Deuteronomy15

Deuteronomy 15 outlines laws concerning the sabbatical year, requiring the release of debts among Israelites and the freeing of Hebrew servants after six years of service, providing for them generously. It emphasizes compassion for the poor, commanding open-handed giving and lending without grudging. The chapter concludes with instructions for sanctifying and consuming firstborn male animals, prohibiting the consumption of their blood.

The Sabbatical Year and Debt Release

1
At the end of every seven years, you shall cancel debts. ​
2
This is the way it shall be done: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother; because the LORD’s release has been proclaimed. ​
3
Of a foreigner you may require it; but whatever of yours is with your brother, your hand shall release. ​
4
However there shall be no poor with you (for the LORD will surely bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it) ​
5
if only you diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day. ​
6
For the LORD your God will bless you, as he promised you. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. ​

Generosity to the Poor

7
If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; ​
8
but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.
9
Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to the LORD against you, and it be sin to you. ​
10
You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.
11
For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land. ​

Release of Hebrew Servants

12
If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ​
13
When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty. ​
14
You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.
15
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this thing today. ​
16
It shall be, if he tells you, “I will not go out from you,” because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you;
17
then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ​
18
It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for he has been double value of a hired hand as he served you six years. the LORD your God will bless you in all that you do. ​

The Law of the Firstborn Animals

19
You shall dedicate all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ​
20
You shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose, you and your household.
21
If it has any defect, is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God. ​
22
You shall eat it within your gates. The unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the deer. ​
23
Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 15

Verse 1

This law establishes the Sabbatical Year (Shemitah), requiring an economic reset every seven years. Its purpose was to prevent permanent stratification and ensure that wealth did not accumulate excessively, reflecting God’s ownership of the land and the people.

Verse 2

The 'release' applied specifically to debts owed by fellow Israelites ('brother'), ensuring that the covenant community maintained internal economic stability and mutual aid.

Verse 3

The distinction between an Israelite 'brother' and a 'foreigner' (non-Israelite resident or merchant) highlights the unique covenant obligations Israel had toward its own members regarding charity and debt relief.

Verse 4

This verse presents an ideal state: the provision of the release is conditional upon Israel's obedience, implying that if the nation were perfectly faithful, poverty necessitating the release would not exist.

Verse 5

Deuteronomic theology clearly links national blessing, prosperity, and military success (V. 6) directly to faithful adherence to the covenant stipulations.

Verse 6

Lending to nations but not borrowing signifies the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant promise, establishing Israel as the favored and supreme nation among the peoples.

Verse 7

Moving from the mandatory Sabbatical release, Moses addresses the year-round, personal obligation to aid the poor. The command focuses on attitude ('thou shalt not harden thine heart') as much as action.

Verse 9

This verse warns against cynical self-interest—refusing a loan because the Sabbatical Year is imminent. Such calculation is considered a 'wicked heart' and a sin against God.

Verse 11

This provides a realistic counterpoint to the ideal of V. 4. Because of the reality of human failure, poverty is expected to be a persistent condition, necessitating continuous, open-handed generosity.

Verse 12

This law concerns indentured servitude, where a Hebrew person might sell themselves (or be sold) due to debt. The service is capped at six years, echoing the pattern of the Sabbatical cycle (Exod. 21:2).

Verse 13

Unlike the earlier law in Exodus, Deuteronomy explicitly requires the master to provision the released servant liberally, ensuring they are not sent away empty-handed and have the means to restart their lives.

Verse 15

The command is rooted in Israel's theological history: God redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt and provisioned them. This act establishes the ethical precedent for how Israelites must treat their own servants.

Verse 17

The ritual of piercing the ear with an 'aul' (awl) against the doorpost symbolized a voluntary, lifelong bond to the household, marking the servant as permanently dedicated to that family. The law applies to both men and women.

Verse 18

The master should not resent the cost of the release, as the servant's six years of labor were considered economically valuable, equivalent to the wages and upkeep of a 'double hired servant.'

Verse 19

This section shifts to cultic law, recalling the consecration of the firstborn as a perpetual memorial of God sparing Israel’s firstborn during the tenth plague in Egypt (Exod. 13:11-16).

Verse 21

Animals offered for sacrifice must be without blemish. However, if a firstborn animal had a defect, it was disqualified from being sacrificed but could still be eaten domestically by the owner.

Verse 22

A blemished firstling, unfit for the sacred altar feast, was treated as common meat, like venison (roebuck/hart), and could be eaten by anyone in the household, regardless of ritual cleanness.

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