Leviticus 25:39-41

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 25:39-55

We have here the laws concerning servitude, designed to preserve the honour of the Jewish nation as a free people, and rescued by a divine power out of the house of bondage, into the glorious liberty of God's sons, his first-born. Now the law is, I. That a native Israelite should never be made a bondman for perpetuity. If he was sold for debt, or for a crime, by the house of judgment, he was to serve but six years, and to go out the seventh; this was appointed, Exod. 21:2. But if he sold... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:39

And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor ,.... The above laws and instructions seem designed to prevent such extreme poverty as obliged to what follows, namely, a brother being sold either to an Israelite or to a stranger, by relieving his wants or lending him money; but when these were insufficient to support him, and keep him from sinking into the lowest state of distress and misery, then he was obliged to be sold, as follows: and be sold unto thee ; either by himself,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:40

But as an hired servant ,.... Who is hired by the day, or month, or year; and, when his time is up, receives his wages and goes where he pleases, and while a servant is not under such despotic power and government as a slave is: and as a sojourner ; an inmate, one that dwells in part of a man's house, or boards and lodges with him, and whom he treats in a kind and familiar manner, rather like one of his own family than otherwise: he shall be with thee ; as under the above... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:41

And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him ,.... His sons and daughters, and his wife also, who is included in himself: if a man had a wife and children when he sold himself, or married afterwards, with his master's consent, he was obliged to maintain them F20 Maimon. in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 1. ; though they were not sold to him, nor properly his servants, and so had a right to go out with him: and shall return unto his own family ; his... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 25:39

Verse 39 39.And if thy brother. He now proceeds further, i e. , that one who has bought his brother should treat him with humanity, and not otherwise than a hired servant. We have seen, indeed, just above, that the labor of a slave is estimated at twice as much, because the humanity of his master will never go so far as to indulge or spare his slave as if he were a hireling. It is not, therefore, without reason that God puts a restraint upon that rule, which experience shows to have been often... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 25:1-55

The sabbatical year was instituted not for any supposed physical benefit accruing from it to the land, but, first, as serving for a link between the sabbath and the jubilee by means of the sacred number seven—the sabbatical year being the seventh year, and the jubilee being the year following the seven-times-seventh year; and secondly, and chiefly, as enforcing the lesson of the weekly sabbath in a manner that could not be overlooked, and symbolically, teaching the universal application of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 25:8-55

The jubilee. cf. Isaiah 61:1 -13; Luke 4:18 , Luke 4:19 . We have here a further appendix to the fourth commandment. After seven sabbatic years there came another year, called the jubilee, which was also sabbatic, and during which there was to be a universal restitution. The trumpet was to be blown on the Day of Atonement, and the captives were then to be released, the unfortunate ones who had been compelled to part with their inheritance had it restored to them, and there was a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 25:8-55

Year of jubilee: 1 . A nation's joy. On every fiftieth year of national life, as the sun went down on the great Day of Atonement, when the sins of the nation had been forgiven, and peace with God was once more assured, the sound of many trumpets ushered in the blessed year of jubilee. Then No nation now can expect to enjoy such an institution as this; we must learn to dispense with such miraculous arrangements as that which made the year of jubilee a possible thing to Israel ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 25:8-55

Year of jubilee: II. The world's redemption. The whole Christian era is one long year of jubilee. It is "the acceptable year of the Lord" ( Luke 4:19 ). That "acceptable year," the fiftieth year in the Jewish calendar, was a year of These, in a deeper, a spiritual sense, are the characteristics of the Christian era: 1 . It is a time of spiritual emancipation. Sin is the slavery of the soul; "men are "holden with the cords of their sins" ( Proverbs 5:22 ). They are in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 25:8-55

Year of jubilee: III. The blessed kingdom. It may be thought that, while it is indeed true that the year of jubilee has a true counterpart in that dispensation of spiritual emancipation, social readjustment, regeneration, rest, joy, in which we stand; yet, on the other hand, there is so much of detraction in the sins and sorrows of the present time as to make the one but a very imperfect picture of the other. There is truth in this thought: it is only in a qualified sense that we can speak... read more

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