What The People of Israel's Attitude Must Be Towards Their Brothers (Leviticus 25:35-43).
“Brothers” here means fellow-Israelites who got into financial difficulties, who were to be treated with especial loving concern.
They Must Assist The Recovery Of Their Brother Who Falls On Hard Times Without Seeking To Gain From Him (Leviticus 25:35-38).
“And if your brother has grown poor, and his hand fail with you, then you shall uphold him. As a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with you.”
If a fellow-Israelite grew poor and failed financially among them for one reason or another, he was to be ‘upheld'. He must be shown the same loving concern as a resident alien or foreigner (compare Leviticus 19:34), whom the laws of hospitality required should be welcomed (although not always carried out the principle was firm). He must not be downgraded and made to feel a failure. He must be given opportunities to work and to earn a living.
“Take no interest of him or increase, but fear your God; that your brother may live with you. You shall not give him your money on interest, nor give him your victuals for increase.”
If money was lent to him, as it should be if he needed it (Deuteronomy 15:8), then interest must not be charged. The loan must not be reduced in any way. And in fact at the end of the seven years relief period described in Deuteronomy 15:1-2, the loan was to be written off (Deuteronomy 15:2). If victuals were given to him no profit must be made out of them. No additional charge must be made. They must fear their God, the great Deliverer Who stooped to deliver them all from hardship in Egypt when they were all failing financially, and give the fellow-Israelite every opportunity for a recovery.
The fact that the seventh year of release resulted in loans being written off was not, however, to prevent lending. They were to lend out of compassion. Compare here Deuteronomy 7-11, ‘If there be with you a poor man, one of your brethren, within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need of what he wants. Beware that there be not a base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you, saying, You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.'
Jesus put it this way, ‘Give to him who asks of you, and from him who would borrow from you, do not turn away' (Matthew 5:42), and again ‘let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven' (Matthew 5:16). The point is not that we should be soft touches but that we should be concerned enough to help those in real need. Giving a drunkard or a drug addict a handout is not a kindness, taking them for a meal is.
“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.”
And this the reason why they should behave in this way was because they recognised that what they were doing they did under the eye of Yahweh their God, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt with the purpose of giving them the land of Canaan. He would not be charging them interest or gaining any profit out of them. He was revealing His love and compassion towards them. Thus they must do the same for their fellow-Israelites in accordance with His covenant. For He is their covenant God.
They Must Not Treat Fellow-Israelites As Bondservants (Leviticus 25:39-43).
“And if your brother be grown poor with you, and sell himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a bondservant.”
In days when there was no state aid a man could through bad luck or illness or violence easily find that he had to sell his land, and after a time be left with little money to keep his family alive. He could reach such a stage that his only option was to sell himself as a bondservant so as to provide for his wife and children. If that happened to a fellow-Israelite he was not to be treated as a bondservant. He should simply be taken into service. Note that only he could be taken into service, not his family.
“As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you. He shall serve with you to the year of yubile,”
For he should be treated in the same way as a hired-servant or a resident alien, as a free man while enjoying the security enjoyed by a bondservant, until at the year of Yubile he would receive back his land.
“Then shall he go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers shall he return.”
Once the year of Yubile came he would be free to go back to his land, once more totally free, together with his wife and children, (the wife as ever always assumed as part of himself). They were not to be put in bondservice.
The same principle applies between Christians. We should treat fellow-Christians well, whether we employ them, or are responsible for them, remembering that they are our brothers and God's men. But they too should not take advantage of the situation. Responsibility lies on both sides.
“For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.”
And the reason that fellow-Israelites should not be treated as bondservants was that they were of those whom Yahweh had delivered from bondage. He had brought them from the land of Egypt. He had declared them free, therefore they could never again be put in bondage while the covenant remained firm.
“You shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear your God.”
Thus their Israelite masters were not to treat them roughly or severely as they had all been treated in Egypt, but as fellow members of the covenant, because as masters they feared God.