The Fifth Book of Moses, called Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy 15
Chapter XV · Vol. I, pp. 504–505
1 The seventh year a year of release for the poor. 7 It must be no hindrance to lending or giving. 12 An Hebrew servant, 16 except he will not depart, must in the seventh year go forth free and well furnished. 19 All firstling males of the cattle are to be sanctified unto the Lord.
1 AT the end of aevery seven years thou shalt make a release.
a Le. 25.2-4. Ex. 21.2; 23.10,11. ch. 31.10. Je. 34.14. Lu. 4.18. Is. 61.1,2; 63.4.
2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth1 ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD's release.
1 Heb. master of the lending of his hand.
3 Ofb a foreigner thou mayest exact it again, but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
b ch. 23.20. Eze. 46.17. Mat. 25.14. Lu. 19.13. Jn. 8.35.
4 Save2 when there shall be no poor among you;3 for the LORD shall cgreatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
2 Or, to the end that there be no poor among you.
3 The translators have placed on their margin a different rendering, thus—'To the end that there be no poor among you,' which brings this verse into perfect consistency with ver. 11, which says, 'The poor shall never cease out of the land,' that is, the poor will never cease from time to time to arise for trial and exercise of your compassion and liberality; and you shall never cease from time to time to pity and supply their wants, to the end that there be no permanent poor among you, because none unrelieved.—C.
c Pr. 14.21; 11.24,25; 28.27. Is. 58.10,11.
5 Onlyd if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
d ch. 4.1; 6.1,3; 11.13,23. Phi. 1.27. Ps. 19.11. Is. 1.19,20; 3.10,11. 1 Co. 15.58. 1 Ti. 4.8. Tit. 3.8.
6 For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and ethou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.4
e ch. 28.12,44. Ps. 37.21,26. Pr. 22.7.
4 Wealth is here set forth as the source of real power. It is exemplified at the present moment in Europe and Western Asia. The influence which rich Jews exercise upon the affairs of nations can scarcely be conceived.—P.
7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou fshalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother;
8 Butg thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
g Mat. 5.42. Lu. 6.34-36. 2 Co. 9.5,6. Ps. 104.28; 145.16. Pr. 31.20. ver. 11.
9 Bewareh that there be not a thought5 in thy wicked6 heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought, and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be isin unto thee.
10 Thou shalt ksurely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.7
k Ro. 12.8. 2 Co. 9.7. Lu. 7.30,35. Is. 58.10,11. Pr. 11.24,25; 19.17.
7 It is manifest from this verse that in regard to the poor at least the release was to be absolute. Whatever had been lent, if it could not be repaid before the year of release—if poverty rendered payment impossible—then the debt was to be cancelled.—P.
11 For the lpoor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, mThou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
12 And nif thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou oshalt not let him go away empty:
o Le. 25.42,45. Pr. 30.9; 3.27,28. Ep. 1.3; 3.19. 1 Co. 3.22. Ro. 8.32. Col. 2.10; 3.11.
14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.
15 And thou pshalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to-day.
p ch. 16.12. Le. 25.42. Ex. 20.2, &c. Ep. 2.1-22. Tit. 2.11-14. Lu. 1.74,75.
16 And it shall be, qif he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; (because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee;)
17 Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant rfor ever:8 and also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise.9
r Le. 25.39-42, till death, or the year of jubilee.
8 For ever. This phrase always signifies that the thing of which it is spoken is unlimited in time. It is an absolute for ever where no limit exists, as when it is said, 'The Lord shall endure for ever,' Ps. 9. 7; or a relative for ever, where such limit as in the text is either implied or declared.—C.
9 This form of procedure was gone through under the cognizance of the magistrate, Ex. 21. 5, 6. Whatever was the meaning or origin of this practice, it was one common in the East, and is very frequently alluded to by ancient heathen writers. Some such regulations were of great importance both to the slave, to show that there was on the one hand no claim to detain him beyond the period of release if he did not desire it; and on the other no pretence for turning him off when old or enfeebled, or unable to provide for himself. It appears from the passage that female servants were purchased for labour only as well as males, and that they were under the same regulation.—I.
18 It shall not seem shard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a tdouble hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
s ver. 14.
t Lu. 17.7,8. Is. 16.14; 21.16. Hired servants stayed three years, and this stayed six.
19 Allu the firstling males that come of thy herd, and of thy flock, thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the xfirstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep:
u Ex. 13.2,12; 34.19. Le. 27.26. Nu. 3.10; 18.17. Col. 1.15,18. Re. 14.4.
x Second firstlings, ch. 12.5-7,17,18; 14.23. Nu. 18.15.
20 Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year, in the place which the LORD shall choose, thou and thy household.
21 Andy if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God:
y ch. 17.1. Le. 22.20-25; 1.3,10; 3.1,6; 4.3,28; 9.3; 14.10; 5.5,18; 6.6. Nu. 19.2. Mal. 1.8,13,14. He. 7.26. 1 Pe. 1.19.
22 Thou shalt eat zit within thy gates; the unclean and the clean person shall eat it 1alike, as the roe-buck, and as the hart.
z ch. 12.21,22.
1 As common food.
23 Onlya thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
a ch. 12.16,23. Ge. 9.4. Le. 3.17; 7.26; 17.10,12,14. 1 Sa. 14.32. Eze. 33.25.
Notes
[Ver. 1. Release. The intelligent Brown Patterson, in his note on this passage in the commentary of his revered relative, understands by release, a mere suspension of the demand for the current year. Le Clerc and Michaelis are of the same opinion, and Josephus must be understood as agreeing with them, as he mentions the extinction of debts every fiftieth year, and is silent about it on the seventh. From considering the whole passage to ver. 12, we are nevertheless convinced that this was another specimen of the Mosaic poor-laws, and that it required the entire extinction of all the money debts (but no others) of the absolutely poor. A law which, as an auxiliary to the other Mosaic poor-laws, we believe to be more preservative of good character in the poor, more exciting to benevolence in the rich, more encouraging to individual industry, and in the end more economical to the nation, than any other poor-law of mere human devising. C.]
Ver. 6. [Lend. The Jews, ever since the time of their dispersion, have been known in Europe as the most active money-agents; the very circumstance of their dispersion giving them means of intelligence and management which no other people possess; and by their power over the rates of exchange, and of giving or withholding credit to governments, they have largely influenced the destinies of many nations in whose counsels they never appeared. C.]
Ver. 8. [Lend. Ex. 22. 25 provided against the extortion of usury from the poor; the text enforces the duty of lending. Together they form an important branch of the Mosaic poor-laws, and an essential requisite in Christian character. C.]
Ver. 9. [Cry unto the Lord against thee. Not in the language of imprecation or curse against him who refuses to supply the idle or the profligate, but in the language of a suffering child, crying to its heavenly Father in its distress, and making known its wants to him who 'feeds the ravens when they cry,' and 'will not disregard the sighing of the needy.' C.]
Reflections.—In this year of release I behold the acceptable, the evangelical, and the eternal year of God's redeemed; in which we, infinite debtors to the law and justice of God, are justified from all things: and we, bond-sinners of mankind, are restored to our liberty, and enriched by his grace with blessings innumerable and everlasting. But let me think also how irreligious and inhumane is severity towards poor but honest debtors; it entails a curse upon our property. And it is base to make God's kindness to the poor an occasion of our unkindness to them. To refuse lending to them, if industrious, when we have God to be their surety, who will repay us with usury, is absurd: but especially it is dangerous to have their cry ascending to heaven against us. And often will it be found, what we call prudence, in withholding from them, is held extremely sinful and criminal before God. He knows and remarks every thought of our hearts; and it is not so much the gift as the temper of the giver that he regards. Servants likewise ought to be treated with tenderness and kindness, especially if found faithful.—It is important to watch against every suggestion which may divert us from our duty, or discourage us in it.—But while in these firstlings I see Jesus, and all his redeemed, devoted to the honour of God, according to their respective purity and stations, let me think with what exactness everything belonging to the Lord ought to be used in his service in the very manner prescribed by himself.