Let’s explore the spirit of the laws of land rest and jubilee found in the Old Testament. These are laws that even good Christians will object to, because we are too selfish to even contemplate them.
An agricultural sabbath was mandated for the whole of the seventh year (Leviticus 25:2-7, 20-22) and a jubilee was mandated for the whole of the fiftieth year (Leviticus 25:10-12). The seventh year of release involved the forgiveness of debts.
Every seven years you must announce, “The Lord says loans do not need to be paid back.” Then if you have loaned money to another Israelite, you can no longer ask for payment. (Deuteronomy 15:1-2 CEV)
The jubilee involved the setting free of “slaves” (apprentices, indentured servants, debtors, thieves and war criminals), and returning of family farmlands.
“The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me. With every purchase of land you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some family land, then a close relative should buy it back for him. If there is no close relative to buy the land, but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. In this way the original owner can then return to the land. But if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land.” (Leviticus 25:23-28 NLT)
Imagine why these laws were disobeyed and will never be obeyed by any nation in this modern world. It’s clear why even good Christians do not want to hear about any kind of national adoption of similar laws. Banks would hate it if such wonderful laws were enacted today. Billionaires would have to give back farms they had accumulated. This is redistribution, not into government hands as in a socialist world, but into private hands. In economics, this is called jubilism, or jubilee economics.
Are there principles of equality of pay, equality of distribution of national wealth, and yet also equality of opportunity for those who are willing to work hard within the spirit of these wonderful laws? The jubilee laws are balanced out by other laws regarding rewarding the diligent and not rewarding the lazy.
What about the Canaanites? Didn’t God dispossess them of their land? How is that just? We must remember two things: God is always just, and the Canaanites were dispossessed of their land because of abominable national practices such as forcing girls into ritual temple prostitution and child sacrifice. What about aboriginals in Canada, the USA and Australia? How should we deal with them? Those are much more complicated issues and not as simple as the Canaanite example.
What about billionaires, farming corporations and state cooperatives owning incredibly large farms in some countries? Whether it is in a free country or a dictatorship, this is an injustice that would not exist under jubilee laws. But, we will not see any such changes until Christ returns, where individual private ownership will be ubiquitous.
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.” (Micah 4:3-5 NIV)
What should a Christian do about this? I’m always amazed at how generous the homeless are and how stingy the rich can be. Jesus did not give us the privilege of hard-heartedness towards the poor.
“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger [foreigner] or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:44-46 NKJV)
Laziness is a minor cause of poverty, but always the excuse used by the stingy not to give. Poor education, fatherless families, domestic abuse, minorities, children, immigrants, female-headed households, loss of job, declining wages, poor education, fathers leaving, having children and disability are major causes of poverty. Our job is to relieve the suffering.
Human laws may not bring justice but we can. An example is the most famous Christian outside of the Bible, Nicholas of Myra, who was loved by many in his time and those who read his story today. Though he was very wealthy, he spent his life giving it away and touched the lives of thousands. He saved many from financial ruin, helped out in disasters, defended people in court from false charges, provided food during famines, saved children from slavery, travelers from murder and prayed and saved sailors from shipwreck. The real Saint Nicholas is loved because he made crooked roads straight and rough ways smooth (Luke 3:1-6). Shall we?
Nicholas was born of wealthy Christian parents in what is today southern Turkey. It was a Greek area at the time. He followed Jesus’ comments to a wealthy young man (Matthew 19:16-30) to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor. He spent the rest of his life doing just that and is known for his generosity to those in need. One story tells of his providing a dowry for three daughters who, without it, were bound for a life of sexual slavery. Little bags of coins were tossed in a window landing in stockings and a shoe, giving rise to several Christmas traditions. As we think of making crooked roads straight and rough ways smooth in preparation for Christ’s coming (Luke 3:1-6), it is good to follow a wonderful example of giving like that of Saint Nicholas.
We may not be able to change national laws and make them perfectly just, redistributing agricultural land back to small privately owned family farms, but every Christian has the opportunity to relieve the suffering of the poor and oppressed even in small ways. We may not be in agriculture with the opportunity to let our farmland rest, but we can contribute to letting the people of our land rest from worries of poverty and oppression, even with a small gift.
