thinking bible.

You asked

how did the israelites organize their economy and property to make such a law workable?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Leviticus 25:23

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and foreigners with me.”

This verse is part of a larger set of laws given to the Israelites through Moses while they were in the wilderness, before entering the promised land. These laws, found in the book of Leviticus, establish principles for how they are to live as a community, including their relationship with the land, each other, and God.

What does it mean for your understanding of ownership or stewardship to consider the earth as ultimately belonging to something or someone beyond human control?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

  • Deuteronomy 10:14

    Emphasizes God's ultimate ownership of all things.

  • Psalm 24:1

    Declares that the earth and its fullness belong to the Lord.

  • Isaiah 5:8

    Warns against accumulating property in ways that disregard others.

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