Text: Deuteronomy 15:1
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 23:10
Subject: year of debt cancellation
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 23:10 establishes the sabbatical year for the land: "For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest (שָׁמַט, shamat) and lie fallow." Deuteronomy 15:1 applies the same seven-year cycle to financial obligations: "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts" (שְׁמִטָּה, shemittah). The shared root שׁ-מ-ט (sh-m-t, "release/let drop") connects agricultural rest with debt release, extending the sabbatical principle from land to economics. Both texts express the same theological conviction: the seventh year belongs to God, requiring Israel to release its claims on both the earth's productivity and their neighbors' financial obligations.