Answer # 65

God's instruction is, "Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow" (Exodus 23:10-11).

This instruction is not a ritualistic ceremony. It has a great deal to do with developing and maintaining productive soil that will produce nourishing food year after year. The almighty Creator God promises to bless those who wholeheartedly obey His laws (read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28).

The land Sabbath God gave to ancient Israel was an intimate part of the Jubilee cycle (a period of 50 years). Each seventh year was also a year of release from all debts that had not been paid within that period of seven years. After 49 years the ownership of land, if transferred, returned to the original family (Leviticus 25:10).

Today, however, man has established his own laws concerning property rights and debt collection.

Normally, an individual must continue paying off debts incurred to banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions. A farmer may not be able to rest all his land at one time every seven years if he is depending upon certain cash crops every year to continue to pay on his mortgage.

Therefore, the Sabbath of the land must, in today's society, be viewed as an important ecological principle. God wants us to take care of the soil, and God's people should see to it that their land receives its rest. This resting of the land may occur all at one time during the seventh year, as was the custom in ancient Israel, or a part at a time over a period of seven years.