EXODUS 23:10-11

In this verse, the practice of a Sabbath year is enjoined upon the Israelites once they occupy the land of promise. The regulation says, “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow; so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.” (NRSV)

This rule is repeated in more detail in Leviticus 25:1-7 where it is explained that although no sowing or pruning of grape vines may be done on the Sabbath year, anyone or anything is free to eat of the produce that comes up naturally.

Alan Cole expands on the stated three-fold of concern for the land, the poor, and the animals by enumerating the positive effects which would result from such a custom. By the way, Carroll R. explains that the “'ebyon were the needy who were in more desperate straits [than the dal, poor peasant farmers]; scholars have suggested that the term referred to landless day laborers.” And van Leeuwen adds, “Probably the widows – through not mentioned particularly – were also included among the poor who were entitled to the produce of the Sabbath year.” See the unattributed quotations from Cole below as well as comments by other scholars:

    1. The effect on the animals is explained by Cole as being “deeply theological. The glory of Israel's faith is the belief that God preserves both man and beast (Ps. 36:6) and feeds the wild animals every day (Ps. 104:21). Christ tells us that God cares for the sparrows on the roof (Mt. 10:29) and feeds the ravens (Lk. 12:24).”

Childs concurs: “It seems to stem from a genuine humanitarian feeling of sympathy for the underling and creature alike, which in time received a theological support from the covenant.”

Barker cites the gleaning laws in Lev. 19:9-0; Deut 24:19-21 to benefit the landless poor. “Lying behind such laws is an appreciation of the importance of the land as a gift from God and the obligation on Israel to share its bounty equitably, trusting that God will provide abundantly for all.”

    2. “To let a field lie fallow every seventh year is wise agriculture, and would increase its fertility (especially when little fertilizer is available for addition to the soil).” R.A. Taylor notes that among the “various command and prohibitions of the Torah...[that] have to do with how crops and vegetation were to be managed...were also restrictions on farming the land continuously so as to protect it from overuse (Exod 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7).”

In opposition to this understanding, Barker notes, “Nothing is mentioned about increasing the fertility of the land as a purpose for this law despite a number of scholars arguing that fertility must have been part of the law's intention, a carryover from Canaan.”

    3. “Some hold that the purpose of the 'sabbatical year' was to allow God's earth to return to its original uncultivated state, and so to glorify the God of nature.” In a related thought, Childs points out, “The motif of rest and wild animals has led Frey to see the imagery of a 'return of paradise'. However, the thought seems to be far removed from the text at this state.”

    4. “Others hold that it was simple conservatism, looking back to the days when man was a food-gatherer or a pastoralist, not an agriculturist.”

    5. “On a religious level, its observance was a practical exposition of Israelite faith in the God who would provide their needs, as was the weekly observance of sabbath.” Remember especially the story of the manna in the wilderness which was only good for one day before it became inedible. However, on the eve of the seventh day twice a day's allotment could be collected and it would last through the Sabbath. Allis says, “It is the law of the manna on a larger scale (Ex. 16:22).” God provides us with our daily bread.

    6. Finally, several of the above reasons may be present at the same time. Thus, R.P. Gordon points out that the purpose in Exodus is humanitarian while in Leviticus it is given as religious. And in commenting on the Exodus passage, H.R. Jones states that “the immediate reason is philanthropic and economic, but the command in v. 13 shows that the provident goodness of God is behind this too.”

The question arises whether this regulation was ever practiced in ancient Israel, and if so, in what manner. Regarding the first item, Wenham says, “Chronicles may imply that not even the sabbatical year [much less the Jubilee year] was observed in preexilic times (2 Chr. 36:21).” In this, Wakely concurs: “It is uncertain whether this fallow year instruction was actually implemented in ancient Israel prior to the Maccabean period.”

As regarding the mode of observance, Wakely says that “it is unclear whether the intention of the law in Exod 23:11 was that all parts of the country would observe the Sabbath year simultaneously. Largely on the ground that a fallow year once every seven years would not go far to sustaining the poor over a seven-year period, some have argued that Exod 23:10-11 envisaged farmers operating their own fallow year on their land so that there would be a seven-year rotation for individual farms.”

Similarly, Childs states, “It is difficult to image how the former alternative [i.e. observance by all of the land in Israel at the same time] would have worked out in practice.”

Finally A.P. Ross summarizes the position of Snaith, who “suggests that not all lands were fallow in the same year. Exodus may have set down the principle of the Sabbath cycle of years, whereas Leviticus may have established the official Sabbath Year that would unify the nation when they settled in the land.”