Leviticus 25:23-28

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 25:23-38

Here is, I. A law concerning the real estates of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and the transferring of them. 1. No land should be sold for ever from the family to whose lot it fell in the division of the land. And the reason given is, The land is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me, Lev. 25:23. (1.) God having a particular propriety in this land, he would by this restraint keep them sensible of it. The possessions of good people, who, having given up themselves to God,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:23

The land shall not be sold for ever ,.... That is, the land of Israel; the meaning is, any part of it, for that the whole might be sold or disposed of at once is not to be supposed, but anyone part of it, which was the property of a single man, or belonged to a family; though it might be sold in case of necessity, yet not for ever, so as never to return to the owner, or his heirs; for if it was sold for ever it returned in the year of the jubilee: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:24

And in all the land of your possession ,.... Which they should possess in the land of Canaan, whatever part of it any of them should enjoy: ye shall grant a redemption for the land ; that is, whenever any estate in it was sold through necessity, the buyer was obliged to grant a liberty to the seller to redeem it, when it was in his power to do it, or any or his relations, especially after two years; so Jarchi observes, he that sells his possession may redeem it after two years, either he... read more

John Gill

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

If thy brother be waxen poor ,.... Is brought very low, greatly reduced, and is in mean circumstances; hence Jarchi says, we learn, that no man may sell his field, unless his distress presses him and forces him to it; for, as Maimonides F3 Hilchot Shemittah Vejobel, c. 11. sect. 3. observes, a man might not sell his estate to put money into his purse, or to trade with, or to purchase goods, servants, and cattle, only food: and hath sold away some of his possession ; not all of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:26

And if the man have none to redeem it ,.... That is, none of kin that was able or willing to redeem it; otherwise no doubt there were persons in the land able to do it at any time, but none he was in connection with, or from whom he could expect such a favour: and himself be able to redeem it ; or if his hand has got, and he has found a sufficiency for his redemption, as the Targum of Jonathan; not that he has found anything that was lost, as Chaskuni glosses it, but by one providence or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:27

Then let him count the years of the sale thereof ,.... How many years had passed since it was sold, how many it had been in the hands of the purchaser, and how many were yet to come to the year of the jubilee, by which means the price of redemption might easily be settled; thus, for instance, if the years were alike and there was just half the time gone, then half of the price it was sold at was repaid to the purchaser; and if not alike, then in proportion to what had passed and were to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:28

But if he be not able to restore it to him ,.... The overplus, or give him what is in proportion to the time he has had it, and yet to come: then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that bought it until the year of the jubilee ; continue in his possession, and he shall enjoy all the benefit of it till that year comes: and in the jubilee it shall go out : out of his hands or possession; or "he shall go out" F7 ויצא "discedet emptor", Junius & Tremellius. ,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 25:23

The land shall not be sold for ever - the land is mine - As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favorable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling that they had nothing which they could... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 25:25

Any of his kin come to redeem it - The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim between jubilee and jubilee, by the former owner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the text גאל goel or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus? That he might have a right to redeem man, he took upon him human nature, and thus became a kinsman of the great family of the human race, and thereby possessed the right of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 25:23

Verse 23 23.The land shall not be sold for ever. Since the reason for this law was peculiar to the children of Abraham, its provisions can hardly be applied to other nations; for so equal a partition of the land was made under Joshua, that the inheritance was distributed amongst the several tribes and families; nay, in order that each man’s possession should be more sacred, the land had been divided by lot, as if God by His own hand located them in their separate stations. In fact, that... read more

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