught Israel that God, not nature, governs and supervises the earth and its produce, providing or withholding blessings, so the people depended on His providential care and learned faith in His provision.
The injunctions are practical duties of people to one another, which are true missionary work and the principles of Christianity, the gospel of the Old Testament, showing Israel had communication from heaven and that the Lord is over the whole earth. These provisions teach liberality, overcome stinginess, and show by special provision that the Lord cares for the poor. Obedience brings His blessing to make the land productive, including a sixth-year yield sufficient for three years.