The Year of Jubilee

‎Among the wisest and most noble of the ordinances of the book of Leviticus is that concerning the control of bondservants. An Israelite might, if driven by want, sell himself to some richer neighbor; but the purchaser was forbidden to compel him to serve “with rigour” as the Egyptians had done. The bondservant must be treated “as a hired servant and a sojourner,” not as a helpless slave; and his service must last only until the next year of jubilee. This came every seventh year and when it arrived the bondsman went free and his family with him. His property also was restored to him. “Unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.”

‎“For,” mark the reason given by God, “they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondsmen.”