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Leviticus 25

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1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you shall have entered into the land which I will give you, observe the rest of the sabbath to the Lord.

3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field and Six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and shalt gather the fruits thereof:

4 But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath to the land, of the resting of the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

5 What the ground shall bring forth of itself, thou shalt not reap: neither shalt thou gather the grapes of the firstfruits as a vintage: for it is a year of rest to the land:

6 But they shall be unto you for meat, to thee and to thy manservant, to thy maidservant and thy hireling, and to the strangers that sojourn with thee:

7 All things that grow shall be meat to thy beasts and to thy cattle.

8 Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years, that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years:

9 And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land.

10 And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family:

11 Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the firstfruits of the vines,

12 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee: but as they grow you shall presently eat them.

13 In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions.

14 When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him; grieve not thy brother: but thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee.

15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits.

16 The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits.

17 Do not afflict your countrymen, but let every one fear his God: because I am the Lord your God.

18 Do my precepts, and keep my judgments, and fulfil them: that you may dwell in the land without any fear,

19 And the ground may yield you its fruits, of which you may eat your fill, fearing no mall's invasion.

20 But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits?

21 I will give you my blessing the sixth year, and it shall yield the fruits of three years:

22 And the eighth year you shall sow, and shall eat of the old fruits, until the ninth year: till new grow up, you shall eat the old store.

23 The land also shall not be sold for ever: because it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me.

24 For which cause all the country of your possession shall be under the condition of redemption.

25 If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, and his kinsman will, he may redeem what he had sold.

26 But if he have no kinsman, and he himself can find the price to redeem it:

27 The value of the fruits shall be counted from that time when he sold it: and the overplus he shall restore to the buyer, and so shall receive his possession again.

28 But if his hands find not the means to repay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the year of the jubilee. For in that year all that is sold shall return to the owner, and to the ancient possessor.

29 He that selleth a house within the walls of a city, shall have the liberty to redeem it, until one year be expired:

30 If he redeem it not, and the whole year be fully out, the buyer shall possess it, and his posterity for ever, and it can- not be redeemed, not even in the jubilee.

31 But if the house be in a village, that hath no walls, it shall be sold according to the same law as the fields: if it be not redeemed before, in the jubilee it shall return to the owner.

32 The houses of Levites, which are in cities, may always be redeemed:

33 If they be not redeemed, in the jubilee they shall all return to the owners, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are for their possessions among the children of Israel.

34 But let not their suburbs be sold, because it is a perpetual possession.

35 If thy brother be impoverished, and weak of hand, and thou receive him as a stranger and sojourner, and he live with thee,

36 Take not usury of him nor more than thou gavest: fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.

37 Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor exact of him any increase of fruits.

38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might give you the land of Chanaan, and might be your God.

39 If thy brother constrained by poverty, sell himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him with the service of bondservants:

40 But he shall be as a hireling, and a sojourner: he shall work with thee until the year of the jubilee,

41 And afterwards he shall go out with his children, and shall return to his kindred and to the possession of his fathers,

42 For they are my servants, and I brought them out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen:

43 Afflict him not by might, but fear thy God.

44 Let your bondmen, and your bondwomen, be of the nations that are round about you.

45 And of the strangers that sojourn among you, or that were born of them in your land, these you shall have for servants:

46 And by right of inheritance shall leave them to your posterity, and shall possess them for ever. But oppress not your brethren the children of Israel by might.

47 If the hand of a stranger or a sojourner grow strong among you, and thy brother being impoverished sell himself to him, or to any of his race:

48 After the sale he may be redeemed. He that will of his brethren shall redeem him:

49 Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, or his kinsman, by blood, or by affinity. But if he himself be able also, he shall redeem himself,

50 Counting only the years from the time of his selling unto the year of the jubilee: and counting the money that he was sold for, according to the number of the years and the reckoning of a hired servant,

51 If there be many years that remain until the jubilee, according to them shall he also repay the price.

52 If few, he shall make the reckoning with him according to the number of the years, and shall repay to the buyer of what remaineth of the years,

53 His wages being allowed for which he served before: he shall not afflict him violently in thy sight.

54 And if by these means he cannot be redeemed, in the year of the jubilee he shall go out with his children.

55 For the children of Israel are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 946

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946. Because thy judgments have been made manifest. That this signifies that Divine truths are revealed to them, is evident from the signification of judgments, as denoting Divine truths, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of being manifested, as denoting to be revealed. That Divine truths are revealed at the end of the church, and that they have been revealed, will be shown in what follows in this chapter, because the subject there treated of is concerning them.

The reason why judgments signify Divine truths is, that the laws of government in the Lord's spiritual kingdom are called judgments; but the laws of government in the Lord's celestial kingdom are called justice. For the laws of government in the Lord's spiritual kingdom are laws from Divine truth, whereas the laws of government in the Lord's celestial kingdom are laws from Divine Good. This is why judgment and justice are mentioned in the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

"There shall be no end to peace upon the throne of David, to establish it, and to uphold it in judgment and justice from now and for ever" (9:7).

This speaks of the Lord and His kingdom. His spiritual kingdom is signified by the throne of David; and because this kingdom is in Divine truths from the Divine Good, it is said, in "judgment and justice."

In Jeremiah:

"I will raise up to David a just shoot, and he shall reign a king, and he shall act intelligently, and shall execute judgment and justice" (23:5).

These words also are spoken of the Lord, and of His spiritual kingdom. And since this kingdom is in Divine truths from the Divine Good, it is said that He shall reign a King, and shall act intelligently, and that He shall execute judgment and justice. The Lord is called King from Divine truth. And whereas Divine truth is also Divine intelligence, it is said that He shall act intelligently. And because Divine truth is from the Divine Good, it is said that He shall execute judgment and justice.

[2] In Isaiah:

"Jehovah shall be exalted; for he dwelleth on high; he hath filled Zion with judgment and justice" (33:5).

By Zion is meant heaven and the church, where the Lord reigns by Divine truth. And because all Divine truth is from Divine Good, it is said, "He hath filled Zion with judgment and justice."

In Jeremiah:

"I Jehovah, doing justice and judgment in the earth; for in these I am well pleased" (9:24).

Here also by judgment and justice is signified Divine truth from the Divine Good.

In Isaiah:

"They shall ask of me the judgments of justice; they shall desire to draw near unto God" (58:2).

The judgments of justice are Divine truths from the Divine Good. Similarly judgment and justice; for the spiritual sense conjoins those things the sense of the letter separates.

In Hosea:

"I will betroth thee to me for ever; and I will betroth thee to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and in truth" (2:19, 20).

The subject there treated of is the celestial kingdom of the Lord, which consists of those who are in love to the Lord. And because the Lord's conjunction with them is comparatively like the conjunction of a husband with a wife - for the good of love so conjoins - therefore it is said, I will betroth thee to me in justice and judgment. And justice is mentioned in the first place, and judgment in the second, because those who are in the good of love to the Lord are also in truths; for they see them from good. Because justice is said of good, and judgment of truth, therefore it is also said, in mercy and in truth; mercy being also said of good, because it is of love.

[3] In David:

"Jehovah is in the heavens; thy justice as the mountains of God, and thy judgments as a great abyss" (Psalm 36:5, 6).

Justice is said of Divine Good, therefore it is compared to the mountains of God; for by mountains of God are signified the goods of love; see above (n. 405, 510, 850). And judgments are said of Divine truths, therefore they are compared to a great abyss; for by a great abyss is signified Divine truth. From these things it is now evident that by judgments are signified Divine truths.

[4] In many passages in the Word, judgments, precepts, and statutes are mentioned. And by judgments are there signified civil laws; by precepts the laws of spiritual life; and by statutes the laws of worship. That by judgments are signified civil laws, is clear from Exodus (Exodus 21, 22, 23), where the things that are there commanded are called judgments; because from them judgments were given by judges in the gates of the city. But still they signify Divine truths, such as are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens, for they contain them in the spiritual sense, as is evident from the explanation in Arcana Coelestia (n. 8971-9103, 9124-9231, 9247-9348).

That the laws with the sons of Israel were called judgments, precepts, and statutes, is clear from the following passages:-

In Moses:

"I will speak unto thee all the precepts, the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them" (Deuteronomy 5:31).

In the same:

"These are the precepts, the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you" (Deuteronomy 6:1).

In the same:

"Therefore, thou shalt keep the precepts, the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them" (Deuteronomy 7:11).

In David:

"If his sons forsake my law and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my statutes, and keep not my precepts, I will visit their prevarication with a rod" (Psalm 89:30-32),

besides frequently elsewhere:

As Leviticus 18:5; 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:15; Deuteronomy 4:1; 5:1, 6, 7; 17:19; 26:17; Ezekiel 5:6, 7; 11:12, 20; 18:9; 20:11, 13, 25; 37:24.

By precepts in these passages are meant the laws of life, especially those in the Decalogue, which are therefore called the Ten Precepts. But by the statutes are meant the laws of worship, which principally related to sacrifices, and the ministry of holy things. And by judgments are meant civil laws, which, because representative of spiritual laws, were therefore significative of Divine truths, such as those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens.

Continuation:-

[5] When, therefore, a man shuns and turns away from evils as sins, and is raised into heaven by the Lord, it follows that he is no longer in his proprium, but in the Lord, and that consequently he thinks and wills goods. Now because a man thinks and wills, so also does he act; for every action of a man proceeds from the thought of his will, therefore again it follows, that when a man shuns and turns away from evils, he does goods, not from himself, but from the Lord. Therefore to shun evils is to do goods. The goods which a man then does are meant by good works; and good works in their whole extent are meant by charity.

Because a man cannot be reformed unless he thinks, wills, and acts as of himself, that which he does as of himself is conjoined to him, and remains with him. Because that which a man does as of himself receives no life, but flows through like ether, therefore the Lord wills that a man should not only shun and turn away from evils as of himself, but should also think, will, and act as of himself, yet still acknowledge in heart, that all these things are from the Lord. This he will acknowledge because it is the truth.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.