Leviticus 25

After reading Leviticus 25:

*Verses 1-5 are instructions for the establishment of a sabbath year, once the Israelites take over the promised land. For six years they are to plant, prune, and harvest. On the seventh year they are to let the land rest, no planting, no pruning, no harvesting. They can't even reap or harvest what grows naturally. (Verse 5) So, what will the Israelites eat that year? Why, whatever the land produces of course! (Verse 6) This makes no sense to me. Maybe some sense can be squeezed out if it means all wild produce that grows on previously non-cultivated land is ok, like wild greens, nuts, and berries. Can we say massive starvation rates every seventh year? The study bible attempts to say that this practice is good for cultivated land, which makes it obviously divine. What it ignores is that there are better people -designed practices for improving the fertility of the land that don't include people not eating what grows naturally.

*Verses 8-54. On the fiftieth year, after seven times seven years, there is to be a jubilee year. What follows is a list of rules for that year. We will just hit the highlights.

-This is also a year of Sabbath rest for the land. Here, the question of what the Israelites will eat on Sabbath years is answered. Supposedly, on the sixth year, Yahweh will give them a huge bumper crop that would last for three years. So, no worries. I wonder how that worked out for them in reality.

-Yahweh owns the land, they will just be tenants. So the sale of land is never permanent. In the year of Jubilee, the possession of the land reverts to its original Israelite possessor if it was sold. All buying and selling of land is to be done with this understanding. Houses in walled cities don't count. There are exceptions to these rules for the Levites. (Read priests) All property originally owned by Levites must be returned at the Jubilee, even a house in a town. In fact, the pastureland surrounding a town owned by Levites must not ever be sold. It is their permanent possession. This is just another reason to consider that maybe the priests came up with these rules themselves.

-If another Israelite becomes poor, his countrymen are to loan the person money without charging interest and sell them food, without making a profit. This is so they can keep living in the land with other Israelites. If an Israelite sells himself to another Israelite because he is poor, he should not be treated as a slave, but as a hired worker. On the year of Jubilee he goes free, back to his own clan and property. Fellow Israelites must not be sold as slaves. Does that mean God is opposed to slavery? Read on.

-Israelites  may buy and sell male and female slaves, as long as they are not other Israelites. When they buy such a slave, the slave becomes their  property. They can will the slaves to their children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but they must not rule ruthlessly over other Israelites. Verse 46. By inference, it is okay to rule ruthlessly over anyone who is not an Israelite.

-If an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to a rich foreigner living in their land, he is not a slave for life. He is to be treated as a hired worker by law. He and his relatives have the right to pay for his freedom. If he is not free by the time of the Jubilee, he and his children go free at that time. Wives of the Israelite servants are not mentioned in these passages.

-In this chapter we see Yahweh's  clear preferential treatment of the Israelites, and especially the Levites, when it comes to human and civil rights.