The seventh year and the seventh day (Exodus 23,' 10-13)
Verse 12 specifies how the
seventh day should be kept holy. All work on that day is banned so that even
slaves, foreigners who entered the work force of the community, and domestic
animals, may rest.
Verse 11 commands that the
land shall 'rest' in every seventh year and shall not be sown. In the seventh
year the poor people may harvest anything that has grown of itself on the land,
in the vineyards, and in the olive gardens. Wild animals may also take what is
there. This law is a reminder that the real owner of the land is God who
created it. In the seventh year the land is God's before it is used again to
meet the needs of the community.