Leviticus 25:25

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold . . . —As poverty is the only reason which the Law here supposes might lead one to part with his field, the authorities during the second Temple concluded, and hence enacted, that it is not allowable for any one to sell his patrimony on speculation. This will account for the horror which Naboth expressed to Ahab of selling his patrimony: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee” (1Kings 21:3).

And if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem.—Better, then his nearest kinsman shall come and redeem. If he has thus been compelled by pressure of poverty to sell part of his land, then it is the duty of the nearest relation, or, as the original literally denotes, “the redeemer that is nearest to him,” to redeem the property which his impoverished relative has been obliged to sell. The expression “redeemer” is applied in Hebrew to one who, by virtue of being the nearest of kin, had not only to redeem the patrimony of the family, but to marry the childless widow of his brother (Ruth 3:13), and avenge the blood of his relative (Numbers 35:19-28; Deuteronomy 19:6-12).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:23-34 If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If thy brother be waxen poor - The Israelites never parted with their land except under the pressure of poverty. Compare the answer of Naboth, 1 Kings 21:3.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23-28. The land shall not be sold for ever—or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families—who, however, held it of Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect a temporary sale. But they possessed the right of redeeming it, at any time, on payment of an adequate compensation to the present holder; and by the enactments of the Jubilee they recovered it free—so that the land was rendered inalienable. (See an exception to this law, Le 27:20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Some of his possession, to wit, in the fields, but not in cities, Leviticus 25:29.

If any of his kin come to redeem it; or, if the redeemer come, being near akin to him, to whom the right of redemption belonged, Ruth 3:2,9,12 Jer 32:7, who in this act was an eminent type of Christ, who was made near akin to us by taking our flesh, that he might perform the work of redemption for us.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If thy brother be waxen poor,.... Is brought very low, greatly reduced, and is in mean circumstances; hence Jarchi says, we learn, that no man may sell his field, unless his distress presses him and forces him to it; for, as Maimonides (c) observes, a man might not sell his estate to put money into his purse, or to trade with, or to purchase goods, servants, and cattle, only food:

and hath sold away some of his possession; not all of it, as Jarchi remarks; for the way of the earth or custom of the world teaches, that a man should reserve a field (or a part) for himself:

and if any of his kin come to redeem it; come to the buyer and propose to redeem it, by giving what it was sold for, or in proportion to the time he had enjoyed it:

then shall he redeem that which his brother sold; nor was it in the power of the purchaser to hinder him, or at his option whether he would suffer him to redeem it or not: such an one was an emblem of our "goel", our near kinsman and Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ, who came in our nature into this world to redeem us, and put us into the possession of the heavenly inheritance; nor was it in the power of any to hinder his performance of it, for he is the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is his name.

(c) Hilchot Shemittah Vejobel, c. 11. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. be waxen poor] The original verb is almost confined to this ch., the one exception being Leviticus 27:8 (‘be poorer’).

his kinsman that is next unto him] Cp. the more explicit statement in Leviticus 25:48 f. For the important term Gô’çl, here rendered ‘kinsman,’ lit. vindicator, cp. Jeremiah 32:8 ff.; Ruth 4:1 ff., and Art. Goel in HDB.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 25-28. - The right of redemption of land sold continued always alive, and might be exercised by the original owner or his kinsman. If not exercised, the owner returned into his possession at any rate in the jubilee year. If a man had to sell his land, he was bound to offer it to his nearest kinsman first (see Jeremiah 32:7, 8). Leviticus 25:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

What was already implied in the laws relating to the purchase and sale of the year's produce (Leviticus 25:15, Leviticus 25:16), namely, that the land could not be alienated, is here clearly expressed; and at the same time the rule is laid down, showing how a man, who had been compelled by poverty to sell his patrimony, was to recover possession of it by redemption. In the first place, Leviticus 25:23 contains the general rule, "the land shall not be sold לצמיתת" (lit., to annihilation), i.e., so as to vanish away from, or be for ever lost to, the seller. For "the land belongs to Jehovah:" the Israelites, to whom He would give it (Leviticus 25:2), were not actual owners or full possessors, so that they could do what they pleased with it, but "strangers and sojourners with Jehovah" in His land. Consequently (Leviticus 25:24) throughout the whole of the land of their possession they were to grant גּאלּה release, redemption to the land. There were three ways in which this could be done. The first case (Leviticus 25:25) was this: if a brother became poor and sold his property, his nearest redeemer was to come and release what his brother had sold, i.e., buy it back from the purchaser and restore it to its former possessor. The nearest redeemer was the relative upon whom this obligation rested according to the series mentioned in Leviticus 25:48, Leviticus 25:49. - The second case (Leviticus 25:26, Leviticus 25:27) was this: if any one had no redeemer, either because there were no relatives upon whom the obligation rested, or because they were all too poor, and he had earned and acquired sufficient to redeem it, he was to calculate the years of purchase, and return the surplus to the man who had bought it, i.e., as much as he had paid for the years that still remained up to the next year of jubilee, that so he might come into possession of it again. As the purchaser had only paid the amount of the annual harvests till the next year of jubilee, all that he could demand back was as much as he had paid for the years that still remained.