John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 25:23

"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.”