Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 25:15
According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
15, 16. The purchase is in fact not of the soil, but of the expectation of a greater or less number of years’ fruits.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The number of years of the fruits – i. e. according to the number of harvests. The average value of a yearly crop might of course be estimated, and the sabbatical years were to be deducted from the series.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. According to the number of years] The purchases that were to be made of lands were to be regulated by the number of years unelapsed of the current jubilee. This was something like buying the unexpired term of a lease among us; the purchase is always regulated by the number of years between the time of purchase and the expiration of the term.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or,
of years of fruits, or, of fruitful years; for there were some unfruitful years, to wit, such wherein they were not allowed to sow or reap, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour,…. That is, reckoning how many years had past since the last jubilee, and how many there were to come to the next, and so give as many years’ purchase as were yet to come:
[and] according to the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee; only care was to be taken, that as many years as were sabbatical ones, which were not years of fruit, should be deducted out of the account by the seller; since these were years the buyer could have no profit by the estate, and therefore it was not reasonable that such years should be reckoned into the purchase; and hence the Jewish writers gather, that when a man had sold his field, he could not redeem it in less than two years, because a number of years cannot be less than two, and that if even the buyer agreed to it, it might not be done b.
b Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) According to the number of years . . . thou shalt buy.The promised land, according to the Law, was to be divided by lot in equal parts among the Israelites. The plot which should thus come into the possession of each family is to be absolutely inalienable, and for ever continue to be the property of the descendants of the original possessor. Hence it is here enacted that where a proprietor being pressed by poverty is compelled to sell a field, it could not be bought of him for a longer period than up to the time of the next jubile, when it reverted to the original possessor, or to his family. In purchasing a plot of and the purchaser is to reckon how many years had elapsed since the last jubile, since this would show him the exact period during which he would be entitled to hold it. It thus corresponds to what with us is buying the unexpired term of a lease.
Of thy neighbour.From this it was deduced that the Israelite who was reduced to poverty could only sell his land to a fellow-Israelite, but not to a Gentile.
The number of years of the fruit he shall sell.Whilst the purchaser is to take into consideration the number of years which the lease has still to run, the vendor has to consider how many sabbatical years there will be from the time of the sale till next jubile, since the sale was not so much of the land as of the produce of so many years. Hence the fallow sabbatical years are not to be included. As the plural number of years is here used, the authorities during the second Temple concluded that the vendor could not sell it for less than two productive years, exclusive of a sabbatical year, a year of barrenness, and of the first harvest if the purchase was effected shortly before the seventh month, with the ripe produce in the field.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. The number of years of the fruits The price of the usufruct of the land, not of the fee simple, was calculated on the years of tillage, exclusive of the years of rest, which would deprive the purchaser of a number of crops before the jubilee. Josephus describes the terms on which the buyer resigned the field in the year of jubilee to the original proprietor. The former produced a statement of the value of the crops and of his expenses. If the expenses exceeded in value the income, the balance was paid by the proprietor before the field was restored. But if the balance was on the other side, the proprietor simply took back the field, and the purchaser retained the profit. This arrangement would remove the objection to permanent improvements on the part of the purchaser, while it kept estates from deterioration.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 25:15 According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
Ver. 15. Years of the fruits. ] The land was not properly sold, but the fruits and revenues thereof.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
According = in proportion. The estimation of value regulated by nearness of the jubilee. (So our estimation of value of earthly things governed by our sense of the nearness of Christ’s coming.)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lev 27:18-23, Phi 4:5
Reciprocal: Num 9:14 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 25:15. According to the number of years thou shalt buy The purchase of all lands, houses, or estates, was to be at a price proportionable to the greater or less number of years that remained from the time of the purchase to the next jubilee. Years of fruits Years in which, having sowed, they reaped the fruits of the land, in opposition to those years in which they were neither allowed to sow nor reap.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:15 According to the number of {i} years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
(i) If the Jubile to come is near, you would be better to sell cheaply. If it is far off, sell at a higher price.