Text: Deuteronomy 15:1-11
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 23:10-11
Subject: sabbatical year laws — land and debt
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 23:10-11 prescribes a seven-year agricultural cycle where the land lies fallow in the seventh year and "the poor among your people may eat" from what grows naturally. Deuteronomy 15:1-11 extends this sabbatical principle to economics: debts must be cancelled every seventh year (שְׁמִטָּה, shemittah), with the added command to lend generously even as the release year approaches. Deuteronomy explicitly warns against the "evil thought" (דָּבָר... בְּלִיַּעַל, davar... beliya'al) of refusing to lend because the release year is near (Deut 15:9). The progression from agricultural fallow (Exodus) to debt release with anti-exploitation safeguards (Deuteronomy) shows the sabbatical principle expanding from land management to comprehensive economic justice.