02.17.2016 Old Testament: Lev 25.1–7

To read the Bible in a year, read Leviticus 24–25 on February 17, In the year of our Lord 2016

By Don Ruhl

The Lord gave the Land of Canaan to the children of Israel, but that did not mean they should overwork the land, getting out of it all that they could. No, the Lord instructed them to allow the land to rest,

And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food’” (Leviticus 25.1–7).

However, the children of Israel failed to keep the land Sabbath, starting around the year 1095 BC, and continued to neglect this commandment until they entered into Babylonian captivity around 606/605 BC. They missed 70 land Sabbaths, and for that reason the Lord left Israel in Babylon for 70 years that the land might enjoy its Sabbaths (2 Chronicles 36.20–21).

Do you employ people? Do not overwork them. Do you have a family? Do not overwork them. Do you work the land? Do not overwork it.