CHAPTER 15

(1451 B.C.)

SABBATICAL YEAR

¹At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

²And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lends ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORDs release. (This didnt mean that the debt was no longer owed, but only that the debtor on the seventh year was not to be pressed for payment. As during the Sabbatical year the land lay uncultivated, and the debtor consequently would earn nothing, it was reasonable that he should not then be pressed for payment. So, every loan took this seventh year into account.)

³Of a foreigner you may exact it again (meaning that this law did not apply to the foreigner): but that which is yours with your brother your hand shall release;

⁴Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it (the Lord wants to bless His People, that all poverty be erased; and if Gods People will wholly follow Him, rendering obedience, it will be erased, because this is the Will of the Lord; this Fourth Verse says so!):

⁵Only if you carefully hearken unto the Voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all these Commandments which I command you this day.

⁶For the LORD your God blesses you, as He promised you: and you shall lend unto many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you (in other words, if the Lords People would carefully hearken unto the Lord, they would be the most blessed nation on Earth; that was Gods intention, but, regrettably, Israel did the very opposite).

RELIEF FOR THE POOR

⁷If there be among you a poor man of one of your brethren within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother (despite the Promise of great Blessing, regrettably, many simply would not hearken unto the Voice of the Lord, but would rather hearken unto their own voice, or the voice of others; in one way or the other, poverty will always be the result):

⁸But you shall open your hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants (faith-filled Believers are to be generous).

⁹Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against you, and it be sin unto you (in other words, dont take advantage of the seventh year to refuse to lend money to one in need, just because its the sixth year; to conduct oneself in a greedy manner constitutes sin).

¹⁰You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give unto him: because that for this thing the LORD your God shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand unto (if those in Israel wanted the Blessings of the Lord, they must obey the Lord, seeking diligently to carry out His Word).

¹¹For the poor shall never cease out of the land (despite the Promises of God, regrettably, some will not properly heed): therefore I command you, saying, You shall open your hand wide unto your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. (Israels welfare program was the third year of tithing the produce of the entirety of the land, to be given to the poor and needy, along with the Levites. Not failing this and, as well, lending to those who were truly in need, one can readily see that the welfare program was generous.)

RELEASE OF SERVANTS

¹²And if your brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

¹³And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty:

¹⁴You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your floor, and out of your winepress: of that wherewith the LORD your God has blessed you you shall give unto him.

¹⁵And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing to day. (The unchanging motive, perpetually repeated, why Israel should be compassionate to the needy and to strangers was the remembrance of their own bondage in Egypt and the Grace that delivered them from it. They were not to receive the Grace of God in vain; they were to show that Grace to others in order that no discredit should attach to their Redeemers Name.)

¹⁶And it shall be, if he say unto you, I will not go away from you; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you (in other words, the servant doesnt want to be set free, because he is being treated right, and desires to remain where he is);

¹⁷Then you shall take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door (the doorframe), and he shall be your servant for ever (but he does so voluntarily, and proven by the mark left by the aul). And also unto your maidservant you shall do likewise.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard unto you, when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant to you, in serving you six years: and the LORD your God shall bless you in all that you do.

CONSECRATION OF THE FIRSTLINGS

¹⁹All the firstling males that come of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify unto the LORD your God: you shall do no work with the firstling of your bullock, nor shear the firstling of your sheep.

²⁰You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household. (The firstborn of the flock, whatever it might be, that is, if it is healthy, must not be used for commerce of any nature. It must be taken to the Sanctuary, and offered in Sacrifice, with that which wasnt needed given to the service of the Sanctuary.)

²¹And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, you shall not sacrifice it unto the LORD your God.

²²You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart (it can be used as common food).

²³Only you shall not eat the blood thereof; you shall pour it upon the ground as water (this law was given concerning the firstborn of animals as a portrayal of Christ, Who would be the firstborn among many brethren, which referred to Him being the Author of all Salvation [Rom. 8:29]).