The Sabbath year and Year of Jubilee (Lev 25) are visible reminders that God has built generosity and rest into nature. Even the land is to have a Sabbath rest (Lev 25:4). No sowing, pruning or reaping was to take place during this year. (Lev 25:4-5)
I imagine there was nervousness about this edict. For six years, the Israelites’ identity was bound up in work – hard, physical, demanding labour, necessary for survival in an agricultural society. It was one thing to take one day off in seven, but could they really survive by letting the land have a year of rest?
God’s provision and grace said yes. The people had to trust Him to provide and to learn the all-important lesson that we are not the centre of our existence.
The Year of Jubilee occurred once every fifty years. For most of us, that is a once-in-a-lifetime event. The principle of this special year was intended to focus attention on the grace and generosity of God and how this looks when lived out by people. Everything was returned to its rightful place and rightful ownership during this year. Freedom was to be restored; redemption practised. (Lev 25:8-55)
Again, such radical generosity and kindness did not make economic sense in the natural, but was a lived-out parable of the generosity and grace of God. When we live in this way, we allow the blessing of God (which cannot be explained in material terms) to flow.
God’s commands are not easy to follow, for they force from us a fundamental decision: do we follow God or our own reason? Do we believe God will provide and make a way where there is no way or do we follow the path that is plain, visible and apparently leading to prosperity? Jesus reminds us that the visible path actually leads to destruction and urges us to choose the narrow gate. (Matt 7:13-14) Obedience comes at a cost, but the rewards are priceless (see also Lev 26:3-13)
