John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 25
John Calvin Commentary
Leviticus 25
John Calvin Commentary
Leviticus 25
"And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years." — Leviticus 25:8 (ASV)
And you shall number seven. The third kind of Sabbath follows, which was composed of forty-nine, or seven times seven years.
This was the most illustrious Sabbath, since the state of the people—regarding their persons, houses, and property—was renewed. Although in this way God considered the public good, gave relief to the poor so that their liberty would not be destroyed, and also preserved the order He Himself had established, there is no doubt that He thus added an additional stimulus to incite the Jews to honor the Sabbath.
For it was a kind of imposing memorial of the sacred rest to see slaves emancipated and become suddenly free, houses and lands returning to their former possessors who had sold them, and, in short, all things taking on a new appearance.
They called this year Jobel, from the sound of the ram’s horn by which liberty and the restitution of property were proclaimed. But as I have said, its main feature was the solemnity that showed them to be separated from other nations, to be a peculiar and holy nation to God. Indeed, the renewal of all things was related to this: that, being redeemed anew in the great Sabbath, they might entirely devote themselves to God their Deliverer.
"And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;" — Leviticus 25:20 (ASV)
And if you shall say. Men will never be obedient to God’s precepts unless their distrust of Him is corrected, and they will always be ingenious in seizing pretexts for disobedience. The difficulty, however, in this matter was a specious excuse for the Jews; for famine might have destroyed them in these two years, since in the seventh year they neither sowed nor reaped, and for reaping they were obliged to wait until the end of the eighth year. Now, from where were they to get enough seed to sow after the land had rested for a whole year?
It is not without reason, then, that God delivers them from this doubt, promising them that He will give such abundance in the sixth year as will suffice for the two following ones. The phrase must be observed, that God would command His blessing in a special manner and beyond the usual course, so that the land would be two or three times more fertile. This suggests to us no ordinary ground for confidence in asking for our daily bread.
But this was a special promise that food would not fail the Jews on account of the Sabbatical year. God had already given a manifestation of this in the desert, when He supplied a double portion of manna to those who gathered it on the day before the Sabbath.
Nowadays, this inconvenience is avoided by the industry of farmers, who so divide their acres that the land need never lie fallow altogether, but one part can supply the deficiency of another. This distribution was not practiced by the Jews. Therefore, God relieved them from the fear of famine until the harvest of the eighth year; although He seems at the same time to accustom them to frugality, lest they waste in intemperance and luxury what He provided in sufficient abundance to last for two years.
To this precept He alludes when He declares by the Prophets that the land enjoyed her Sabbaths when it had expelled its inhabitants (2 Chronicles 36:21); for since they had polluted it by violating the Sabbath, so that it groaned as if under a heavy burden, He says that it will rest for a long continuous period to compensate for the labor of many years.
"And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me." — Leviticus 25:23 (ASV)
The land shall not be sold for ever. Since the reason for this law was specific to the children of Abraham, its provisions can hardly be applied to other nations. For an equal division of the land was made under Joshua, distributing the inheritance among the various tribes and families. Indeed, so that each man’s possession would be more sacred, the land had been divided by lot, as if God by His own hand placed them in their separate locations.
In fact, that allotment was, as it were, an inviolable decree of God Himself, by which the memory of the covenant should be maintained—the covenant by which the inheritance of the land had been promised to Abraham and his descendants. Thus, the land of Canaan was a pledge, symbol, or mirror of the adoption on which their salvation was founded.
Therefore, it is not surprising that God was unwilling for this inestimable benefit to ever be lost. To prevent this, like a provident head of a family, He placed a restraint on His children to keep them from being too wasteful. For when a man has suspicions about his heir, he forbids him to sell the inheritance he leaves him.
Such, therefore, was the condition of the ancient people. Yet, it cannot be indiscriminately applied to other nations who have not been given a common inheritance. Some trace of it appears in the right of redemption,156 but because that depends on the consent of the parties and is also a special type of contract, it has nothing to do with the law of Moses, which entirely restored both people and lands (in the year of jubilee).157
That God should call the land of Canaan His, is, as it were, to assert His direct Lordship158 (dominium), as they call it, over the land. He immediately afterwards expresses His meaning more clearly when He says that the children of Israel live in it as His guests.159
For although their condition was the best in which just and perpetual owners can be placed, still, in relation to God, they were merely His tenants (coloni), living there only at His will. In short, God claims the freehold (fundum) for Himself, so that the recollection of His having granted it to them should never escape them.
156 “Redemptio in Law, a faculty or right of re-entering upon lands, etc., that have been sold and assigned, upon reimbursing the purchase-money with legal costs. Bargains wherein the in Law, a faculty or right of re-entering upon lands, etc., that have been sold and assigned, upon reimbursing the purchase-money with legal costs. Bargains wherein the faculty, or, as some call it, the , or, as some call it, the equity of redemption is reserved, are only a kind of pignorative contracts. A certain time is limited, within which the of redemption is reserved, are only a kind of pignorative contracts. A certain time is limited, within which the faculty, of redemption shall be exercised; and beyond which it shall not extend. — Chambers’s Encyclopaedia., of redemption shall be exercised; and beyond which it shall not extend. — Chambers’s Encyclopaedia.
157 Added from Fr..
158 “La seigneurie directe (qu’on appelle,) ou fonsiere.” — Fr..
159 Addition in Fr., “Ou fermiers, ou grangiers.”., “Ou fermiers, ou grangiers.”
"And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land." — Leviticus 25:24 (ASV)
And in all the land of your possession. Before the jubilee came, He permits not only relatives to redeem land sold by a poor man, but also the seller himself, if no other redeemer intervened.
The same power was also given to relatives among other nations, though with a different objective, namely, the preservation of the family name; however, the seller was never allowed to redeem, unless a special clause to that effect was contained in the contract. But God desired that the lands should be retained by their legal possessor, so that the people might deviate as little as possible from the division made by Joshua.
Meanwhile, He considered the private advantage of individuals; but in the perpetual succession to the land, He considered Himself rather than men, so that the recollection of His kindness would never be lost. Finally, He orders all lands to return in the year of jubilee to their original owners, and all sales to be cancelled, as if, in the fiftieth year, He renewed the lot for the division of the land.
"And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption." — Leviticus 25:29 (ASV)
And if a man sell a dwelling-house. Here, he distinguishes houses from lands, providing that the power of redemption would not extend beyond a year, and also that the purchase would hold good even in the Jubilee.
A second distinction, however, is also added between different kinds of houses: namely, that houses in towns could be altogether alienated, while the condition of those in the country was to be the same as that of the lands themselves, since they were annexed to the lands and thus considered part of them.
Regarding houses in towns, because they were sometimes burdensome to their owners, it was an advantage that they could pass into the hands of the rich, who were able to bear the building expenses.
Besides, a house does not supply daily food like a field, and it is more tolerable to be without a house than a field, where you can work and from whose cultivation you can support yourself and your family.
But it was necessary to make an exception for houses in the country, because they were appendages to the land. For what use would there be in harvesting the fruits if you had no place to store them? Indeed, what good would it be to possess a farm that you could not cultivate? For how could oxen plow without any stalls in its vicinity?
Therefore, since lands without farm buildings or cottages are almost useless and cannot be conveniently separated, God justly appointed that in the year of Jubilee, every rural possession would revert to its former owner.
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