Text: Nehemiah 10:31
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 23:11
Subject: sabbatical year renewed post-exile
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 23:11 commands letting the land lie fallow (שָׁמַט, shamat) in the seventh year, and Nehemiah 10:31 records the post-exilic community pledging to resume this practice: "Every seventh year we will let the fields lie fallow, and will cancel every debt." The Nehemiah assembly's sworn commitment links both agricultural rest and debt cancellation in a single pledge, combining the Exodus sabbatical-year land provision with Deuteronomy's debt-release legislation. This oath demonstrates that the returning community recognized the sabbatical year as binding law that had been neglected during the pre-exilic and exilic periods—indeed, 2 Chronicles 36:21 attributes the exile's duration to the land's need to "enjoy its sabbaths."