You asked

what current social inequalities might be addressed by practices of intentional 'rest' and 'lying fallow'?

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

Leviticus 25:3-5

““Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruits; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.””

This passage is from the book of Leviticus, part of the instructions given to the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt, before they entered the promised land. It details laws concerning the sabbatical year, meant to regulate agricultural and economic life every seven years.

What might it look like to apply principles of regular, intentional rest to address imbalances in modern society?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Exodus 23:10-11
This earlier law also commands a seven-year rest for the land and specifies its purpose for the poor.
Deuteronomy 15:1-2
This passage expands on the sabbatical year, focusing on the release of debts among Israelites.
Isaiah 58:6-7
This prophet connects true fasting and worship with acts of social justice and liberation.

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