By the same authority it is ordained in another passage that the
land and fruit-gardens are to be wrought and their produce gathered
for six years, but on the seventh the produce is to be surrendered
(#M+), that the poor of the people may eat, and what they leave
the beasts of the field may
at (xxiii. 10, 11). Here there is
no word of a sabbatical year. The liberation of the Hebrew slave
takes place six years after his purchase, that is, the term is a
relative one. In like manner, in the other ordinance there is
nothing to indicate an absolute seventh year; and besides, it is
not a Sabbath or fallow time for the _land_ that is contemplated,
but a surrender of the _harvest_.
The first of these commands is repeated in Deuteronomy without
material alteration, and to a certain extent word for word (xv.
12-18). The other has at least an analogue in Deuteronomy xv. 1-6:
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release
(surrender, s*m+h), and this is the manner of it; no creditor
that lendeth aught shall exact it of his neighbour or of his
brother, because Jehovah's release has been proclaimed; of a
foreigner thou mayst exact it again, but that which is of thine
with thy brother, thy hand shall release.
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