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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 25:47

And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee ,.... An uncircumcised one, as the Targums, a proselyte of the gate, who by living among and trading with the Israelites, might grow rich and wealthy in money, at least so as to be able to purchase an Hebrew servant, though not his lands, which he might not buy: and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor ; comes into low circumstances, and is reduced to great poverty, even extreme poverty; for only in such a case might he sell himself... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:48

After that he is sold he may be redeemed again ,.... Though an Heathen, sold to an Israelite, was to be a bondman for ever, and could not be released by the year of jubilee, yet an Israelite sold to an Heathen might be redeemed before, and if not, he was freed then. The Jewish writers understand this of an obligation upon the man, or his friends, or the congregation, to redeem him, and that immediately, as the Targum of Jonathan, and Jarchi, because of the danger he was in by being in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 25:49

Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him ,.... it is father's brother or his father's brother's son, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan: or any that is nigh kin unto him of his family may redeem him ; from whence it appears, that it must be a near kinsman that has to be the redeemer, as in another case, the redemption of inheritances; hence the same word "goel" signifies both a redeemer and a near kinsman: or if he be able he may redeem himself ; who either has... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 25:47

Verse 47 47.And if a sojourner or a stranger. A caution is here introduced as to the Israelites who had enslaved themselves to strangers. But by strangers understand only those who inhabited the land of Canaan; for, if any one ]lad been carried away into other countries, God would have enacted this law as to their redemption in vain. A power, therefore, of redeeming the slave is granted to his relatives, or, if he had himself obtained sufficient to pay his price, the same permission is accorded... 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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