Salvation History. Chapter 7: - The Concept of Redemption.

Chapter 7: - The Concept of Redemption.


Redemption is one of the most basic concepts we need to understand if we want to understand the whole drama of the Bible. Like covenant, redemption is a principle built into the fabric of the universe by God and is fundamental to existence. Hence it is important for us at this stage to introduce the basic concept.


THE LEVITICAL LAW OF REDEMPTION.

Leviticus 25.
Some of the content of this chapter is interesting background, but not important for our theme so we will omit it. We will quote only the parts relevant to our theme.

In this chapter two saleable items are covered:

(i) Land - deals with a man's property, or inheritance.
(ii) People - deals with a man's freedom.

A. Land.

Leviticus 25:14-16, 23. Laws Covering Sale of Land.
`If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God…
…"`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”


In ancient times it was considered that all of the land in a country belonged to the King. The people were only tenants who lived on the land by favour of the King. He gave land and took it away at will.
In Israel God was considered to be King and hence ultimately owner of all the land.

That the land belonged to God is implied at the beginning of this chapter by two things:

(i) God says he is giving it to Israel – so it must be his to start with.
Leviticus 25:2.
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you,…”

(ii) In recognition of God’s ownership they are to leave the land fallow every seven years.
Leviticus 25:2-4.
“…the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.”

Under Joshua God divided the land among the people (Joshua 14). This was an equal division - all men got the same. This patch of ground was to be a man's inheritance that he left to his children. It was also his livelihood; he could work it or lease it out to get an income.

The idea was to eliminate poverty, and the vast imbalances of wealth that occurred in other nations. To maintain this equality God instituted the laws of Redemption.

(a) Why would a man sell his land?

(i) Debt.
(ii) Famine (Crop failure).
(iii) Choosing the city life.
(iv) A Tradesman might not retain his land.
(v) A waster might sell off his land to get ready cash.

(b) There were usually two results of losing your ancestral land in ancient times:

(i) Continual poverty - one had to work for another person or was reduced to begging.
(ii) No inheritance to pass on to your children. This usually resulted in them becoming paupers also.

(c) Setting the Price on the Land.

Leviticus 25:15,16.
“You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.”

PRICE = Value of an average year's crops multiplied by the number of years left until the Jubilee.

(i) Value of Crops.
In a society where inflation was largely unknown this meant the dollar value of a certain sized crop remained the same from one year to another.

(ii) The Jubilee.

God required that every seven years the land had a Sabbath rest from planting and reaping.
Leviticus 25:3,4.
“For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.”

However on top of this God required that every fifty years there was an extra Sabbath Year in which the land rested. This was called the Year of the Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:8-13 The Jubilee Year.
"`Count off seven sabbaths of years- seven times seven years- so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own property. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields. "`In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.”

In this year any transactions made with respect to land and the purchase of slaves in the previous 50 years were annulled, with a few minor exceptions.

All land returned to the family that originally owned it, or was its original tenant.

This return happened at the beginning of the secular calendar year, on the tenth day of the first month, being the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish religious calendar. This was the day that Israel celebrated the New Year with a festival, thus setting Israel apart from the nations around about who celebrated on the first day of the month.

So the sale was not an absolute sale, but was more like a long term rental or lease where the whole rental price was paid up front. However the “buyer” had legal ownership rights for the period of the lease, up to the jubilee, except that he was required to sell back the land to the original owner or the owner’s “kinsman redeemer” if asked to.

(d) How to Get Your Land Back.

Under the law of Redemption there were three ways of getting your land back once it had been sold:

(i) A rich relative could buy it back for you - in fact he was required to do so if you asked.

Leviticus 25:25.
`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.”

This relative is called the "Kinsman Redeemer", and the process is called " The Redemption of the Purchased Possession".

(ii) You could buy it back for yourself - if you somehow earned to necessary cash to do so.
Leviticus 25:26,27.
“If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.”

The re-purchase price was worked out the same way as the original purchase price.
By law the new owner had to resell to the original owner, or to his Kinsman Redeemer, if they wanted to re-purchase.

(iii) Wait for the Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:28.
“But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.”


B. People, i.e. Slaves.

This was similar to the sale of land:
(i) The sale only lasted until the next jubilee.
(ii) The price was the number of years by the annual wage of a servant.
(iii) The "slave" could be redeemed.

25:48-55. If an Israelite becomes a slave of an Alien.
`If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly. "`Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”


The net result of these laws was that every Israelite had the opportunity at least once in their lifetime to be a free man with property. This property could be left to his family as an inheritance. By this means poverty of the sort seen in other nations could have been totally eliminated.


When the land, or a person, was sold in this way a title deed was drawn up recording the details of the sale. This deed was usually rolled into a scroll and sealed, an open copy was also made for reference. Only the Redeemer could open the sealed scroll.

Illustration: Jeremiah 32:6-12.
“Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me: Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, `Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.' "Then, just as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, `Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.' "I knew that this was the word of the LORD; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase- the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy - and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.”


APPLICATION OF THIS LAW TO CREATION.


Let us recapitulate the teaching on the covenant of God with Adam but using Redemption terminology.

God, the Great King, gave Adam, his suzerain, two things in the covenant:

(1) Freedom.

Man was made in the image of God. Of all that God has made, only man was created to be free like God, able to choose his own destiny. Man was not created to be a slave of God, but rather to be a "free man", able to stand face to face with his creator and work cooperatively and intelligently with Him.

(2) Property, an Inheritance.

This was made up of Three primary elements:
(a) Priesthood: - Fellowship with God - God talked with man.
(b) Rulership of the Lower Creation - shown in operation in Genesis chapter 2 where man names the animals, i.e. he determines their nature, character and destiny.
(c) Ownership of the earth and its resources.
The extent of man's inheritance and reign was as high as the birds could fly and as deep as the fish could swim.
Man was charged to "fill the earth and subdue it" i.e. bring it under his control.

This must surely mean control of the natural forces in operation in that sphere, the weather, and etc. Every living being, physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, was given to man to rule over.

These two elements, Human Freedom and Property, are the two things that Redemption is concerned with (Leviticus 25).

As we progress through the story of the Bible we shall see how this law of Redemption comes into play at various points. In fact, so fundamental to the story of the Bible is this concept of redemption that it is found on every page of the Bible.

This law is, in fact, fundamental to the operation of the natural universe as we know it.