Forgiveness, Freedom, Favor

Forgiveness, Freedom, Favor

(No. 2276)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 2 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL
10, 1890.

"And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lends
anything unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of
his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S
release." Deuteronomy 15:2.

THIS wonderful transaction of "the Lord's release" came at the end of
every seven years. It was according to the gracious Law of God for
Israel that there should be, first of all, a rest one day in seven.
Next, there were feast days one month in seven–and then there came,
every seventh year, a year of rest for the land in which they did not
till it, but left it to lie fallow. Then after the seven sevens were
complete, there came on the 50th year, an extraordinary year of rest,
in addition to the usual one–this was called the Year of Jubilee.

I believe that there is a spiritual meaning in this succession of
rests, but I have not time to enter upon the explanation of it now,
except to say that, doubtless, that last seven of sevens represents the
restitution of all things, when the Lord Jesus shall have gathered His
people in to rest forever and ever with Himself in His Glory. Till
then, we go from seven to seven every week–our Sabbaths are so many
staves of the golden ladder by which we climb up to the eternal
Sabbath. We bless God that we still retain, at least, that vestige of
the seven, for blessed are our eyes that they see, and our hearts that
they enjoy the one day of rest every week! What would we do without it?

Once, then, in seven years, there was a year of perfect rest. And I
cannot help remarking, again, as I did in the reading, what happy
people the chosen people would have been if they had but listened to
God's commands! Only imagine a country where, for a whole year, there
would be nothing to do. The land would bring forth her own fruit and
everybody might eat of it, sitting under his own vine and fig tree,
having no tillage of the field or pruning of the vine, but having an
opportunity given to him of spending the whole year in the service and
worship of the Most High! When the people afterwards revolted from the
Lord and desired a king to reign over them, He told them by the mouth
of the Prophet Samuel the manner of the king whom they would choose, so
that they might know the difference between the Lord's rule and their
king's. The earthly monarchs would ground them down, oppress them and
bring them into all manner of bondage–and it came to pass! But the
Lord's yoke was only this–that they should rest and serve Him here and
enjoy Him forever hereafter.

These high privileges were attended, in the case of the people of
Israel, with high spiritual commands. The laws given to Israel were not
intended for Moabites, Edomites and Egyptians. They could not have
understood them–they would probably have laughed at them. But the
spiritually-minded among God's chosen people–and there were some
such–would delight in these commands and obey them. Look at the
command in the present chapter, that any Israelite who had sold his
liberty to a brother Hebrew, should go free at the end of six years. It
was a strange command, a blessedly generous one–but it was added that
he should not go out empty but that he should be furnished with
abundant help from the flock, from the threshing floor and from the
winepress–and that he who gave him this fresh start in life should not
do it grudgingly. The Hebrew has it, "Loading him, he shall be loaded;
you shall adorn his neck with your gifts." He was to have an abundance
given to him and this was to be done cheerfully, not grudgingly! A
delight was to be felt in thus setting free a brother of the chosen
race and starting him, once more, on the journey of life. It is a grand
command!

Do you not think that it should always be so, that they who receive
much should have much required of them? And that they who serve a
generous God should be, themselves, generous? Is there not reason in
that precept of the Savior,

"Freely you have received, freely give"? May not the Lord expect of us
much more than He does of others? If you are chosen out of mankind,
redeemed from among men, called out from the fallen mass, quickened
with a life which they do not know and privileged with access to God
and communion with Heaven to which they are strangers, should not the
Law of God's House be a higher and a nobler one than a law that could
be given to those who are strangers to Him and aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel? Do not, therefore, if you are Christians,
measure yourselves with others, and say, "If I do as much as my
neighbor does, it suffices." You who are of the blood royal of Heaven,
princes in God's Kingdom– will you behave yourselves like paupers? You
who have been redeemed with blood, whose every fetter has been struck
off–will you act like slaves? Let it not be so! Rise to your true
dignity! Act worthy of your privileges and accept with joy a Law of
your Father and your King which others cannot understand and which they
would think unreasonable and impracticable! It was so with the laws
which were given to these people. It is true that, on one side of them,
they were somewhat toned down in certain respects to suit their
weaknesses, but in other respects they were heightened and elevated
above what any human legislature would ever have thought of enacting.

However, that is not my subject tonight. I want to speak to you about
the Lord's release.

It seems to me that this passage, first of all, teaches us concerning
the release which the Lord desired His people to give. But, secondly,
and typically, it speaks to us of the release which the Lord, Himself,
gives to us. He does not command us to do what He will not much more
abundantly do Himself! "Be you perfect, even as your Father which is in
Heaven is perfect." Your Lawgiver is, Himself, an example of the
fulfillment of every gracious and noble precept in His own Law.

I. First, then, let us consider THE RELEASE WHICH THE LORD DESIRED HIS
PEOPLE TO GIVE.

First, they were to forgive their debtors. They were, at the end of
every seven years, to release every man, his debtor, from the debt
which he had accumulated. I suppose that as soon as the year began,
there was a release given. A man might pay if he could–and he should
do so. A man might, at some future time, if his circumstances altered,
discharge the debt which had been remitted, but as far as the creditor
was concerned, it was remitted. It is the opinion of some commentators
that it only signifies that the man was to be let alone during that
year, but the debt still remained. I do not think that such an
interpretation would have occurred to anybody who read the chapter by
itself. You can take the idea to the chapter and foist it upon it, if
you like, but it certainly is not there in the natural run of the
words. All the Jewish interpreters, albeit that they often twisted
their laws, are agreed upon this–it was an absolute forgiveness of the
debt incurred which was intended here–and I will not give our Jewish
brethren any blame for being too lenient in money matters.

I think, perhaps, that they may be a little inclined the other way, and
if their Rabbis all teach that this was an absolute wiping out of the
debt, I think that, for once, I must agree with their Rabbis and accept
their interpretation, as it evidently is the plain meaning of the
passage. I am no learned man and, therefore, I read the passage as it
stands. I think that the Lord would have the creditor at the end of six
years absolutely wipe out the debt! And I am more certain of it because
He anticipates the objection that many would begin to say, "The year of
release is at hand," and would, therefore, refuse to lend. Many of them
who were what is called, prudent, and who were inclined towards
hard-heartedness, would naturally say, "No, we are not going to make a
loan when it is so near the time when it will have to be forgiven and
the loan will become a gift." Hence the Lord says, "Beware that there
be not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the
year of release, is at hand, and your eyes be evil against your poor
brother, and you give him nothing."

Oh, what a relief it must have been to the debtors! And when it was
really done, what a comfort and lightness of heart it must have brought
to the creditors, too, when they saw their poor brethren able to enjoy
life, again, and no longer having their days darkened with the shadow
of a heavy debt!

The next thing was that they were never to exact that debt again.
Observe in the text, "He shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his
brother." After that year he was to have no further claim. Or if he
thought that he had a claim, he was never to use any legal means, or
any kind of physical force, or any threats, to obtain what was due. It
was to be regarded as done with, as far as any legal claim was
concerned. The moral claim might remain–and the honest, upright-minded
Israelite might take care that his brother Israelite should not lose
anything through him. But, still, according to the Divine Command,
there was to be no exacting of it. My dear brother Williams, in his
prayer, spoke of the generosity of God as seen in these commands and,
depend upon it, none but a generous Lawgiver would have made such a law
as this! It is

noble-hearted, full of loving kindness and we could expect that none
but a people in whose midst there was the daily sacrifice–in the midst
of whom moved the High Priest of God–would be obedient to such a
precept.

Observe next, that they were to do this for the Lord's sake "because it
is called the Lord's release." They were to do it with an eye to a
blessing from God! "For the Lord shall greatly bless you in the land
which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it:
only if you carefully listen to the voice of the Lord your God." It is
not enough to do the correct thing–it must be done in a right spirit
and with a pure motive. A good action is not wholly good unless it is
done for the glory of God and because of the greatness and goodness of
His holy name. It would ennoble an Israelite to give a release to one's
debtor and say, "It is called the Lord's release," to act, as it were,
as lieutenant of the great King of Kings! It will ennoble you to give a
discharge, not in your own name, but in Christ's name, and for His
sake, because you love Him. The most powerful motive that a Christian
can have is this, "For Jesus' sake." You could not forgive the debt,
perhaps, for your brother's sake–there may be something about him that
would harden your heart. But can you do it for Jesus' sake? This is
true charity, that holy love which is the choicest of the Graces of
God! That text in John's first Epistle is not only, "We love Him
because He first loved us," but many versions read it, "We love because
He first loved us." Even our love towards men, when it flows out in
acts of mercy and deeds of kindness, should spring from the fact that
Christ first loved us.

And then, like the Israelites, we may look believingly to the gracious
reward that God gives. We do not serve God for wages, but we still have
respect unto the recompense of the reward, even as Moses had. We do not
run like hirelings, but we have our eyes upon the prize of our high
calling in Christ Jesus. A Christian should often perform acts of
kindness for which he may only meet ingratitude–acts of kindness to
the unthankful and to the evil–in the full belief that there will come
a day when Christ will accept such things as done unto Himself and will
say, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me
meat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink." This Law, given to Israel,
is a Law given to us so far as the motive for keeping it is concerned.
Let us do good unto all men, for God's Glory, for Christ's sake, and
let us have an eye to that day when every holy action done unto the
Lord shall receive a reward from Him.

Next, notice, as you read down the chapter, that they were not only to
perform this kindness once, but they were to be ready to do it again.
The creditor, who had absolved his debtor, once, must not begin to say
to himself, "I shall not lend any more. This business of the seven
years, this statute of limitations, makes a dead loss of it." No, if he
thinks so, the ninth verse tells him that it is a thought in his wicked
heart–"Beware that there be not a thought in your wicked heart." "In
your heart of Belial"–so the Hebrew runs, as if such a thought brought
him down from Israel to Belial, and made the man of God to be a loose
man, a man who feared not Jehovah at all! Beloved, it is the part of
Christians not to be weary in well-doing! And if they get no reward for
what they have done from those to whom it is done, still to do the same
again! Remember how gracious God is and how He gives to the unthankful
and the evil and makes His rain to fall upon the field of the churl as
well as upon the field of the most generous. He is good to all and His
tender mercies are over all His works. We may carry the idea of only
helping the worthy a great deal too far, till we cease to be imitators
of Christ, and rather become dispensers ofjustice than of love–and
this is not the work for a Christian man to do.

Next, observe, that while they were to forgive and remit, on this
seventh year, the loans which remained unpaid, they were also to let
the bondman go. He was a Hebrew, but he was so poor that he had sold
his land and then, at last, he had been obliged to sell himself into
slavery. "Take me," he said, "and I will be your servant if you give me
bread to eat, and clothes to put on." And the Law of God allowed it and
so there were some few Hebrews who had their fellow Hebrews in
servitude to them. That servitude was of an exceedingly light kind, for
if ever one of these so-called slaves ran away, it was contrary to the
Law to return him to his master–he might break the servitude when he
pleased. At the end of the sixth year, when the Hebrew servant might go
free, it often happened that he had been treated so well in his
servitude that he had no desire to go, but he was willing to have the
awl thrust through the lobe of his ear that he might be fastened to the
doorpost of his master to abide in servitude as long as he lived! But
at the end of the six years, the Hebrew servant was free to go if so it
pleased him.

Now, according to the Law of God, the bondman was to be sent away
freely. It was not to be thought a hardship to part with a servant man
or woman. However useful they might have been in the house or field,
however much they were felt to be necessary to domestic comfort or farm
service, they were to be allowed to go and, what was more, they were
not

to go empty-handed, but they were to receive a portion out of every
department of the master's wealth–from his flock, his threshing floor
and his winepress. They were to go away well loaded, even as Israel
went out of Egypt, as we read, "He brought them forth also with silver
and gold." This was a grand Law! And does it not teach God's people how
kind they ought to be? A miserable, miserly, hard, close-fisted
Christian–is there such a thing? It is not for me to be a judge. One
who would take his brother's labor without payment and, at the end of
the term would offer him no kind of remuneration, but leave him to
starve–is he a child of God? How dwells the love of God in him? God
would have His people not only do what is righteous, but what is
generous! And act, not only justly, but kindly to all with whom they
come in contact.

Further, this setting free of their brother at the specified time was
to be done for a certain reason–"You shall remember that you were a
bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you." How
can you hold another a bondman when God has set you free? How can you
treat another with unkindness when the Lord has dealt so generously
with you? Down at Olney, when Mr. Newton was the rector of the parish,
he put up in his study this text where he could always see it when he
lifted his eyes from his text while preparing his sermon, "Remember
that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God
redeemed you." Would it not do many Christians good if they had that
text often before their eyes? Would it not excite gratitude to their
Redeemer and tenderness towards those who happened to be in subjection
to them! Would it not excite tenderness to every sinner that is a bond
slave under the Law of God, tenderness to the myriads that swarm these
streets, slaves to sin and self, and who are perishing in their
iniquity? This was to be the reason why Israel should act generously
towards bondservants. Let it stand as a reason why we should act kindly
towards all about us!

As far as most of us are concerned, it may be that we are not creditors
to anybody, and we are not likely to crush anybody by exacting their
debts. If we do not happen to be in that position, yet the Law is
spiritual and it has its own teaching. And surely it means just
this–Let us readily forgive. I know not how true it is, but I have
heard that if that venerable and godly man, Mr. Rowland Hill, had any
kind of fault, it was that, sometimes, when he thought that persons had
acted very wrongly to him, he could not very readily forgive them. One
of his hearers said he remembered that, one Sunday, Mr. Hill had spoken
very severely about a certain person, not more severely than was just,
but perhaps more severely than was generous, and when he was offering
the prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses," the hearer noticed that the
good man hesitated at the words, "As we–as we–forgive them that
trespass against us." He had evidently a little struggle with himself
and he was so sincere and transparent a man that he showed it even in
the public service!

Do not some of you, at times, find it rather difficult to forgive those
that trespass against you? Possibly you have been very angry with your
boy this afternoon. It would have been as well to have given him a kiss
before you left home. It may be that your dear girl has, in some way,
offended you. It would have been as well to have told her that you had
forgiven her. You had good reasons, perhaps, for not doing so. I will
not go into them. However, may I ask you to forgive her as soon as you
get home? It may be that you will be doing no good to your child by
doing what is hardly justifiable as from yourself.

Be ready to forgive your children! There is reason to make that remark,
for I have known persons sitting here who have excluded a son or
daughter from their house because of some marriage that the parents did
not like, or for some other reason. You said, "She shall never darken
my door again." And you are a Christian? I would say to you, if I knew
you were here, "I wish that you would never darken the Communion Table,
again, until that kind of feeling were gone from you once and for all!"
How can you say, "Our Father, which are in Heaven," while there is
still towards your own child, whether young or old, something which you
say you cannot forgive? Make up your mind never to go to Heaven if you
cannot forgive people! You cannot enter the pearly gates while you
cherish an unforgiving spirit!

Or is it some friend of yours with whom you have quarreled? You two
have parted. You were dear friends, once, but now, like a great cliff
that has been split in the middle, there you stand frowning upon one
another! Let it be so no longer! If there is any personal gripe or
ill-will, let it be cast into the depths of the sea. Whatever may be
the story, I do not want to hear it. Surely the time has come when all
that should be wiped out, once and for all. "Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath," is a good precept. I have heard of two friends who
had differed greatly and spoken very bitterly. And the sun was just
going down, so one of them said, "I must not let the sun go down on my
wrath. I will go and try to

be reconciled to my friend." And half way to his friend's house, he met
his friend coming to him, on the same errand, and they met joyfully to
forgive each other! May it be so with all true Christians!

Once again, dear Friends, I think the spirit of this release of the
Lord is this–Never be hard on anybody. It is true that the man made
the bargain and he ought to keep to it, but he is losing money and he
cannot afford it. He is being ruined and you are being fattened by his
mistake. Do not hold him to it. If you have made a losing bargain, you
should stand to it, for the Christian "swears to his own hurt, and
changes not." But if the loss is on the other side, cancel the bond as
speedily as may be and let not the poor man have to go with his tears
before Almighty God and blame you for your cruelty. No Christian man
can be a sweater of workers! No Christian can be a grinder of the poor!
No man who would be accepted before God can think that his heart is
right with him when he treats others ungenerously, not to say unjustly!

That, I think, is the spirit of the first part of my subject–the
release which the Lord desired His people to give, that which is
called, "the Lord's release."

II. But now, secondly, and as briefly as I can, let us consider THE
RELEASE WHICH THE LORD GIVES TO US. Let me proclaim to every sinner
here who acknowledges his indebtedness to God and feels that he can
never discharge it, that if you will come and put your trust in Christ,
the Lord promises oblivion to all your debt, forgiveness of the whole
of your sins! I need not repeat the long black list, for conscience has
made you read it up and down and down and up, and you have become
familiar with the roll of your iniquities. The Lord is prepared to wipe
them all out! He will do what He bids His people do–"it is called the
Lord's release." He will release you from your sins if you believe in
Jesus

Christ!

This release shall be followed up by a non-exacting of the penalty
forever. If you are pardoned of God, He will never exact of you any
punishment because of your iniquities or transgressions. No, neither in
this life, nor in that which is to come will He require it at your
hands. He will give you a full discharge–one that can be pleaded in
the High Court of Heaven above! "Who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It
is Christ that died, yes, rather, that is risen again." If you will
come to your God, acknowledging your debt and confessing your inability
to pay it, He will so wipe it out that you shall never hear of it
again, forever! And if your sins are searched for, they shall not be
found.

Notice, next, that God will do all this for you on the ground of your
poverty. Look at the fourth verse–"Save when there shall be no poor
among you." They should not remit a debt if ever there should come a
time when there should be no poor among them. But, as long as there was
a man who was poor, they were to remit the debt. You noticed how we
sang–

Tis perfect poverty alone That sets the soul at large."

When you cannot pay half a farthing in the pound of all your great debt
of sin. When you are absolutely bankrupt, then may you believe that
Jesus Christ is your Savior! When you are absolutely helpless and
hopeless, only believe that Jesus is the Christ and put your trust in
Him, and God will remit and discharge all your liabilities, and you
shall go away clear before Him!

I may be addressing a soul here that says, "I like that thought. I wish
I could catch hold of it, but I feel myself to be such a slave that I
cannot grasp it." Well, the Lord may allow a soul to be in bondage for
a time. Indeed, it may be necessary that He should. The Hebrew might be
in bondage six years and yet he went free when the seventh year came.
There are reasons why the Spirit of God is, to some men, a Spirit of
bondage for a long time. Hard hearts must be melted, proud stomachs
must be brought down. Some men's wills are like an iron sinew. Some
men's self-righteousness is hard to slay, even though it is shot
through the heart seven times. There are many who would be rebellious
against God very soon if they found forgiveness too soon–so He brings
down their heart with labor–they fall and there is none to help.

I may be speaking to one here who has been a long time in bondage. I
passed through that state, myself, and many a time have I gripped the
hand of a poor man or woman in abject distress and despair, almost
ready to go into an asylum, and I have said, "I know all about that
experience. I know that the Lord does, for a while, suffer the heart to
be plowed and torn, and rent, to make it ready for the good seed." Have
you ever seen God's 10 black horses come out? I mean the Ten
Commandments. Have you heard the plowman crack the whip? Have you seen
that awful plow that is just behind

those horses and how they have dragged that plow up the soul and back
again, and up the soul and back again, till the field of the soul has
been plowed from end to end? Then, when you thought that the work was
all done, the horses have been turned sideways and there has been
cross-plowing back and back again, tearing up the whole nature, and
breaking every clod to powder! God has His plowers at work upon some
men! But, for all that, it is not because He hates them, but because He
loves them and means to get out of them a heavy harvest of joy and
thankfulness in the years to come!

Once more, the man was set free at the end of the sixth year, paying
nothing for his liberation. Though not free-born, nor yet buying his
liberty with a great sum, yet he was set free! O Lord, set some soul
free tonight! Oh, that every slave here, who is in bondage, may get his
liberty tonight, to the praise of the Glory of God's Grace!

And when the Lord sets poor souls at liberty, He always sends them away
full-handed. He gives something from the flock, from the threshing
floor and from the winepress. Some of us were rich, indeed, the first
day we came to Jesus! We know more, now, than we knew then, but we do
not possess more than we had then, for we had Christ, then, and He is
everything and we cannot get more than that! God gave us Heaven within
us, then. Oh, how we laughed for joy that day! We shall never forget
it! We were not to be beggars or paupers any more–all the riches of
Heaven were bestowed upon us.

There is one thing which may be said here. This act never seems hard to
the Lord. He says to the Hebrew, in the 18th verse, "It shall not seem
hard unto you, when you send him away free." It never seems hard to
Christ when He sets a sinner free. Why, some of you pray as if you
thought that Christ was hardhearted! It is you who are hardhearted! You
pray as if you thought God had to be moved to mercy. It is you who need
to be moved to accept the mercy! God is generous enough. He will set
you free and load you daily with His benefits and delight to do it, if
you trust His dear Son. In fact, to make worlds is nothing to Him,
compared with saving souls. He takes the big hammer of His Omnipotence
and brings it down on the anvil of His wisdom and worlds fly like
sparks all over the sky when He is at that work! And He thinks nothing
of it. But He rests in His love and rejoices over His people with
singing when He is at work for their salvation. This is the very joy of
His heart–it is never hard for Him to set free those who have been in
bondage!

One thing I feel sure of and that is if the Lord sets us free, we shall
want to remain His servants forever! We will go straight away to the
doorpost and ask Him to use the awl, for, though we are glad to be
free, we do not want to be free from Him. No, no! "O Lord, truly I am
Your servant. I am Your servant. . .You have loosed my bonds." Once set
free, then I wish to be bound to the Lord forever! Come, dear Heart, if
you find Christ tonight–if you believe in Him and are at liberty, come
and have your ear bored! You do not like Baptism? Come and have your
ear bored! You do not like to join the Church and confess Christ? Well,
I know that it may be a "bore" to you, but, for all that, come and have
your ear bored! Come and say, "I will go no more out forever. Since the
Lord has set me free, I will serve Him all my days."

The Lord bless these words to many, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON LEVITICUS25:1-7,17-22, AND DEUTERONOMY
15:1-18.

Leviticus 25:1, 2. And the LORD spoke unto Moses on Mount Sinai,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you
come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath
unto the LORD. The Jews had much rest provided for them. If they had
had faith enough to obey God's commands, they might have been the most
favored of people, but they were not a spiritual people and the Lord
often had to lament their disobedience as in the words recorded by
Isaiah, "O that you had hearkened to My Commandments! Then had your
peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea."

3, 4. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune
your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year
shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD. Think
of a Sabbath a year long, in which nothing was to be done but to
worship God and so to rest!

4, 5. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. That
which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap,
neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed: for it is a year of
rest unto the land. A restful period in a restful land–all land to
have rest and yet to have fruitfulness in that rest! The rest of a
garden, not the rest of a task.

Thus is it oftentimes with God's people–when they rest most, they work
best–and while they are resting, they are bearing fruit unto God.

6, 7. And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you; for you, and
for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and
for your stranger that sojourns with you, and for your cattle, and for
the beast that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be
food. There was to be no private property in the spontaneous produce of
that year. It was free to everybody–free even to the cattle–which
might go and eat what they would, and where they would.

17-21. You shall not therefore oppress one another; but you shall fear
your God: for I am the LORD your God. Therefore you shall do My
statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and you shall dwell in
the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and you shall
eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. And if you shall say, What
shall we eat the seventh year, behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in
our increase: then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth
year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. Not merely for
the one year of rest, but fruit for three years!

22. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until
the ninth year; until her fruits come in you shall eat of the old
store. They were to have enough for the year of rest and for the next
year in which the harvest was growing– and still to have something
over for the ninth year! They scarcely could need as much as that, but
God would give them more than they actually needed, exceeding
abundantly above what they asked or even thought. That Sabbatical year
had other blessings connected with it. Let us read about them in the
Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter Fifteen.

Deuteronomy 15:1, 2. At the end of every seven years you shall make a
release. And this is the manner of the release– Every creditor that
lends anything to his neighbor shall release it–he shall not exact it
of his neighbor, or of his brother because it is called the LORD'S
release. What a wonderful title for it, "the LORD'S release"!

3. Of a foreigner you may exact it again but that which is yours with
your brother your hand shall release. How was a man to pay when he did
not sow or reap during the Sabbatical year? The foreigner did not
observe the year of rest– consequently he was bound to pay and it was
only fair that he should do so. But for the Israelite, who carried out
the Divine Law, there was provision made if he were in debt.

4. Save when there shall be no poor among you. If there were no poor,
then there would be no need for this Law of

God.

4-6. For the LORD shall greatly bless you in the land which the LORD
your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it: only if you
carefully listen unto the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do
all these commandments which I command you this day. For the LORD your
God blesses you, as He promised you. That little clause, "as He
promised you," is worth noticing! This is the rule of God–He deals
with us "according to promise."

6. And you shall lend unto many nations, but you shall not borrow; and
you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.
If God's people had done His will, they would have been like their
language–it is observed of the Hebrew by some, that it borrows nothing
from other tongues, but lends many words to various languages.

7-9. If there is among you a poor man of one of your brethren within
any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you
shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother:
but you shall open your hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him
sufficient for his need, in that which he needs. Beware that there is
not a thought in your wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year
of release, is at hand; and your eyes be evil against your poor
brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry unto the LORD against
you, and it is sin unto you. Moses, moved by the Spirit of God,
anticipates what would very naturally occur to many–"I shall not lend
anywhere near the seventh year; if I do, I shall lose it, for I must
release my debtor, then." The hardhearted would be sure to make this
their evil excuse for lending nothing. But here the Hebrew is warned
against such wicked thoughts, lest, refusing to lend to his poor
brother for this cause, the needy one should cry to God, and it should
be accounted sin on the part of the merciless refuser.

10, 11. You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved
when you give unto him: because that for this thing the LORD your God
shall bless you in all your works, and in all that you put your hand
unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land. They would have
done so–they might have done so–if the rule of God had been kept. But
inasmuch as He foresaw that it never would be kept, He also declared,
"the poor shall never cease out of the land."

11. Therefore I command you, saying, You shall open your hand wide unto
your brother, to your poor, and to your needy, in your land. See how
God calls them, not, "the poor," but, "your poor" and, "your needy."
The Church of God

should feel a peculiar property in the poor and needy, as if they were
handed over, in the love of Christ, to His people, that they might care
for them.

12. And if your brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, is sold to
you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let
him go free from you. He might be under an apprenticeship of servitude
for six years, but the seventh year was to be a year of rest to him, as
it was a year of release to debtors, and of rest to the land.

13. And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go
away empty. To begin life, again, with nothing at all in his pocket.

14. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your
threshing floor, and out of your winepress: of that wherewith the LORD
your God has blessed you, you shall give unto him. Who would think of
finding such a law as that on the statute book? Where is there such a
law under any governor but God? The Theocracy would have made a grand
government for Israel if Israel had but been able to walk before God in
faith and obedience!

15. And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of
Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this
thing today. The remembrance of their own deliverance out of Egyptian
bondage was to make them merciful and kind to their own bondservants.

16-18. And it shall be, if he says unto you, I will not go away from
you; because he loves you and your house, because he prospers with you;
then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the
door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also unto your
maidservant you shall do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto you,
when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double
hired servant to you, in serving you six years. He has had no pay. He
has been always at his work. He has been worth two ordinary hired
laborers. Let him go, therefore, and let him not go away empty-handed.

18. And the LORD your God shall bless you in all that you do.