The Rhythms of Rest and Reality Text: Leviticus 25:1-7
Introduction: God's Signature on the Land
We live in an age of frantic, restless exhaustion. Our culture is addicted to the hum of the machine, the glow of the screen, and the relentless pursuit of more. We treat the world, and ourselves, as commodities to be exploited until they are spent. Our fields are strip-mined for maximum yield, our work weeks are stretched to the breaking point, and our souls are frayed. We believe in our own sovereignty, and the result is a world that is perpetually tired, anxious, and on the verge of collapse. We think we own the place, and so we are running it into the ground.
Into this modern madness, the book of Leviticus speaks a word that is both profoundly ancient and startlingly relevant. For many, Leviticus is a dusty attic of strange laws about skin diseases and mysterious sacrifices. But if you have eyes to see, you will find that Leviticus, and particularly this Holiness Code, is laying down the very grammar of a sane and godly society. It is a blueprint for a world that acknowledges reality. And the fundamental reality is this: God is God, and we are not. He is the Creator, and we are the creatures. He is the owner, and we are the stewards.
The laws of the Sabbatical Year, or the Shemitah, are a direct assault on the idolatry of human autonomy. They are a frontal attack on the lie that we are self-sufficient, that the world is ours to manage according to our own exhaustive plans, and that our security rests in our own frantic efforts. Modern man, whether he is a Marxist or a capitalist, believes that man is the master of the material world. The Bible teaches that God is the master of the material world, and He has assigned us to be His tenants. And tenants have to live by the landlord's rules.
This passage is not some quaint agrarian policy for a bygone era. It is a theological declaration of the highest order. It establishes a rhythm of work and rest that is woven into the very fabric of creation. It teaches us about economics, about ecology, about social justice, and ultimately, it teaches us about the gospel of Jesus Christ. To ignore this passage is to misunderstand the nature of the world God made, the society He intends, and the rest He provides in His Son.
The Text
Yahweh then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I am giving to you, then the land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to Yahweh; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord from your harvest you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be for food; for you and your male and female slaves and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who sojourn with you. Even your cattle and the beasts that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.'"
(Leviticus 25:1-7 LSB)
The Landlord's Prerogative (v. 1-2)
The instruction begins with God speaking to Moses, grounding this law in divine authority, and then it lays down the foundational principle.
"Yahweh then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I am giving to you, then the land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh.'" (Leviticus 25:1-2)
Notice first where this command originates: "Yahweh then spoke." This is not a suggestion from the Department of Agriculture. This is not a proposal from an economic think tank. This is a direct command from the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. All sane economics, all sane politics, all sane living, begins with a listening ear to the Word of God.
Second, notice the premise of their possession of the land: "When you come into the land which I am giving to you." The land is a gift. They do not earn it by their righteousness, they do not conquer it by their own strength, and they do not own it in any ultimate sense. God gives it. This establishes the Creator/creature distinction right at the heart of their national and economic life. Because God is the giver, He retains the ultimate property rights. Later in this same chapter, God makes this explicit: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me" (Lev. 25:23). This is the deathblow to all forms of materialism and secular humanism. We are not owners; we are tenants on God's earth.
Because the land is His, it is to operate according to His rhythms. "The land shall have a sabbath to Yahweh." This is a staggering concept. The Sabbath principle, established in creation week, is not just for mankind. It is for the creation itself. The very soil is to participate in the rhythm of rest and worship. This tells us that creation is not just a collection of inert "natural resources" for us to exploit. It is God's handiwork, and it is designed to function in a covenantal relationship with Him. When we honor God, the land is fruitful. When we rebel, the land itself vomits us out (Lev. 18:28). This is not animism or pantheism; it is covenantal realism. The creation responds to the moral condition of its stewards.
The Rhythm of Trust (v. 3-5)
The next verses lay out the practical outworking of this land-sabbath. It is a rhythm of diligent work followed by a radical act of trust.
"Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to Yahweh; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord from your harvest you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year." (Leviticus 25:3-5 LSB)
The command presupposes six years of hard work. The Sabbath principle is not an excuse for laziness. "Six years you shall sow... and prune... and gather." God blesses diligence. The man who refuses to work should not eat (2 Thess. 3:10). But the diligence is bounded. It is not a frantic, seven-year scramble. It is a six-year marathon, followed by a year of commanded, radical inactivity.
In the seventh year, they were to do nothing to cultivate the land. No sowing, no pruning. This was an act of profound, national faith. It was a test. Do you trust Me, or do you trust your own efforts? Do you believe that I am the one who gives the increase, or do you think it all depends on your frantic plowing and planting? Every seventh year, the entire nation of Israel had to put their economy where their mouth was. They had to live as though God were real and His promises were true. A modern economist would call this insanity. A secular agronomist would call it irresponsible. God calls it faithfulness.
But the command goes even further. They were not even to reap the "volunteer" crop, what grew of its own accord. They were not to gather the grapes from their untrimmed vines. This was not their food to hoard. This strikes at the very heart of the anxiety that drives our greed. We work ourselves to the bone because we are terrified of not having enough. We hoard and accumulate because we do not trust God to provide. This law forces the hand. It says, "Stop. Let go. Trust Me. I am your provider, not your portfolio." This is a practical, nationwide lesson in the first petition of the Lord's prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread."
A Common Grace Feast (v. 6-7)
So if they are not to reap and gather for themselves, what happens to the food that grows? God's provision is not locked away; it is opened up for all.
"And the sabbath produce of the land shall be for food; for you and your male and female slaves and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who sojourn with you. Even your cattle and the beasts that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat." (Leviticus 25:6-7 LSB)
The volunteer crop becomes a great, year-long potluck for the entire community. Notice the radical inclusivity of this provision. It is for "you," the landowner. But it is also for your male and female slaves, your hired workers, and the foreigner living among you. The social distinctions that might regulate property rights during the six years are temporarily suspended. The land, in its rest, provides for everyone without discrimination. This is not a form of collectivism or proto-communism, where the state seizes and redistributes wealth. This is a God-ordained, temporary jubilee where the owner voluntarily relinquishes his exclusive claim on the produce as an act of worship and trust in the true Owner.
This is the principle of gleaning writ large. The poor were not to be dependent on handouts. They were given access to the means of production, the land itself, to gather their own food. This preserves their dignity while providing for their needs. It is a system of social welfare that is based on God's ownership and man's responsibility, not on bureaucratic coercion.
And the provision extends even to the animals. "Even your cattle and the beasts that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat." This is a picture of shalom. It is a foretaste of that redeemed creation where the wolf will lie down with the lamb. God's Sabbath rest is comprehensive. It blesses man, it blesses the land, and it blesses the beasts of the field. This is the kind of holistic, all-encompassing peace that God intends for His creation.
The Sabbatical Rest We Now Have
Now, as New Covenant believers, we are not required to follow the letter of this law. We are not under the judicial code given to the nation of Israel. But if we think this passage has nothing to say to us, we are profoundly mistaken. According to the Westminster Confession, the judicial laws of Israel expired along with the state of that people, but the "general equity" thereof still applies. So what is the general equity, the underlying principle, of the Sabbatical Year?
First, it teaches us that all our work must be founded on a principle of rest. In the New Covenant, this pattern is gloriously reordered. The Old Covenant was work, then rest. Six days of labor, then the Sabbath. Six years of sowing, then the Sabbatical Year. But in the New Covenant, we begin with rest. Our Sabbath is the first day of the week, the Lord's Day, the day of Resurrection. We begin our week by celebrating the finished work of Jesus Christ. Our work for the next six days flows from that rest, not toward it. We do not work in order to be accepted; we work because we are accepted. We do not labor to earn our salvation; we labor because our salvation has been earned for us.
The Sabbatical Year was a shadow of the great, final rest that we have entered in Christ. The author of Hebrews tells us, "There remains therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:9-10). To become a Christian is to enter your Sabbatical Year. It is to cease from the frantic, soul-crushing labor of trying to justify yourself by your own works. It is to stop trying to sow and prune and gather a righteousness of your own. It is to rest in the finished work of another. It is to feast on the "volunteer crop" of His grace, a harvest you did not sow and do not deserve.
And this has profound economic and social implications for us. The principle of God's ownership means we must reject all covetousness and materialism. We are stewards, not owners. The principle of trust means we must fight the anxiety that leads to workaholism and hoarding. We must build rhythms of rest into our lives, our families, and our businesses. The principle of provision for the poor means our churches must be places of radical generosity, caring for the needy in a way that preserves dignity and promotes responsibility. We are to be a people whose entire lives, our work, our worship, our finances, our relationships, are a testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that in Him, we have found our true and final Sabbath.