Why Sabbaticals are Important for Optimal Functioning

EXEGENETICAL PAPER
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Exegetical Paper
Introduction
The year of release, which is also known as the sabbatical year, began like any other year and is related to the release of debts. It is a law that first appeared following Moses’s command that “but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.” According to this law, at the end of seven years, one has to make a Release. According to the commandment: he shall release, every possessor of a loan of his hand, what he has lent to his neighbor. He is not to oppress his neighbor or his brother, for the Release of Hashlem has been proclaimed. This commandment is espoused in Deuteronomy 15: 1-18, which states that at the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. That every creditor is to cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite.” The chapter encourages everyone, both the rich and the poor, to not only focus on themselves but to also on other organisms around them. The world exists as an ecosystem, where people and animals need each other for survival. The rich, who seem to be self-sufficient appear to not need anything but in actual sense, they rely on the poor in the same magnitude as the poor rely on the rich. Similarly, the domestic animals that people rare at home need humans in the same way that humans need them for survival. Therefore, based on this commandment, we can conclude that in life, sabbaticals are important for optimal functioning.
Social-Historical Analysis
This law dates back to the Exodus, when Moses commanded the Israelites to rest and allow their lands to lie fallow every seventh year. According to him, the Israelites were supposed to allow their lands to rest after a long harvest and during the harvesting period, they are not supposed to take everything from the farm. Instead, they are supposed to eat what is enough for them and leave the rest for others to eat. While all nations had specific days to rest on different times of the year, the Israelites had entire years of rest. This rest was important as it allowed the poor and the needy to also eat (Lev. 25: 1 – 7). While people went to the farms to work and get food, whatever the farm brought forward did not only belong to them but even to those who did not work, such as the beasts of the field. The rest period also allowed the land to replenish its resources because in most cases, people relied on a single type of crop for sustainability, which was likely to drain the soil of its minerals. With no crop rotation practices or minerals that are prominent in the modern world, continuous farming without allowing the farms to rest would amount to robbing the farm, which would ultimately lead to a poor harvest.
Besides, this law transformed the “Year of Release” (Deut. 31:10-11) into one of the religious events, in which the holy reading of the law at the Feast of Tabernacles was to occur. Consequently, the sabbatical year was a time of self-examination and reflection towards spiritual development. The commandment to release from debt in the seventh year is an act of mercy that is mean to honor the Lord, who is the ultimate lender that the rich owe all their riches to him. Thus, he commands them to conduct charity to the poor who are unable to repay their loans. No one in this world can claim to exist by his or her own powers. Since God is the provider of life, he is also the provider of all forms of wealth that exist in the world. The Lord further teaches about the “release” of a man who has sold himself into slavery in (Deut. 15:12). In this verse, he commands that “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.” The commandment was in regard to the Israelite slaves who the Lord directed that they should be treated kindly by their brethren and if they are not welcomed or recalled by their tribesmen, then the slave master should free them on the seventh year.[Keck, Leander E. The new interpreter's Bible. General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections for Each Book of the Bible Including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. Volume IX. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995.]
This verse provides insights into the way that the society treated debt, which is not different from the way it is treated in the contemporary world. As Brueggemann posits, those who accumulated debt had to work to clear the loan and in most cases, the length of service depended on the amount of debt owed. The commandment was designed to ensure that everyone works hard to sustain themselves. Those who accumulated debts were expected to work for them until they cleared them. However, this commandment sought to balance the effects of a debt to ensure that no one remains indebted to another forever. It gives a break to those indebted by directing that the lenders cancel their debts after every seventh year. All these directives were made to ensure a peaceful coexistence among members of the society. This concern for the society is evident in the specific terms that the scriptures use to refer to the subject, whereby it names the subjects of the regulation as “neighbor” and “brother or sister.” All these terms refer to the members belonging to the same community, who are bound by a lot more than just the economic realities. The tone with which the words are said shows the urgency of the matter. Cancelling debts for any economy may lead to more negative effects on the economy because the interests obtained from these debts are responsible for sustaining many of the economic activities. However, the directive sees more than the economic effects that will result from such an action. It confirms that the Lord controls all wealth and even in cases where he directs people to do things that seem irrational, the people should believe that it is for their own good and obey him.[Brueggemann, Walter. Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries: Deuteronomy. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001] [Walter, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries, 164.]
The commandment was meant to slow down the capitalistic tendency that the Israelites were acquiring. At the time of its formulation, Israel had become a strong capitalist economy, where people prioritized land and property acquisition. Like in the modern times, people would get into debt to purchase land and other property with the hope that they would eventually amerce considerable wealth and acquire power and influence. This new passion for the pursuit of wealth and other earthly material was gradually eroding the traditional structure, where large groups of people in the society owned property based on pure trust. In the new trend, people were becoming more focused on how much property they own and compared their amount of wealth to that of their brothers to see who is superior. The one with most wealth had greater power than those with less property. Instead of people perceiving each other as neighbors or brothers and sisters, they had begun regarding each other as competitors. Therefore, the regulation was designed to restore the spirit of brotherhood among the people. Debts brew bitterne...