Leviticus 25:28-87

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

Matthew Henry

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 25:28

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:29

And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city ,.... Which was so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun, as Jarchi: then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold : any time within the year he pleased, either he or any near of kin to him; and if they would, on the day it was sold, or any time after within the compass of the year, even on the day in which the year ended; in this such an house differed from fields, which could not be redeemed under two years; see Gill on ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:30

And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year ,.... Either by the seller or any man of kin to him: then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generation ; after twelve months were elapsed it was not redeemable by any, but to be held by the purchaser and his heirs for ever: it shall not go out in the jubilee ; from the purchaser or his heirs, to the seller or his heirs; for houses were not like lands, the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:31

But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about them ,.... As there were many in the days of Joshua, the Scripture speaks of: the Jews suppose that such are meant, even though they were afterwards walled: shall be counted as the fields of the country ; and subject to the same law as they: they may be redeemed ; at any time before the year of jubilee, and if not, then they shall go out in the jubilee ; to the original owners of them, freely, as Jarchi says, without... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:32

Notwithstanding, the cities of the Levites ,.... The six cities of refuge, and forty two others; these and the houses in them are excepted from the above law, and only they; not such as they might purchase elsewhere; wherefore it follows: and the houses of the cities of their possession ; which were in cities possessed by them, and which was their possession, and given them as such: may the Levites redeem at any time ; they were not restrained to a year, as houses in walled towns,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:33

And if a man purchase of the Levites ,.... An house or city, as Jarchi, and which the following clause confirms, that is, if a common Israelite made such a purchase, then it was redeemable, but if a Levite purchased of a Levite, then, as the same writer observes, it was absolutely irredeemable: then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the year of jubilee ; to the original owner of it, as fields and houses in villages sold by the Israelites for... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:34

But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold ,.... The suburbs to the cities of the Levites reached two thousand cubits on every side of their cities, Numbers 35:5 ; in which they had fields to keep their cattle in, and these belonged to them in common; every Levite had not a particular field to himself as his own property, and which is the reason why it might not be sold, nor might they agree together to sell it, for then they would have nothing to keep their cattle in:... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:35

And if thy brother be waxen poor ,.... An Israelite, as Aben Ezra, be reduced to a low estate, through afflictions in body, or in family, or through losses in trade, or want of business, or through one providence or another: and fallen in decay with thee ; in his worldly substance: or "his hand wavers", or "fails" F16 ומטה ידו "et nutaverit manus ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Fagius; "vacillabit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. ; so that he cannot support himself and his... read more

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