Israel were also to observe a Sabbath of years and allow the land to remain fallow each seventh year. This kept the land fertile, and God promised that if they faithfully obeyed his commandment then he would ensure that the harvest was abundant in the sixth year to provide food through to the ninth year when they would again harvest the land. Israel failed to keep this commandment and God removed them out of the land so that it could then enjoy her sabbaths Leviticus 26:34.Waiting for response for Leviticus 26:34 This is remarkable evidence of God’s hand at work in the earth. The land of Israel, a land of “milk and honey” when the people entered it, became and remained a desolation for centuries while Israel were scattered out of it; but once they returned to the land, it began to flourish again.
The people of Israel were also commanded to observe the Jubilee. Every fiftieth year was a Jubilee, a year of release which brought great benefit to the people. Each family in Israel had its own inheritance of land, and this could not be sold. All that could be sold was the fruit of the land until the year of Jubilee when possession of the inheritance had to return to its rightful owner. This prevented the possession of great tracts of land by the rich, an evil that has afflicted all other nations. Furthermore, in the year of Jubilee all the oppressed were set free. If any Israelite had, through misfortune, become a slave in the land he was released in the Jubilee. The Jubilee points forward to the release which will come with the return of Christ. Then the land will return to its rightful heirs and the people of God will be released from the slavery of sin.