The laws outlined in this chapter have obvious benefits for both the land, which is given a chance to recover every seventh year, and the people, who are protected from endless slavery and destitution through the jubilee.

However, there is more to it than that. As well as bringing them real benefits, these laws reminded God’s people of two fundamental truths.

Firstly, they were reminded that everything there is belongs to the Lord, the creator of all things. The land belongs to him, so the people needed to treat it with respect and view their ownership of it as temporary. The people of Israel also belonged to him, so they were not to be sold into slavery. Our role is one of stewards of God’s creation. We need not imagine that just because we have bought a piece of creation it now belongs to us. It is all the Lord’s, for all of time.

Secondly, these laws reminded the people of their need for redemption. It had never been God’s intention that humanity should work so hard for the things we need. That’s not how it was in the beginning. The labour of growing crops among thorns and thistles was a result of mankind’s sin (Genesis 3:17). During the Sabbath year, God’s people got a taste of what life should have been like and what, through him, it will be like again one day – living in peace and rest, relying on the provision of God for all that we need.

The release of all people from bondage during the jubilee is a foreshadowing of the freedom that Christ would eventually win for us all. The jubilee is a reminder of the hope that God’s people had for a reversal of the curse of sin, and a restoration of all things to be as God intended them. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, we see the beginning of the fulfilment of that hope. Praise God that one day we will see all his promises fulfilled!

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH