Generosity: The Generous Creator's Abundant World Намуна

Restoration for the Land

Imagine you’re an enslaved person being brutally treated during work, and work is happening every day of your life. The only end in sight is death, but then something big happens, and you’re set free. Your rescuer does not hurt you but instead says you should take a full day every week to rest, relax and recover. For the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt, the Sabbath day of rest would have been an incredible gift.

And God explains that the Sabbath is to be a foundational principle for Israel’s whole way of life. Not only will they rest together every seven days, but every seven years they are to free enslaved people, cancel debts and even stop agricultural activity so that the land can rest. And then, every 49 years, anyone who’s had to sell their land will have that land returned to them, which means families will not become trapped in perpetual poverty. Every life will be cared for, and every generation will get a chance to start over.

But why is the land returned to its original owner?

Leviticus 25:23 says that the land actually belongs to God. So owners do not get to do whatever they want with it for however long they choose. Instead, the Israelites are caretakers called to use God’s land to provide for their families and bless their neighbors. In that way, they will experience the good life themselves while reflecting the generosity of God, who shares the land with them and gives everyone (and everything) the gift of rest.

Reflection:

Can you imagine losing the land that supported your family and then receiving it back? How would that feel?

How might it affect the way you use your money, time and other resources if you saw them as belonging to God?

Choosing to take a weekly Sabbath requires trusting that we don’t have to work endlessly because God provides for our needs. How does that relate to the way our modern culture views days of rest versus days of productivity and achievement?