This chapter treats of a release of debts every seventh year, to which a blessing is promised if attended to, Deut. 15:1–6, which seventh year of release should not hinder lending to a poor man in distress, even though it was nigh at hand, Deut.

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. ] Not of servants, for they were not to be dismissed from their service until they had served six years, as is directed to in a following law; for if they were to be set free whenever a sabbatical year came, they might be discharged when…

And this is the manner of the release Or the rules to be observed in making it: every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; that is, forgive the debt, or free the debtor from any obligation to payment.

Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again Either on the seventh year, or after it: but that which is thine with thy brother, thine hand shall release; a debt that lies between them, where the one is the creditor, and the other debtor, the creditor shall freely and fully forgive the debtor.

Save when there shall be no poor among you Then such a law could not take place, there would be no debts to be released; for this was never designed to screen rich persons from the payment of their just debts, or whoever were in a capacity of so doing, only such as were really poor, and unable to…

Only if thou carefully hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, &c.] In his word, and by his prophets; this being the case, there would be no more poor among them, or however they would be so blessed of God, that they would be capable of releasing the debts of the poor, without hurting themselves…

For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee He is faithful that has promised, and he always gives the blessing he promises according to the nature of the promise; if absolute, and without conditions, he gives it without respect to any; but if conditional, as the promises of temporal…

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren As there would be, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, if they did not keep the commandments of the law, and continue therein: within any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; a native of the land was to…

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him And give him bountifully and liberally; in order to which the heart must be first opened, the affections moved, and a willing mind disposed to give generously: and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth: enough to answer…

Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart “Or, thy heart of Belial” [[5]]; thy worthless heart, and which is without a yoke not subjected to the law of God, as every carnal heart is; and in which Belial, Satan, the prince of this world, works effectually, and inclines to evil thoughts,…

Thou shall surely give him Or lend to him; though lending in such a case and circumstances, that person being extremely poor, and the year of release at hand, is the same as giving.

For the poor shall never cease out of the land There would be always such objects to exercise their charity and beneficence towards, , which is no contradiction to for had they been obedient to the laws of God, they would have been so blessed that there would have been none; so the Targums; but he…

And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee By others, as by the sanhedrim for theft, for which a man might be sold, but not a woman, as Jarchi observes; but then a father might sell his daughter for an handmaid, if little and under age; and to such cases this law is…

And when thou sendest him out free from thee When he discharged him from his servitude, and made him a free man: thou shall not let him go away empty; without anything to support himself, or to put himself in a way of business; he having in the time of his servitude worked entirely for his master,…

Thou shalt furnish him liberally Not only to supply his present wants, but for his future use, and to set him up in the world: “loading thou shall load him” [[7]], so some render the words; give him as much as he can carry, and well stand up under; the word used has the signification of chains wore…

And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt Where they were used hardly, and their lives were made bitter in hard bondage; and therefore should show the greater compassion to servants, whose case they could not but sympathize with, and have a fellow feeling of and the Lord…

And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee Out of his house, nor quit his service: because he loveth thee and thine house; his master and his family, and so loath to leave them, but chooses rather to stay with them than have his liberty; hence the Jews say [[9]], if his…

Then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door Not of his master’s house, but of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, according to the Targum of Jonathan, before whom he was to be brought, and declare his desire to continue with his master; (See Gill on Ex.

It shall not seem hard to thee when thou sendest him away free from thee He should not grudge him his liberty, nor what he gives to him when he dismisses him: for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee in serving thee six years; since a hired servant a man is obliged to pay him wages for…

All the firstling males that come of thy herd, or of thy flock, thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God According to the law in (Ex. 13:2, Ex. 13:12, Ex. 13:13) . (See Gill on Ex. 13:2); (See Gill on Ex. 13:12); (See Gill on Ex.

Thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God, year by year Which, if understood of male firstlings, as in connection with the preceding verse, only priests might eat of them, being devoted to the Lord; so Jarchi says, to the priest he speaks; but if this respects the Israelites in common, then they…

And if there be any blemish therein In the firstling, as if it be “lame or blind”, or have any ill blemish: thou shall not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God; blemishes in any beast made it unfit for sacrifices which were required; and so all peace offerings, vows, and freewill offerings, were to…

Thou shalt eat it within thy gates Though it might not be sacrificed, nor eaten as an eucharistic feast at Jerusalem, it might be eaten as common food in their own houses: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike; such as were ceremonially unclean, by the touch of a dead body or the…

Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof Of the firstling: thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water; (See Gill on Deut. 12:16), (See Gill on Deut. 12:23), (See Gill on Deut. 12:24).