What the Bible says about Land Sabbath
(From Forerunner Commentary)
The land sabbath gives cultivated fields a chance both to rest and return vital nutrients to the soil, allowing it to produce bountifully for an indefinite time. This law enhances the quality of the produce, which leads to healthier people and livestock.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Bible and the Environment
It is not hard to see that man has not been a good steward of the gift and responsibility God gave him to "tend and keep" the earth (Genesis 2:15). He has polluted the air, land, and water he needs to live. In his greed, he has misused the precious resources at his disposal. God promises that there will be a reckoning for this (Revelation 11:18).
What could the earth be like if man worked in harmony with God's instructions on this matter? What will the earth look like, say, fifty years into the Kingdom of God, when the hearts of men are on God's ways and love of neighbor is a way of life? The Bible indicates people will be back on the farm. Micah 4:4 tells us that every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree, meaning that everyone will have the opportunity to own his own land. Jeremiah 31:12 says that the goodness of God will result in "wheat and new wine and oil, . . . the young of the flock and the herd." Amos 9:13-14 predicts:
"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it . . .. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them."
Micah 4:3 is the famous verse about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. This means that people will be able to look forward to enjoying the crops they plant, secure in the knowledge that no one or no invading army will steal or destroy them. In the longer term, a farmer will be able to build up the soil of his farm over many years, bequeathing a productive, prosperous inheritance to his children and grandchildren.
How might life be lived at that time? Perhaps 80% of people will live on the land, farming, ranching, or producing fruit. Towns will be small, perhaps most composed of less than a thousand people, and everyone will know everyone else. Necessary services will be within a short distance, many within walking distance. Industry and retail will be smaller and more localized. Most farms will be about twenty acres or so, depending on what it is used to grow. As little as four acres of well-cared-for land can supply food for a large family and then some. Crops will vary, along with some livestock and chickens for meat and fertilizer, as well as some fruit trees.
Long, hot days in the sun will be a thing of the past, as families will not be in a mad rush to grow crops for cash. Four hours of labor each day will be the normal workday, excepting planting and harvest times, leaving time for other interests. Because the acreage will be smaller, farmers will not have to reap fifty acres of peaches that have all ripened at the same time or pick a hundred-acre crop of cotton in two days. A farmer at the time will likely put about 10% or so of his acreage into a cash crop for needed purchases, and the rest will be for his family's food.
Crops will be rotated to build up the soil, as the roots of different crops grow to varying depths, use different nutrients, and add differing elements to the soil when they decompose. This practice will help with pesky insects too. People will learn to live in harmony even with insects, as 90% of them are helpful to the growing cycle. The other 10% will be controlled naturally, not with indiscriminate and hazardous pesticides.
Each seventh year, there will be no planting, letting the soil rest (Leviticus 25:4). How pleasant it will be, as families will take the time to travel, work on family projects, study a subject intently, or spend the year helping others in their need. Besides this, every seventh day, the whole farm - family and animals - will rest as God has commanded. With everyone pitching in, the Sabbath milking would take only about a half-hour - and then all will get cleaned up and be on their way to Sabbath services to learn God's ways.
This is just a glimpse at how wonderful life will be on a farm in God's Kingdom. Pray that that day will not be long in coming. The way things are going now, it should not be too far away. Nevertheless, we have something to look forward to, a time when we will live at peace with God and His law, with our neighbors, and with the land, working with nature, giving not just taking. Then, farming will be an honorable profession.
James Kelley
The Farm
This is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, we could call it His inaugural address. Jesus began His ministry on a Sabbath. His ministry ended on a preparation day, Passover. He completed the cycle. Major things happened to Christ on the Sabbath, for instance, He was resurrected on a Sabbath. Major things occurred in the history of Israel on the Sabbath as well. All those events draw attention to one supreme purpose for the Sabbath.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 and Isaiah 58:7. "The acceptable year" is not a time when God is acceptable to us, but when God, in His sovereign mercy, moves to make men acceptable to Him. In other words, it is an appointed extension of His grace, of His calling of men, to make them acceptable to Him. It is a time when He moves to deliver people.
More specifically, "an acceptable year" refers to two Old Testament institutions, which these people in Nazareth would have undoubtedly recognized: either 1) to the seventh year land Sabbath or 2) to the Jubilee year. If it was the sabbatical year, think about its purpose: It was given to give the land rest, to relieve it of the responsibility of growing food. The land was to lie fallow and to produce food voluntarily for the poor, for the dispossessed, and for animals. Also in the seventh year, slaves were freed and debts were remitted.
These things, plus an additional one, occurred in the Jubilee year: seized property was restored to its original owners. They may have lost it many years before, but in the Jubilee year they were relieved of the burden of their indebtedness. They were restored the ability and power, therefore, to earn money once again, since all wealth ultimately comes out of the land. This freed them of the burden that they very likely put upon themselves.
In what is Christ's inaugural address, we see that He is stating His mission, and in each point, it involves setting at liberty.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fourth Commandment (Part 2)Related Topics: Freedom | Jubilee | Land Sabbath | Liberation from Bondage | Liberty | Relieving Burdens | Sabbath | Sabbath, Liberating Intent of