Leviticus 25:44-55 - Servants & Slaves

"44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour. 47 And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family: 48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: 49 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself. 50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. 51 If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. 52 And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubile, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption. 53 And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: and the other shall not rule with rigour over him in thy sight. 54 And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him. 55 For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." — Leviticus 25:44-55 KJV.

NON-HEBREW SERVANTS, 44-46.

44. Of the heathen… shall ye buy bondmen — Literally, man-servants and maid-servants. The “shall” is not mandatory but permissive. “Such purchase and adoption into Hebrew families was an appointed redemption from a worse state. There could not, consequently, be any sentiment of injustice, under this revealed will of God, in regard to the purchase from heathen masters of servants possessed by them as slaves, and treated as such, since they were brought from an irresponsible, unlimited slavery into a system of guardianship, protection, religious instruction, and family and national privileges. The children of such would be circumcised, adopted, and become sons of the house. In no other way than by purchase could the Hebrews redeem them, even if they had started on the emancipation of the nations. "If they had been forbidden to buy, and had been restricted to hired servants of their own race alone, they could not have gotten possession of heathen slaves, even to redeem them, except as runaways; and thus multitudes would have been kept in heathen bondage, who, the moment they passed into Hebrew bondage, passed into a state of comparative freedom.” — Dr. Cheever. The Hebrew construction of these words is not “ye shall purchase of the nations,” but of the servants that have come to you from among those nations. A slave-market was never known in Palestine, nor a slave-trader. Heathen… round about — These words exclude the Canaanite tribes in the land, who had been doomed to complete extermination. Deuteronomy 20:16-19. But since this sentence was not executed, the remnants were subjected to compulsory service. Judges 1:28, 30, note.

45. Children of the strangers… shall ye buy — It is very natural that the institution which originated in war, should be perpetuated in peace, and that the offspring of the first captives should follow the status of their parents, and that the system should embrace the children of foreigners who should offer them for sale. This often prevented the crime of infanticide, widely prevalent among the heathen. Thus was formed in the Hebrew state a sort of helot-class, mentioned especially under David (2 Chronicles 2:17, compare with 2 Samuel 20:24, note, and Solomon, 1 Kings 9:20; 2 Chronicles 8:7.) This class, which was employed on the public works, is estimated at one hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred persons. As the Old Testament never mentions the importation of slaves as chattels, nor alludes to slave-markets, it is to be supposed that no slaves proper were bought in foreign lands. The Hebrews came in contact with the Phoenician slave-trade only as sufferers. Joel 3:4-6; Amos 1:9. Among the Jews the number of servants was comparatively much smaller than the number of slaves among other nations of antiquity. In Athens the proportion of slaves to citizens at one time was as high as four to one; but among the Israelites immediately after the Babylonian captivity the servants were to the masters as one to six. Ezra 2:64, 65; Nehemiah 7:66, 67. We have reason to believe that the number subsequently decreased, the influential sect of the Pharisees in particular being opposed to the system.

46. Take… as an inheritance — Rather, leave as an inheritance. Bondmen forever — Albert Barnes thus explains this: “The permanent provision for servants was not that they were to enslave or employ their brethren, the Hebrews, but that they were to employ foreigners.” In other words, עֹלָ֖ם (olam), forever, refers not to the persons bought and their children, but to the ordinance. But in case it did refer to persons there must be the following limitations: 1.) The law required the emancipation of a servant organically injured by the violence of the master. Exodus 21:26, 27. 2.) Though the ear-bored servant was to be in bondage forever, the rabbins understand that he went out free at the jubilee. Hence we see no objection to this limitation of עֹלָ֖ם (olam) in the case of all servants, Gentile as well as Hebrew, to the year of jubilee. It is certainly limited to the term of life, which is often less than the jubilee period. See verse 10, note.

THE HEBREW SERVANT AND THE FOREIGN MASTER, 47-55.

47. If a stranger wax rich — For his rights, see Leviticus 23:22, note. The ancient Hebrew master did not have a monopoly of money-making. His servant, “the stranger,” often amassed wealth. Foreigners and servants among them were in a much more privileged condition than they are at present in the same country under Mohammedan rule. A resident foreigner was allowed to purchase any pauper Hebrew who, in his distress, offered himself for sale. But no Christian or Jew in any land beneath the scepter of Islam is allowed to own a slave of any nationality, much less a Mohammedan. The latter only can enjoy the luxury of slave-holding, with the exception of some who are permitted to hold as slaves non-Mohammedan negroes. Stock of the stranger’s family — His heirs. The person sold might become a fixture of the household.

48. He may be redeemed again — At any time.

49. Nigh of kin — The Jews hold that the kindred of the enslaved Hebrew are bound, if in their power, to redeem him, lest he should be paganized, and we find that this was done on their return from the Babylonish captivity. Christians in the early centuries regarded themselves bound to ransom fellow-Christians in slavery. He may redeem himself — This indicates that the servitude was not of that rigorous kind which absorbs all the energies, and precludes all accumulation of property for the servant.

50. Unto the year of jubilee — We apply the same principles of interpretation here as in the note to verses 36, 40. It is unreasonable to suppose that the Hebrew master was required to lift the yoke from his brother at the end of six years or of the jubilee period, whichever was nearest, and that the heathen master, under Hebrew jurisdiction, could hold the poor Israelite in servitude forty-nine years. The price of his sale — Lest the master might exact an exorbitant ransom the price was fixed by an equitable law. The yearly current wages of a hired servant were to be multiplied by the number of years of service due.

53. As a yearly hired servant — He shall be treated mercifully, and all his rights shall be respected as if serving for wages. It was the duty of an Israelite when he saw his brother Hebrew abused by a Jew or by a stranger to give information to the magistrate, and it was incumbent on this officer to call the oppressor to account.

54. And his children — No child in the land of Judea, whether Hebrew or heathen, was born to involuntary servitude because the father, or mother, or both, were servants; but every child of the house was born a member of the family, dependent on the master (not owner) for education and subsistence.

55. They are my servants — The term servant here implies property. Hence the Hebrews could never rightfully sell themselves to others as merchandise. No Hebrew had a right to enslave himself. He could only sell his labour till the jubilee. This limit was fixed as a safeguard against involuntary and unlimited slavery. “This is a remarkable expression as connected with the fact of which God is always reminding the children of Israel, namely, that he brought them out of the house of bondage and out of the land of Egypt. He appears to acquire his hold upon their confidence by continually reminding them that at one period of their history they were bondmen. Now he insists that the men whom he has brought into liberty have been brought only into another kind of service. This is the necessity of finite life. Every liberty is in some sense a bondage.” — Joseph Parker.

CONCLUDING NOTES.

(1.) The verdict of Jehovah against chattelism, and in favor of freedom as the natural inheritance of all men, is found in the sentence of capital punishment inflicted on him who steals and sells a man, or retains him in his hand. Exodus 21:16. This statute lays the axe at the very root of chattel slavery by destroying its very germ, “the wild and guilty phantasy of property in man.” For both stealing and selling assume the fact of a property value. It is to be observed that this law is universal. Stealing a man is a crime. Exodus 21:7, is not a limitation of this universal prohibition to persons of Hebrew blood. The toleration and regulation of the system of servitude in Mosaism are by no means an endorsement of its abstract rightfulness, but rather a concession to the depravity of the times. “Servitude existed before Moses. It was no part of the mission of the Hebrew code to create it. Let it be forever admitted that the laws given of God through Moses cannot be held responsible for its existence. They found it existing, and proceeded, therefore, to modify it; to soften its more rigid features; to extract its carnivorous teeth; to ordain that the slave had rights which the master and the nation were bound to respect — in short, to tone down the severities of the system from unendurable slavery to very tolerable servitude.” — Cowles.

We are certainly safe in following the inspired prophets in their interpretation of the spirit of Mosaism. Isaiah says that the acceptable fast consists in letting “the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke,” and that the work of the Messiah will be to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. “No candid reader of the New Testament can doubt that if the principles of Christianity were universally followed the last shackle would soon fall from the slave. Be the following facts remembered: 1.) No man ever made another originally a slave under the influence of Christian principle. No man ever kidnapped another or sold another BECAUSE it was done in obedience to the laws of Christ. 2.) No Christian ever manumitted a slave who did not feel that in doing it he was obeying the spirit of Christianity, and who did not have a more quiet conscience on that account. 3.) To man doubts that if freedom were to prevail everywhere, and all men were to be regarded as of equal civil rights, it would be in accordance with the mind of the Redeemer. 4.) Slaves are made in violation of all the precepts of the Saviour. The work of kidnapping and selling men, women, and children, of tearing them from their homes… is not the work to which the Lord Jesus calls his disciples. 5.) Slavery, in fact, cannot be maintained without an incessant violation of the principles of the New Testament. To keep man in ignorance, to withhold the Bible, to render the marriage contract nugatory, or to make it subject to the will of a master, to deprive a man of the avails of his labour without his consent; to prevent parents from training up their children according to their own views of what is right, to fetter and bind the intellect as a means of continuing the system, and to make men wholly dependent on others whether they shall hear the Gospel or be permitted publicly to embrace it, is everywhere deemed essential to the existence of slavery, and is demanded by all the laws which rule over a country cursed with this institution.” — Albert Barnes.

(2.) Among the ameliorations of their condition were admission into covenant with God, (Deuteronomy 29:10, 13,) participation in all family and national festivals, (Exodus 12:43, 44; Deuteronomy 12:18; 16:10-16,) appeal to the laws, (Deuteronomy 1:16; 27:19,) instruction in morals and religion, (Deuteronomy 31:10-13; Joshua 8:33-35; Nehemiah 8:7, 8,) exemption from labour nearly half the time; namely, every seventh day and year, twenty-two days at the three annual festivals, also on the new moon, feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, local festivals, family feasts, as marriages, circumcisions, child-weanings, sheep-shearings, and making covenants. The servant might wholly or jointly inherit his master’s estates, (Genesis 15:3; Proverbs 17:2,) and aspire to the hand of his daughter in marriage. 1 Chronicles 2:35. He was shielded against personal injury by the requirement to set him free when the master’s smiting had knocked out a tooth or an eye. He might become naturalized, a step which sooner or later resulted in the independence of his offspring, and their complete fusion with Israel. There are no traces of prejudice among the Hebrews, as among other nations, against the servile class as inferior beings. Caste was unknown. The free spirit of Mosaism continually softened down the contrast between the condition of the master and that of the servant. Hence, in the history of the Hebrew state during fifteen centuries, there is not the first intimation of a servile war or insurrection, or dissatisfaction on the part of the servants. A great mitigation of the hardships of his condition was the right to run away from a cruel master, whether Hebrew or pagan, and to be protected in his refuge by a law not only positively forbidding his rendition, but also protecting him in his chosen abode. Deuteronomy 23:15, 16. The slave found a protecting asylum the moment he set his foot on the soil of Palestine. Hence, no better fortune could befall one destined to slavery than that he should be sold into Palestine, where the mildest lot awaited him in Hebrew servitude, the furthest possible from chattel slavery. From Abraham down there is no instance of any man or master selling a servant as merchandise. Such buying, selling, or holding, against the will of the servant, or without his voluntary contract, was an oppression threatened with the wrath of God. Amos 2:6, and 8:6; Joel 3:2-8. Nor is there an instance of the purchase of a servant from a third person, or of his sale to a third person, or of his being put away from the family of the master, except as free. A daughter sold for a wife regained her freedom when defrauded of her rights. Exodus 21:10, 11. There were also various methods of emancipation. The rabbins specify five: 1.) Will; 2.) Money payment; 3.) Gift of free papers; 4.) Adoption; and 5.) The master dying, leaving no male heir. The Jewish Essenes and Therapeutae went so far as to abolish servitude in their own sects as inconsistent with the common brotherhood of mankind. The powerful sect of the Pharisees, by their hostility to the system, must have softened its asperities and limited its spread. But the grand amelioration was the system of periodical emancipation for the Hebrew every seventh and fiftieth year, and for the non-Hebrew every year of jubilee. “To one who should read this law, ‘Ye shall proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof’ — if there were no other to conflict with it, or that made it necessary to seek a different interpretation, the plain meaning of the statute would appear to be, that all who resided in the land, from whatever motive, or whatever were their relations or employments, were from that moment to be regarded as freemen.” — Albert Barnes. Not an instance can be found in Mosaism where “all the inhabitants of the land” is a phrase restrictively used of the Hebrews alone.

The various regulations with reference to the rights of servants constitute one of the chief difficulties in the harmony of the books of the Pentateuch. It is respecting them in particular that Rationalism asserts that the legislation in Leviticus stands in absolute contradiction to that in Deuteronomy; forgetting that the discrepancies might all vanish if we had the vast volume of details of which the Mosaic books are only the synopsis. To the Pentateuch, as to the Gospel of John, may well be appended, “that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” if every one of the sayings and doings of Moses should be written. 

It has been said by sceptical anti-slavery doctrinaires that the Old Testament is a millstone upon the neck of the slave. But a candid examination of its code of servitude proves that it is so much more humane than any other that it is almost freedom itself. Professor Goldwin Smith has given the most lucid discussion of this subject in his tract, “Does the Bible Sanction American Slavery?” He justly characterizes the Old Testament legislation as “a code of laws, the beneficence of which is equally unapproached by any code, and least of all by any Oriental code, not produced under the influence of Christianity.” The purpose was not to transform society by a miracle. That is not God’s method, which aims to limit, reform, and finally sweep away the evil usages already existing. When Moses was born slavery was universal. All wars ended either in the wholesale butchery of captured cities or in wholesale slavery. Bible servitude was of the very mildest type. It was domestic; the servant was one of the family, a companion of his master, armed for his defence (Genesis 14:14) and sharing his religious privileges, worshipping his God, and resting on his sabbath. Life and limb were protected by Mosaic statutes, which forbade the master’s rigorous rule. The periodic interruptions of this servitude by years of jubilee and seventh year releases kept the servant from hopeless chattelism. The marriage code, though to us seemingly harsh, was merciful indeed when compared with the ordinary codes and customs of slavery. There were no slave markets in Palestine, nor auction blocks, nor bloodhounds. Kidnapping, and the surrender of the fugitive fleeing from his heathen master, were punished as crimes. The Hebrew is most emphatically commanded to be kind to the stranger, which generally means the slave, and not maltreat or oppress him. When his term of servitude ended he was not to go away empty.

Leviticus 25:29-43

 "29 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; within a full year may he redeem it. 30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile. 31 But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile. 32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time. 33 And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. 34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession. 35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. 36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. 37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase. 38 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. 39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: 40 But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile: 41 And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. 42 For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen. 43 Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God." — Leviticus 25:29-43 KJV.

THE REDEMPTION OF HOUSES, 29-34.

29. A dwellinghouse in a walled city — The redemption of this is limited to a year, after which it belongs to the purchaser forever, undisturbed by the jubilee. Such property used for mercantile purposes is of special value to the merchant who has built up a lucrative trade therein. Again, city property is liable to greater fluctuations in value in fifty years than country estates, and it is just that the present holder should have the benefit of the increased valuation. The fact that city property was permanently alienable would tend to keep the poor from flocking to the great cities, twice each century, to starve in poverty and to fester in vice. “This provision was made to encourage strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them. Though they could not purchase land in Canaan, yet they might purchase houses in walled cities, which would be most convenient for them who were supposed to live by trade.” — Bush. It is the opinion of some that this law applied only to such cities as were walled in the days of Joshua, and conquered by him. This would exclude Jerusalem.

Leviticus 25:18-28

"18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. 20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store. 23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. 25 If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. 26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; 27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. 28 But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession." — Leviticus 25:18-28 KJV.

ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION RESPECTING THE SABBATICAL YEAR, 18-22.

These verses should be read in connexion with vers. 1-7, since they chiefly relate to the same topic. They seem to be misplaced in their present position, amid precepts relating to the jubilee, though they are not in reality. The purport of verses 18 and 19 is, that safety and temporal prosperity in the land of promise hinge on obedience to the declared will of Jehovah.

Leviticus 25:8-17 - The Year of Jubilee

" 8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. 12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession. 14 And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another: 15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: 16 According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee. 17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God. " —  Leviticus 25:8-17

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE, 8-55.

Twice in each century occurred a year of renewal and restoration, in which all lands which had been alienated reverted to the families of those to whom they had been originally allotted by Joshua; all bondmen of Hebrew blood were liberated, and, according to Josephus, all debts due from one Israelite to another were remitted, as were all debts due from one Israelite to another in the sabbatical year, (Deuteronomy 15:1, 2,) an item omitted in the full account of the jubilee by Philo, and positively negatived by Maimonides and the Mishna, though the reference of the latter to the jubilee is denied by Kitto’s Cyclopaedia. There were no special sacrifices appointed, nor even the reading of the law to the people, as in the sabbatical year. It is impossible for us to conceive the general outburst of joy that gladdened all the land when the bondmen tasted again the sweets of liberty, and returned to their ancestral possessions, their families, and the graves of their sires. “In vain would sleep invite them to repose — their hearts would be too full to feel the lassitude of nature; and the night would be spent in gratitude and praise. What a lively emblem of the Gospel of Christ, which is peculiarly addressed to the poor!” — Bush. There is no mention of the jubilee in the book of Deuteronomy, and the only other reference to it in the Pentateuch is quite incidental, in the appeal of the tribe of Manasseh for some legal enactment against the alienation of their lands by heiresses marrying out of their tribe. Numbers 36:4.

Leviticus 25:1-7 - The Sabbatical Year

"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. 5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. 6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee, 7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat." — Leviticus 25:1-7 NRSV.

HOLINESS APPLIED TO YEARS.

The distinction between the sabbatical days and years seems to be that the latter were in no way connected with religious observances, but were secular in their character. For this reason they were not described in chap. xxiii among the great religious festivals, since they aim at moral rather than spiritual ends. Extraordinary facilities for acquiring a knowledge of the law were afforded, inasmuch as the whole law was to be read every sabbatical year to the people assembled at the feast of tabernacles. The spirit of this law is the same as that of the weekly sabbath. Both have a good effect in limiting the rights and checking the accumulation of property; the one puts God’s claims on time, and the other on property. In the estimation of political economists the entire wealth of the world is equal to seven harvests. This law subtracts a sum equal to the entire wealth of the nation once in every forty-nine years. Ewald observes that verses 17-22 should be read immediately after verse 7, since they are germane to the sabbatical year and not to the jubilee. In this assertion Ewald is slightly in error. See verse 21, note. Thus the chapter comprises two themes — the sabbatical year, 1-7 and 17-22, and the jubilee, 8-16 and 23-55. The bearing of the jubilee on lands dedicated to Jehovah is stated as a supplement in chap. 27:16-25. The laws of this chapter were delivered proleptically, as were all pertaining to agriculture.

THE SABBATICAL YEAR, 1-7.

Leviticus 24:17-23 - The Law of Retaliation & Concluding Notes

"17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. 22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God. 23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses." — Leviticus 24:17-23 KJV.

THE LAW OF RETALIATION, 17-23.

17. Killeth any man — Smiteth the life of a man, whether bond or free. It is obvious that murder by any other means, as by poison, is included under the phrase “smiteth the life.” Put to death — The reason for regarding murder as a capital offence is because it is an act of the highest sacrilege, an outrage on the likeness of God in man. Human life is incomparably the most sacred thing on earth. Hence its destruction demands, as its penalty, the life of the murderer. To suffer a murder to go unavenged was regarded by both Jews and Greeks as a pollution of the land. Numbers 35:31; OEdipus Tyrannus, 100. No punishment is mentioned for attempted suicide; no guilt attached to one who killed a burglar at night in the act, (Exodus 22:2, 3,) or a slave who died of rigorous treatment a few days after his punishment. Exodus 21:20, 21. The execution of this sentence is expressly committed to the goel, the avenger of blood, after the verdict of guilt had been rendered by the proper tribunal, with at least two agreeing witnesses. Numbers 35:19-30. In regal times the sovereign assumed the execution of justice on the murderer as well as the right of pardon. 2 Samuel 13:39.

Leviticus 24:1-16

"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. 3 Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. 4 He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. 5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute. 10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; 11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) 12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death." —  Leviticus 24:1-16 KJV.

PURITY IN OIL AND SHOWBREAD. HOLINESS OF THE DIVINE NAME, AND SACREDNESS OF HUMAN LIFE.

Two important elements of the tabernacle ritual remain to be described — the oil for light and the showbread. Then follows a bit of sad history, like the bit found in chapter 10 — a detail of a flagrant act of sin and its dreadful punishment. A brief recapitulation of the lex talionis closes the chapter.

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE TABERNACLE, 1-4.

Leviticus 23:33-44 - The Feast of Ingathering & Concluding Notes

"33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. 35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37 These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. 41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD." —  Leviticus 23:33-44 KJV.

THE FEAST OF INGATHERING, 33-44.

34. The fifteenth day of this seventh month — This was the seventh month of the ecclesiastical, and the first of the civil, year. It corresponds to a part of our September and a part of October. This feast was at the full moon next the autumnal equinox. The feast of tabernacles — Its name indicates its historical significance, impressively setting forth the fact that Israel dwelt in temporary abodes in the wilderness forty years. It is probable that in the first part of the wilderness sojourn, before tents could be provided, the people lodged in booths. But their abodes are called tents when they are referred to. Leviticus 14:8. From its agricultural reference this feast was called the feast of the ingathering, or thanksgiving for the garnered harvest. Deuteronomy 16:13-15. The sacrifices pertaining to this festival are enumerated in Leviticus 29:12-38. In the sabbatical year the public reading of the law by the priests was enjoined as a part of this festival. Deuteronomy 31:9-13. The last reference shows that women and children were expected to be present, and not the males only. Huts or booths formed of boards, and covered with the boughs of trees tied with willows, were afterward constructed on the annual return of this feast in every nook and corner of Jerusalem, in the courts and on the roofs of houses, in the court of the temple, in the street of the Water Gate, and in the street of the Gate of Ephraim, other streets being left open for the convenience of the public. The entire suburbs must have been one vast camp of joyful sojourners. The occasion was adapted to a cultivation of the social nature, to strengthen the bond of national unity, and to quicken the devotional feelings. Though Christianity requires no such vast assemblies of believers, yet it is found that a wonderful spiritual momentum comes from the massing together of a great multitude for several days of continuous religious worship.

Leviticus 23:15-32

"15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. 18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. 19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. 25 Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath." —  Leviticus 23:15-32 KJV.

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST, 15-21.

15. From the morrow after the sabbath — There are two explanations of this sabbath. “The small minority” of writers, among whom Professor Murphy ranks himself, believe that the sabbath of the decalogue is intended, The majority, with whom we concur, understand it to be the day of holy convocation, the fifteenth of Nisan, irrespective of the day of the week on which it fell. Hence the morrow was the sixteenth. For this opinion we have the testimony of Josephus, (Antiquities, 3:10, 5,) and the fact that the passover was on a fixed day of the month in which the sabbath of the decalogue is movable. If the morrow after the sabbath was the sixteenth, and the day of holy convocation was on the fifteenth, as we infer from verses 6 and 7, the identity of these days is inevitable. Professor Murphy assumes without proof that the first day of verse 7 is different from the fifteenth of verse 6. That other days than the seventh are called sabbaths is proved by verse 32, and Leviticus 16:31, where the day of atonement is so styled. For additional arguments see Concluding Note, (2.) The Seventy, Josephus, Philo, and the Talmud, understand that the first passover day is called a sabbath, and that it is identical with the morrow after the passover in Joshua 5:11. See note. Seven sabbaths shall be complete — The Syriac version has seven weeks, in which the Seventy, Gesenius, Furst, and Kiel concur. The New Testament continues this translation in the Greek, in Matthew 28:1, and Mark 16:2.

Leviticus 23:1-14 - Festivals

"1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. 3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. 4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. 13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." —  Leviticus 23:1-14 KJV.

HOLINESS IN DAYS — FESTIVALS INSTITUTED.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

Time, as a priceless gift of God, is subject to his claims. In addition to the seventh day he set apart other times to be observed by the Israelites for the threefold purpose of preserving a knowledge of the great facts on which their religion was based, of the maintenance of the feeling of national unity, and of developing their religious sentiments. These are the passover, in memory of the miraculous deliverance from Egypt; and two festivals which plainly have an agricultural significance — the feast of firstfruits, variously styled the feast of wheat-harvest, of weeks, or pentecost, and the feast of ingathering, called also the feast of tabernacles. It is supposed that the feast of pentecost commemorates the giving of the law, which was given just fifty days after the exode; but no Scripture proof can be cited for this opinion. Great wisdom is manifest in the times selected for the three great national gatherings. The passover was just before the harvest, pentecost between the grain harvest and the vintage, and the feast of tabernacles was called the ingathering because, like the national thanksgiving in the United States, it occurred after all the products of the soil were garnered. Two important events subsequent to the Mosaic era gave rise to two additional feasts, namely, Purim, (Esther 9:20,) celebrating the providential deliverance of the Jews from the massacre plotted by Haman, and the Dedication, (1 Macc. 4:56), commemorating the renewal of the temple worship after the three years’ profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes.