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Leviticus 25:23-55 | Sunday October 5, 2025

Psalms 89:15 NAS95

(15)  How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.

This is not any joyful noise that is referenced but specifically the trumpet blast of the Jubilee. Each Israelite was to experience the Jubilee once in their working life. They would tell stories of what it was like and how their lives were changed. We will be blessed once we know that joyful sound.

Leviticus 25:9-10 NKJV

(9)  Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.
(10)  And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.

The Jubilee was the Sabbath year elevated. It was to be a year of restoration and freedom for God’s people. The fields that the Israelites inherited in the promised land were to go back to each original family. The next generation then had a chance to walk as a faithful steward of what God had entrusted to them. As the chapter continues God gives further details as to what land and property is affected by the Jubilee and what is not. He also shows Israel how the Jubilee principals should be applied each year.

Leviticus 25:23-31 ESV

(23)  “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
(24)  And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
(25)  “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.
(26)  If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
(27)  let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property.
(28)  But if he does not have sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
(29)  “If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
(30)  If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations; it shall not be released in the jubilee.
(31)  But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the jubilee.

The Jubilee showed God’s heart for the land to remain with the family who inherited it, so He asked Isreal to allow redemption of the land. At any time a family member could come and buy back the land to keep it in the families name. If their was no redeemer then the family had to wait for the year of Jubilee. One of the exceptions of this was for houses in walled cities. These houses could only be redeemed for a year, then permanently went to the buyer and were unaffected by the Jubilee. God’s heart for the Jubilee was not materialistic. He desired for His people to have their land inheritance and use it as a means to provide for themselves. A house in a walled city was not part of the inheritance and did not affect their ability to provide for themselves, thus it was not apart of the Jubilee. The Levites though did not receive traditional land as their inheritance so God provided a separate set of rules for their cities.

Leviticus 25:32-34 ESV

(32)  As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess.
(33)  And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel.
(34)  But the fields of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.

The Levites did not have a traditional land inheritance due to the food they were allowed to partake in at the Tabernacle/ Temple (Deut. 18:1-2). So God had them inherit 48 walled cities and the pasture land that surrounded the cities (Num 35:2). God was making sure the Jubilee also applied to them. God’s heart to care for the poor and protect each families inheritance is clearly seen. God even put protections in place if selling the family inheritance was not enough to provide.

Leviticus 25:35-38 ESV

(35)  “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
(36)  Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you.
(37)  You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.
(38)  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.

Israelites were to care for each other and were forbidden to charge interest from each other when they loaned money. They were not allowed to sell their food for profit to an impoverished Israelite and worsen the poor Israelites condition. These financial practices reflect God’s heart for the Jubilee.

An Israelites money and how they conducted business were to reflect who their God was. God bought them out of Egypt, this was to change everything about them, especially how they treated each other. As believers we should be no different. Our relationship with Jesus should be reflected in every aspect of our lives even down to our business practices, and how we handle money.

Debt is a burden and it becomes worse when interest is added to it. This challenges our current world’s economy just as it did the world of that time. Hammurabi’s code defines fair interest rates anywhere between 20 to 33.3 percent. Often a poor farmer would borrow a loan to be able to buy seed to plant the next crop. The interest would create a seemingly inescapable system. Much like how credit cards work today. This is why God warns to be extremely careful with debt.

Proverbs 22:7 ESV

(7)  The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

At this time there was no bankruptcy so slavery or servanthood were options for those who could not pay back what they borrowed. Even though our society functions different, debt is still enslaving. We are enslaved to the one we borrowed from. Our entire society runs on debt, American household debt is now at 18.39 Trillion, the average American owes $252,505 on their mortgage, $35,208 on Student Loans, $24,297 in Auto Loans, and 6,730 in Credit Cards. The average resident in Arkansas owes $74,716 on non-mortgage debt. The world is consistently telling us to operate our lives based on debt yet God’s word challenges us to think differently.

Romans 13:7-8 ESV

(7)  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
(8)  Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

As believers we are to glorify God in our finances, to pay our debts and show love to others. God desires for us to owe nothing to anyone. We are to live in a freedom that gives us the ability to love. Debt itself is not outright sinful but it is enslaving and should be approached with tremendous caution. Honoring God with money enables us to be generous and loving. As sinners we are so prone to greed and a desire for more.

Psalm 37:21 ESV

(21) The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;

I rarely meet people who do not want to get rid of their debt, but often we are not willing to faithfully pursue it.

Proverbs 13:11 ESV

(11)Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

Matthew 6:24 ESV

(24)  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Hebrews 13:5-6 ESV

(5)  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(6)  So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

We should not love money as a believer. We are called to serve God and love Him. We are to be content in Him. The love of money keeps our attention on worldly things that do not matter. The God of the universe has offered to help us and walk close to us, why would we focus on anything else? Yet, the provisions of the Sabbatical year and year of Jubilee show how humanity constantly struggles with debt, greed, and the consequences of mis-handled money. Even with all these provisions Israelites would still end up having to sale themselves into servanthood.

Leviticus 25:39-55 ESV

(39)  “If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: (40)  he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. (41)  Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own clan and return to the possession of his fathers. (42)  For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. (43)  You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God. (44)  As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you. (45)  You may also buy from among the strangers who sojourn with you and their clans that are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may be your property. (46)  You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly. (47)  “If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, (48)  then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, (49)  or his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich he may redeem himself. (50)  He shall calculate with his buyer from the year when he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall vary with the number of years. The time he was with his owner shall be rated as the time of a hired worker. (51)  If there are still many years left, he shall pay proportionately for his redemption some of his sale price. (52)  If there remain but a few years until the year of jubilee, he shall calculate and pay for his redemption in proportion to his years of service. (53)  He shall treat him as a worker hired year by year. He shall not rule ruthlessly over him in your sight. (54)  And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he and his children with him shall be released in the year of jubilee. (55)  For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

When an Israelite was at the point of selling themselves into slavery God called His people to treat them as a servant and not a slave. God bought the Israelites out of the slavery in Egypt and they were not to be a slave again. They were free by the blood of the lamb. They were not to rule over each other ruthlessly. God’s entire system valued people, and valued caring for them all the while not making provision for laziness, or foolishness. These Jewish servants were to be released of all debt and be free at the Jubilee.

The Jubilee and all the restoration that came with it applied specifically to the Israelites. Isreal is told the can charge a foreigner interest (Deut 23:10) and own slaves who are from another nation. We struggle that God does not completely abolish slavery. Yet, we must be careful not to view ancient slavery through a modern lens. Most slavery of the day was tied to either debt, or warfare. God is very clear in valuing the dignity of all people, and providing protections for how slaves must be treated with rights.

Exodus 21:16 ESV

(16)  “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.

Abducting and forcing people into slavery was condemned by God and anyone practicing it was to be put to death. Slaves were also to enjoy the Sabbath rest each week (Deut. 5:14), and were not to be returned if they fled from their master (Deut. 23:15). Slavery in Isreal looked very different from the world and protections were put in place from treating a slave harshly (Ex. 21:26-27). God is always after changing the heart of man and then having the actions come from that changed heart. Slavery is a result from the sinfulness of man’s heart, and cannot be fully abolished until we have new hearts.

Galatians 3:28 ESV

(28)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

All segregation and prejudice should be broken down in the body of Christ because of the new hearts we have in Him. Jesus unifies all, and in Him there is no slave or free. Just as Israel were not to be salves again because they had a new identity in God, we are to find our identity in Him. As believers we have a choice to practically be a slave to sin or be a slave to God.

Romans 6:15-23 ESV

(15)  What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 
(16)  Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
(17)  But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
(18)  and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
(19)  I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
(20)  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
(21)  But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
(22)  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
(23)  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul is writing to believers and describing the important choice we have. Practically we are slaves to the thing we obey. As a believer we can obey the world and sin and act like its slave again. We can become a slave to debt and money. Or we can choose to be a slave to righteousness and grow in being God’s people. Paul is not describing how to be saved. A nonbeliever does not have the freedom to make this choice. In Egypt the Israelites did not have the freedom in how they were going to handle their family inheritance. They had no inheritance or freedom. Then God bought them through the blood. As believes bought by the blood we have a choice of who we are going to serve. We are to grow in our walk with God and daily experience His free gift of eternal life. We are to be a bond- servant of God. A slave who has the freedom to leave and chooses to stay with their loving and caring master.

Exodus 21:5-6 ESV

(5)  But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
(6)  then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.

God gives believers the freedom to walk with Him or the freedom not to, lets not waste our freedom in Him.

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