Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 23:10-11

"And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof: but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard." — Exodus 23:10-11 (ASV)

CEREMONIAL LAWS.

Six years ... the seventh year.—The Sabbatical year commanded here was an institution wholly unknown to any nation but the Hebrews. It is most extraordinary that any legislator could induce a people to accept such a law. Prima facie, it seemed, by forbidding productive industry one year in seven, to diminish the nation's wealth by one-seventh.

But it is questionable whether, under a primitive agricultural system when crop rotation was unknown, the land lying fallow one year in seven would not have been an economic benefit. There was no prohibition on labour other than in cultivation. The clearing away of weeds, thorns, and stones was allowed, and may have been practised. After an early harvest of the self-sown crop, the greater part of the year may have been spent in this kind of industry.

Still the enactment was no doubt unpopular: it checked the regular course of agriculture, and seemed to rob landowners of one-seventh of their natural gains. Accordingly, we find that it was very irregularly observed. Between the Exodus and the Captivity, it had apparently been neglected seventy times (2 Chronicles 36:21), or more often than it had been kept.

After the Captivity, however, the observance became regular, and classical writers notice the custom as one existing in their day (Tacit. Hist. v. 4). Julius Cæsar permitted it, and excused the Jews from paying tribute in the seventh year on its account (Joseph., Ant Jud. xiv. 10, § 6). The object of the law was threefold:

1. To test obedience;
2. To give an advantage to the poor and needy, to whom the crop of the seventh year belonged (Exodus 23:11);
3. To allow an opportunity, once in seven years, for prolonged communion with God and increased religious observances .