“IF thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold... And if thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him, a stranger or a sojourner; that he may live with thee... And if thy brother [that dwelleth] by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant.. And if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him” (Lev. 25:25, 35, 39, 47, 4825If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. (Leviticus 25:25)
35And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. (Leviticus 25:35)
39And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant: (Leviticus 25:39)
47And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family: 48After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: (Leviticus 25:47‑48)).
The misery of man's impoverished condition has in one way or another contributed to many an Old Testament history. God has from the beginning shown us that He alone has the power and the will to restore to man all that he has lost, and more too. This gracious purpose has illumined many a dark page in Israel's record, and furnished a key to what would otherwise have been enigmatical. Two illustrations may suffice, “And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this [is] the woman, and this her son whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that [was] her's, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now” (2 Kings 8:5, 65And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. 6And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. (2 Kings 8:5‑6)). Israel will get all back through the Son raised from the dead, and now alive again.
Again, “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever for the good of them, and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good; and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul” (Jer. 32:37-4137Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: 38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: 39And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. (Jeremiah 32:37‑41)). God will undertake his people's cause in that day and will fulfill all His own promises.
There is no more interesting study for our hearts renewed by grace than that of tracing in the Old Testament scriptures God's gracious ways with man from the beginning, that is, after the fall. If Adam had remained in his original position there would have been no such history to set before us, no revelation of God beyond what His works afford (Psa. 19) Driven from paradise, that he might not be cursed with perpetual existence in a sinful state, God follows Adam and begins to work for his blessing, finding in his necessitous and ruined condition the opportunity (which Eden would not have supplied) of gratifying His own heart in exalting the lowly, enriching the poor, filling the hungry with good things, and ultimately meeting man in fullest grace, wherever the soul turned to God in the truth of its condition. Where any sought to approach by a way of their own, denying or evading the truth, it was to their own confusion, and rejection (Heb. 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)). This grace now flows from the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and brings into divine relationship. Yet it was only when the page of man's history closed at the cross that the “gospel of the grace of God” could go forth into all the world. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It is the full and blessed answer of God to the infinite work of His beloved Son. Man's distressed condition was in evidence in the days of our Lord wherever He turned. John 5 bears witness to this fact as also to man's inability to remedy his condition, let alone to pay the price of his redemption (Psa. 49).
“The Son of man must be lifted up.” It is this redemption by purchase that is the subject of Lev. 25, the expression occurring four times in the chapter. “If thy brother be waxen poor,” is not a mere repetition of words, but suggests a different condition of misery each time it is used, both progressive and accumulative. The cross must be our starting point for such a study, not the incarnation. Whilst it was instruction for the guidance of the people of Israel in the first place, it had nothing to do with law as a principle, the maintenance of strict righteousness and the requirement of it from others, but points to the principle of grace upon which God had dealt with Israel and on which He expected His people to act towards others. It begins where law ends; its place here is significant. It is after the law had spoken its last word, and the priestly system had been fully developed, and before, too, the solemn declarations of judgments that should surely descend upon the transgressors of the covenant as in chap. 26. Here, in our chapter, is that which points clearly to the resources of grace in God and the intervention of the Kinsman Redeemer.
Let us trace its development. “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession” (ver. 25), a deplorable condition for an Israelite to be in surely, and one which should have had a voice to his conscience, for Joshua before leaving the scene reminds them that, “Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which Jehovah your God spake concerning you... all good things are come upon you which Jehovah your God promised you” (Josh. 23:14, 1514And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. 15Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the Lord your God promised you; so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you. (Joshua 23:14‑15)). His inheritance then had become alienated from him by reason of sin; it would return to him at the set time as ordained by God to which the jubilee points (ver. 10). So it has been with the nation, nevertheless millennial days shall see them restored to their possession, dwelling in safety and rest under the peaceful reign of the Son of David.
But this is true in a far deeper sense of all mankind. He has lost his inheritance, forfeited life and become subject to vanity. The more our natural knowledge is increased and the wider our range of observation, the more painfully shall we be impressed with the sense of man's deep poverty. “He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” His enjoyment of the present is seriously interfered with by the painful sense of the uncertainty of life. He cannot even depend upon the little span of life usually allotted to him. This is felt the more keenly in proportion to the expansion of the intellect and the elevation and refinement of his tastes. No doubt our first parents realized this more fully than the majority of the human race which has succeeded them. What should have been joyous occasions for Eve, were mingled with sorrow which doubtless recalled the divine sentence upon her sin. Every occurrence of death must have been a painful and humiliating experience for him whose disobedience had brought death into the world. Mark 10:17-2317And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 19Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother. 20And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. 23And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:17‑23) supplies an illustration of a numerous class of people who are not burdened with the sordid cares and privations incidental to poverty, nor besotted and degraded by common vices. Perhaps, however, they are the more conscious of their real poverty and nakedness before God. This man was very rich and very earnest, for he came running to Jesus. Very religious also, as appears in the question he put to the Lord, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.” Was not this equivalent to asking the terms upon which he himself might redeem his alienated possession? Yet he was not prepared to pay the price, and so went away sorrowful; nevertheless the Lord in His answer let fall a precious invitation of grace for faith (had it been present) to fasten upon. “Come follow Me,” was an intimation that “He who was rich” had already become poor that we through His poverty might be rich. He might be, safely trusted to act the part of a Kinsman Redeemer, “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him” (ver. 35). The Israelite, sensible of his poverty might make many attempts to right himself, but all to no purpose. Obligations could not be fulfilled, promises alas I made only to be broken. Such is man's position morally before God. A bankrupt—vows and resolutions may be formed but never to be realized; “his hand faileth” (see margin), he is “without strength” (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). The case of the impotent man—(John 5) illustrates this condition of evil in one who is conscious of it and struggles ineffectually to get the blessing. “While I am coming, another steppeth in before me.” It was the position of Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Death had robbed her of every natural help and protector. A widow, and childless, her inheritance gone also, it might be the beginning of the barley harvest, but hardly for her! What a type of Israel in the last days, broken hearted and suppliant, returning to the land, of promise, counting no longer on their own strength, as at Horeb— “all that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” but solely on the mercy and faithfulness of God! The presence of Ruth (one shut out of the congregation of the Lord unto the, tenth generation) makes it still more striking a type of the spared remnant when, attracted by the mercy and, goodness of Jehovah, they are reestablished in the inheritance by their Kinsman Redeemer. Boaz, a mighty man of wealth ("in him is strength”), takes up their cause, disposes of every other claim and leads into rest and blessing amongst the people of God. This naturally leads on, to the glory of the earthly kingdom, and will surely receive its full accomplishment.
But while all this awaits another day for Israel and this poor blighted world, it is made good now, individually and spiritually, as sinners hear the gospel and believe. It does not in any way apply to the church collectively as the bride, the Lamb's wife, but is a blessed and simple illustration of that which is realized by every weary heart that comes to Christ. Grace is the very foundation of the gospel, but there must be power too. There is the grace that seeks and finds, but when He has found, die taketh it on His shoulders and bringeth it home. The Good Shepherd undertakes everything for us and charges Himself with our burden. So, in this narrative, Ruth is invited to “sit still... for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day” (Ruth 3:1818Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day. (Ruth 3:18)).
The redemption of the purchased possession (Eph. 1:1414Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)) involves the interests and glories of our Redeemer in a way beyond all our thoughts or desires as poor and needy sinners. True the awakened sinner fears coming judgment, and is in anxiety as to his personal salvation from divine wrath, which shuts out for the time every other consideration. Yet it is no question of that here, but of the redemption of the inheritance and subjection of the habitable earth. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it, in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-2119For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19‑21)). “What day thou buyest... thou must buy also of Ruth—to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.” The Son of man will be supreme over the redeemed creation, the world to come whereof we speak. In that day shall there be perfect harmony between the various parts of God's creation, The reconciliation “of all things on earth and in heaven” shall be so complete that the Lord Himself will delight in His people. “I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel (seed of God). And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, My God” (Hos. 2:21-24).
G. S B.