And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
The verse belongs to the sabbatical-year arrangement in which cultivation ceased and the land was left to rest and bring forth of itself, and what grew spontaneously was to furnish food, with special provision for the poor, the stranger, and the livestock. Its fruitfulness was a lesson that the land was not man's own, for God owned it and watched over its productivity as the true householder, while the people dwelt upon it only as His tenants. Obedience to His land laws drew down His blessing upon the soil in abundant harvests, so that the people would eat to fullness and dwell in the land in safety and security.
The question of what would be eaten when nothing was sown or gathered in the fallow seventh year was met by a promise of a sixth-year harvest enlarged to meet three years of need. That stored abundance was to sustain the people through the sabbath year and beyond, until the later plantings had grown and matured for use.
The promise was conditional upon fearing God, doing His statutes and keeping and doing His judgments, refusing to oppress one another, and actively relieving human suffering. Selfish pride and self-gratification that despise His words and neglect to relieve suffering shut His blessing away from men and even from His professed people. When His law is set aside His curse rests upon the earth, upon man and upon beast.
The verse belongs to the sabbatical-year arrangement in which cultivation ceased and the land was left to rest and bring forth of itself, and what grew spontaneously was to furnish food, with special provision for the poor, the stranger, and the livestock. Its fruitfulness was a lesson that the land was not man's own, for God owned it and watched over its productivity as the true householder, while the people dwelt upon it only as His tenants. Obedience to His land laws drew down His blessing upon the soil in abundant harvests, so that the people would eat to fullness and dwell in the land in safety and security.
The question of what would be eaten when nothing was sown or gathered in the fallow seventh year was met by a promise of a sixth-year harvest enlarged to meet three years of need. That stored abundance was to sustain the people through the sabbath year and beyond, until the later plantings had grown and matured for use.
The promise was conditional upon fearing God, doing His statutes and keeping and doing His judgments, refusing to oppress one another, and actively relieving human suffering. Selfish pride and self-gratification that despise His words and neglect to relieve suffering shut His blessing away from men and even from His professed people. When His law is set aside His curse rests upon the earth, upon man and upon beast.