Right around the corner from where I live is a gated community full of lake-front property. As you would expect, it’s difficult to find available housing in that neighborhood. The ones that live there rarely move away, and the homes that would become available are snatched up before they hit the market.
There’s just one catch: Nobody actually owns any of the houses in the neighborhood. Everyone in there signs 100-year leases, which gives them full rights to do whatever they want to the house, with the understanding that those leases can be revoked at some point in the future.
We’re familiar with the concept of “leasing” something. If you lease a car, you’re allowed to drive it for a lower monthly payment, but you’re still required to take care of all the maintenance and usually any of the repairs that may come up. It’s “yours” but it’s also “not yours” at the same time.
That’s more or less the arrangement given to the nation of Israel. Canaan is “their’s” but it’s technically God’s. He owns it, so it’s His rules as to who can occupy it. And just like with a regular leaser, if if they don’t meet the terms of the contract, it can be revoked.
Starting in Leviticus 25:23, God outlines the laws for the stewardship of His land. While the people can borrow His property, they will always be “strangers and sojourners.” If they fail to meet God’s conditions, He, as the Landowner, can kick them off His property.
With that in mind, God lays out some rules for what to do with His land. First, nothing is ever sold permanently. If you do transfer the ownership to someone else, it reverts back to you during the year of Jubilee, regardless of whether they have the right to buy it back or not.
If they would like to buy it back beforehand—maybe because they fell on hard times and had to sell their ancestral land to pay a debt—they can do so. The buyer will simply pay for however many years it was sold.
The exception for this are homes sold inside of a city (Leviticus 25:29-33). The “redemption rights” are valid for twelve months; if it’s not redeemed in that time, it passes permanently to the one who has bought it. Unless the house originally belonged to a Levite, then the Levite always has the right to buy it back.
This may all seem very technical, but anyone who has sat through a lengthy negotiation with a car salesman knows that this is peanuts compared to the terms and conditions on a contract. It’s as straightforward as possible: The main idea is to not take advantage of your neighbor.
That fits with the mentality of God. It’s His land that He’s freely giving to His people, and He’s not going to deal with you harshly, then why should you deal with your brother harshly? Our attitude towards contracts and agreements should always be with an eye to fairness and justice, while keeping greed at bay.
