“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). Those are the words engraved on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and the idea of freedom thus lies at the heart of our American consciousness. But as we can see from today’s passage, the original context didn’t have anything to do with wars of independence. Instead, God was making it clear that, every fifty years, all of His people were to enjoy what He called a Jubilee.

In the Jubilee year, all mortgages were considered paid, and all land was returned to its original owners (verse 13). Land was thus never really sold – you could only buy the use of it until the next Jubilee year (verse 15). Just as God’s people were only to be held in slavery for six years and then released (Exodus 21:2), so every family had a chance for a fresh start in every generation.

But it wasn’t just God’s people that needed this kind of refreshment and renewal. No, because growing the same crops on the same land year after year can deplete the soil of necessary nutrients, God told His people to let the land lie fallow once every seven years. And this rest meant that the beasts of burden also got a break from their plowing – along with the wildlife, they got to graze and browse on whatever sprang up from the land on its own (verse 7).

And God’s people were also supposed to rest during this time. They were to take a break from their sowing and harvesting and weeding and pruning and just enjoy the natural produce of the land (verse 6). And just as the Jubilee year guaranteed an opportunity for everyone to have a fresh start, so everyone, rich and poor, free and slave, were to have access every seven years to the bounty of God’s creation.

Most of all, during these years of Sabbath and Jubilee, God’s people were to trust Him to provide for them. Instead of depending on their own frantic and constant toil and labor, they were to trust that God would somehow make it possible for them to engage in these much needed periods of rest (verses 20-22).

And that’s still a good lesson for us today. For God is still the One Who makes provision for us – sometimes through our effort and ingenuity, and sometimes by simply changing the nature of our circumstances. So, we don’t need to demand every minute of productivity from ourselves or our employees. We don’t have to wring every possible product from our farms and factories – we can afford to be gracious with one another. We can afford to take time off in the confident assurance that our God will take care of us.

Moreover, since God has given everyone who trusts in Christ new, abundant life, surely we should help everyone get a fresh start, whether it be kids in poor neighborhoods who need better educational opportunities, or newly released ex-cons who need a job. The good news is that, in Christ, we are all free – free to worship and serve God, and free to rest in His amazing grace.

Leviticus 25:1-22 (NASB)

The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD.
3 ‘Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop,
4 but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
5 ‘Your harvest’s aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year.
6 ‘And all of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you.
7 ‘Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat.
8 ‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.
9 ‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land.
10 ‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. 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.
11 ‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.
12 ‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.
13 ‘On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property.
14 ‘If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend, or buy from your friend’s hand, you shall not wrong one another.
15 ‘Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.
16 ‘In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years, you shall diminish its price; for it is a number of crops he is selling to you.
17 ‘So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.
18 ‘You shall thus observe My statutes, and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land.
19 ‘Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it.
20 ‘But if you say, “What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?”
21 then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years.
22 ‘When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.