Chapter 25:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Exodus Numbers
Leviticus 25
In token of his peculiar right to the land of Canaan, God in
this chapter appoints,
Verse 1. That every seventh year should be a year of rest, ver. 1-7.
Verse 2. That every fiftieth year should be a year of jubilee, ver. 8-17. A
peculiar blessing annext, ver. 18-22. The land sold may be
redeemed: if not, it shall revert at the year of jubilee, only with
some exceptions, ver. 23-34. Usury forbidden, ver. 35-38. Jewish
servants to be released at the jubilee, ver. 39. but heathens might
be retained, ver. 40-46. Of an Israelite that sold himself to a
stranger, ver. 47-55.
1. In mount Sinai - That is, near mount Sinai. So the Hebrew
particle beth is sometimes used. So there is no need to disturb the
history in this place.
2. When ye come into the land - So as to be settled in it; for the
time of the wars was not to be accounted, nor the time before
Joshua's distribution of the land among them. Keep a sabbath -
That is, enjoy rest and freedom from plowing, and tilling. Unto
the Lord - In obedience and unto the honour of God. This was
instituted,
(1.) For the assertion of God's sovereign right to the land, in which
the Israelites were but tenants at God's will.
(2.) For the trial of their obedience.
(3.) For the demonstration of his providence as well in general
towards men, as especially towards his own people.
(4.) To wean them from inordinate love, and pursuit of worldly
advantages, and to inure them to depend upon God alone, and
upon God's blessing for their subsistence.
(5.) To put them in mind of that blessed and eternal rest provided
for all good men.
Verse 4. A sabbath of rest to the land - They were neither to do any
work about it, nor expect any harvest from it. All yearly labours
were to be intermitted in the seventh year, as much as daily
labours on the seventh day.
Verse 5. Of its own accord - From the grains that fell out of the ears the
last reaping time. Thou shalt not reap - That is, as thy own
peculiarly, but only so as others may reap it with thee, for present
food. Undressed - Not cut off by thee, but suffered to grow for the
use of the poor.
Verse 6. The sabbath of the land - That is, the growth of the sabbath, or
that fruit which groweth in the sabbatical year. For thy servant -
For all promiscuously, to take food from thence as they need it.
Verse 9. The jubilee - Signified the true liberty from our spiritual debts
and slaveries to be purchased by Christ, and to be published to the
world by the sound of the gospel. The seventh month - Which was
the first month of the year for civil affairs; the jubilee therefore
began in that month; and, as it seems, upon this very tenth day,
when the trumpet sounded, as other feasts generally began when
the trumpet sounded. In the day of atonement - A very fit time,
that when they fasted and prayed for God's mercy to them in the
pardon of their sins, then they might exercise their charity to men
in forgiving their debts; and to teach us, that the foundation of all
solid comfort must be laid in repentance and atonement for our
sins through Christ.
Verse 10. The fiftieth year - The year of jubilee was not the forty and
ninth year, as some learned men think, but precisely the fiftieth.
The old weekly sabbath is called the seventh day, because it truly
was so, being next after the six days of the week and distinct from
them all: and the year of release is called the seventh year, ver. 4,
as immediately following the six years, ver. 3, and distinct from
them all. And in like manner the jubilee is called the fiftieth year,
because it comes next after seven tines seven or forty-nine years,
ver. 8, and is distinct from them all. Unto all the inhabitants -
Understand such as were Israelites; principally to all servants,
even to such as would not and did not go out at the seventh year,
and to the poor, who now were acquitted from all their debts, and
restored to their possessions. Jubilee - So called either from the
Hebrew word Jobel which signifies first a ram, and then a ram's
horn, by the sound whereof it was proclaimed; or from Jubal the
inventor of musical instruments, Gen. iv, 21, because it was
celebrated with music and all expressions of joy. Unto his
possession - Which had been sold or otherwise alienated from
him. This law was not at all unjust, because all buyers and sellers
had an eye to this condition in their bargains; but it was expedient
in many regards, as
1. To mind them that God alone was the Lord and proprietor both
of them and of their lands, and they only his tenants; a point
which they were very apt to forget.
2. That hereby inheritances, families, and tribes, might be kept
entire and clear until the coming of the Messiah, who was to be
known as by other things, so by the tribe and family out of which
he was to come. And this accordingly was done by the singular
providence of God until the Lord Jesus did come. Since which
time those characters are miserably confounded: which is no small
argument that the Messiah is come.
3. To set bounds both to the insatiable avarice of some, and the
foolish prodigality of others, that the former might not wholly and
finally swallow up the inheritances of their brethren, and the latter
might not be able to undo themselves and their posterity for ever,
which was a singular privilege of this law and people. His family -
From whom he was gone, being sold to some other family either
by himself or by his father.
Verse 12. It shall be holy - So it was, because it was sequestered in great
part from worldly employments and dedicated to God, and to the
exercise of holy joy and thankfulness; and because it was a type
of that holy and happy jubilee which they were to expect and
enjoy under the Messiah. The increase thereof - Such things as it
produced of itself. Out of the field - Whence they in common with
others might take it as they needed it; but must not put it into
barns, See ver. 5, and Exod. xxiii, 11.
Verse 14. Ye shall not oppress - Neither the seller by requiring more,
nor the buyer by taking the advantage from his brother's
necessities to give him less than the worth of it.
Verse 15. Years of fruits - Or, fruitful years; for there were some
unfruitful years; those wherein they were not allowed to sow or
reap.
Verse 16. Years of fruits - Or, For the number of the fruits. The meaning
is, he selleth not the land, but only the fruits thereof, and that for a
certain time.
Verse 21. For three years - Not compleatly, but in great part, namely, for
that part of the 6th year which was between the beginning of
harvest and the beginning of the 7th year, for the whole 7th year,
and for that part of the 8th year which was before the harvest, which reached almost until
the beginning of the ninth year. This is added to shew the equity
of this command. As God would hereby try their faith and
obedience, so he gave them an eminent proof of his own exact
providence and tender care over them in making provisions
suitable to their necessities.
Verse 22. Old fruit - Of the sixth year principally, if not solely.
Verse 23. For ever - So as to be for ever alienated from the family of
him that sells it. Or, absolutely and properly, so as to become the
property of the buyer: Or, to the extermination or utter cutting off,
namely, of the seller, from all hopes and possibility of
redemption. The land is mine - Procured for you by my power,
given to you by my grace and bounty, and the right of propriety
reserved by me. With me - That is, in my land or houses: thus he
is said to sojourn with another that dwells in his house.
Howsoever in your own or other mens opinions you pass for lords
and proprietors, yet in truth, ye are but strangers and sojourners,
not to possess the land for ever, but only for a season, and to leave
it to such as I have appointed for it.
Verse 24. A redemption - A right of redemption in the time and manner
following.
Verse 25. If any of his kin come - Or, If the redeemer come, being near
akin to him, who in this was an eminent type of Christ, who was
made near akin to us by taking our flesh, that he might perform
the work of redemption for us.
Verse 27. The years of the sale - That is, from the time of the sale to the
jubilee. See above, ver. 15, 16. The overplus - That is, a
convenient price for the years from this redemption to the jubilee.
Verse 28. Go out - That is, out of the buyer's hand, without any
redemption money.
Verse 30. It shall not go out - The reasons before alledged for lands do
not hold in such houses; there was no danger of confusion in
tribes or families by the alienation of houses. The seller also had a
greater propriety in houses than in lands, as being commonly built
by the owner's cost and diligence, and therefore had a fuller power
to dispose of them. Besides, God would hereby encourage persons
to buy and possess houses in such places, as frequency and
fulness of inhabitants in cities, was a great strength, honour and
advantage to the whole land.
Verse 31. In the villages - Because they belonged to and were necessary
for the management of the lands.
Verse 34. May not be sold - Not sold at all, partly, because it was of
absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and
partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in
which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and
therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it.
Verse 35. A sojourner - Understand it of proselytes only, for of other
strangers they were permitted to take usury, Deut. xxiii, 20.
Verse 36. Of him - That is, of thy brother, whether he be Israelite, or
proselyte. Or increase - All kinds of usury are in this case
forbidden, whether of money, or of victuals, or of any thing that is
commonly lent by one man to another upon usury, or upon
condition of receiving the thing lent with advantage and overplus.
If one borrow in his necessity, there can be no doubt but this law
is binding still. But it cannot be thought to bind, where money is
borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other improvements. For
there it is reasonable, that the lender share with the borrower in
the profit.
Verse 39. As a bond-man - Neither for the time, for ever, nor for the
manner, with the hardest and vilest kinds of service, rigorously
and severely exacted.
Verse 41. Then shall he depart - Thou shalt not suffer him or his to abide
longer in thy service, as thou mightest do in the year of release,
Exod. xxi, 2, 6.
Verse 42. They are my servants - They, no less than you, are members
of my church and people; such as I have chosen out of all the
world to serve me here, and to enjoy me hereafter, and therefore
are not to be oppressed, neither are you absolute lords over them
to deal with them as you please.
Verse 43. Fear thy God - Though thou dost not fear them who are in thy
power, and unable to right themselves, yet fear that God who hath
commanded thee to use them kindly, and who can and will avenge
their cause, if thou oppress them.
Verse 47. The flock - Hebrew. root, that is, one of the root or flock. So
the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny
growing from it. He seems to note one of a foreign race and
country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having
taken root amongst the people of God, yet even such an one,
though he hath some privilege by it, shall not have power to keep
an Hebrew servant from the benefit of redemption.
Verse 50. According to the time of an hired servant - Allowance shall be
made for the time wherein he hath served, proportionable to that
which is given to an hired servant for so long service, because his
condition is in this like theirs; it is not properly his person, but his
work and labour that was sold.
Verse 53. In thy sight - Thou shalt not suffer this to be done, but whethe
thou art a magistrate, or a private person, thou shalt take care
according to thy capacity to get it remedied.
Chapter 25:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Exodus Numbers
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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