The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 261

tho c!Ted of the rotation of crops was unknown. 1 We by no means affirm that such was tho only reason for the appointment ; yet nothing hinders us from regarding it a~ a reason. In that year there was to be a general remission of debts. To all appear• anco, there would, however, be one social danger arising from so peculiar an arran.';c- rncnt. Human nature, as regards capacity, aptitude, tact, kindness, hardness, etc., would differ as greatly among Hebrews as among any other peoples. There would be the wise manager, and the man who knew not how to manage at all. There would be some easily "taken in," and others watcbing for an opportunity of enriching them- selves at another's expense, And among the harder men, the thought would naturally arise, "Well, if I must not work to increase my gains that year, I will at least secure all that I ought to have, by collecting all debts due to me, and this I will do with rigour.'' Now, here comes in this law mercifully guarding the weak against the rapacity of tho strong, compelling men, at least outwardiy, to show some regard for those who are somewhat behindhand in the race for life, and preventing the more successfol ones from so exacting from poorer men as to reduce them to helpless depen- dence upon others. The following points may be noted. 1. The sabbatical year is here assumed, ut supra. 2. 'l'his year debts were to be remitted,-not canceiled, but pressure for payment was to be postponed. 3. Thus there was to be an enforced pause in the accumulation of wealth. 4. The sentiment of kindliness and forbearance as well as of justice in business life, was thus taught. 5. At the same time, there is a safeguard against the Hebrews being trifled with by foreigners by a misuse of this law. A foreigner (one who was so in all respects) might incur a debt in the sixth year, thinking that, as a Hebrew could not press for it the next year, he should have a long respite; while, as he was not bound by the Hebrews' Law, he could press for debts due to him I This would have been unequal. Hence God guards Israel against such inequality, and says, as a foreigner is not under this law so far as debts due to him are concerned, so neither is he included in it with regard to debts incurred by him; and the release is not intended to operate where its operation cannot be equal all round. 6. Moreover, there is in this law no encouragement to mendicancy, but rather such a check on pressure by the rich, and such an inculcation of regard for the poor, that beggary may be a thing unknown among them. The word "beggar" does not occur once in the Mosaic institutes (cf. Michaelis's 'Commentary on the Laws of Moses,' art. 142). Surely in all this there is abundance of material for homiletic teaching from a Christian point of view. The formal institution here referred to has passed away. But, if we follow out the formula already laid down, thatforms change, but principles never,-we cannot be at a loss, for an exposition of the ethical teaching which this paragraph suggests for all time. For, as is well remarked by Mr. Garden, " The spirit of this law is the same as that of the weekly sabbath. Both have a bene- ficent tendency, limiting the rights and checking the sense of property; the one puts in God's claims on tinie, the other on the land. The land shall keep a sabbath unto the Lord." "The land is miae." Let us, then, study the Divine checks 071, human greed, as they are shown to us in the teaching of the New Testament. I. WE HAVE THE DISTINCT DECLABATION, "YE ARE NOT YOUR OWN." This is far wider and deeper than any analogous statement of Moses. For while Israel had been redeemed out of Egypt, so that God said, "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee," we must all feel how infinitely short that comes of the tender pathos in 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; 1 Pet. i. 18, Hl. The phrase, " Ye are not your own," must needs cover the whole ground of all that we are and have. As" redemption" was the appeal at the basis of Israel's life, so is it in the case of God's people now. II. WE ARE REDEEMED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE FOR GOD BY LIVING FOR OTHERS, We are expected to have " the same mind" which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. ii. 1-8). Note the argument involved in 2 Cor. viii. 7, 9; also that in Rom. xiv. 7, et seq. See the purpose of Christ's redeeming work, as stated in Titus ii. H; and also the law of the Christian life in Gal. vi. 1-10. In these passages there is so much of duty indicated with regard to others, that though little of minute detail is now specified, yet Christian men cannot go far wrong if their lives are regulated thereby (1 Cor. x. 24). 1 See art. 'S11bb11tical Y~,' in Smith's' Bibi. Diot.•  THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [err, xv, 1-23.