Leviticus 25:23-28
God owns the land and provides a way for what is lost to be restored.
23 “ ‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
24 In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.
25 “ ‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.
26 If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
27 then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.
28 But if he isn’t able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.
God owns the land and provides a way for what is lost to be restored.
This passage regulates the sale and redemption of land, grounding all transactions in the LORD’s ownership and providing a mechanism for restoration within Israel’s inheritance system.
Leviticus 25:23-28 follows the Sabbath-year and Jubilee commands and the promise of divine provision. The passage now grounds land transactions in the theological center of the chapter: the land belongs to the LORD. The following units apply this ownership principle to houses, poverty, servitude, and redemption.
Israel is receiving Sinai covenant legislation for life in the land the LORD will give them. Israelite families and clans whose inherited land allotments form a crucial part of covenant life in Canaan.
Sabbath for the Land, Jubilee Release, and the LORD's Ownership of Israel
Because the land and the Israelites belong to the LORD, Israel must structure land, labor, debt, poverty, redemption, and release around Sabbath trust, Jubilee restoration, and exodus-shaped mercy.