Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 25:25

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

25. be waxen poor ] The original verb is almost confined to this ch., the one exception being Lev 27:8 (‘be poorer’).

his kinsman that is next unto him ] Cp. the more explicit statement in Lev 25:48 f. For the important term G’l, here rendered ‘kinsman,’ lit. vindicator, cp. Jer 32:8 ff.; Rth 4:1 ff., and Art. Goel in HDB.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

If thy brother be waxen poor – The Israelites never parted with their land except under the pressure of poverty. Compare the answer of Naboth, 1Ki 21:3.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. Any of his kin come to redeem it] The land that was sold might be redeemed, in the interim between jubilee and jubilee, by the former owner or by one of his kinsmen or relatives. This kinsman is called in the text goel or redeemer; and was not this a lively emblem of the redemption of man by Christ Jesus? That he might have a right to redeem man, he took upon him human nature, and thus became a kinsman of the great family of the human race, and thereby possessed the right of redeeming that fallen nature of which he took part, and of buying back to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by transgression.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Some of his possession, to wit, in the fields, but not in cities, Lev 25:29.

If any of his kin come to redeem it; or, if the redeemer come, being near akin to him, to whom the right of redemption belonged, Rth 3:2,9,12; Jer 32:7, who in this act was an eminent type of Christ, who was made near akin to us by taking our flesh, that he might perform the work of redemption for us.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

If thy brother be waxen poor,…. Is brought very low, greatly reduced, and is in mean circumstances; hence Jarchi says, we learn, that no man may sell his field, unless his distress presses him and forces him to it; for, as Maimonides c observes, a man might not sell his estate to put money into his purse, or to trade with, or to purchase goods, servants, and cattle, only food:

and hath sold away [some] of his possession; not all of it, as Jarchi remarks; for the way of the earth or custom of the world teaches, that a man should reserve a field (or a part) for himself:

and if any of his kin come to redeem it; come to the buyer and propose to redeem it, by giving what it was sold for, or in proportion to the time he had enjoyed it:

then shall he redeem that which his brother sold; nor was it in the power of the purchaser to hinder him, or at his option whether he would suffer him to redeem it or not: such an one was an emblem of our “goel”, our near kinsman and Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ, who came in our nature into this world to redeem us, and put us into the possession of the heavenly inheritance; nor was it in the power of any to hinder his performance of it, for he is the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is his name.

c Hilchot Shemittah Vejobel, c. 11. sect. 3.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Verses 25-28:

No land could be sold permanently. An Israelite might be forced by adversity to sell his land. But he had the right to redeem it at any time, either personally or through a near kinsman. If he exercised that right, he must refund the over-payment or the harvest value to the buyer. If he did not exercise redemption rights, the land reverted to him in the Jubilee Year.

If a man were forced to sell his land, he must first offer it to his near kinsman, see Jer 32:7, 8.

The Book of Ruth is an example of the kinsman redeemer. This provision is a picture of Jesus, man’s Kinsman Redeemer, who paid the price to redeem and restore his forfeited inheritance, 1Pe 1:18; Ga 3:13; 4;4, 5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(25) If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold . . . As poverty is the only reason which the Law here supposes might lead one to part with his field, the authorities during the second Temple concluded, and hence enacted, that it is not allowable for any one to sell his patrimony on speculation. This will account for the horror which Naboth expressed to Ahab of selling his patrimony: The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee (1Ki. 21:3).

And if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem.Better, then his nearest kinsman shall come and redeem. If he has thus been compelled by pressure of poverty to sell part of his land, then it is the duty of the nearest relation, or, as the original literally denotes, the redeemer that is nearest to him, to redeem the property which his impoverished relative has been obliged to sell. The expression redeemer is applied in Hebrew to one who, by virtue of being the nearest of kin, had not only to redeem the patrimony of the family, but to marry the childless widow of his brother (Rth. 3:13), and avenge the blood of his relative (Num. 35:19-28; Deu. 19:6-12).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

25. Any of his kin Kranold observes that there is no record of the goel ever exercising his right till after the death of him who sold the field. But this does not disprove his right to redeem it during the life of the impoverished seller. “The person sustaining this office was a lively figure of Christ, who assumed our nature that he might be our kinsman-redeemer, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and in reference to whom it is said, ‘The Redeemer shall come out of Zion.’ He has by his sufferings and death brought back to man that inheritance which had been forfeited by sin.” Bush. How this deepens the significance of those words of Isaiah, the evangelical prophet, quoted by our Saviour in the synagogue in Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Consideration for the Poor and for Slaves.

v. 25. If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, land or houses in the country, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, the man upon whom this duty devolved, v. 48, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold, buy it hack for the former owner.

v. 26. And if the man, the original owner, have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it, if he finds himself in a position that he can buy back the land which he sold,

v. 27. then let him count the years of the sale thereof, since the sale was made, and restore the over-plus, whatever price had been paid for the crops still remaining till the next Year of Jubilee, unto the man to whom he sold it, that he may return unto his possession.

v. 28. But if he be not able to restore it to him, if he cannot raise the money needed to regain possession of his land in this way, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee; and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession, for the provision was that all leases, called sales, should terminate in the Year of Jubilee.

v. 29. And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it, for the purchase price, within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

v. 30. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established forever to him that bought it throughout his generations; it shall not go out in the Jubilee. This was a distinct exception to the rule which applied to land in the open country and in towns.

v. 31. But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country; they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the Jubilee.

v. 32. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites and the houses of the cities of their possession may the Levites redeem at any time. In their interest exceptions were always permitted.

v. 33. And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold and the city of his possession, that is, the house on its location in the city of the Levites, shall go out in the Year of Jubilee, be restored to the Levite, the original owner, without cost to him; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

v. 34. But the field of the suburbs of their cities, the open meadow-land surrounding their cities, used for pasturing their cattle arid flocks, may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession, and community property, at that.

v. 35. And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee, having failed entirely in his business, then thou shalt relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with thee. Here provision is made for the second contingency, namely, that connected with a man’s having sold himself into bondage on account of poverty. The paragraph is introduced with an admonition to help the poor brother who is in need of financial assistance.

v. 36. Take thou no usury of him or increase, neither interest in the case of money nor an added amount in the case of other necessaries of life; but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

v. 37. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.

v. 38. I am the Lord, your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. Because the Land of Promise was to the Israelites a gift of God’s merciful goodness, therefore they were not to forget kindness and mercy in dealing with their poor brothers.

v. 39. And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant, not treat him as a slave nor have him perform the labor of a slave,

v. 40. but as an hired servant and as a sojourner, as a worker under contract, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of Jubilee;

v. 41. and then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. This ordinance supplements Exo 21:2-6, for it would come into effect both if the servant had not yet been with a master seven years, or if lie had declared his willingness to remain with his master and had received the mark of bondage in his ear.

v. 42. For they are My servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, they were God’s peculiar property; they shall not be sold as bondmen.

v. 43. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, as over a true slave, but shalt fear thy God.

v. 44. Both thy bondmen and thy bond-maids which thou shalt have shall be of the heathen that are round about you; these only could be kept in true slavery; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

v. 45. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession, and could be kept arid treated as slaves.

v. 46. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen forever, this applying to heathen slaves of Hebrew masters only. But over your brethren, the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigor.

v. 47. And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, the non-Israelite growing wealthy in the same proportion as the Israelite grew poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family, that is, to the descendants of immigrants who were not citizen;

v. 48. after that he is sold, he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him, in order not to have the disgrace of being in bondage to an outsider resting upon him;

v. 49. either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, if he finds ways and means of raising the money, he may redeem himself.

v. 50. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the Year of Jubilee; and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him. The purchase price was to be divided by the number of years which he would have to serve till the next Tear of Jubilee, and the time which he had already served was to be valued in terms of a hired servant, this amount being subtracted from the entire sum.

v. 51. If there be yet many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for, as much as his services would have been worth to his master until the Pear of Jubilee

v. 52. And if there remain but few years unto the Year of Jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years shall he give him again the price of his redemption, in this case a relatively small sum.

v. 53. And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him, as such he should be regarded by his master; and the other shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight, so that the people would become aware of it: for as soon as such treatment were known, the government was supposed to act.

v. 54. And if he be not redeemed in these gears, then he shall go out in the Year of Jubilee, both he and his children with him.

v. 55. For unto Me the children of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. Thus the Year of Jubilee became a year of freedom and of mercy to the entire people, but especially to the poor and oppressed, and a year of rest from toil and drudgery. In this respect, it was a type of the acceptable year of the Lord, in which the Gospel is being preached to the meek, in which the brokenhearted are being bound up, liberty is being proclaimed to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, this time being in itself a foretaste of the day when the sons of God will be received into the perfect and eternal liberty provided for them, Isa 61:1-3; Luk 4:17-21.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Lev 25:25. If any of his kin come to redeem it The word goel, a redeemer, signifies also a near kinsman; to whom the right of redeeming lands, houses, or persons, and also the avenging of blood, belongs: which kinsman, in this work of redeeming, was often a figure of Christ, who being near to us, and allied in the flesh, in that he took part of the same flesh and blood with us, (Heb 2:14.) is called our goel; our Redeemer, or Deliverer; (Isa 59:20. Rom 11:26.) who hath redeemed us, and our heavenly inheritance to us, in our low, distressed, and poor estate. Hos 13:14. 1Th 1:10. 2Co 8:9. Rom 8:10. Dr. Beaumont.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

All these precepts refer to one and the same thing. But their spiritual import is peculiarly striking. A brother so poor as not to be able to redeem his right, is a lively type of our poor nature. And a kinsman so rich, and the nearest that could be found, in whom the right of redemption lay, beautifully represents JESUS. For who so rich as he in whom all fulness dwells? Who so near as he that hath taken our very nature into himself, and is married to us according to his own most gracious declarations? Jer 3:14 . Neither is any but JESUS in a capacity to redeem. And it is worthy our closest observation, that Job calls JESUS by this very name, Goel, that is, kinsman Redeemer. Job 19:25 . The same word is used for kinsman, in Num 5:8 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Lev 25:25 If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

Ver. 25. And if any of his kin. ] Christ is our near kinsman, and so by propinquity, as man, had the right of redemption. Rth 2:20 ; Rth 3:9 ; Rth 3:11 ; Rth 3:13

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

If. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Syriac, read “And if”.

waxen poor = brought low.

any of his kin = his goel, or redeemer, next of kin. See note on Exo 6:6.

redeem = Hebrew. g’aal, buy back. See note on Exo 6:6.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

redeem

Heb. “goel,” Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield “Isa 59:20”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Rth 2:20, Rth 3:2, Rth 3:9, Rth 3:12, Rth 4:4-6, Jer 32:7, Jer 32:8, 2Co 8:9, Heb 2:13, Heb 2:14, Rev 5:9

Reciprocal: Lev 25:35 – thy brother Lev 25:48 – General Lev 27:22 – his possession Num 5:8 – have no Num 27:11 – kinsman

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge