[This is an exerpt from a book I'm writing on social justice in the Old Testament.]
God established His pattern of Sabbath rest when, after six days of creation, He rested from His work. Speaking through Moses on Mt. Sinai, God instructed the Israelites to follow His example by observing a day of rest on the Sabbath. God linked observance of the Sabbath with His rescue of the Israelites from slavery. Expounding on the Ten Commandments forty years after first delivering them, Moses said this about the fourth commandment:
Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.[1]
Moses asked all members of Israelite society, from the highest to the lowest, and even including the foreigners who lived among them, to cease from work for one day out of seven. While an irreligious, wealthy Israelite landowner may have chafed at the cessation of work on his property, the Sabbath was a welcome respite for the slave of his household and for his hired workers—not to mention his oxen, horses, and donkeys! A believing landowner, however, would welcome the rest as a reminder of God’s pledge to provide for those who trusted in Him, rich and poor alike. As they rested from work on the Sabbath, Moses asked the Israelites to remember God’s care and attention to them in their misery. The Sabbath served to regularly remind the Israelites had time to reflect on how much God had provided for them, rescuing them from slavery and establishing them as an independent nation in a “land of milk and honey.” In addition, the Sabbath was a time to look forward to the ultimate rest that the Messiah would bring.[2]
The Sabbath occurred every seven days, but every seventh year was also a Sabbath in an analogous sense. Teaching the same lessons of trust and salvation that marked the weekly Sabbath, the seventh-year Sabbath required Israelites to let their land lie fallow and allow it to replenish nutrients and regain fertility. Israelites that owned land and storehouses would not need to cultivate, sow, or reap during the Sabbath year because God promised to provide a super-abundant harvest on the sixth year. Poor inhabitants of Israel without land or storehouses were allowed to freely pick olives, grapes, and other produce that grew unaided during this time.
Observation of this seventh-year Sabbath required special trust in God. All humankind experiences and understands the need to ceaselessly work, whether out of greed for more wealth or simply to provide sustenance for ourselves and our families. This toilsome need stems from the curse that befell our ancestor Adam: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.” Paul put it in more simple terms: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” For this reason, it feels unnatural to cease from our efforts to provide for ourselves. But God wants His people to acknowledge the salvation that comes from Him alone. When the Assyrian army threatened Judah, King Ahaz sought help from the other great regional power, Egypt, instead of turning to God. This lack of trust displeased God, who spoke through the prophet Isaiah, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” God wanted the Israelites to learn to rest in Him, to cease from their labor and trust God to provide what they needed. When Ahaz’s faith-filled son, King Hezekiah, faced the same Assyrian threat, he trusted in God’s salvation instead of seeking alliances or other help outside of God’s will. As a result, God sent a destroying angel into the Assyrian camp and annihilated the Assyrian army. The prophesies of Isaiah record God’s view of both King Ahaz and King Hezekiah, and instructs us as the readers to trust God and not our own efforts. Both the weekly Sabbath and the seventh year in the Sabbatical cycle taught and tested the Israelites in their trust in God.
The seventh-year Sabbath taught another aspect of God’s merciful salvation: debt forgiveness. While their land enjoyed a Sabbath rest, Moses required the Israelites to forgive the debts owed them by fellow Israelites.
At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.[3]
Because they were prohibited from charging interest on loans made to their countrymen, the Israelites already had a disincentive to lend money to those who needed it. But, the Sabbath year demanded even more, requiring the Israelites to not only offer interest-free loans, but to completely cancel the debts at the end of the Sabbatical cycle of years. From a natural, individualistic perspective, this command seems grossly unfair. Interest-free loans seem indulgent by most standards, but interest-free loans with a high likelihood of default are nonsensical in any time and place. However, as recipients of God’s abundant grace, the Israelites were obligated to extend extraordinary grace to weak and vulnerable groups in their own society.
Moses continued, warning the Israelites from feigning an inability to lend.
If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for cancelling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.[4]
As with the commands concerning day laborers, gleaning, and the tithe, Moses put the command to lend freely in the context of the Israelites’ relationship with God. They were debtors to God, and must likewise forgive debts owed them. Rich and poor alike, all Israelites understood they were indebted to God. Not only had He rescued them from their Egyptian slavery, but He had also provided a covering for the sin that separated them from Himself. Because of this provision, the Israelites alone among all people on earth could claim to have a God that dwelt in their midst in the form of the tabernacle, and later, in the temple in Jerusalem. God also prescribed elaborate sacrifices meant to illustrate the atonement of people’s sin. Blood was the required payment for sin in most cases. However, God made an exception for poor people who could not afford the more customary goat, lamb, or pair of doves: “If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.”[5]
All this ritual was designed to demonstrate the indebtedness of the Israelites and their rescue from that debt by God. This debtor-savior relationship required the Israelites to relate to one another accordingly, including rescuing their brother or sister who fell into poverty. More than a thousand years later, Jesus repeatedly drew the same lesson, teaching, “Freely you have received, freely give,” “Give and it will be given to you,” and “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus most fully illustrated this principle in His parable of the unmerciful servant: A servant owed his master an exceedingly large amount of money. Graciously, the master forgave the debt entirely, saving the servant from ruin. However, the servant went on to meet one of his fellows who owed him a small sum and demanded a prompt payment. On hearing of this injustice, the master of the first servant grew incredibly angry and threw the first servant into prison until he should pay back every penny of his original debt.
In light of their covenant relationship to God, the Israelites cancelled loans on the seventh year out of obligation, not charity. Charity implies giving when otherwise not required and only God is in the position to extend that type of free grace. As debtors themselves, Israelites who skirted the command to provide for those in need practiced injustice. Failing to provide for the poor was a positive offense against God and a breach of the covenant.
[This post is an excerpt of my work-in-progress book on social justice in the Old Testament. Feedback is welcome! More on Learning to Do Right.]
[1] Deuteronomy 5:12-15
[2] See Psalm 72 for an example of Israel’s Messianic hope, and Hebrews 4:1-3 and Colossians 2:16-17 for the fulfillment of the Sabbath in Jesus Christ.
[3] Deuteronomy 15:1-3
[4] Deuteronomy 15:7-11
[5] A tenth of an ephah is about one-tenth of the amount of grain that Ruth gathered in her first day at Boaz’s field.
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