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Even the land needs rest

Before the people of Israel entered the land which God had promised them as an inheritance, they received instructions on how to live in this land. Besides regulations about social behavior and religious laws, we find these verses about the so-called Sabbath year.

God told the Israelites that they should work six days a week, and keep the seventh day apart as a holy day of rest. This law did not only apply to humans, but also to oxen and donkeys. In a separate command, God told the people that their fields and vineyards also should have rest. For six years they could sow and reap, but the seventh year should be “a year of solemn rest for the land”.

Although this command evidently reduced potential economic profit, it prevented the fields from being over-exploited. God not only cares for his people but also for their natural environment. After all, it’s his own creation! Moreover, this law reminded the Israelites that their land and its fruits ultimately belonged to God, and it expressed their faith that God would provide for them, even in the years when they could not sow and harvest.

How could we apply this command to our present-day society? How could we take better care of our natural environment, and how could we remember ourselves regularly that the whole earth belongs to God, not us?