Moses closes out his material on the laws concerning “feasts,” which he has been covering for the last two chapters. This final chapter of the section is going to be focused on the Sabbatical Year, the redemption of property, and the redemption of slaves. You will notice as you read Leviticus that most chapters (with the exception of 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 26) begin with Yahweh’s speaking to Moses. (In chapter 10, you don't see Yahweh speaking to Moses until verse 3.) Here in chapter 25, the Lord is speaking to Moses from Mount Sinai (1).

The Sabbath Year (2-7)

Moses laid out the Sabbath for the land: six years of sowing, pruning, reaping, and gathering. In the seventh year, the land was to yield what it produced on its own and not be reaped or gathered; it was a year of rest (2-5).  

The phrase “the Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you” sums up the issue of faith. God’s point was that it wasn't their hard and never-ceasing work that provided food but their actual rest in God. Even their servants, workers, and animal force were to enjoy the agricultural rest (6-7). Deuteronomy 15:1-11 let us know that personal debts were also forgiven during the Sabbath Year and indentured servants were set free. It was a year of sharing with the poor and releasing and liberating slaves. The slavery system is what the Jews used instead of a prison system for dealing with non-capital-offense crime issues. In essence, the Sabbath was to be one huge, national moment every seven years where the whole nation rested, trusted, and celebrated Yahweh for an entire year. Sadly, there is no evidence that the Jewish nation ever celebrated the Sabbatical year. For the word of the Lord to be fulfilled through Jeremiah, the Jewish nation was led into captivity for as many years as they did not observe the Sabbatical Year, which totaled seventy (2 Chronicles 36:21). 

The Sabbath Jubilee (8-22)

The Sabbath Jubilee was to be at the end of every seventh Sabbath year. So the nation would count seven Sabbath years, and on the seventh Sabbath year (49 years), a Jubilee was proclaimed. 

Some think the Jubilee would begin in the 50th year after the 49th year was completed. Others thought it began in the seventh Sabbath year (49th year) at the Day of Atonement, which would put it at the end of the 49th year, a sort of shortened 50th year at the end of the 49th year, adding some days to the 50th year to readjust the lunar calendar. Whatever was meant, it was never recorded as being kept, so it became a moot point (8). It was to begin on the Day of Atonement with a blast of a trumpet, which was the tenth day of the seventh month, thus not at the end of the year but a little over halfway through the year. This is why many believe the Jubilee was to be the last five months of the 49th year with some extra days (9).

During this year, specific actions would take place:

• Liberty was proclaimed (10).

• Land was reverted to its original owners and those who inherited it (10, 12).

• They were not to sow or reap or gather (11).

• They were to live on the produce taken directly from the field (13).

• They were to be particularly careful to be honest in commerce (14, 17).

• The sale of all property was to be based on the number of harvests that remained (15-16).

• They were warned again not to wrong anyone (14, 17).

Yahweh warned them to be careful to perform these statutes so they could remain secure. Of all the material the Lord spoke to Moses, which is recorded in Leviticus, only the material in chapters 25 and 26 was said to be given to Moses on Mount Sinai (1).

Yahweh further instructed Israel to trust Him with the Sabbaths to provide enough harvest in the sixth year to get them through the Sabbath Year, the Jubilee Year, and the beginning of the harvest in the eighth year and on into the ninth year (18-22). Undoubtedly, Yahweh wanted Israel to learn that man does not live by bread alone. Many have thought this system was God's system to control runaway inflation and to govern exploitative usury practices so that Israel would not be enslaved once again, even economically.