BIBLE LESSON

“Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you — for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired workers and temporary residents who live among you.”

— Leviticus 25:6 The Lord required a “Year of Jubilee” in the Promised Land every 50 years. The 50th year was set aside as a “Sabbath Year.” During that year, no one in the land was to plow, sow, or reap. In that year, the Lord would bless the land, and without their labor-intensive work the land would yield food and drink for everyone, not just those who believed in the Lord. Since the Lord would feed everyone in the Promised Land, the Lord forbade landowners from requiring their slaves, or hired or foreign laborers to work in their fields. In addition, in Leviticus 25:10, God commanded, “It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.” Israelites who had sold themselves or their family into slavery to pay a debt or for other reasons were freed from slavery, all debts were considered “Paid in Full!” Just as the Lord gave His people a new beginning when He freed them from slavery in Egypt, everyone was given a new beginning every 50 years. Obeying the Lord, not working their fields, forgiving debtors, breaking up land holdings, returning land to their families, and freeing their slaves required faith in the Lord; so, perhaps very few Israelites obeyed the Lord and celebrated the “Year of Jubilee.”