The Gospel According to Jubilee Text: Leviticus 25:47-55
Introduction: God's Economics
We live in an age that is economically illiterate, and this is because it is theologically illiterate. Our culture thinks of economics in terms of cold, impersonal forces, supply and demand, charts and graphs, and the unforgiving bottom line. But God's economics are intensely personal. They are covenantal. They are rooted in the fundamental reality of who God is, who we are, and who owns the whole operation. And as we see in our text today, God's economics are shot through with the glorious theme of redemption.
Leviticus 25 lays out the principles of the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee. These were not suggestions for a utopian commune; they were the very laws that structured Israel's life in the land. They were designed to prevent the kind of generational, grinding poverty that characterized the pagan nations surrounding them. The Jubilee, occurring every fiftieth year, was a great reset button. The land returned to its original family, and debts were canceled. But most importantly, as we will see, fellow Israelites who had fallen into servitude were set free. This was God's built-in defense against a permanent underclass.
Now, we must be careful here. When moderns hear the word "slavery," their minds immediately go to the chattel slavery of the American South, a brutal, race-based, man-stealing system that the Bible condemns in the strongest possible terms (Exodus 21:16). The system described here in Leviticus is something entirely different. It is a form of voluntary, temporary indentured servitude, a last-resort social safety net for a man in desperate poverty. It was a way to work off a debt without starving his family. It was more like a long-term labor contract than anything we would call slavery. But even this arrangement, which was a merciful provision in a fallen world, was hedged about with divine restrictions, all pointing to a much greater reality.
The passage before us deals with a very specific, and perhaps troubling, scenario: what happens when an Israelite becomes so poor that he has to sell his labor not to a fellow Israelite, but to a wealthy foreigner living in the land? This presents a particular spiritual danger, and God's law provides a particular and glorious remedy. In these detailed regulations, we see a picture of our own condition, the price of our redemption, and the ultimate ownership of our Redeemer.
The Text
‘Now if the means of a sojourner or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a brother of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a sojourner who resides with you or to the descendants of a sojourner’s family, then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. If there are still many years, he shall return part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption; and if few years remain until the year of jubilee, he shall so calculate with him. In proportion to his years he shall return the amount for his redemption. Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not have dominion over him with brutality in your sight. Even if he is not redeemed by these means, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. For the sons of Israel are My slaves; they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
(Leviticus 25:47-55 LSB)
The Plight and the Provision (vv. 47-49)
The law anticipates a specific, difficult circumstance:
"‘Now if the means of a sojourner or of a foreign resident with you becomes sufficient, and a brother of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a sojourner who resides with you or to the descendants of a sojourner’s family, then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself." (Leviticus 25:47-49)
Notice the situation. A foreigner, a sojourner, has prospered in Israel. This is not forbidden; God's law was a blessing to the alien who lived among them. But at the same time, an Israelite, a "brother," has fallen on hard times and must sell his labor to this wealthy foreigner. This is a precarious position. An Israelite serving a pagan could be drawn into idolatry or treated according to pagan customs, not God's law. Therefore, God immediately establishes the central provision: the right of redemption. The man is sold, but he is not lost. He is redeemable.
This right of redemption is not some abstract legal principle; it is a family duty. The responsibility falls to the goel, the kinsman-redeemer. The law specifies the order of responsibility: a brother, an uncle, a cousin, any near blood relative. This is covenantal solidarity in action. The family was not just a sentimental unit; it was an economic and spiritual fortress. When one member fell, the others were divinely obligated to lift him up. This was not optional charity; it was the law of God. The family was to buy back their brother's freedom.
And notice the final option: "if he prospers, he may redeem himself." This preserves the man's dignity and agency. His servitude was not meant to crush him, but to be a temporary state from which he could, by God's grace and his own industry, rise again. This whole structure is a beautiful picture of grace. The man is in a hopeless state of debt, but a way out is provided through the intervention of a kinsman who is willing to pay the price.
The Righteous Calculation (vv. 50-53)
The law then lays out the financial mechanics of this redemption, and it is a model of fairness and justice.
"He then with his purchaser shall calculate from the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of jubilee; and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him... In proportion to his years he shall return the amount for his redemption. Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not have dominion over him with brutality in your sight." (Leviticus 25:50-53)
The redemption price was not arbitrary. It was not left to the whim of the foreign master. The price was based on the number of years of service remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. This is crucial. The man did not sell himself into permanent slavery; he sold a specific number of years of his labor. The Jubilee was the fixed end point. So, if a man sold himself forty years before the Jubilee, his initial price would be high. If his kinsman came to redeem him after ten years, he would have to pay for the thirty years of labor that were still owed. It was a simple, prorated system.
This calculation reveals a profound theological truth: God owns time. The foreigner did not buy the man; he bought a portion of his time. But all time ultimately belongs to God, and the Jubilee was God's great reclamation project. This system prevented exploitation. The master could not charge an exorbitant price for redemption, because the price was fixed by God's calendar.
Furthermore, the law insists on humane treatment. "Like a man hired year by year he shall be with him; he shall not have dominion over him with brutality in your sight." An Israelite was never to be treated as chattel. He was to be treated as a hired hand, a temporary employee. And the standard of treatment was public: "in your sight." The community of Israel was responsible for ensuring that their brother was not abused. This was not a private contract; it was a matter of public, covenantal righteousness.
The Ultimate Backstop and the Ultimate Reason (vv. 54-55)
What if no kinsman-redeemer comes? What if the man never prospers enough to buy back his own freedom? God provides a final, glorious safety net.
"Even if he is not redeemed by these means, he shall still go out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. For the sons of Israel are My slaves; they are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God." (Leviticus 25:54-55)
The Jubilee is the ultimate release. No matter what, when the trumpet sounded on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, the debt was canceled. The man and his children went free. Liberty was proclaimed throughout the land. This was God's sovereign, unilateral act of grace. It was a promise that no Israelite's bondage could ever be permanent. There was always hope on the horizon. The Jubilee was a promise that God would have the last word.
And why? Verse 55 gives us the bedrock, foundational reason for all of it. "For the sons of Israel are My slaves." This is the key that unlocks the whole chapter. An Israelite cannot be sold into permanent slavery to a man because he is already a permanent slave to God. The word here is slave, ebed. It's the same word. You cannot have two ultimate masters. The foreigner's claim on the Israelite was temporary and limited. God's claim was absolute and eternal.
God's ownership was established by an act of redemption. "They are My slaves whom I brought out from the land of Egypt." God paid the redemption price for the entire nation. He bought them out of the brickyards of Egypt, not with silver or gold, but with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. The exodus was the ultimate act of manumission and purchase. Because He redeemed them, He owned them. Therefore, for an Israelite to be permanently owned by another man would be an act of cosmic theft. It would be to deny God's prior and ultimate ownership. The chapter ends with God's signature on the title deed: "I am Yahweh your God." He is the Lord, the covenant keeper, the Redeemer.
Christ, Our Kinsman-Redeemer
This entire passage is a magnificent, detailed portrait of the gospel. It is a story about us. We, like the impoverished Israelite, were in a state of desperate spiritual poverty. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We had sold ourselves into bondage to a foreign power, to sin, death, and the devil. We were in a debt we could never hope to repay.
And we needed a kinsman-redeemer. But no mere man could pay the price. No brother, no uncle, no cousin had the resources to buy us back from the curse of the law. So the eternal Son of God became our kinsman. He took on our flesh and blood, "that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus Christ is our Goel. He is our near kinsman who was not ashamed to call us brothers.
He came to the slave market of this world and calculated the price of our redemption. And the price was not prorated based on the years until Jubilee. The price was His own precious blood. He paid the debt in full. He did not just purchase our labor for a time; He purchased us, body and soul, for eternity.
And because He has redeemed us, He owns us. We are not our own; we were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are His slaves. This is not a demeaning status; it is our highest glory. To be a slave of Christ is the only true freedom there is. It is freedom from the brutal, foreign dominion of sin. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. He does not rule over us with brutality, but with lovingkindness and tender mercy.
And for us, the Jubilee has already sounded. When Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth, He read from the prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me... to proclaim liberty to the captives... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19). That "acceptable year" is the Year of Jubilee. Jesus announced that in Him, the great reset had come. The debt is canceled. The slaves are set free. We have been restored to our ancestral inheritance, which is fellowship with God the Father.
Therefore, we must live as redeemed people. We must never again sell ourselves into bondage to the foreign gods of this age, money, sex, power, approval. We belong to another. We have been bought by the blood of our Kinsman, and we serve the Master whose ownership is our freedom and our everlasting joy.