Thoughts on Leviticus 25

Today’s reading: Leviticus 25; Mark 6

Leviticus 25 is such an important chapter in understanding the heart of God. 

I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I have heard people make comments about how the God of the Old Testament is so different from the God of the New Testament, because in the Old Testament it was all law and judgement, while the New Testament is all love and grace. To put it bluntly, this is an incredibly ignorant characterization on both fronts.

But for this morning, I just feel like Leviticus 25 is such a strong counter example to that false true-ism that God is purely about law and judgement in the Old Testament. This chapter shows the deeply compassionate and gentle heart God has for His people in general, but especially for the most vulnerable among them.

After introducing the concept of the sabbath year, God introduces the Jubilee, from which we see a mixture of all kinds of protections for the poor, as well as provisions to help prevent people falling into poverty.

Just as the Day of Atonement was an annual “reset button” for the tabernacle, restoring both the tabernacle and the camp of Israel to a ritually pristine state for God’s continued presence among them, the Jubilee year was a reset button for all Israel once every 50 years. This was not a ritual reset button, but a social and financial one. In the Jubilee, every debt is forgiven, slaves are released, and all property is returned to its original owners.

Just imagine how incredible this would be! This would mean there is essentially a full reset every other generation. Even if your parents either had such terrible misfortune, or were so irresponsible that they had to sell all the family’s possessions and you were born and raised as a servant in someone else’s house, by the time you are 20 or 30, you will be free from servitude and back in your own land, fully ready to start fresh. Plus, since whoever your parents sold the land to was purchasing it for its crops, the land has been sown and maintained, so you are going back to quality farmland from day 1.

So the Jubilee system, on the one hand, protects against long-term generational poverty in Israel, but then, on the other hand, within that system God defines even more safeguards to protect people from falling into poverty, where avoidable, during those 50 year cycles. He commands that the person who does become poor be supported, prohibiting His people from lending money at interest or selling food at a price that turns a profit to such a person. This, in and of itself, would be a huge safety net for the poor. But then God also defines rights of redemption, giving family with means the ability to redeem you and/or your property if they have the means to do so, and giving you the right to redeem yourself or your land if you develop the means to do so.

Essentially, God has set up a system for Israel that, if followed, should keep His people fully provided for and protected even from the poor conditions or decisions of previous generations. This is a really big deal, and shows the heart God has for His people.

One other thing I want to point out too before I stop rambling for the morning is that a lot of the “cruel, judgmental God of the Old Testament” people complain about actually goes back to exactly this. Part of the reason for God’s judgment against Israel, especially in the exile, was their idolatry, but a bigger part of it was their ignoring Leviticus 25. One of the most consistent drums the prophets are beating throughout the Old Testament is that they are taking advantage of the poor, charging interest, etc. They were ignoring these protections for the most vulnerable, and that was what got them removed from the land. In fact, the same can be said for when God declares judgment against the other nations as well. If you pay attention to what He is declaring judgment against other nations for throughout the Old Testament, it is not their following other gods, but it is generally their cruelty, treatment, and exploitation of the poor, the orphan, and the widow.

That’s really all I have to say about the reading today. I just think Leviticus 25 is such a cool chapter of Scripture. As dry as Leviticus can seem at times, reading through cleanliness regulations for skin diseases, instructions for different sacrifices and offerings, etc., you also have passages like this where, in how God defines the law for Israel, He codifies His compassion in protections for the most vulnerable among His people. I just think its such a cool picture of the heart of the God we serve.