For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
The fiftieth year is the jubilee, holy unto the people and a time when the land rests. Its increase is to be eaten out of the field, from its spontaneous growth without agricultural work or cultivation of the soil. Under this law landed property returned to its original owner, securing each family's inheritance and guarding against extremes of wealth and poverty.
The land and its produce belong to the Lord, for He is its owner and householder and the people are His tenants. He makes the land productive by His blessing upon it when the people obey. Under His supervision the sixth year yields provision for three years, as a constant lesson that He is the householder and the land is His. By special interposition He cares for the poor and provides for them, giving all free access to the spontaneous crops. These provisions teach liberality and generosity in order to overcome stinginess and selfishness.
The verse states one of God's principles for the distribution of property that still holds for the world today. Carrying it out would change people's condition by preventing oppression of the poor by the rich and hatred of the rich by the poor, hindering the amassing of great wealth, preventing the ignorance and degradation of tens of thousands whose ill-paid servitude builds colossal fortunes, and bringing a peaceful solution to problems that threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed.
The holy rest of the land does not mean that people must stop working and be supported without labor. The jubilee liberation pictures the final deliverance at Christ's coming, when the land rests and the pious enslaved person rises in triumph, shaking off chains and freed from bondage. At that final jubilee the wicked master is confounded and cannot understand God's words.
The fiftieth year is the jubilee, holy unto the people and a time when the land rests. Its increase is to be eaten out of the field, from its spontaneous growth without agricultural work or cultivation of the soil. Under this law landed property returned to its original owner, securing each family's inheritance and guarding against extremes of wealth and poverty.
The land and its produce belong to the Lord, for He is its owner and householder and the people are His tenants. He makes the land productive by His blessing upon it when the people obey. Under His supervision the sixth year yields provision for three years, as a constant lesson that He is the householder and the land is His. By special interposition He cares for the poor and provides for them, giving all free access to the spontaneous crops. These provisions teach liberality and generosity in order to overcome stinginess and selfishness.
The verse states one of God's principles for the distribution of property that still holds for the world today. Carrying it out would change people's condition by preventing oppression of the poor by the rich and hatred of the rich by the poor, hindering the amassing of great wealth, preventing the ignorance and degradation of tens of thousands whose ill-paid servitude builds colossal fortunes, and bringing a peaceful solution to problems that threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed.
The holy rest of the land does not mean that people must stop working and be supported without labor. The jubilee liberation pictures the final deliverance at Christ's coming, when the land rests and the pious enslaved person rises in triumph, shaking off chains and freed from bondage. At that final jubilee the wicked master is confounded and cannot understand God's words.