The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Release” it comes from the Hebrew Word “shemittah” which means “release, remission.”
Every seven years, God commands Israel to wipe the slate completely clean. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Deuteronomy 15.
Moses commands that every seventh year, Israel observe a release, “shemittah” in Hebrew, canceling debts owed by fellow Israelites, though this release does not apply to debts owed by foreigners. He promises that if Israel diligently obeys all God’s commandments, there will be no poor among them, since God will bless them abundantly in the land, and warns strongly against a hard, ungenerous heart that withholds lending simply because the year of release draws near, insisting instead that they give freely and without a grudging heart, “because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works.”
Moses reminds Israel that “the poor shall never cease out of the land,” which is precisely why he commands them to open their hand wide to their poor and needy brother. He then repeats instructions for Hebrew servants, requiring their release after six years of service, and commanding that they be sent away generously supplied from the flock, threshingfloor, and winepress, “as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee,” remembering that they themselves were once bondmen in Egypt before the Lord redeemed them.
The chapter closes with instructions regarding the firstborn of cattle and sheep, to be set apart and eaten before the Lord each year, provided the animal has no blemish, since a blemished animal, blind, lame, or otherwise flawed, may not be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord, though it may still be eaten within their own towns, treated the same as any other clean meat.
The command to give freely even as the year of release approached, when a loan might never be repaid, tested whether Israel’s generosity was genuine or merely calculated self-interest. God’s blessing was tied directly to open-handed giving, not cautious hedging designed to protect against personal loss.
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