And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying… Every portion of the Bible is God-breathed, and all of it is profitable. We have seen that it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, and for correction. Paul then adds a final profitability: for training in righteousness. The word translated as training is paideia. Paideia referred to the wholistic education in Ancient Greece. In fact, many scholars suggest that enculturation would be a better translation of the word. The Greeks used the works of Homer as the basis for their paideia. Children were taught the alphabet, learned grammar, copied, memorized, and meditated upon the Iliad and the Odyssey. Through those texts, children were not simply taught basic educational skills; they were guided into what it meant to be a Greek citizen. The Romans used Virgil’s Aeneid similarly. Paul takes that same idea but presents Scripture to us. In the Bible we have something far greater than an epic poem; we have the very Word of God. All Scripture is for enculturating us in righteousness, preparing us to be true citizens of heaven.

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Leviticus 25 closes out the mini section of 23-25 that addresses how Israel was to worship Yahweh within sacred time. Chapter 23 commanded the Sabbath and the annual feasts and fasts to be kept. Last week, chapter 24 presented two seemingly unrelated sections: the lampstand and bread of the Presence, followed by the account of the blaspheming man. Yet we saw that the two scenes formed a unified contrast. The light of the lamp shining upon the bread of the Presence displayed the blessing of God, as God’s people are renewed Sabbath by Sabbath in the light of His presence. The second scene portrayed contempt for God’s Name and the curse that must follow. The first section highlighted the rhythms of sacred time (“Sabbath by Sabbath,” “regularly,” “a statute forever”), while the other highlighted the holiness of God’s name, which has been repeatedly declared since chapter 18.

This brings us to chapter 25, a large and rich passage that presents two closely connected concepts. Verses 1-7 introduce the sabbatical year, and verses 8-22 present the year of jubilee. The remainder of the chapter explains how the jubilee works in practice. Verses 23-38 focus on the redemption of property, while verses 39-55 address the redemption of persons. And as always, we will conclude by setting our eyes upon Christ and His fulfillment of this chapter.

THE SABBBATICAL YEAR // VERSES 1-7

The command here is straightforward. Just as Israel was commanded to work six days and rest on the seventh, so they were also commanded to work the land for six years and let is rest on the seventh. During that seventh year, they were not to sow, prune, or harvest in the normal fashion. Instead, whatever the land naturally produced would be food for the Israelite, the servant, the sojourner, the livestock, and even the wild animals.

Notice in verse 2 who keeps this Sabbath: the land shall keep a Sabbath. The land is almost personified, and there is good reason for this. But we will save that for the end of the sermon.

So, why does God issue this command? At one level, the reasoning is similar to the weekly Sabbath. It is a provision of rest and worship, while also functioning as a test of Israel’s faith in Yahweh. Again, the weekly Sabbath was rather like a litmus test. If God’s people could not obey the command to stop working and rest, how would they keep any of the other commands?

The sabbatical year does this on a much larger scale. It entirely disrupted productivity. It challenged self-reliance head-on. And it taught Israel how to be dependent upon God. It forced them to trust in God’s provision for them. It pushed the weekly rhythm of trust to a deeper level. Could they trust Him to rest from work for an entire year? Of course, God issues this command while He is literally feeding them the bread of the angels in the wilderness.

Yet even though they were not to work, God promised to provide for them, saying, “The Sabbath of the land shall provide for you.” The land itself, under God’s hand, would be enough for them.

We should skip ahead a bit to verse 23 because it is essential for properly understanding what is happening here (and during the jubilee): The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine.

Notice the beautiful tension in this chapter. Verse 2 says, the land that I give to you… But verse 22 says, the land is mine. Which is it? The answer, of course, is yes. God would give them the land to be their possession, yet He remains the ultimate owner. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, so He certainly owns Israel as well. As the psalmist says, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. The land does truly belong to Israel, but they are also hold it as tenants under their Lord.

I think it is worth pausing here to reflect upon our own relationship with rest. Here in the West, we tend to be both workaholics and deeply slothful. Those two things may sound like opposites, but they actually work together quite well. You see, busyness is the counterfeit of godly work. It drains us and leaves us empty. We then typically collapse into idleness, which is the counterfeit of godly rest. While idle, we shut our brains off and normally descend into a pit of mindless entertainment. Guilt then pushes us out of idleness and back to busyness. And the cycle repeats.

God’s Word gives us a different pattern to follow. Godly work is meant to lead to godly rest, which then feeds back into godly work. It is meant to be a healthy and holy cycle. To break the destructive loop of busyness and idleness, we must learn to work and rest to the glory of God.

Ultimately, our true rest is found only in Christ. He invites the weary to come to Him: “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” That is the heart of true Sabbath rest. So, as we reflect on the sabbatical year, we should ask ourselves: Am I resting in Christ? Am I entrusting my work, my time, my work and rest to Him?

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE // VERSES 8-22

In verse 8, we are told about the year of jubilee:

You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither saw nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat of the produce of the field.

The Jubilee, as you may already be able to tell, was a kind of super sabbatical year. It was to occur every fifty years. Because it immediately followed the seventh sabbatical year, it gave the Israelites two consecutive years of rest.

Interestingly, we do not know exactly what the word jubilee means. Some connect it with the Hebrew word for ‘to return,’ which fits with the theme of returning to one’s property and clan. Others argue that it is related to ‘ram’s horn’ or ‘trumpet,’ which also fits because the jubilee was announced with trumpet blasts on the Day of Atonement. Whichever is correct, the occasion was certainly joyous. That is why our English word jubilation still carries the idea of exuberant rejoicing. The year of jubilee was a year of celebration through Israel.

But what was the main point of the jubilee?

Verse 10 gives us the big picture: liberty. The jubilee was a time when property was released back to its original owner and when servants were set free. It was essentially a massive social reset. Any land you had purchased from another Israelite was returned to its original family. Any Israelite who sold himself into servitude was released.

Indeed, notice that the year of jubilee began on the Day of Atonement, after the sins of the nation were atoned for. This is fitting because liberty cannot come without atonement. Sin is slavery, and there is no freedom without forgiveness of sin.

Gordon Wenham summarizes the purpose well, noting that because the year of jubilee occurred every fifty years. If a person sold himself into slavery immediately after the jubilee, he would only be enslaved for a maximum of forty-eight or forty-nine years. “Thus, about once in any man’s lifetime the slate was wiped clean. Everyone had a chance to make a fresh start” (317). The wealthy released the land and servants that they had accumulated, and the poor regained the land and freedom that they had lost.

Thus, the jubilee had a twofold message. To the wealthy, the jubilee was a small picture of death, a reminder that worldly possession cannot be held onto forever. To the poor, the jubilee was a tangible hope that they were not condemned to perpetual poverty.

This is also why verses 13-17 warn against wrongdoing. Even a year of liberty could become a point of exploitation. Because the jubilee reset ownership, the value of land fluctuated depending on where one was in the cycle. Land sold just before the jubilee would be cheaper than land sold right after. The first might only be used by the purchaser for several years, while the second could be used for several decades. God gives these laws, however, to prevent manipulative business. For instance, we can imagine an Israelite trying to profit off someone’s forgetfulness or vulnerability by selling a property for a high price close to the jubilee, hoping to make money and then get his property back soon. The laws prevent such practices.

Verses 18-22 then provide another reason for obedience. These commands were tied to Israel’s security in the land: Then you shall dwell securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And Israel’s natural objection was anticipated: What shall we eat in the seventh year if we may not sow or gather? God’s answer is that He will command His blessing to be upon the land. The sixth year will yield enough for three years. God promises sufficient provision for the whole year of celebration.

REDEEMING PROPERTY // VERSES 23-38

These verses outline the laws of property redemption. Earlier this year we saw an example of this in the book of Ruth. Naomi, a widow with no sons, likely sold her land in order to have resources to live on. Boaz, as her kinsman-redeemer, stepped in to buy the land back and restore it to the family, exactly the sort of redemption that is discussed here.

There were specific laws for houses within walled cities. They could be redeemed within one year of being sold, but after that year passed, they permanently belonged to the new owner. This is probably because houses within cities did not have farmable land. People who lived in these houses were likely craftsmen or some other trade. They did not depend on the land for survival. That is why a field could always be redeemed.

The exception to the cities is the Levites. Because the Levites did not receive territorial land of their own. God Himself was the inheritance. So, any homes that they acquired within a walled city could be redeemed. Their dwelling places were permanently recoverable.

Verses 35-38 close out the property section with a call to care for the poor brother. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the heart behind all of these laws. Israelites were to uphold one another, lending freely and without interest. Of course, they could lend with interest to other nations but not to their own people. Psalm 15 echoes this principle when it describes the one who may dwell on God’s holy hill as a person “who does not put out his money at interest.” The Hebrew word for charging interest comes from the same root as ‘to bite.’ So, God was forbidding His people from biting one another through predatory lending. Instead, they were to fear Him and care for their fellow Israelites, sharing resources without exploiting one another.

REDEEMING PEOPLE // VERSES 39-55

The final section of the chapter concerns the redemption of slaves. Gordon Wenham gives a helpful perspective on this system.

In our minds slavery conjures up pictures of slave-ships from Africa and oppression on plantations. Slavery in Israel was intended to be very different, as these laws make clear. It was somewhat akin to imprisonment in the modern world, and served a roughly similar purpose of enabling a man who could not pay off a fine to work off his debt directly. In some respects it was less degrading and demoralizing than the modern penitentiary; for one thing the man was not cut off from society as he would be in prison.

Verse 39 lays out the core principle: an Israelite who sold himself was to be treated as a hired worker and as a sojourner, not as a slave. He served only until the year of jubilee when he and his family returned to his family’s land with him. The reason for this is given in verse 42: For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. God had redeemed them from the house of slavery. Therefore, no Israelite was permitted to treat their fellow Israelite as Pharaoh had treated them. They could bind themselves into service, but they could not be owned, dehumanized, or ruled ruthlessly. They were permitted to acquire slaves from the nations around them or from resident foreigners within their gates. But they could not do so with Israelites. The distinction was intentional: Israel was a covenant people who belonged to God; therefore they could not permanently own one another.

The chapter then ends with instructions paralleling the property laws: the price of the Israelite entering servitude was calculated according to the number of years left until the jubilee. Again, the closer to the jubilee, the lower the value; the farther away the jubilee, the higher the value.

Ross captures the theological climax of the chapter in his comment on verse 55:

Leviticus 25:55 reiterates the basic theological idea governing all of the these laws: if no one actually owned the land upon which they lived, then certainly no one could own another person either. The land belonged to God, and the people were God’s servants because he redeemed them. These two truths governed the way that faithful Israelites looked at possessions and debtors.

Because they were His servants, not their own, the economic and social structures of the nation had to reflect His character of justice, mercy, generosity, and protection for the vulnerable. In all of this, God was shaping Israel into a people who were to increasingly resemble Him.

Although Christians do not live in a theocratic society like ancient Israel, we can still learn from God’s design today. As Galatians says, we should be people who strive to do good to everyone, especially those of the household of faith. Of course, the principle of these commands today does not need to remain fixed upon economics. We could rightly ask ourselves whether we have any grudges or bitterness that we are holding over others that we need to release.

FROM IDEAL TO REALITY

Now that we have glanced at the entire chapter, we have seen the great blessing that the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee would have been to the people of Israel as they lived in the land of Canaan. However, here is the problem: as far as we know, Israel never actually practiced these two celebrations. Of course, they applied the principles. As we mentioned, Boaz redeemed Naomi’s land. In Nehemiah 5, Nehemiah rebukes the people for charging interest to one another, showing that these commands were still needed centuries later. Indeed, the jubilee seems to have always lingered in the Hebrew consciousness, as we will see soon, but we have no indication that it was actually celebrated as God commanded. Indeed, 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 speaks of the seventy-year Babylonian exile as finally giving the land rest since the Israelite had not given it sabbatical years. If they failed to keep the sabbatical years, they surely would not have kept the jubilee. Thus, Leviticus 25 appears to be nothing more than an optimistic ideal that has never truly been enforced.

Yet that is certainly not what we should take away from this text. Consider Leviticus 25’s placement in the book. Remember that chapters 18-20 formed a mini section in the book. Chapters 18 and 20 focused on warning Israel against living like the pagans around them, while chapter 19 filled the center with God’s positive vision for His people: “love your neighbor as yourself.”

After the section on the holiness of the priests in 21-22, chapters 23-25 form another triplet of texts. Chapter 23 laid out Israel’s feasts and festivals, most of which look back in remembrance upon God’s redemption in the Exodus. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread remember the night of the Exodus. The Feast of Booths remembered God’s provision and protection through the wilderness. Even the Firstfruits and Weeks celebrated the harvest, first anticipating and then look back upon God’s provision. In all these feasts, Israel rehearsed past works of God.

Chapter 24, however, moves from the past to the present. The daily tending of the lampstands and the weekly renewal of the bread gave Israel a visible picture of God’s ongoing blessing. The shining light symbolized God’s shing face upon His people. The fresh bread every Sabbath reminded them of His weekly provision of rest. But the man who blasphemed God’s name and was stoned displayed the opposite: the curse that rests upon those who reject the LORD. Chapter 24, therefore, confronted Israel with a question: Will you now walk faithfully in the blessed favor of God or dishonor Him and suffer His curse?

Then chapter 25 brings us to the future. So, chapter 23 taught Israel how celebrate past redemption, chapter 24 summoned them live presently in light of their redemption, and chapter 25 anticipates future redemption. Practically, this whole chapter is set in the future because Israel could not practice it until they were in the Promised Land. But while the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee still have roots in the past, they were ultimately cycles of rest and redemption that point far beyond Israel’s ancient history. Thus, even though they were never actually practiced, they anticipate a future age, a sabbatical age of jubilee, when God’s people and God’s world will experience full liberation and restoration.

Indeed, let us trace those two elements that we have seen in this chapter: the land and the people. Both of which belong to God.

Creation Renewed

First, the land. Why did the land need a rest? Genesis 3 gives us the answer. After Adam and Eve sinned, God did not curse them directly; instead, He cursed the ground. Humanity’s rebellion fractured creation itself. Paul then picks up on this theme in Romans 8, explaining that creation was subjected to futility and that it groans and longs for redemption. Creation yearns to be free from its bondage, but it cannot be fully renewed until those who rule over it, God’s sons and daughters, are redeemed and made new. That is why Paul links the renewal of creation with the resurrection of our bodies. When God’s people are glorified, creation too will share in “the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Finally, Revelation 21 shows the fulfillment of this longing: a new heaven and a new earth. The old cosmos will pass away, and the new will come. There God will dwell with His people. In His perfect presence, tears will be forever gone, so will pain and death. The land will finally receive its perpetual sabbath rest.

Even though Israel did not fulfill these laws as agricultural guidelines and economic policies, Leviticus 25 nevertheless points toward the world to come. Indeed, Israel’s failure only heightens the hope embedded here, for God Himself will bring the true and better jubilee. He will renew His creation entirely and redeem His people fully.

God’s People Renewed

And that takes us to the second element of this chapter: the people. Creation is eagerly groaning for our adoption as sons, the glorification of our bodies. If there is a future rest coming for creation itself, then there is also a future rest coming for all of His people.

Isaiah 61 announces that hope. In fact, it reads almost like what might have been proclaimed in Israel during a jubilee (and that is certainly the point):

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty  to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion
a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called the oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Those are tremendous promises. But when were they to be fulfilled? What was Isaiah pointing toward? Jesus answers that question in Luke 4, when in a synagogue in Nazareth He was asked to read from Isaiah. He found Isaiah 61 and read:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He then rolled up the scroll, sat down, and declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

This was Jesus’ claim to be the fulfillment of the jubilee. The true year of the Lord’s favor was inaugurated in Him.

And we see this in Galatians 5:1 as well, where Paul writes: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Through His death and resurrection, Christ liberates His people, not from Egypt or any other physical location, but from the slavery of sin and from the tyranny of our own corrupt hearts and desires. He gives us His Spirit so that we are finally free to love God, free to obey from the heart, free to choose what pleases Him.

Without the Spirit we possess a kind of freedom, but it is only a freedom to sin however we want. We are unable to choose what truly honors God, for even the “good works” of the unbeliever ultimately aim at feeling better about oneself or looking good before others. Only the regenerate heart that has been renewed by the Holy Spirt, can love God rightly and do what is good for His glory. Christ frees us not merely from sin’s bondage but also to a life of holiness and joy in Him.

PROCLAIMING LIBERTY

And because we have been set free in Christ, we ought to do exactly what 25:10 commands: proclaim liberty throughout the land. We proclaim the liberty that we have in Christ, who is the true and better jubilee. Indeed, every time we gather at the Lord’s Table, that is precisely what we are doing. 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” So, until the ultimate jubilee comes, until the heavens and earth are made new and our bodies are raised to glorified life, what are we proclaiming? We are proclaiming the year of God’s favor. Christ has come to bring good news and to free captives.

Notice in Luke 4, Jesus stopped reading Isaiah 61 before the phrase, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” That is because the time of favor is now; the day of judgment is still ahead.

All sin will be judged. Either upon the cross of Christ or at the day of judgment. Those are the only two options. Let Christ bear our judgment or bear it ourselves on the last day. Now is still the time to trust Christ and to turn to Him for deliverance from sin. In the Lord’s Supper, we gladly proclaim that Christ has already taken that judgment, so the day of judgment will hold no terror for us.

But for those outside of Christ, judgment will fall upon their own heads. So, we proclaim that the year of God’s favor is still here. The door is still open, and chasm is not yet fixed. All who breath today may still come and cast their trust upon Christ. So when you come to this Table, come as those who have been freed. Come as those whose eternal debt against God Himself has been forgiven. Taste and see that the great jubilee has already begun in Christ and will be completed when He returns. And may this Supper be a foretaste of the marriage feast of the Lamb, the great and final jubilee, the sabbatical age that will never end.