Own to Rent

Leviticus 25: 8-55

So this Sabbath year bit continues for seven sets of seven years (49 years for those of you arithmetically challenged). Year 50 is the Jubilee. Seems like it's an extra Sabbath year- so they get two years back to back. No work for two years in a row. So on July 10th (on our calendar) a trumpet blows- this is the Day of Atonement. No sowing no reaping.

In addition, on this 50th year, anyone who has sold property goes back to where they used to live. They reclaim their house keys and put the couch back in the living room. No matter when you sold it, it reverts back to you. God tells them- you don't really own it- so you can't permanently sell it. You can let someone use it for awhile- but when Jubilee comes, it goes back to the original "owners".

He also warns about price gouging. Your price should reflect how close it is to jubilee when you sell the property. Year one sales should be much higher than year 47. Actually this price gouging is only mentioned in reference to buying from and selling to fellow Israelites. If you're selling to a foreigner... than buyer beware.

In regards to food for that 50th year, God says there will be major abundance in year 48. In fact so much that three years worth of food will be produced. There will be enough to eat until the harvest of year 51 comes in.

If someone is hurting financially and sells their property in order to make ends meet- his nearest relative should come buy it back. If he doesn't have any relatives, but wins at the track, invests well, or somehow comes into money- he can go and get the land back. He is to evaluate the worth of the land and pay the difference to the person he sold it to. If he can't do that- he gets it back at Jubilee anyhow.

Rules are different in a walled city. If you sell property, you get a year to come back and reclaim it. After that, the buyer keeps it. It does not go back to the original buyer at Jubilee.

Levites can always get their property back (this process in all of these contexts is referred to as redeeming). The town's pasture land, though, cannot be sold.

If a fellow citizen hits hard times- you are supposed to help him. No interest charged- no profiting on food you sell to him. If he sells himself to you, treat him like an employee, not as a slave. The motivation here seems to be that you do everything you can to help him be able to keep living among the Israelites.

If he's sold himself to you- he is released on the year of Jubilee- and he goes home. All is returned to as it was.

If you get slaves, they should come from surrounding areas. They can also come from temporary residents. They can be willed as property and are slaves for life. I wish I could just pretend this little section didn't exist here, but it does. Troubling, indeed. I get that God's people here are chosen by race and that this set-up changes with the coming of Jesus. But even under that context, the idea of it being okay to have slaves that are outside of "God's fold" doesn't seem to fit with ideas of love and humility.

If you sell yourself as a slave to a foreigner- you can be "redeemed" by your relative at anytime- once again figuring out the price based on when Jubilee is. If that doesn't happen, you are free at Jubilee time.

This year of Jubilee thing is amazing. No matter what mess you've made of things over the last few decades- if you can just hang on till Jubilee- you get to start over. You're free! You get your land back! You go home!

And maybe just the promise of it all- the knowledge that you just have to hang on until year 50 would be enough to help them hang on- help them deal with whatever tight spot they found themselves in.

I think you see where I'm going with this.

Hmm- feels a little like Jubilee around here. This redemption stuff really works.