Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 25:4
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
A sabbath of rest – See Lev 23:3 note. The express prohibition of sowing and reaping, and of pruning and gathering, affords a presumption in favor of the sabbatical year beginning, like the year of Jubilee Lev 25:9, in the first month of the civil year Lev 23:24, the seventh of the sacred year, when the land was cleared of the crops of the preceding year.
The great material advantage of the institution must have been the increased fertility of the soil from its lying fallow one year out of seven, at a time when neither the rotation of crops nor the art of manuring were understood. It must also have kept up a salutary habit of economy in the storing of grain. Compare Gen 41:48-56. Its great spiritual lesson was that there was no such thing as absolute ownership in the land vested in any man, that the soil was the property of Yahweh, that it was to be held in trust for Him, and not to be abused by overworking, but to be made the most of for the good of every creature which dwelt upon it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,…. From all tillage of it, from planting and cultivating any sort of trees in it; and even from digging pits, ditches; and caves, as say the Jewish writers m: and this was typical of that rest which believers enter into under the Gospel dispensation, and of the rest in the new Jerusalem state, and especially in the ultimate glory; not only from the labours of the body, but of the mind, through sin, Satan, doubts and fears, and through conflicts with various enemies, and when even all spiritual labours and services will be at an end but that of praise:
a sabbath for the Lord; for his honour and glory, to ascertain his property in the land, to show the power of his providence, and display his goodness in his care of all creatures, without any means used by them:
thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard; under which are comprehended all acts of agriculture, which respect the cultivation of vines, olives, figs, and, according to the Misnah n, there were some instruments which it was not lawful to sell to an artificer in the seventh year, such as a plough, with all belonging to it, a yoke, a fan, a spade, but he may sell him a scythe, or a sickle, or a cart, and all its instruments; and which the commentators o interpret of one that is suspected of working in that year; the house of Shammai say, an heifer that ploughed might not be sold that year.
m Torat Cohenim apud Yalkut, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 191. 1.) n Sheviith, c. 5. sect. 6. o Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) The seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest.Literally, the seventh year shall be a rest of solemn resting, or a sabbath of sabbaths. For the import of this phrase see Note on Lev. 16:31. Like the weekly sabbath, the seventh year is to be the Lords sabbath. The soil is therefore to have a perfect rest.
Thou shalt neither sow thy field.What constitutes cultivation, and how much of labour was regarded as transgressing this law, may be seen from the following canons which obtained during the second Temple. No one was allowed to plant trees in the sabbatical year, nor to cut off dried-up branches, to break off withered leaves, to smoke under the plants in order to kill the insects, nor to besmear the unripe fruit with any kind of soil in order to protect them, &c. Any one who committed one of these things received the prescribed number of stripes. As much land, however, might be cultivated as was required for the payment of taxes as well as for growing the barley required for the omer or wave sheaf at the Passover, and wheat for the two wave-loaves at Pentecost.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. A sabbath for the Lord This was Jehovah’s sabbath, because it rested solely on his authority, and not because it was to be devoted to acts of worship, sacrifices, and holy convocations. The ground of this requirement is not revealed. It may have been for the benefit of the soil, which uninterrupted cultivation with little manuring would have exhausted, or it may have had regard to moral ends only.
Neither sow thy field It is evident that the sabbatical year must have been conterminous with the civil year, when the land was cleared of the crops. The sacred year, beginning seven months earlier, would have been inconvenient to observe as a sabbatical year, inasmuch as there must have been either sowing or reaping, else there would be a loss of the crops of two years.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 25:4. A sabbath for the Lord As the weekly sabbath was a testimony of their belief in and homage to God the Creator, so the yearly sabbath was a public testimony that their land was consecrated to the same God; that he had settled them in it as his true worshippers, and that they held it as tenants under him, their great lord and proprietor. We do not mention the wise and merciful ends of this institution, as they come with more propriety under what we have to say concerning the jubilee.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 25:4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Ver. 4. A Sabbath of rest unto the land. ] This and the jubilee year shadowed our eternal rest. Col 2:16-17 Heb 4:9 (l.) Every seventh day they rested from their labours. (2.) Every seventh year the ground rested. (3.) Every seventh seventh (as some reckon it) was the jubilean Sabbath: at which time all debts were remitted, prisoners released, mortgages restored to the right inheritors. The great and eternal Sabbath comprehends all these. How then should we breathe after it, and even go forth to meet it, as the Jews do their weekly Sabbath, beginning it an hour sooner than the law required? and this they called their Sabbatulum, or little Sabbath.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
sabbath of rest. See note on Exo 16:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lev 25:20-23, Lev 26:34, Lev 26:35, Lev 26:43, Exo 23:10, Exo 23:11, 2Ch 36:21
Reciprocal: Lev 16:31 – General Lev 25:21 – three years 2Ki 19:29 – Ye shall eat Neh 10:31 – and that we Isa 37:30 – Ye shall Eze 20:12 – I gave
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 25:4-5. A sabbath of rest to the land They were neither to do any work about it, nor expect any harvest from it. All yearly labours were to be intermitted in the seventh year, as much as daily labours on the seventh day. Of its own accord From the grains that fell out of the ears the last reaping time. Thou shalt not reap That is, as thy own peculiarly, but only so as others may reap it with thee, for present food. Undressed Not cut off by thee, but suffered to grow for the use of the poor. Proselytes and servants, rich and poor, had all an equal privilege: one mans beast was to graze as freely as anothers; all were to live at rest and enjoy the comforts of this law, the merciful appointment of Heaven. It is a year of rest unto the land This seems to have been one purpose of the institution, that the land might lie fallow, in order to recruit its strength.