Archive for the ‘Daily Bible Study & Questions’ Category

January 12th, 2020 Daily Bible Study & Questions No Comments »

Leviticus 25:47-55 Strangers Too

Indentured servitude is a direct descendent of what God’s law covers. But there is likely a BIG difference in practice.

The last time we were together we looked at how a “brother” or “neighbor” should treat one another who had financial issues. We will now look at strangers too.

When we were reading about how a poor person could sell himself to his fellow Israelite we saw that this person could not be treated as a slave but a “hired worker.” They had to be treated better than slaves AND they had to be released at the year of Jubilee. Brothers could not hold brothers longer than the Jubilee.

But what if the poor man decides to sell himself/his services to someone who was not an Israelite? Well, God addressed that too. Read more »

January 11th, 2020 Daily Bible Study & Questions No Comments »

Leviticus 25:35-46 Poor Brothers

PRAISE GOD He doesn’t leave us here!

God calls for kindness to a fellow Israelite when he falls on hard times. I wish that God had forbidden slavery of all men at this time but He didn’t.

There were a few reasons most people wound up in slavery. The first is if they were conquered by and invading army. The losers of the battle would become the spoils for the victors. This happened many times in many different nations.

A second way was a result of financial difficulty. An individual would be unable to pay his debts and end up on the auction block. Or a father would have so many children he couldn’t feed them and instead sell them to gain money and decrease his demand load. Still yet, a man would find himself without means to work his fields and sell himself to another and give the proceeds to his family to carry on in his absence. Read more »

January 10th, 2020 Daily Bible Study & Questions No Comments »

Leviticus 25:23-34 Redeeming Property

Houses my change over time but “Home” never does. There is NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

God is watchful over the property HE gives to Israel. It doesn’t “belong” to them but to Him. And He has rules regarding its sale.

We touched on this the last time we were together when we discussed the year of Jubilee. We saw that the property sold between Jubilee years reverted back to the original owner at the next occurrence. This change of hands was free of charge for the original “owners.”

I was thinking about how it would feel if I were the one living in the “borrowed” property when the Jubilee came. Jubilee only happened every 50 years. I wonder how many Jubilee years the average person saw. Moses lived to be 120 years old. Jubilee counting didn’t happen in his lifetime because it was for after they got to the Promised Land. But how many times would an average Israelite have to pick up stakes and move out of a house they had occupied for most of their life because of Jubilee? Read more »

January 9th, 2020 Daily Bible Study & Questions No Comments »

Leviticus 25:8-22 Jubilee Years

Time to start again. The return of what was lost.

God calls for a rebalancing every 50 years. The slates are cleared and the people return to their allotments in the Promised Land that God has prepared.

The year of Jubilee would become very important to the people of Israel. First was the fact that, even if you lost your house due to circumstances beyond your control, on the year of Jubilee it came back to you completely. This requirement would impact the property value and long term contract.

How many years were left before the next Jubilee impacted the price one could sell their property for. The fewer the years before the Jubilee the lower the selling price. At the same time the more years before the Jubilee the larger the selling price. God insisted on fairness here. The price was required to be adjusted to reflect the actual use that the new owner would get. Read more »

January 8th, 2020 Daily Bible Study & Questions No Comments »

Leviticus 25:1-7 Sabbath Year

God is ALWAYS the provider of the harvest but during the Sabbath year it is even more evident!

God calls for a rest for the land as well as the people. This practice is to begin once they take possession of the Promised Land.

Many experts in land use will tell you to rotate your fields and to give your field fallow times too. This is to keep the soil from being depleted. Different crops use different minerals out of the soil. Some need higher nitrate concentration while others require more phosphorus. As soil is a living ecosystem it is important to care for it if you want it to continue to grow healthy crops.

Surprise! God knew this too and put it into His Law to ensure His children respected it. God called for every seventh year for the cultivation of crops to stop. No plowing. No planting. No large harvesting. No pruning the grape vines. No harvesting the grapes. No wine production. None of the agricultural activities that would provide for a family’s sustenance AND income. Read more »