Leviticus 25 (résumé): The Sabbatical Year & The Year of Jubilee

This chapter starts by saying that every 7th year will be a year of rest for the land and the livestock. Every 7th year was a farming sabbatical.

Then it says that every 50th year will be a year of Jubilee (the year after 7 times 7 years) when all leased land was to be returned to its original owners because Canaan was divided up into sections and distributed by casting lots for each family. This Jubilee system was excellent for avoiding an accumulation of wealth by a few. The year of Jubilee was also a year of rest for farmers, land and livestock with no planting or harvesting.

The trumpets sound announcing the year of Jubilee - a year of liberty for all and a year of redemption of lost property in previous years. 

Laws concerning houses were decreed in a further example of late intromissions in the text. For some reason the rules for houses in walled cities were different to those affecting houses in non-walled villages. In walled cities if a house was sold it could be redeemed during one year, but after this year of grace the house would become the permanent property of the buyer and would not be subject to the law of return in the year of Jubilee. However in the villages the Jubilee rules apply. In the case of Levites their houses are always redeemable and are to be returned in the Jubilee. 

It then says that if a person slips into poverty then those that are better off are to help him out. They are not to sell him food for a profit or lend him money with interest. And if a poor Israelite sells himself because of his great need he should not be treat as a slave but as a hired worker to be freed in the year of Jubilee. Slave were to be bought from other nations but Israelites were not to be slaves. 

If an Israelite became impoverished and sold himself to a foreigner in Canaan he could be redeemed based on his value linked to the number of years to the next Jubilee, but if he was not redeemed he would be freed at the Jubilee.