Leviticus 25:14

And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Ye shall not oppress one another.—Better, ye shall not overreach any man his brother. Not only does the Law provide against the poor man losing his land for ever, but enjoins that in the temporary sales the buyer and seller are not to take undue advantage of each other’s circumstances. Hence it was enacted that if any one bought or sold anything for a sixth part more than its value the aggrieved party was entitled to have the excess returned to him, and if it amounted to more than a sixth part, the contract could be rescinded altogether. The fact that the phrase which is here translated “one another” in the Authorised Version is varied in the Hebrew in Leviticus 25:17, where it is likewise rendered “one another,” shows that it is not used in this idiomatic sense, but is designed to denote fellow-brethren, members of the same community, those who are related to each other by race and creed, as in Exodus 32:27, Jeremiah 31:34

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 25:14. Ye shall not oppress — Neither the seller, by requiring more, nor the buyer, by taking the advantage from his brother’s necessities to give him less than the worth of it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:8-22 The word jubilee signifies a peculiarly animated sound of the silver trumpets. This sound was to be made on the evening of the great day of atonement; for the proclamation of gospel liberty and salvation results from the sacrifice of the Redeemer. It was provided that the lands should not be sold away from their families. They could only be disposed of, as it were, by leases till the year of jubilee, and then returned to the owner or his heir. This tended to preserve their tribes and families distinct, till the coming of the Messiah. The liberty every man was born to, if sold or forfeited, should return at the year of jubilee. This was typical of redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and of being brought again to the liberty of the children of God. All bargains ought to be made by this rule, Ye shall not oppress one another, not take advantage of one another's ignorance or necessity, but thou shalt fear thy God. The fear of God reigning in the heart, would restrain from doing wrong to our neighbour in word or deed. Assurance was given that they should be great gainers, by observing these years of rest. If we are careful to do our duty, we may trust God with our comfort. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all neither sowed or reaped. This was a miracle for an encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the way of duty. There is nothing lost by faith and self-denial in obedience. Some asked, What shall we eat the seventh year? Thus many Christians anticipate evils, questioning what they shall do, and fearing to proceed in the way of duty. But we have no right to anticipate evils, so as to distress ourselves about them. To carnal minds we may appear to act absurdly, but the path of duty is ever the path of safety.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sell ought - i. e., any piece of ground.

Oppress one another - Rather, overreach one another. (Compare 1 Samuel 12:3-4).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. ye shall return every man unto his possession, &c.—Inheritances, from whatever cause, and how frequently soever they had been alienated, came back into the hands of the original proprietors. This law of entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral property. Hence the tribe and family of Christ were readily discovered at his birth.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Neither the seller by requiring more, nor the buyer by taking the advantage from his brother’s necessities to give him less than the worth of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour,.... Any estate or possession, house or land, at any time before the year of jubilee:

or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand; of movable goods, as the Targum of Jonathan interprets it; and so other Jewish writers (z) restrain this to goods which are bought by hand, and delivered from hand to hand; and so they think that fields, and servants, which they say are like to fields, are excluded hereby; but it seems to refer to anything saleable, and chiefly to fields and vineyards, as the following verses show; wherefore Diodorus Siculus, as quoted by Grotius, must be mistaken, when he says, it was not counted lawful by the Jews to sell their inheritance, unless he means for ever, so indeed they could not:

ye shall not oppress one another; the buyer giving too little, or the seller requiring too much; no advantage was to be taken, either of the necessity of the one, or the ignorance of the other, but a fair bargain was to be made, and the full value given, neither too much nor too little. The Jews by "neighbour" understand an Israelite, and not a Gentile (a); not that there might be no buying and selling at all between Jews and Gentiles, or that the former might oppress and defraud the latter, though not an Israelite; but lands and inheritances might not be sold at all to Gentiles, only to Israelites.

(z) Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Bava Metziah, c. 4. sect. 9. (a) Jarchi in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall {h} not oppress one another:

(h) By deceit, or otherwise.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. thou … ye] The variation in person indicates the combination of two sources.

thy neighbour] An unusual Heb. word (‘âmîth), occurring in the H section eleven times, 5:21 (bis), Leviticus 18:20, Leviticus 19:11; Leviticus 19:15; Leviticus 19:17, Leviticus 24:19, Leviticus 25:14 (bis), Leviticus 25:15; Lev 25:17; only once outside Lev., in Zechariah 13:7.

Leviticus 25:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the purchase and sale of pieces of land no one was to oppress another, i.e., to overreach him by false statements as to its value and produce. הונה applies specially to the oppression of foreigners (Leviticus 19:33; Exodus 22:20), of slaves (Deuteronomy 23:17), of the poor, widows, and orphans (Jeremiah 22:3; Ezekiel 18:8) in civil matters, by overreaching them or taking their property away. The inf. abs. קנה: as in Genesis 41:43. The singular suffix in עמיתך is to be understood distributively of a particular Israelite.