Leviticus — Chapter 25

The Sabbatical Year — letting the land rest every seventh year (Lev. 25:2-7) — figures the eschatological rest of God. Lapide: just as man must rest one day in seven, so the land must rest one year in seven. This teaches that all labour and agriculture are under the law of God's lordship, and that absolute ownership of the earth belongs to God alone: \"the land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine\" (Lev. 25:23). The Sabbatical rest is the figure of the contemplative life, and ultimately of eternal rest in God.

The calculation of the Jubilee — seven sabbatical years of seven years each, totalling forty-nine years, with the fiftieth year as Jubilee (Lev. 25:8-9) — draws elaborate typological commentary from Lapide. He follows Origen and Jerome: seven sabbatical years figure the seven ages of the world; the fiftieth Jubilee figures the eighth day of eternity. The trumpet sounded on the Day of Atonement to proclaim the Jubilee figures the voice of Christ (and ultimately the Last Trump) proclaiming liberty to all captives.

The Jubilee year, proclaimed on the Day of Atonement every fiftieth year, restored all lands to their original owners, freed all Hebrew slaves, and cancelled all debts (Lev. 25:10-17). Lapide: the Jubilee is the supreme figure of Christian redemption. The fiftieth year corresponds to Pentecost; the proclamation by the trumpet on the Day of Atonement corresponds to the preaching of the Gospel of forgiveness; the liberation of slaves figures the freedom of children of God from the slavery of sin and death. Christ applied this text to Himself at Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19).

In the year of the jubilee every man shall return to his possession (Lev. 25:13). Lapide: the Jubilee restoration of property is not merely a social-economic measure but a theological statement: all earthly possessions are ultimately on loan from God, and the true owner reclaims them periodically. In the spiritual order, the Jubilee of the New Covenant is celebrated every year in the liturgical calendar, and especially in the Jubilee years of the Church, in which special indulgences are granted and the faithful are urged to return to God through penance.

Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, but shalt fear thy God: for I am the Lord your God (Lev. 25:17). Lapide: to overcharge or defraud in commerce is a form of calumny — injustice in words — and the divine motive clause (\"fear thy God\") shows that such injustice, even when humanly hidden, is seen by God who will judge it. He connects this with Thomas Aquinas (ST II-II q. 77) on fraud in buying and selling: all deliberate overpricing or undervaluing is a sin against commutative justice requiring restitution.

The land shall not be sold for ever: for it is mine, and you are strangers and sojourners with me (Lev. 25:23). Lapide: God is the absolute Lord of all temporal things; men hold them only in stewardship. This is the Mosaic foundation of the Christian doctrine of the universal destination of goods, and of the Church's social teaching that property rights are relative, not absolute. He connects this with the saying of the Fathers: the rich man is the administrator of what belongs to the poor.

The Jubilee law commands lending to the poor without interest and assisting the impoverished brother (Lev. 25:35-38). Lapide cites this as the origin of the Church's prohibition of usury: to charge interest on a loan to one in need is to profit from his necessity, contrary to fraternal charity. He notes that God grounds this in His own redemptive act: \"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt\" (v. 38) — therefore gratitude demands generosity toward one's neighbour.

For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: let them not be sold as bondmen (Lev. 25:42). Lapide: the ultimate ground of Hebrew social legislation is the redeemed status of Israel — purchased by God from Egypt, they belong to Him alone and cannot be absolutely enslaved. In the New Covenant, all the baptised are servants of God (1 Cor. 7:22) and cannot be absolutely enslaved to sin, the world, or any human institution. This text grounds the Church's historically progressive condemnation of chattel slavery.