Leviticus 25-27

Now we start talking about the Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee!

Sabbath

Every 7 years the Israelites were not to farm, and instead were supposed to let the land rest. I'm a little confused. God says not to reap or harvest, but then He also says "whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you." How to you eat if you don't reap or harvest?

Jen harvesting in Pastor Chuck's garden

Jubilee
The theme of the "Jubilee" seems to be redemption.  A time when everyone returns back to their homes and reclaims what was once theirs.

The Jubilee only occurs once every 7 Sabbath years (7x7 = 49 years) = Day of Atonement. On the 50th year, consecrate the land and proclaim liberty for all its inhabitants! In the year of the Jubilee everyone returns to his own property.
Pay fair prices according to the number of years from the Jubilee.

God then lays down some rules regarding property and land with respect to the Jubilee.  For example, if a person becomes poor and sells himself, you should not treat him as a slave, but treat him as a hired hand until the Jubilee, at which point you should release him to return to his clan/ his family.

Certain properties can always be redeemed at the Jubilee, like houses in villages without walls and the property of Levites.  Other properties, like the open pastureland belonging to towns or a house in a walled city not redeemed within a year, are NOT returned during the Jubilee. In fact, pasturelands can never be sold - they permanently belong to the towns.

God emphasizes that they could never make a fellow Israelite a slave. The "servant" could always be redeemed. God saw the Israelites as "his servants" not as slaves.