The Poor Brother: Part 2

From: Bible Treasury: Volume N6 By: G.S. Byford

Leviticus 25:25‑48 • 11 min. read • grade level: 11

“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 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. 25:39, 47, 48³⁹And 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 blessing promised to Abraham was absolutely free and unqualified. It was hampered by no conditions, nor was its continuance made dependent in any way upon the line of conduct pursued by his children. It was an absolute gift (in promise), dependent only upon the word of Him who cannot lie, “the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.” His indisputable right it was and is, to dispose of the earth to whom. He will, as now it is His delight to enrich the believer in Christ with “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” The promises made to Abraham point to these two orders of blessing—the earthly or material, and the heavenly or spiritual, both to be made good in Christ the promised Seed. When the time of the promise drew nigh, however, Israel made the fatal mistake of trusting in their own competency to satisfy God's righteous requirements when entering upon possession to continue and leave it as an inheritance in perpetuity for their children after them. They despised the pleasant land and “could not enter in because of unbelief” (Num. 14, Heb. 3:19¹⁹So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:19)). As the people had elected to go in on the principle of law (“all that Jehovah hath spoken we will do,” Ex. 19:8⁸And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. (Exodus 19:8)), they must be held to it. God was indeed very compassionate, and again and again interfered in sovereign grace to alleviate their misery, or to recall them to the place of obedience and blessing. Nevertheless there must be, and there was, the full and sufficient trial of man in the flesh, a fallen creature, proving his inability to keep the blessing into which God had conducted him.

The lamentable results of disobedience soon manifested themselves in Israel's altered circumstances in the land, always directly traceable to their failure in obedience to the terms of the covenant, and in appropriating that which God had given them. “And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, [therefore] I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed [them] to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house. And when the king entered into the house of Jehovah the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him, that He would not destroy [him] altogether: and also in Judah things went well” (2 Chron. 12:7-12⁷And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. ⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house. ¹¹And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the guard came and fetched them, and brought them again into the guard chamber. ¹²And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well. (2 Chronicles 12:7‑12)).

Shields of brass were a poor substitute for shields of gold, and the service exacted of Israel by Shishak, king of Egypt, was not to be compared with that which Jehovah required of them. Again and again did they have to learn that it was “an evil [thing] and bitter” to depart from the living God. “Whosoever committeth sin the same is the servant of sin” (John 8:34³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. (John 8:34)). It was in the closing days of Jehu, that the Lord began to cut Israel short, to be followed in the days of Hoshea by the expatriation of the principal inhabitants of the land. The kingdom of Judah was preserved in the land for a longer period for reasons we need not now dwell upon, and was subjected to deeper suffering and more humiliating experiences under Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hands God had committed the power and authority for government in the earth, in the stead of Israel, in a way which He had not done to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. It is well to note the difference in the respective punishments of the two sections of the same nation, as also the way in which God exercises absolute control in the day of His visitation of those Gentile powers whom He had for the time made the executors of His wrath against His people. (Compare 2 Kings 17 with 2 Chron. 36)

In the portion before us, however (Lev. 25), it is not the final break up1 of the nation that is in question, but the more immediate results of the individual failure of His people now about to exchange the wilderness for the land, wherein nevertheless God would manifest His faithfulness and truth towards them. The curtailment of the family inheritance in the mortgaging of estates, and the ensuing conditions of poverty, debt, and bankruptcy, would be bad enough; but worse remained. The loss of liberty (ver. 39) might involve the loss of self-respect, and would indeed do so but for the principle of grace so abundantly in evidence in this chapter. A strict adherence to the letter of law was not all that God required of Israel. Israel's origin and early history had been such as should have instructed them to “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.”

“And thou shalt speak, and say before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish [was] my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great; mighty, and populous: and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard. bondage: and when we cried unto Jehovah, God of our fathers, Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: and Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders” (Deut. 26:5-8⁵And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous: ⁶And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: ⁷And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression: ⁸And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: (Deuteronomy 26:5‑8)). The remembrance of all that they had suffered when bond-slaves in Egypt, and the divine interposition in power and goodness for their deliverance, should have softened their hearts towards the poor and needy of their brethren, as well as humbled them in the presence of God. In the land of Israel, where righteousness and obedience brought their own reward, it was quite possible, and even likely, that some should be “righteous over much,” which was as much to be avoided as being “over much wicked.” The gracious godly Israelite would see in the circumstances of his poor brother an opportunity for manifesting the reality and excellence of that principle of grace on which God had acted towards himself. To belong to Israel brought much blessing, many privileges and responsibilities of a mutual kind not always legal. To insist upon righteousness while overlooking grace, and refusing to show mercy, were a grievous affront to God Himself; for where would they have been if mercy had not been shown in Jehovah's dealings with them?

Still the contract, which bound the slave to his master and deprived the former of freedom, was quite legal and could not set aside the rights of the master secured thereby. Did not he hold possession? How about the rights of the slave? He had none; he had signed them away. Yet here grace found an opportunity; it meets us at the very lowest point—the very principle of the gospel— “when we were yet without strength.” When the decayed, broken-down Israelite had sold himself to a brother, the application by the latter of this precious principle of grace would not indeed annul the contract, but would nevertheless bring light and joy and liberty into the soul. It is not in this chapter (as it is in Deut. 26) a question of worship, but of guarding against oppression, and of acting in the fear of God. “Thou shalt fear thy God: for I [am] Jehovah your God” (vers. 17, 36, 38, 43, 55). So with the Christian now. We may be in circumstances the most depressing in themselves, but the knowledge and enjoyment of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, will enable us to “glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:3-6³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; ⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope: ⁵And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. ⁶For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:3‑6)).

But this dying for the ungodly really closes the subject. Christ has done that, and therefore all is secured for the believer. The price of our redemption has been paid, God has been glorified, justice satisfied. The full results are still to be waited for; yet are we sure of the final triumph of grace, and of the coming deliverance of the creature from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-25¹⁹For 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. ²²For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. ²³And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. ²⁴For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? ²⁵But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:19‑25)). “We boast in hope of the glory of God,” and not this only, but “we boast in tribulations also.” In contrast to this, the natural man, still in his sins, has in this present a dreadful foreboding of an eternity of misery. But if the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now, we groan too, but intelligently and in gracious sympathy, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body, and have meanwhile the firstfruits of the Spirit, “the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” (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)).

“And 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; after that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him; either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or [any] that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or, if he be able, he may redeem himself” (vers. 47-49). Here the case might appear to be hopeless, for the rich stranger could not be expected to act in grace towards the poor brother; his only hope then, if he could not redeem himself, was to look for the appearance of one who should be sufficiently gracious to act towards him in power and goodness. And did not such an One indeed in due time come to His own land and people and announce His willingness so to act? But His own received Him not, not knowing the time of their visitation. “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:18-22¹⁸The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ¹⁹To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. ²⁰And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ²²And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? (Luke 4:18‑22)).

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9⁹For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)).

These scriptures make clear that the Lord Jesus, having come into the circumstances of Israel in all the poverty and weakness of the nation, giving up earthly glory and all that men value here, and even life itself, will in the future bring them into restored relationship to Jehovah and into full enjoyment of every blessing promised; while for the one that now receives the Savior, he has present participation in the redemption already “found” (Heb. 9:12¹²Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)), receiving now the salvation of the soul. The heart is filled with joy and gladness, and waits with patience for the full manifested results in glory of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory both now and forever. Amen. G. S. B.

(Concluded from p. 291)

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.