Leviticus 25:54-27:1354And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him. 55For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 1Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. 2Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 3If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. 14But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: 16I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. 18And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: 20And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. 21And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. 23And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; 24Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. 27And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. 32And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. 34Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. 35As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. 36And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. 37And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 40If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 43The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. 44And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God. 45But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the Lord. 46These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. 1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation. 3And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. 4And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. 5And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. 7And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him. 9And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the Lord, all that any man giveth of such unto the Lord shall be holy. 10He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy. 11And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the Lord, then he shall present the beast before the priest: 12And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be. 13But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation. (Leviticus 25:54‑27:13)
How good to look on to that better day for Israel — the true jubilee — when the Lord will give His people happy possession of the land under His hand in true freedom, and then what rejoicing there will be.
There is also a beautiful application of this year of jubilee to us, when we think of the Lord’s coming for His church. As the year of jubilee drew near in Israel the value of the land decreased, for if a man bought a piece of land two years before the jubilee, it was only his for two years and then it went back to its original owner. He would, therefore, only pay a small price for it at such a time. As we realize the nearness of the Lord’s coming, we put a lower value on things here which we are so soon to leave behind. When the trumpet sounds for us, we will leave this sin-ruined scene forever, to be with and like our blessed Saviour. Let us not become attached to it as though we were here to stay!
Solemn Warnings
In the twenty-sixth chapter we have the solemn warnings to Israel that if they did not walk in obedience to the statutes of the Lord, nor keep His Sabbaths, He would have to punish them. First, however, He tells them of the rich blessings He would pour upon them if they walked in obedience. He promised He would give them rain and fruitful seasons, and keep their land in peace from their enemies. Then, above all, He would dwell among them and be their God, but if they refused to walk in His ways, He said He would have to deal with them in their land. If they still refused to hearken to His voice through famine, disease and pestilence, then He would cause them to be carried away captive by their enemies, and then the land would “rest.” Surely this has happened to Israel nationally, for today they are scattered all over the earth, but now, once again, they are back in their land, though still in unbelief. We may be assured, however, that they will not get the promised blessings until they own their guilt and turn to the Lord. This they will do when He appears as their Deliverer. We find the gracious promise of this in the end of the chapter, and how God Himself delights to look forward to the time when He can bless His people according to His own purposes, and in fulfillment of those unconditional promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, long ago. God never forgets His promises and He cannot lie.
Vows
In the next chapter we have the question of vows and of redeeming land, brought before us. If a man made a vow, he was not to alter or change it, but to pay according to the priest’s valuation. Surely this reminds us of the Lord Jesus who came to earth to pay that which the children of Israel vowed and could not pay. He took their place and went to the cross to pay their debt of sin that they might be free. We notice that when a vow was redeemed, a fifth part was to be added to it, and so the blessed Lord Jesus not only met Israel’s guilt as law breakers (and ours, too, through grace), but He has brought added glory to God through His wondrous work. Israel only valued Him at thirty pieces of silver, but, blessed be His name, it is not a question of Israel’s valuation, nor of yours or mine, but it is the value that God has put upon His work that really counts. God has shown His full and complete satisfaction in that Christ is now risen and seated at His own right hand in heaven.
For Further Meditation
1. How can the year of jubilee be applied to a Christian?
2. This chapter mentions that the Lord Jesus brought added glory to God when He took care of Israel’s guilt. In what ways did He do that wonderful work?
3. You can find lots more on the jubilee by searching for “jubilee” at bibletruthlibrary.org.