seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Leviticus 25:25 “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. 26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27 they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. 28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.
29 “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
29 “‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
Ok... so this seems to be pretty cut in stone.... God owns the land and the Israelites are to settle it and farm it. This is meant to keep all of the land in the hands of the Israelites. Family helps family. But then I get to verse 29 and the rules change again.
Here's what the easy English site says.
The Hebrew word for ‘relative’ is goel. A goel is a member of your family. There is a list of possible goels in verses 48 and 49. Because a brother, uncle or cousin buys the property, it remains in the family. In the Jubilee Year, the poor man could claim back his property. He could even claim it then if the goel had not bought it back. The price to buy back the property before the Jubilee Year depended on the number of years until then.
This is an exception to the Jubilee Year rule. The reason is that in a city with walls there are no fields. And the Jubilee Year rule is only about the return of the land.
There is a good reason for this exception. Some people, who were not Israelites, would join the Israelites. Those people would live in the cities. They should obey God’s law and they should believe God. Then God accepts them as Israelites. But the law about the Jubilee Year is completely fair. So those people do not lose their homes. Their right to live in the cities in Israel is a permanent right.
However, the agricultural workers would live outside the city walls. They had to live near the land where they worked. So when God gave the land back to the original families, he gave them houses to live in, too.
This is an exception to the Jubilee Year rule. The reason is that in a city with walls there are no fields. And the Jubilee Year rule is only about the return of the land.
There is a good reason for this exception. Some people, who were not Israelites, would join the Israelites. Those people would live in the cities. They should obey God’s law and they should believe God. Then God accepts them as Israelites. But the law about the Jubilee Year is completely fair. So those people do not lose their homes. Their right to live in the cities in Israel is a permanent right.
However, the agricultural workers would live outside the city walls. They had to live near the land where they worked. So when God gave the land back to the original families, he gave them houses to live in, too.
Here's how GodVine explains the city dweller issue.
A very proper difference is put between houses in a city and houses in the country. If a man sold his house in the city, he might redeem it any time in the course of a year; but if it were not redeemed within that time, it could no more be redeemed, nor did it go out even in the jubilee. It was not so with a house in the country; such a house might be redeemed during any part of the interim; and if not redeemed, must go out at the jubilee. The reason in both cases is sufficiently evident; the house in the city might be built for purposes of trade or traffic merely, the house in the country was built on or attached to the inheritance which God had divided to the respective families, and it was therefore absolutely necessary that the same law should apply to the house as to the inheritance. But the same necessity did not hold good with respect to the house in the city: and as we may presume the house in the city was merely for the purpose of trade, when a man bought such a house, and got his business established there, it would have been very inconvenient for him to have removed; but as it was possible that the former owner might have sold the house rashly, or through the pressure of some very urgent necessity, a year was allowed him, that during that time he might have leisure to reconsider his rash act, or so to get through his pressing necessity as to be able to get back his dwelling. This time was sufficiently long in either of the above cases; and as such occurrences might have been the cause of his selling his house, it was necessary that he might have the opportunity of redeeming his pledge. Again, as the purchaser, having bought the house merely for the purpose of trade, manufacture, etc., must have been at great pains and expense to fit the place for his work, and establish his business, in which himself, his children, and his children's children, were to labor and get their bread; hence it was necessary that he should have some certainty of permanent possession, without which, we may naturally conjecture, no such purchases ever would be made. This seems to be the simple reason of the law in both cases.
So farm land could never be sold on a permanent basis. Family members could buy them back or get them back during the Jubilee year. The buildings in a walled city were "improved" for business so they could be only be redeemed for a year. After that, whoever owned them could keep them.
Yeah.... I know it's boring reading rules. This will add to the story of Ruth though. It will also make the rest of the reading a little brighter because it's obvious that there is a difference between the Israelites who live in the fields and those who live in the walled city.
