Leviticus 25:4, commentary and pictures

In the seventh year, after six years of sowing and reaping in Canaan, the land itself was to keep a sabbath of rest dedicated to the Lord. All tillage was to stop, with no sowing of fields and no pruning of vineyards, and what grew of itself was left open as common food for the poor, the stranger, servants, livestock, and wild animals. The rest renewed the worn soil and taught that God is the owner and Householder of the land while the people live on it only as tenants, and that they were to depend on His providence, with the sixth year's yield made to supply food for three years. The pause from labor gave room for worship, study, fellowship, and kindness, setting apart harvest for God's claims and teaching liberality and care for the poor and suffering. For present farming, land long cultivated should be allowed to rest in portions and crops changed, with patient labor and study of the best methods, so that soil condemned as unproductive will yield rich returns. The land's rest also marks the beginning of the final jubilee at Jesus' coming, when the pious are freed in triumph while the wicked are left in confusion, but it does not mean that labor is now sin or that the poor are to be supported without work.

The Land's Sabbath Year

In the seventh year, after six years of sowing and reaping once settled in Canaan, the land itself was to keep a sabbath of rest dedicated to the Lord. That seventh year was established as a Sabbath year for the land by divine arrangement for the people.

For that whole year all agricultural work was to stop, with tillage and cultivation intermitted and the land left fallow. The field was not to be sown and the vineyard was not to be pruned, and no planting, sowing, or tilling of the soil was permitted. Every seventh year the suspension was complete, with no cultivation carried on.

What grew of itself without planting was not to be harvested in the ordinary way but was left lying in its spontaneous growth with free access to all as common provision. It was available to the poor and the stranger, to servants, to flocks and herds and livestock, and what remained was food for wild animals. What grew naturally could thus be gathered by the poor, while the remainder served the beasts.

What the Year Taught

The rest renewed the land's capacity for growth, resting and invigorating worn-out productive soil after years of cultivation. The Lord knows better than men the proper treatment of land. God is the Householder and owner of the land, and the people live on it only as His tenants, so it was not to be managed as though wholly their own. Nature is not God, but God governs nature, cares for the earth and its produce, makes the land productive by His blessing when obeyed, and may withhold or bestow its blessings.

The year taught dependence on God's providence, with the people to rely on His provision. By special interposition the sixth year's yield supplied food for three years. Refusing the land its Sabbath in disobedience to God's directions for cultivating the soil leads to loss of vigor, dearth, and sickness.

The pause in labor gave more opportunity for study, social fellowship, worship, and acts of kindness that daily cares and work often crowd out. Property and harvest were thereby set apart for God's claims, with special care, provision, and relief for the poor and suffering. It belongs to the gospel of the Old Testament and to practical missionary work, teaching duties to one another. It is a lesson in liberality to overcome stinginess and selfishness, encouraging liberality rather than stinginess.

Prophecy and Present Application

The rest of the land marks the beginning of the final jubilee and its fulfillment at the coming of Jesus. When the voice of God is heard, the pious slave rises in triumph and victory and shakes off the chains that bound him. His wicked master is left in confusion and knows not what to do, because the wicked cannot understand the words of the voice of God.

The Lord knows better than men the proper treatment of land. After land has been cultivated for several years and has given its treasure to man, portions of it should be allowed to rest, and then the crops should be changed. Patient labor with study of the best methods and proper preparation of the ground for seed will make soil condemned as unproductive yield rich returns. Failure of harvest may be wholly due to neglect on this point, to narrow plans and little strength put forth and little study of the best methods, so unproductive soil calls for reform in agriculture through intelligent cultivation and through teaching others by precept and example how to make the soil yield rich returns.

Obedience in practical life requires freely helping the poor and brethren working in hard, poverty-stricken fields instead of closing the heart and saying No. The command does not mean that labor is sin, that the jubilee has come, that the land must now rest, or that the poor must be supported without labor. Joining the land-rest to a call to sell what is owned and give alms in order to forbid work confuses and distracts, cannot prosper, deceives some, and will be brought down while truth triumphs in the end.