Leviticus 25:47

"And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxed rich, and thy brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxed rich, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him. If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but a few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption. As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight. And if he be not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God."

Wenham commented upon the theological reasons that lay behind the special rules forbidding and for redeeming the slavery of Israelites as follows:

"God redeemed his people from Egyptian slavery, to become his servants. It is unfitting, therefore, that an Israelite should be sold into slavery, especially to a foreigner. The jubilee was a guarantee that no Israelites should continue in slavery."[18]

Also, note the words "in thy sight" (Leviticus 25:53). This made every Israelite a de facto monitor and policeman regarding any Israelite who was temporarily indentured to a foreigner, with the implication that any abuse of the servant, or any service "with rigor" that might be required, would result in the immediate judgment of the offender.

The following basic principles are evident in the sacred instructions here concerning the Jubilee:

OWNERSHIP OF LAND

It is contrary to the interests of society when the ownership of land is concentrated exclusively in the hands of a wealthy few and the mass of the people reduced to poverty through oppression. This is violated, not merely by those states where the wealthy nobles are virtually the sole owners of the land, but also by the vicious and unprincipled usurpation promulgated by the godless Communists who arbitrarily confiscated all lands to the state. In all nations, where lands tend to become the privilege of the few and not the inheritance of the many, this principle is violated.

THE WORSHIP OF GOD

Inherent in all of these laws concerning various sabbaths of days, of years, and of the fiftieth year, is the principle that God expects the beneficiaries of His grace to worship Him. True religion is basic to any just society. The neglect of the worship of God by any people is the beginning of the destruction of that people. The gross paganism, debauchery, violence, and oppression that characterized the pre-Christian nations were stated by the apostle Paul to have had their beginning in the people's failure to "give thanks to God" (Romans 1:21). All of the wretchedness that followed had its source in their turning away from worship of God.

PERSONAL VIRTUE

"Love thy neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18) is the all-pervasive moral law that underlies all of these instructions. Special love for a brother that required his next of kin to redeem him, and the watchfulness of all to prevent any abuse of a brother derived from this essential love. The Jubilee also emphasized the fleeting nature of man's life on earth. "You are strangers and sojourners."

OVERTONES OF THE MESSIANIC AGE

A number of spiritual overtones of the richest color are herein. That the nearest of kin alone could redeem one suggests the kinship of Christ for the beneficiaries of his blood-bought redemption. The Jubilee itself is a vivid foreshadowing of the whole Messianic Age, a fact stressed by Jesus Christ in the very beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-19). In one's acceptance of the Christian faith and obedience of the gospel, there are five "R's":

Remission of all sins.

Restoration to our Fellowship with God.

Reunion with the Society of the Redeemed.

Repossession of our Forfeited Inheritance.

Rejoicing in the Soul's True Jubilee.