Portion 32 of 54 · Leviticus
בְּהַר
Behar
Every seventh year the land rests, and every fiftieth year debts are cleared and land goes home.
Start by reading it
Leviticus 25:1–26:2
2 chapters. About 10 minutes at an unhurried pace.
Paired reading from the prophets: Jeremiah 32:6–27
What happens
- 01
One year in seven, no sowing and no reaping. The land keeps a Sabbath.
- 02
After seven cycles, a jubilee: liberty proclaimed throughout the land.
- 03
Property returns to the families it came from. Nobody accumulates for ever.
- 04
Do not charge your poor brother interest, and do not rule over him harshly.
The thing most people walk past
The land is not yours
'The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine.' Ownership in the Torah is a long lease. The jubilee exists because a system where wealth only ever pools upward was judged unacceptable.
One verse to carry
and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
This verse is cast on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. A law about agricultural debt became a slogan for freedom.
A question to sit with
The jubilee resets debt and land every fifty years. What would that do to how you think about a lifetime of work?
There is no answer key. This is the part you take with you.