Leviticus 25
ECFLeviticus 25:4
Clement of Alexandria: So do we now understand how the law educates us in piety, sharing, justice and humanity? Well? Does it not enjoin that the land lie fallow through the seventh year and invites the poor not to be afraid to use any crops that grow by God’s grace, nature acting as farmer for any who will? — The Stromata Book 2
Leviticus 25:10
Basil of Caesarea: Seven weeks of years in ancient times produced the celebrated jubilee, in which the earth kept the sabbath, debts were canceled, slaves were set free and, as it were, a new life was established again, the old one in a certain way attaining its fulfillment in the number seven. These things are figures of this present age which revolves through the seven days and passes us by; an age in which the penalties for the lesser sins are paid according to the loving care of the good Lord, so that we may not be handed over for punishment in the age without end. — LETTER 260
Bede: In the law the fiftieth year was ordered to be called [the year] of jubilee, that is, “forgiving” or “changed.” During it the people were to remain at rest from all work, the debts of all were to be canceled, slaves were to go free [and] the year itself was to be more notable than other years because of its greater solemnities and divine praises. Therefore by this number is rightly indicated that tranquility of greatest peace when, as the apostle says, at the sound of the last trumpet “the dead will rise and we shall be changed” into glory. Then, when the labors and hardships of this age come to an end and our debts, [that is] all our faults, have been forgiven, the entire people of the elect will rejoice eternally in the sole contemplation of the divine vision. And that most longed-for command of our Lord and Savior will be fulfilled: “Be still, and see that I am God.” — Homilies on the Gospels 2.17
Bede: We read in the law that the fiftieth year was ordered to be designated as a jubilee (that is, a [year for] releasing or exchanging), in which the whole people should rest from all cultivation of the land and everyone’s debts should be canceled. And we know that in the New Testament the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost (that is, the fiftieth day of the Lord’s resurrection) and hallowed the beginnings of the church that was being brought into existence by its coming. It is agreed then that by this number can rightly be figured either the grace of the Holy Spirit or the joy of future blessedness, to which one is brought through the gift of the same Spirit and in the perception of which alone is true rest and joy. — On the Tabernacle 2.2
Cassiodorus: THE NUMBER OF THIS PSALM IS NOT WITHOUT REASON. IT HAS REFERENCE TO THE YEAR OF THE JUBILEE, WHICH AMONG THE JEWS DISSOLVED OLD CONTRACTS AND OBLIGATIONS AND WHICH IN LEVITICUS THE LORD ORDERED ALL DWELLERS ON EARTH TO CALL THE YEAR OF REMISSION. THE NUMBER ALSO REFERS TO PENTECOST, WHEN AFTER THE LORD’S ASCENSION THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME ON THE APOSTLES, WORKING MIRACLES AND IMPARTING THE GIFT OF CHARISMS. SO TOO THIS PSALM, WHICH IS GIVEN THE NUMBER 50, if recited with a pure heart, looses sins, cancels the bond of our debt and, like the year of remission, frees us through the Lord’s kindness of the debts of our sins. — EXPOSITION OF THE Psalms 50, CONCLUSION
Origen of Alexandria: Who is there who has grasped the mind of Christ so well that he knows the meaning of the seventh year of freedom of Hebrew slaves and the remission of debts and the intermission of the cultivation of the holy land? Over and above the feast of every seventh year is the feast called the jubilee. No one can ever come near divining its precise meaning or the true import of the prescriptions enjoined by it, except him who knows the Father’s will and his disposition for every age according to “his incomprehensible judgments and unsearchable ways.” — ON PRAYER 27.14
Richard Challoner: Remission: That is, a general release and discharge from debts and bondage, and a reinstating of every man in his former possessions.