Redemption of Property (23-34)

The first clear principle regarding property and the very earth Israel lived on was that the land did not belong to them; it was an inheritance from God. This next section defines the rules for redemption of property back to the original owners prior to the year of Jubilee (23-24).

• The seller of property always had the right to cancel the sale by paying a redemption price—the price determined counting to the year of Jubilee when the land would return anyway to the original owner (25-28).

• The seller of a home in a walled city had 12 months to buy the house back if the seller did not, then the house was lost and was not returned at Jubilee (29-30).

• Houses in villages went with the fields and were redeemed with the land (31).

• The exception to this rule was the homes of the Levites; they could buy back their homes at any time, and they were also returned to them in the year of Jubilee. Their pasturelands, however, could never be sold; it was their possession perpetually (32-34).

Redemption of Slaves (35-55)

• This section begins by addressing a national brother who had become impoverished. An Israelite of means was to provide for the impoverished as they would a temporary resident, with a few differences. They were not to charge interest for the pay they gave them but were to revere God and help the Jewish brother become restored financially. Because God had freed the Israelites from slavery, no brother was to ever allow another Israelite to become a slave. They were to remember God had taken them all out of slavery and did not want any of them re-shackled. They were to become hired hands; they were never to be treated ruthlessly, and when their land came back to them during Jubilee, they were to be released back to their inheritance without needing to pay back the favor and blessing of help. Every Israelite was to be seen as the Lord’s servant and never allowed to be a servant of another Israelite. Thus, an Israelite was given a greater status than a Hebrew who could become an indentured servant for six years (Exodus 21:1-4) (35-43).

• The Israelites were allowed to purchase slaves from other nations and bequeath them to their children (44-46).  

• If a poor Israelite sold himself to a rich stranger in the land (a non-Israelite), then the whole transaction was to be closely monitored. The stranger would have to allow the Israelite slave to be bought back—the redemption price determined by the time left to Jubilee. The Israelite slave could not be treated like a slave but like a hired hand, and the Israelite slave could not be treated ruthlessly; he was to be respected. Because God delivered Israel from slavery, God did not want what He had done reversed (47-55).