And six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in the fruits thereof:
And six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in the fruits thereof:
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof:
For six years put seed into your fields and get in the increase;
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof:
This is the first mention of the Sabbatical year; the law for it is given at length in Leviticus 25:2. Both the Sabbatical year and the weekly Sabbath are here spoken of exclusively in their relation to the poor, as bearing testimony to the equality of the people in their covenant with Yahweh. In the first of these institutions, the proprietor of the soil gave up his rights for the year to the whole community of living creatures, not excepting the beasts: in the latter, the master gave up his claim for the day to the services of his servants and cattle.
23:10 The institution of the sabbatical year was designed, 1. To shew what a plentiful land that was, into which God was bringing them, that so numerous a people could have rich maintenance out of the products of so small a country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase of every seventh year. 2. To teach them a confidence in the Divine Providence, while they did their duty, That as the sixth day's manna served for two days meat, so the sixth year's increase should serve for two years subsistence.