Ezekiel 46:17 - Exposition

The second regulation . Should the prince, however, bestow a portion of his inheritance on one of his servants, what was thus bestowed should not belong to that servant in perpetuity, but should be regarded simply as a temporary loan which should be his till the year of liberty , הֲדְּרוֹר שְׁנַת , i.e. the year of free flowing general—comp. Exodus 30:23 , מָר־דּרוֹר , pure myrrh (Authorized Version) or flowing myrrh (Revised Version)—hence the year of release ; after which it should return to the prince. Smend thinks Ezekiel could hardly have had in view the year of jubilee (Le Ezekiel 25:10 ; Ezekiel 27:24 ), else he would not have employed the term "liberty," which Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 34:8 , Jeremiah 34:15 , Jeremiah 34:17 ) uses to denote the freedom regained by Hebrew bondmen in the seventh year ( Exodus 21:2 ; Deuteronomy 15:12 ). But