“And if he who sanctified the field would indeed redeem it, then he shall add to it one-fifth of the valuation in money, and it shall remain his” (v. 19). This signifies that we should pay a price for our devotion related to the enjoyment of Christ as the rich land.
If we have devoted something and we want to get it back, we have to pay the price. If we do not devote, there is no need to redeem or to pay anything. In such a case, nothing is added to our enjoyment of Christ. But if we devote and we want to reclaim what is devoted, we have to pay the price and then add one-fifth of that price. The important matter here is not the amount added to the price-it is getting ourselves involved with the enjoyment of Christ.
Whether we are right or wrong, it is good to devote. As long as we devote, we are involved with and related to the enjoyment of Christ. In the past I knew quite a number of saints who consecrated themselves to the Lord in a wrong way, but they all became involved with the enjoyment of Christ.
“But if he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore” (v. 20). This signifies that if in our devotion related to the enjoyment of Christ as the rich land we will not pay a price, we will lose this enjoyment for a certain time.
“And when the field is released in the jubilee, it shall be holy to Jehovah, as a devoted field; his possession shall belong to the priest. But if he sanctifies a field which he has purchased to Jehovah, which is not of the fields of his possession, then the priest shall calculate the amount of its valuation up to the year of jubilee, and he shall give the amount of its valuation on that day as a holy thing to Jehovah. In the year of jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was bought, to whom the possession of the land belongs” (vv. 21-24). This signifies that in our devotion related to the enjoyment of Christ as the rich land, we cannot take advantage of others and we must be fair with God.
Suppose the owner of a piece of land devoted that land to God. Later, perhaps because he had become poor, he sold that devoted piece of land to another person, who bought it by paying the amount of the valuation plus one-fifth of that amount. Thus this piece of land became the possession of this other person. However, according to the statute of the jubilee, the land was to be returned to the original owner, who was the devoter and also the seller. Although the owner had sold the land, it was not to remain sold forever. At the time of jubilee the one who purchased the land is taken out of the picture, for he was to be the possessor of the land only until the jubilee, at which time the land reverted to its original owner. As we have pointed out, this signifies that in our devotion related to the enjoyment of Christ we cannot take advantage of others and we must be fair with God.
Home | First | Prev | Next