Dictionary of Bible Themes » 7000 God's people » 7300 Institutions and culture of OT » 7428 Sabbath » 7431 Sabbath, sabbatical year
Just as the seventh day was observed as a day of rest, so the OT regarded every seventh year as a sabbath year, to be set aside for rest.
The sabbath year
As a time for leaving fields fallow
Exodus 23:10-11 See also Leviticus 25:4; Leviticus 26:34; Nehemiah 10:31 An important feature was the opportunity for the poor to benefit from unharvested fields.
As a time for cancelling debts
Deuteronomy 15:1 See also Deuteronomy 15:9; Deuteronomy 31:10; Nehemiah 10:31
As a time for freeing slaves
Deuteronomy 15:12 See also Jeremiah 34:14
The Year of Jubilee as seven Sabbaths
Leviticus 25:8-12
See also
1653 numbers, 6-10 4206 land 6658 freedom 7447 slavery, in OT 7482 Year of Jubilee
