Leviticus 25

was without number or measure. As, if a man digged or" ploughed his ground; if he gathered out the stones, or dunged it, &c; if he planted trees, or grafted, &c; he suffered the scourging of rebellion. And more than this, he saith, it was not lawful in the seventh year to plant any tree, though it was not a fruit-tree; nor to cut off the dead branches; nor to make a smoke under them to kill the worms; nor to anoint young plants to preserve them from the bitings of birds, &c. If they did, they were liable to the scourging of mardut. Nay, he is so nice, as to say it was unlawful to sell to any man any instrument of husbandly in this year, as a plough, a yoke, a sieve, &c.; yet he allows them, when they were under ihe oppression of the gentiles, and bound to find provision for their armies, to sow so much as would maintain them. Of which things he discourses at large, in his treatise called Schemitta ve Jobel, cap. 1. and cap. 7. sabbaths of years, (ver. 8.) and of sanctifying the fiftieth year, were delivered only to the house of judgment; whose business, no doubt, it peculiarly was, to give notice of this year, and to cause the trumpet to be sounded, and all the following precepts to be observed. (Schemitta vc Jobel, cap; 10. num. 1.) And proclaim liberty.’] Unto all servants, who were this t year made free. Throughout all the land.] Even in all the highways, as Aben Ezra glosses, that every one might have notice. Unto all the inhabitants thereof] That is, to all the children of Israel who were servants; or so poor, that they had* sold their estates, as it here follows. From these words the Jews gather, that after the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half tribe of Manasseh were carried captive, jubilees ceased. They are the words of Maimonides in the forenamed treatise; for then all the inhabitants of the landwcxe not in it. And therefore much more when they were all carried captive, they only numbered the rest of every seventh year without any jubilee. It shall be a jubilee unto you.] Whence this year hath the name o(jobel y there are so many opinions, that Bochartus himself scarce knew which to follow. Josephus saith it signifies IXtvStplav, liberty; and the LXX. and Aquilatranslate it afewv, remission, having a regard to the thing, rather than to the import of the word jobel, which never signifies any. thing of that nature. D. Kimchi tells us, that It. Akiba, when he was in Arabia, heard them call a ram by this name of jobel; and thence some fancy this year, was so called, because it was proclaimed with trumpets of rams’ horns. But what if there were no such trumpets’?; as Bochart thinks there were not, these horns being not hollow. - See Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 43. p. 425, &c. where several other opinions are confuted. The most probable that I meet withal, is, that it was called jobel, from the peculiar sound which was made with the trumpet when this year was proclaimed. For the trumpet blowing for several purposes, viz. to call their assemblies together,, to give notice of the moving 6f their carnps, to excite soldiers to fight, and to proclaim, this year; there was a distinct sound for all these; ends, that people might not be confounded, but have a certain notice what the trumpet sounded for. And this sound mentioned before (ver. 9.), was peculiarly called jobel, as Hottinger thinks, who considers a great many other opinions in his Analecta, Diss. iii. wherein he follows Joh. Forsterus, who, near a hundred years before, observed that jobel, which we commonly translate trumpet, (Exod. xix. 13. and other places) doth not signify the instrument itself, but the sound that it made. And when it is used absolutely alone, it signifies this year, which w r as called jobel, from that sound which was then made; as the feast of unleavened bread was called pesach, from tho angel passing over them when he slew the Egyptians. The opinions of the Hebrew writers about it are collected and largely represented by Josephus do Voisin, (lib. i. de Jubikeo, cap. 1.) And ye shall return every man unto his possession.] Unto his field, or his housp, which his poverty had forced him to sell: but now was restored to him without auy price, because they were not sold^absojutely, but only till this year. By which means the estates qf the Israelites were so fixed, that no family could ruin itself Qr grow toq rich. For this law provided against such changes, revoking once in fifty years all alienations, and setting every one in the same condition wherein he was at the first. By which means ambition was retrenched, and every man applied himself with affection to the improvement of his inheritance, knowing it could never go out of his family. And this application was the more diligent, because it was a religious duty, founded upon this law of God. And ye shall return every wan unto his family.] From which he had been estranged by being sold to another family, either by himself, or by. his father, or by the court of judgment. So here are two parts of the liberty, forenamed more expressly declared: their land, which was alienated, returned to the first owner; and such as were sold for servants into another family came home again to their own family, being freed from their servitude. Which was a figure of that acceptable year of the Lord, as St. Luke calls it, (chap. iv. 19.) in the prophet Isaiah’s language, wherein our blessed Saviour preached deliverance to all mankind. The Jews themselves are not so stupid as to think nothing further was intended, but only freedom from bodily servitude in this year of jubilee; for Abarbinel himself, in this’ very verse, endeavours to discover something of a spiritual happiness. For the former part of the words now mentioned, ye shall return every man to his possession, he saith, belongs to the body; but the latter part, and every man unto his family, belongs unto the soul, and its return to God: so several others, whom J. de Voisin produces in the forenamed book, (cap. 2.). And, if our Dr. Lightfoot hath made a right computation, the last year of the life of our Saviour, who, by his death, wrought an eternal redemption, and restored us to our heavenly inheritance, fellin the year of jubilee, the very last that was ever kept. For, if we count from the end of tho wars of Canaan, which was seven years after they came into it (and I dp not know why we should not think they began to number then, and not seven years after, as Maimonides would have it),.there were just fourteen hundred years to the thirty-third of Jesus Christ, that is, just twenty-eight jubilees. And it is the confession of the old book called Zohar, as he observes, that " the Divine Glory should be freedom and redemption in a year of jubilee." (See Harmony of the New Testament, sect. 59. and Usserii Chronologia Sacra, cap. 13.) 4. And according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee.’] Ho that sold the remaining term of years till the jubilee was to consider, that every sixth year there was no fruit, and therefore he should demand nothing for them; but set his price only according to the number of the other years, not reckoning those. Vcr. 1G. According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price.] This is added only to make what was said before plainer, that the price should rise or fall, according as there were more or fewer years to come before the next jubilee. For example, Maimonidcs puts this case: if there be ten years to the jubilee, and a man buy another’s field for a hundred pence; after which, the buyer having enjo) r ed it three years, the seller hath a mind to redeem it; he most then give to him that bought it of him seventy pence. In like manner, if the buyer have enjoyed it six years, the seller must give him forty pence. For according to tJte number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.] Therefore, if a man, saith the same Maimonidcs, (cap. 11. num. 6.) sell another a field full of fruit, and, after two years, would redeem it, he must not demand him to restore the field as he sold it, full of fruit, because it is said here, according to the multitude of years, or fewness of years (and, in the foregoing verse, according to the number of years after the jubilee), which shews the years only were to be considered in the redemption, and not the fruits. forth out of the land of Egypt.] Who have obliged you with far greater blessings than I command you to bestow upon others. To give you the land of Canaan.] Under such covenants as have been mentioned. And to be your God.] To preserve you in the possession of it in peace and plenty, if you keep these covenants, (ver. 18, 19.) -

Leviticus 25:1

AND the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying. That is, in the wilderness of Sinai, (Numb. i. 1.) For they stayed almost a whole year not far from this mountain, from whence they did not remove till the twentieth day of the second month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt. (See Numb. x. 11, 12.) And thus the Hebrew particle beth is often used for by or near, as in Gen. xxxvii. 13. Josh. v. 13. and we find this expression again in the end of the next chapter, and in the conclusion of this book. Which shews that all here related was delivered to Moses in the first month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt, immediately after the tabernacle was set up, (Exod. xl. 17.)

Leviticus 25:2

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them. For what follows was of universal concernment. When ye come into the land which I give you.] This law, though delivered before they left Mount Sinai, could not take place till they came into Canaan. Then shall the land keep a sabbath.] Rest from being tilled, or sown, &c. (See Exod. xxiii. 11.) Unto the Lord.] In obedience to him, and in honour of him. Some have understood the foregoing words, Wlien ye sltall come into the land whuh I give you, as if they were to begin the sabbatical yeaT as soon as they entered into Canaan: which is very absurd; for so, not the seventh, btit the first, would have been the year of rest. And that had been very inconvenient, if not destructive; the war making such great waste, no doubt, that provision would have been very scarce, if no care had been taken for the ensuing year. It is to be considered also, that tho old store upon which they lived when they entered into the land of promise, was the fruit of the labour of the Canaanites, and not of the children of Israel. The meaning therefore is, that the seventh year after their entrance into Canaan, or rather, after they were settled, and had rest in it, they should let the land Test. The only question is, when this year was to begin? whether in the month of Tisri (which answers to our September), w r hich was the ancient beginning of the year; or in Nisan (answering to our March), which was made a new beginning of it, by an express law, Exod.xii. 2. the former still continuing the “beginning of the year for civil things as this for sacred. Now there is great reason to think that this sabbatical year was to commence from September, when all their harvest was over, which began in March. Then they were not to sow, as they were wont to do in October, and the following months; but to stay till tho Teturn of this season the next year: for, if this year had been to begin in March, they could not have reaped the harvest of the sixth year.

Leviticus 25:3

Six years shalt thou sow thy field, and prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof. Exod. xxiii. 10. Bat what was allowed in other years, is forbidden in this. Vct. 4. But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord.] Or, unto the Lord, (as we translate it before, ver. 2.) who, though he gave this land to them, continued the proprietor of it (as he declares, ver. 23.) and the Lord in chief, himself; of whom they held it by this tenure, that they should till it, &c. only six years together, for their own use; and In the seventh, let it lie in common, for such uses as he appointed. And it was for the honour of the Lord that they observed this law; for as the weekly sabbath was an acknowledgment that they weTe his, so this sabbatical year was an acknowledgment that their land was his. Tliou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.] By this he explains what he means by letting it rest. And these two words, sow and prune, comprehend all other things that weTe usually done about their fields or tTces, as ploughing, digging, dunging, &c. And though a vineyard be only mentioned, yet it is plain, by Exod. xxiii. 10. that oliveyards are comprehended under the same law; and these arc mentioned only as examples of all other fruit-trees, which were to be left in common as these were. Maimonides seems to be something too curious in what he saith upon this subject; for, inquiring why Moses mentions only these two things, solving and pnnring, his resolution is, that for these two, if men offended in them this year, they were punished with that scourging called malkut; but if they offended in any other sort of labours belonging to tho culture of the fields, or of trees, they were not punished with the scourging of malkut (which was by a certain measure, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes), but with the scourging called mardut, i. e. of contumacy and rebellion, which

Leviticus 25:5

That which groweth of itself. Either from seed which fell casually the year before, or from the old root which sprouted out again, as Maimonides expounds it in the same treatise, cap. 4. which is wholly about such things. Of thy harvest.] Of the corn scattered last harvest. He saith nothing of their gardens; which, it is probable, every man had to his own private use, and was not bound to lay them open to all. Tliou shalt not reap.] That is, saith he, not the whole field, so as to gather it into cocks, and to tread out the corn with his oxen (if any did, they were scourged with thirty-nine stripes), but they might cut down a little, in common with other persons, and shake it out, and eat it, as he there determines, (sect. 2.) Neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed.] In the Hebrew the words are, the vine of thy separation; for it was separated this year from his dressing: and what he gathered in common with others, was not to be pressed in a wine-press, but with another instrument. The like he saith of olives, and of figs, and other things, which were to be ordered after another manner in this year than in the foregoing, (sect. 23.) For it is a year of rest unto the land.] This general reason is so oft repeated, to make them sensible they were no more to do any thing about their land this seventh year, than they were to labour upon the seventh day. But he acknowledges, that if a gentile hired land in their country, he was not bound to let it rest, (sect. 29. of that chapter.)

Leviticus 25:6

And the sabbath of the land. Here the word sabbath signifies the fruit that grew in the sabbatical year; as the word sabbaths is used before (chap, xxiii. 38.) for the sacrifices upon the sabbaths. Shall be meat for you.] This explains the prohibition of reaping any corn this year, or gathering any fruit, not to be meant absolutely; but only that they should not look upon any thing that grew this year as peculiarly theirs, because it grew in their ground, but let all be common to others as well as themselves. For thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, &c] This, and the next verse, shew that all the fruits of the earth were perfectly in common this year: for the very beasts were not excluded; and, therefore, much less any man that dwelt among them, though he was uncircumcised. But it is very plain, likewise, that the owner of the land and his family were not forbidden to take their share, but might gather for their daily use as well as others, only not lay up any thing separate for themselves.

Leviticus 25:7

And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in. the land, shall all the increase thereof be meat. For his pwn cattle, and for other men’s: which were not to be fed with the fruits which are proper to men; (as Maimonides observes in the same book, cap. 5. sect. 5.) but if they came of themselves, and ate figs, for instance, they were not to be hindered. But it seems probable that wild beasts might be driven out of their vineyards, &c. in this year as well as others, because they made such waste as would have very much damaged the owner for the future. As for all other tame creatures, the Jews, (if we may believe Maimonides, cap. 7.) were so superstitiously careful they should have an equal share with themselves, that when there was no fruit any longer for the beasts in the field, they ceased to* eat what they had gathered for themselves; and, if they had any thing of it left, threw it out of their houses.

Leviticus 25:8

And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, &c. Which, put together, made forty-nine years;: as it follows in the rest of this verse. They began their first account (as Maimonides there observes) from the fourteenth year after their entrance into Canaan; for they were seven years in conquering the land, and seven more in dividing to every one their portion: so that the first sabbatical year was in the one-and^twentieth, and the first jubilee in the sixty-fourth year, after they came to the land of promise; so he, cap. 10. where he observes, they numbered seventeen jubilees from that time to their captivity in Babylon,- which fell out in the end of a sabbatical year, and the 1 thirty-sixth of the jubilee.

Leviticus 25:9

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee. The word jobel (which we translatcjw&iVeein the next verse) is not in the Hebrew, but teruah, which, in the margin, we translate loud of sound: for the trumpet was blown after a different manner at this time, than upon other occasions, that every one might understand the meaning of it. To sound.] In the Hebrew the word is, cause it to pass, that it might be heard every where throughout the land. So these words may be most literally translated, thou shalt cause to pass the trumpet loud of sound. On the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement.] This day was very fitly chosen, that this year might begin at the same time that a general atonement wag made for the sins of the whole nation: for they would be the better disposed to forgive their brethren their debts, when they craved pardon for their own. Shall ye make the trumpet sound (or pass) throughout all your land.] This is repeated, to make them careful to awaken every one to this duty, by the sound of the trumpet at every door; there being an unwillingness in most people to part with their servants, and their lands, &c. which they had long enjoyed. And therefore, every private man, as Maimonides saith, was bound to blow with a trumpet, and make this sound nine times, that they might fulfil these words of this precept, throughout all your land. By this means, as It. Levi Barzelonita notes, every one was the better inclined to hearken, when he saw it was a duty incumbent on the whole country, which all were to perform.

Leviticus 25:10

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year. Distinguish it from all other years, by doing what follows. Maimonides fancies, that these two precepts of numbering seven

Leviticus 25:11

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you,. It is a question, whether the year of jubilee was. the year following the forty-ninth year; or, the forty-ninth year was the jubilee; which, reckoning the foregoing. jubilee for one, was the fiftieth year. Josephus Scaliger, in his* fifth book de Emend. Temporum, and several other great men, are ofthis last opinion, to avoid a great inconvenience, which otherwise would ensue, viz. that the forty-ninth year being the sabbatical year, in which the land was to rest, if the next year to that had been the jubilee, two sabbatical years would have come immediately one after another; for the land was to rest in the year of jubilee, as it here follows. One would have expected, therefore, that in the forty-eighth year there should have been a special promise, that the. land should bring forth fruit for four years, and not for three only, as the. blessing is promised every sixth year, (ver. 21.) Thus Jacobus Capellus reasons, in his Historia Sacra et Exotica ad A. M. 2549. But others think

Leviticus 25:17

Ye shall not therefore oppress one another. The seller by demanding too much, nor the buyer by giving too little. But thou shalt fear thy God.] For nothing could be so powerful as the fear of God to restrain them from oppression, and to preserve an equality between the land to be sold and the prico to be paid. For I am the Lord your God.] Whose land this is, and by whose favour you enjoy it.

Leviticus 25:18

Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments. Which are the tenure whereby you hold this land of me. And ye shall dwell in the land in safety.] And if you obey them, you shall not be disturbed in it by your enemies.

Leviticus 25:19

And Hie land shall yield her increase, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. lie encourages them in their obedience, by a promise of plenty and abundance, as well as of safety and security in their possessions.

Leviticus 25:20

And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? &c. To take away all distrust of his promise, he removes an obvious objection which might arise in their minds: that they might’want food, if they neither sowed, nor gathered in their increase, in the seventh year, as he required.

Leviticus 25:21

Then will I command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years?. This is* the answer to the doubt they might have of wanting sustenance, that he would bless them with such a plentiful crop in the sixth year, as should be sufficient for that and for the two following years, From which Petrus Cunocus thinks the argument very strong, that there were not two sabbatical years together, one in the forty-ninth, and another in the fiftieth year-, for then the earth in the sixth year should have brought foith not for three years, but for four; which was never heard of in any country. Palestine, indeed, was a country, to which God afforded an extraordinary blessing, beyond the common laws of nature; yet, since there are no testimonies of so great and frequent a miracle in the book of God, wc ought not easily to believe this. Thus he, lib. i. de Rcpub. Hcb. cap. 6. To which it may be replied, that this was not so frequent as he makes it, but only once in fifty years: and the reason why Moses here saith, the land should bring forth fruit for three years, and not for four, is, because he speaks only with respect to the common sabbatical years (every seventh year), not to the great sabbatical year, as they call the fortyninth; before which, God may very well he supposed to have blessed the earth with a larger crop than in any other preceding sixth year. Besides, though it is said they should not sou? in the jubilee, (ver. 11.) yet it is not said they might not prune their trees, as it is of other sabbatical years, (ver. 4.) so that they might be dressed as in other common years, to yield a plentiful increase for their support in the succeeding year.

Leviticus 25:22

And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year. Some have interpreted these words, as if they were to eat the old store, till the fruits of the ninth year came in; and bring it as an argument, that the sabbatical year began in March; whereas the plain sense is, that the fruits of the eighth could not be thrashed out for food till the ninth year. And then the next words, Until her fruits come in, ye shall eat of the old store.] Are not to be understood of the fruits of the ninth year, but of the fruits of the eighth, which were to be eaten in the ninth. Till then they were to live upon the old store; which served for two years, beside the sixth.

Leviticus 25:23

The land shall not be sold for ever. Having mentioned the selling of their land, (ver. 14 — 16.) he here again enacts it should not be sold for ever: which may be called the lex agraria of the Jews, whereby estates were preserved in the family to which they belonged at the division of the land by Joshua: for they could not be quite cut off, as the words are in the Hebrew, which we translate for ever; or, as it is in the margin, for cutting off; so that the seller and his heirs should be cut off from it, as Mr. Selden interprets it; or, as the LXX. elc fiefiatuxnv, by an alienation never to be rescinded: but all estates were at the jubilee to return to their first-owners, or their heirs, though they had changed possessors a hnndred times, by being sold so oft. And the same law held in donations, as much as in sales; as Maimonides observes. Yet this is to be understood only of absolute alienations, without any mention of time; for if any man sold, without fraud, an estate to his neighbour for sixty years, it was not to return to him, or his heirs, in the year of jubilee, which came before the expiration of that term; for in the jubilee, saith he, nothing returns but that which was sold for ever, (Halicoth Schomitta ve Jobcl, cap. 11. sect. 2. and see Selden dc Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 24.) For tJte land is mine.] I reserve to myself the supreme dominion in it, and propriety of it; and have disposed it to you on such terms as I thought fit. For ye are strangers and sojourners with me.] These words suggest another sense of the foregoing; that their land was God’s, as he dwelt in a special manner there in (B> CHAP. XXV.] UPON LEVITICUS. the sanctuary,.which was his royal palace: and they were all his tenants,- who held the land of him as long as he pleased; but were no more to him, than the proselytes were to them. The land was his, and not theirs; and they did but enjoy the use and the fruits df it, but had not the property. (See Mr. Mede, p. 157.)'

Leviticus 25:24

And in all the land of your possession, ye shall grant a redemption for the land. If any man whose poverty had forced him to sell his land, grew afterward so rich, that he was’ able to redeem it before the year of jubilee, this law provides he should be permitted to do it, and the buyer could not refuse it. But then this was to be done honestly and truly: he was not to borrow money of another man to redeem it; no, nor sell other land to redeem that which he had sold before, which they looked upon as a fraud to the buyer. Therefore he had this right, only in case he was grown rich since the sale; otherwise he was to stay till the year of jubilee, when it returned to him for nothing. So Cunaeus out’of thfc same Maimonides, (lib. i. cap. 2.)

Leviticus 25:25

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession. No man, if we may rely upon the same Maimonides, might sell.his house or his field till the time of jubilee, unless poverty compelled him to it. For it was not lawful to sell it, that he might lay up the price of it in his coffer; or exercise merchandize; or buy goods, servants, or cattle; but only buy necessary provision with it. But if any man did transgress, and employ the money otherwise, the sale notwithstanding was held to be good. And if any of his kin comfrto redeem it, then shall be redeemed what his brother sold.] Here is a further enlargement of this liberty; that if any of his near relations would redeem the land he had sold (though he was not able to do it himself), it should be allowed: for the design of Moses in this law was, “Ne paucorum opulentia quandoque caetcros opprimeret,” lest the wealth of a few should at any time oppress the rest.

Leviticus 25:26

And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it. In the Hebrew it is, his hand hath attained and found sufficiency; which justifies the limitation the Jews put upon this, (as I observed, ver. 24.) that he should not have the right of redemption, unless he was grown able to repurchase it since the sale of it.

Leviticus 25:27

Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overphis unto the man to whom he sold it. This was the manner of the redemption: they counted how many years were gone since the sale; and if there remained just so many more to the jubilee, then he paid the buyer half the price at which he purchased it,‘for its redemption. But if the number of years from the sale to the jubilee were not equal, then he deducted proportionable to the years he had enjoyed it since the purchase, and gave him as much as the years remaining till the jubilee were worth. And if he sold a field at first for a hundred pounds, suppose, and he that bought it sold it to another for two hundred, he was to redeem it, as Maimonides saith, according to what was first given for it, because it is said here, he shall restore tho overplus unto the man to whom he sold it. In like manner, if a man sold a field for a hundred pounds, which in th6 hands of the buyer so improved, that’it might be sold for two hundred, the redemption was to be according to what was first paid for it. But if he sold it for two hundred vol. i. pounds, and it was grown so much worse that it was worth but a hundred, it was to be esteemed in the redemption according to the present value: His reason is, because " the condition of him that sold his inheritance was always to be bettered; and the condition of him that bought it to be made worse.”

Leviticus 25:28

But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that tvhich is sold shall remain in the hand of him that bought it, until the year of jubilee. If he could riot pay him the money it cost him, according to the forementioncd proportion, nor any ofhis kindred redeem it for him, then he that bought it was to enjoy all the profits of it till the jubilee. And in the jubilee he shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.] The purchaser was to quit his possession of the land; and he that sold it enjoy it again for nothing. And whosoever he was that possessed the land at the jnbilee, though it had been sold never so often before it came to him, the jubilee ejected him; and restored the land to the first owner, or his posterity. For no man, as was before observed, could either by sale, or any other contract, transfer the full dominion of his land to another man; so that it should be his for ever.! <

Leviticus 25:29

And if a man sell a dwelling-house in the walled city; then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold. This verse and the next make a great difference between houses in walled cities, and lands in the country.- If such houses were sold, men could not redeem them from the purchaser when they pleased, but must do it within the compass of a year, or else they were barred fot ever; and the year of jubilee would not relieve them. ■JVzthin a full year may he redeem it.] Hemightredeem it th6 hext dayafter he had sold it, if he pleased, paying the full price that was given for it: and if he that sold it was dead, his son might redeem it: or if he that bought it was dead, it might be redeemed from his son, if done within the year: but his kindred could not redeem it, nor might he borrow money to redeem it, nor redeem it by parcels; but he might sell some of his goods to redeem it. So Maimonides; in the forementioned treatise, (cap. 12.) where he saith, If a man sold a house in such a city, and the jubilee fell out in the year of sale, it did not restore the house to the seller; but continued his that bought it, unless within a year from the day it wag sold it was redeemed..

Leviticus 25:30

And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house shall be established for ever to him that bought it,. The reasons for this law seem to be such as these; that by this means (as Menochius observes, lib. iii. de Republ. Hebr. cap. 11.) cities might be better filled with inhabitants; who were invited thither, when they had hope of a settlement there. And secondly, that men might not rashly and easily part with’their houses, which they could never recover, after they had let one year slip, which was allowed for their redemption. And thirdly, tribes and families wero not distinguished by houses they had in cities; from whence it was that the Levites might possess them, who 6therwise are said to have no possession in the land of Canaan. And lastly, perhaps it was intendedby this law, that proselytes, who were not of the Hebrew nation, and could have no fields or vineyards, might yet have something of their own stable and certain:.arid* not be forced always to want a perpetual possession. It shall not go out in the jubilee.] They say in the Ge- 3 P microsoft ® [chap. XXV. mara of Bava kama, that the houses in Jerusalem were not subject to this law; because that city, as they pretend, did not belong to any certain tribe, (See L’Empereur upon that book, cap. 7. p. 172.)

Leviticus 25:31

But the houses in the villages, which have no walls round about them, shall be counted as the fields of the country, &<*. The quite contrary law is made for countryhouses, which might be redeemed at any time; and if they were not, returned to their’ first owners at the jubilee. The reason of this difference is yery plain; for the houses in walled cities were their own proper goods; but in the country they were accounted part df the land which was God’s. And so these words are to be understood, they shall be counted as the fields in the country: that is, fall under the same law with the lands, (ver. 23.) I

Leviticus 25:32

Nohvitlistanding the cities of the Levites. Of which we have an account, Numb. xxxv. 2. These are excepted from the foregoing law concerning houses in walled cities; as it here follows. And the houses of the cities of their possession may the Levites redeem at any time.] Not any of their houses; but only those which they possessed in the forty-eight cities assigned* to them for their habitations. If they purchased houses in any other places, they were subject to the same law with other men, (ver. 29.) Insomuch, that a Levite, who was heir to his mother, who was an Israelite, was to redeem as other Israelites did, and not after the manner of the Lcvites; for the Levites had aright different from other men only in the cities of their possessions; as Maimonides observes in the foreeited book, (cap. 13.) But if an Israelite was heir to his mother, a Levite, he redeemed as the Levites did, though he were not of that tribe; because the right of their redemption " was tied to the places, and not to the persons;" as he there speaks.

Leviticus 25:33

And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that tvas sold, and the city of his possession (. e.in the city of his possession), shall go out in the year of jubilee. If he did not redeem it before, it was to come back to him for nothing in this year. But there is another translation in the margin, which the first words will bear, viz. If one of the Levites redeem them. Though he was not near of kin, (ver. 25.) yet any Levite might redeem any of these houses: however, they were to be restored to that tribe at the jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the Levites.] It is plain by this, that in the foregoing words he speaks of the houses, and not of the cities themselves. Arc their possession among the children of Israel.] They were of the same nature with the land that other tribes had; which could not be alienated for ever. For they having no other possessions thaf could be sold, but houses, it was reason these houses should return to their owners at the jubilee, as other men’s possessions did, (ver; 10.) I am the Lord your God, which brought yon

Leviticus 25:34

But the field of the suburbs of their cities. See. Numb. xxxv. 4,5. May not be sold.] As their houses might be; but if any man bought them, the bargain was immediately void. The tradition among the Jews (as Maimonides says in the same place), was, that not be sold in this place, signifies not be changed; so as to turn a suburb into afield, or a field into a suburb; but fields, suburbs, and cities, were to continue perpetually in the same state. For U is their perpetual possession.] Their fields were to be always in their’ own hands. And the reason why houses might be sold, when the fields could not, seems to be this: because the houses belonged to particular Levites, who might alienate them for a time, and not suffer much by it; but the fields of the suburbs were common to the whole body of the Levites, who would have been undone if they had wanted pasture for their flocks, which were all their substance. Some indeed fancy that these suburbs werb enclosed, and every family of them had its several portion; but as there is no proof of this, so, had it been thus, such families could not, without great inconvenience, have wanted their lands for the feeding of their flocks.

Leviticus 25:35

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen to decay with thee. In the Hebrew it is, When his hand faileth; so that he is not able by his labour to support himself and his family. Then shalt thou relieve him.] By bestowing alms upon him (as the Jews interpret it), not by lending him money; though the following words seem to incline this way: (sec Selden, lib. vi. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 6.), Fea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner.] By a stranger they understand a proselyte of righteousness, anii by a sojourner a proselyte of the gate; as Mr. Seidell there observes, out of Jarchi and Abarbinel, p. 694. They say Hyrcanus was the first that began %zvorpo<puv, to enter* tain strangers of other conntriesyby building hospitals for their reception. That he may live with thee.] Have a comfortable sub-* sistencc by the relief of charitable people; for every Jfew, they say, was bound to Contribute something towards it; and this was to prevent their selling themselves, as some did, through extreme’ poverty, (ver. 39.)

Leviticus 25:36

Take thou no usury of him, or increase. Though these are promiscuously used, yet the next verse seems here to expound usury to signify that which is taken for money; and increase that which is taken for corny fruits, or goods. They that would see more of these two words, nesek and tarbith, may consult Salmasius de Usuris, where he hath largely discoursed of them. I shall only further observe, that this precept follows the. other of relieving poor people by alms very fitly; because it is as great a chanty unto some to lend them money without; usury, as it is to give freely unto others* (Sec notes on Exod. xxii. 25. Deut. xxiii. 19.) - » But fear thy God.] Lest he that is so good to thee, should punish thee for thy inhumanity towards the poor; of whom he hath a care, as well as thee. That thy brother may Hue with thee.] This is repeated, to shew that by these laws God intended to provide for the poor such a comfortable subsistence in their own country, that they might not be tempted to forsake it, and therewith perhaps forsake their religion.

Leviticus 25:37

Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.* Some thought, if they lent inoney freely; they might receive more than they lent of other things; therefore, the latter clause of this verse was added, to prevent such oppressions as St. Jcromo mentions; who says, some would lend a neighbour ten bushels, of corn, suppose, in winter, to receive fifteen bushels for itthe next harvest.

Leviticus 25:39

And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee. Some were sold by the court of judgment, when they had committed theft, and were not able to make satisfaction; of whom the Hebrews interpret that place, Exod. xxi. 2, &c. Others were sold by their parents, (ver. 7, 8. of that chapter.) But others sold themselves, being reduced to great poverty, notwithstanding the alms that had been bestowed upon them, and the.money or goods that had been freely lent them. And of such the Hebrew doctors understand these words; and say, it was not lawful for a man to sell himself till his poverty was extreme, and he had nothing at all left,’ but must preserve his life by the price which was given for him. Thus Maimonides, in these words; “A man might not sell himself to lay up the money which was given for him; nor to buy goods; nor to pay his debts; but merely that he might get bread to eat. Neither was it lawful for him to sell himself, as long as he had so much as a garment left.” See Seldcn, lib. vi. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 7. where he observes, that the court of judgment might not sell a thief of their nation to any but to a Hebrew; not to a proselyte of either sort; much less to a mere gentile. But if a Hebrew sold him to a proselyte, or to a gentile (which he was admonished not to do), the bargain was good; but he was to be redeemed.by his kindred, or by the people; as it here follows, ver. 48, 49. Which other people imitated, who derived their.laws from Moses; particularly the ancient Indians (as Huetius observes out of Diodorus), whose philosophers commanded that none of their nation should submit themselves to servitude, (Demonstr. Evang. propos.iv. cap. G.) Thou shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant.] As a slave, which they bought of other nations, or took in their wars; over whom they had an absolute dominion (as they had.over their goods, or cattle), and might bequeath them and their children to their sons and posterity for ever, (ver. 45, 46.) or sell them and their children at their pleasure.

Leviticus 25:40

But as a hired servant, and as a sojourner. They were to treat him gently; as they did those who let out their service for wages, for a certain time, and then >vere at their own disposal again. Shall he be with thee.] Some of the Jews have carried this very far.in speculation. For thus they gloss upon this place in Jalkut: “Let him be with thee in meat and drink; so that thou do not eat bread of fine flour, and he of bran; nor thou drink old wine, and he new; nor thou lie on a soft bed, and he upon straw.” But it is not likely that this was their practice. And shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee.] Beyond which time it was not lawful to keep him in service: for in the very beginning of.this year, all such servants were immediately dismissed. Which made the year of jubilee such a time of joy, that for nine days together, before it tPiBW; these servants kept a kind, gf Saturnalia, in prospect of their approaching happiness. For, as Maimonides saith in the latter end of the tenth chapter of Schemitta ve Jobel, from the beginning of the year until the day of atonement, " Servants were neither dismissed,, nor yet served their masters; but they did eat, and drink, and made merry; wearing garlands on their heads. And when the day of atonement came, the Sanhedrin commanding the trumpet to be sounded, all servants immediately went whither they pleased; as lands were restored to their first owners."

Leviticus 25:41

And then shall he depart from thee. His master to whom he was sold might keep him till the jubilee: whereas he that was sold by the court of judgment might go free, if he pleased, in the seventh year of release, (Exod. xxi. 2.) Both he and his children with him.] He that bought a’ servant of the court of judgment, was bound to maintain his. wife and children, if he had any, with meat, drink, and clothes; and yet they were not bound to serve him: much less did they remain servants, when their father’s and mother’s servitude was at an end; as Mr. Selden observes in the forcnamed place: and therefore it was much more reasonable in this case, that he and his children should go out together. And shall return unto his own family.] From which he was gone, while he remained a servant. And unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.] If any was befallen him since his servitude.

Leviticus 25:42

For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. A good reason why they should not be treated like slaves; because they were all redeemed by God out of the slavery of Egypt into a state of perfect liberty. They shall not be sold as bondmen.] Not publicly, and in the common place of sale, or in the street; but privately, and in a way of honour, (as the Jewish phrase is.) So Maimonides, alleged by Mr. Selden, in the forenamed place, p. 705. But the plainest sense is, they should not be used like slaves, while they continued in servitude; for though they had the use of them in all bodily employments, yet their bodies or persons were not theirs, and therefore they might not use them as they pleased. So it follows in the next verse.

Leviticus 25:43

Thou shall not rule over him with rigour. As.Pharaoh did over all the Israelites* (Exod. i. 13, 14.) or as the Israelites were wont to do over their servants of other nations; but gently use their service in such employments, as would not be unworthy of them if they were freemen. But shalt fear thy God.] Remembering that they were all slaves in Egypt, and delivered by his wonderful goodness; which was thankfully and reverently to be acknowledged.

Leviticus 25:44

Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, ivhich thou shall have 9 shall be of the heathen. If they would have any slaves, they were to be such of other nations, as were sold to tl)cm, or were taken by them in their wars. Whence the very name of mancipia came, as the Roman lawyers tell us, quasi manu capti: and the name of servus also, which signifies one whp w^s saved, when he might have been killed. Round about thee:] He doth not say, in the midst of thee; for they were bound to destroy the people of Canaan. 3 P 2 Microsoft ® [chap. XXV- Of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.’] If they had need of their service. But it does not appear that they had any great number of them; nor had they any great occasion for them, being themselves so laborious, and breeding their children to look after their land and their cattle (in which their estates chiefly consisted), and being also so very numerous in a small country. Vcr. 4o. Moreover, of the children of the strangers tlmt do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy-] Whether they were perfect proselytes by circumcision, or only proselytes of the gate,- (as Mr. Seldcn observes, lib. vi. de JureT^at. et Gent. cap. 8.) their children were not exempted from being made slaves, if they sold them to the Hebrews. t,, And of the families that are with you, which they begat in your land.] If any of their family or kindred, as the LXX. translate it, had begat children in Judea, and would sell them, the. Jews might make a purchase of them. They shall be your;. possession.] Become your proper goods,, and continue with you as your lands do, unless they have their liberty granted to them. And the first sort of proselytes obtained it three ways; either Jjy purchasing it themselves, or by their friends; or by being dismissed by their master, by a writing under his hand; or, in the case mentioned in Exod. xxi. 26. where the loss of an eye, or a tooth, by the master’s severity, serve only for examples of other maims, which procured such a servant his liberty. But the second* sort of, proselytes did not. obtain their liberty, if we may believe the jlebrew doctors, by this last means, but only by the two. first. £nd thq year of jubtfee gave no servants of either sort their liberty.

Leviticus 25:46

And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you. To whom they might bequeath the very bodies of them and their children..,;S To inherit them for a possession.] That they might have the same power and dominion over them, that they had over their lands, goods, or cattle. They shall be your bondmen for ever.] Not have the benefit of the year of jubilee, but be your slayes as long as they live; unless they, by any of the means beforementioned, obtained their liberty., But over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule over one another with rigour.] As they did over the slaves beforcnamed; whose masters (as the Hebrew doctors say) were not bound to find.them’food and raiment; and; besides, might treat them with the greatest severity, provided they did not strike out an eye, &c.

Leviticus 25:47

If a sojourner or stranger. The Chaldee interprets these words, an nncircumcised proselyte. And. so Maimonides says, they signify one who hath undertaken the precepts of the sons of Noah; whom they also call, in their books, the pious among the gentiles. (SeQ Selden, lib. ii. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 3. p. 151$.) Wax rich by thee.] As many of them did by trading, though they cqjild not purchase land. And thy brotlier that dwelleth by. him waxeth poor.] Which w r as a case, Moses supposes before,.(vcr. 35.) might happen. And sell himself unto the. stranger and sojourner by thee.] So J observed before (ver. 3D.) they might do, though they were admonished not to do it; and the bargain held good, though they sold themselves to a gentile. So Onkclos here translates it, If thy brother sell himself to an Aramite, i. e. to an idolater; for idolatry xt as thought to have sprung, first from them: Terah, and Nalior being. Aramites, who were the first idolaters mentioned in the holy Scripture. \ Or to the stock of the stranger’s family.] To one that sprung out of the family of a proselyte; who, though now incorporated into the Jewish nation, yet, being originally of a stranger’s stock, was not to have the privilege to keep a Hebrew sold to him from the benefit of redemption..

Leviticus 25:48

After that he is sold. And actually in the possession of a stranger. He may be redeemed, &c] The Hebrews understand this, as if some of his. kindred were bound to redeem him; or, if they did not, he was, to be redeemed at the charge of the country; and that, though he sold himself a second time, after, he had been redeemed. But if he sold himself a third time, they looked upon him as. unworthy of redemption, unless it.were merely.to savo his life. (Sec Selden, lib. vi. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 7.) Bat the fifty-fourth verse seems to suggest, that they were not bound to redeem him; though they might, if they pleased, and his master could not refuse it. One. of his brethren may redeem him.] This Redeemer (saith R. Bechai) is the Messiah, the Son of -David, of the tribe of Judah: which I ^mention to shew, that the* Jews thought there was something more Divine couched under this law of the jubilee, (as I, observed, ver. 10.) than the very letter of it imported. Though the truth is, they wretchedly mistook the business of the Messiah: -for the same R. Bechai (speaking of thissection of the* law) saith, ¥. It. contains a sign and a hope to Israel of redciiiption from. the captivity, of. the four monarchies;" as if the Mes* siah should have nothing to do, but to put them in possession of their own country, and to make them lords of the world.

Leviticus 25:49

Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, &c. Here the persons are named by whom his redemption might be made; which, in short, was by any mart of his family. Or, if he be able, he may redeem himself] If, after his sale, an estate fell to him, whereby he became able to redeem his liberty. Vcr. 50. And he shall recko7i with him that bought him, from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee, &c] That no injury might be done to his master, they were to compute how long he had served him, and how long he had istill to sctvc, and what price was paid for him; and then, according to the number of. years gone and to come, he was to make his demands: which is the meaning of the following, words, And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years. According to the time of a hired servant shall it be with him.] The labour and service that he had done him was to bo valued, as they would.do* that of a hireling (who wrought for so much by the day or the year), and deducting that from the price which was given for him, the remainder was the price of this redemption.

Leviticus 25:51

If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption. If he had served but a few years, and there were many to come.before the jubilee; then there was less to be deducted from what his master gave for him, and the price of his redemption was higher. But if there remained but fexo microsoft ® CHAP. XXVI.] UPON LEVITICUS. years unto the year of jubilee (as it follows in the next verse), then less was to be given for his redemption, because he had had his service a long time.

Leviticus 25:53

And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him. His master was to treat him as a hired servant, who let out his service for wages by the year; and that both with respect, to the price of his redemption, and to his usage while he remained in his service; as appears by the next words. And the other shall not rule with rigour over him.’] Use him harshly and severely; for one Israelite was not permitted to use another in that manner, (ver. 43.) and therefore much less was it to be suffered from a stranger. - In thy sight.] If they observed any such rigorous usage, they were to endeavour to get it remedied by the authority of the magistrate. r: -; >.":

Leviticus 25:54

And he be not redeemed in these years, thm he shall go oat. in the year of jubilee. If neither his kindred nor country redeemed him, nor he was able to redeem himself, (ver. 49.) from the time he was sold to the year of jubilee, he was to stay till then; when he went out, as others did, without paying any thing. for his liberty. By which it is evident, that he had.not the benefit of the seventh year of release, as Hebrew servants had who. served Hebrew masters. For it had been unequal, if j Hebrews sold to proselytes had been discharged from their service so soon, when the children of proselytes sold to Hebrews (ver. 45.)wero to be their inheritance for ever. If was more reasonable (and therefore so here enacted), that the Hebrews sold to proselytes should not be.free till the year of jubilee, unless they were -redeemed by themselves or their friends. By which law also they were made more careful not to sell themselves to strangers.,,£A mH He and his children with him.] It seems a proselyte was bound, when he bought a Hebrew servant, to maintain his family while he served him; as the Hebrews were bound to do, when they bought one of their own nation, (ver. 31.)

Leviticus 25:55

For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. He would not have.them serve with rigour, nor beyond the year of jubilee, because they were his servants by a peculiar title, being redeemed by him from the Egyptian bondage, where they were held a long time in cruel servitude, (ver. 38.) I am the Lord your God.] Your sovereign, who will be ever kind to you, while you serve and obey me. i.* \