The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 191

regulat.inne or the kincl existed in most Vc_r. 1_2.-Law nf tlie 8nl,lmth, T'"/1"'''""· cnnnl.ries But entire yenrs of rest were Nothmg 1s hero added to lhc teaching of the wholly unknown t.o nny nation except the Fourth Comm11ndment; but ilB ni,,reif"l cha- Israelites, ancl expo,,,cl them to the repronch racter is especiu.lly brought out. M"n ur•· or idlenese. (Seo Tacit. JltRt. v. 4 :-" Sep- co.lied on to ohserve it, in rrr,ler lltrrt th,•,r timo die otium placuieso fernnt, quin is finem catt.le may obtain rest, and their servants, l11bornm dedit; dein, /1la11rlie11te incrt,a, sep- together with the stranger thut is with In ti mum quoque annum ignavioo datum''). In a their gates, mRy find refreshment. It is t,, primitive condition of ngriculture, when rota- be borne in mind that the foreign population tion of crops was unknown, artificie.l manure of Palestine WRS mostly held to hard service. unemployed, and the need of letting even (See 2 Chron. ii. 17, 18.) the host lo.nd sometimes lie fo.llow unrecog- Verse 13 contains two injunctinns--onc nised, it mo.y not have been e.n nneconomico.l genere.1, one specilLI :-1. "Be circumspect·• nrro.ngement 10 require an entire suspension ( or cantiollll, careful) " in respect of nll that of cultivation once in seven yeare. But l command yon." 2. "Do not so much as gre1Lt difficulty wns probably experienced in utter the name of any false god." Not even enforcing the l!Lw. Just as there were persons to mention their names, was to show them who wished to gather manna on the seventh the greatest contempt possible; and, if fol- day (eh. xvi. 27), so there would be many lowed out nniversally, would soon have pro- 1Lnxious to obte.in in the seventh year some- duced an absolute oblivion of them. Moses, thing more from their fields than Nature it may be observed, scarcely ever does men- would give them if left to herself. If the tion their names. Later historians and pro- " seventy years" of the captivity were in- phets he.d to do so, either to deliver the true tended exactly to make up for omissions of history of the Israelites, or to denonnce idola- the due observe.nee of the sabbatical year, we tries to which they were given. There are must suppose that between the time of the many words one would wish never to utter; exodus and the destruction of Jerusalem by but while wicked men do the things of which N ebucba.dnezzar, the ordinance he.d been as they are the names, preachers are obliged to often neglected as observed. (See 2 Chron. use the words in their sermons and other xxxvi. 21.) The prim1Lry object of the re- warnings. quirement was, as stated in ver. 11, that the poor of thy people may eat, what the land Vers. H-17.-Law of Festi-oal.s. "The brought forth of its own accord in the sanctification of days and times," says Richard Sabbatical year being shared by them (Lev. Hooker, " is a token of that thankfulness and xxv. vi. ). But no doubt it was also intended a pa.rt of that pnblic honour which we owe to that the Sabbatice.l year should be one of God for admirable benefits, whereof it doth increased religious observance, whereof the solemn reading of the law in the ears of the not snffi.ce that we keep a secret calendar, people at the Feast of Tabernacles " in the taking thereby our private occasions as we year of release" (Dent. x.xxi. 10) was an in° list onrselves to think how much God bath dication and e. pa.rt. That reading was properly done for all men ; but the days which are preceded by e. time of religious prepara- chosen ont to serve as public memorials of such tion (Neh. viii. 1-15), and would n.e.tura.lly lee.d on to further acts of e. religious character, his mercies ought to be clothed with those which might occupy e. considerable period outward robes of holiness whereby their differ- (il1id. chs. ix. and x.). Altogether, the year ence from other days may be made sensible " ,ve.s a most solemn period, calling men to (Eccles. Pol. v. 70, § 1). All ancient reli- religious self-examination, to repentance, to gions had solemn festival see.sons, when par- the formation of holy he.bits, and tending to ticular mercies of God were specia.lly com- a. general elevation among the people of the standard of holiness. What they leave the memorated, and when men, meeting together beasts of the field shall eat. There was to in large numbers, mutnal.ly cheered and ex- be no regular inge.thering. The proprietor, cited ea.eh other to a warmer devotion a.nd a. his servants, the poor, and the stranger were more hearty pouring forth of the.nk.s thun to take what they needed ; and the residue human weakness me.de possible at other times. was to be for the cattle and for the beasts that were in the land (Dent. xxv. 6, 7). Thy In Egypt such festivals were frequent, a.nd vineyard-thy oliveyard. Com, wine, and held a high place in the religion (Herod. ii. oil were the only important products of 58-64). Abraham's family had probably Palestine ; and this mention of the vineyard he.d observances of the kind in their Meso- and the oliveye.rd shows that one and the potamian home. God's providence saw good ,mme hiw was to hold good of all the lands in the r.ouulry, however they might be cultivated. now to give supernatural sunction to the 'J'he whole 111ml was to rest. natural piety which had been accustomed  'J'RE BOOK OF EXODUS. [on. XXIII. 16-1 j,