Leviticus 25:31
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. 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.
The verse belongs to the sabbatical-year and jubilee legislation in which cultivation stopped and the land was given rest. This direction was spoken by Christ to Moses for the children of Israel and continues in force down along the line to the present time. It teaches that the land is the Lord's and that His people hold it only as tenants.
The rest renews worn-out soil, while the land's ungathered spontaneous growth during that time is left for the poor, the stranger, and the livestock. Its provision that houses of villages with no wall round about them be counted as the fields of the country, subject to redemption and to going out in the jubilee, was intended to encourage generosity and to provide for the poor.
It requires not hardening the heart nor shutting the hand toward a poor brother who has fallen into decay and become needy, but relieving him so that he may live with his brother, allowing redemption and release. Those well acquainted with God's law must be doers of this word together and unite to see the work done, giving with an ungrieved heart and without reluctance, and such giving brings the blessing of the Lord in all their work. Refusal to hear and obey is sin: it sends the cry of God's needy children up before Him, keeps prayers from coming up as sweet incense, makes it necessary for Him to remove prosperity because of failure to deal justly and mercifully, and places the charge against His people.