What role does the Jubilee play as a backstop if no family member redeems the servant?

Leviticus 25:54 establishes the Jubilee as an unconditional release: if no family member redeems the Israelite servant by the fiftieth year, the Jubilee frees him automatically. The family obligation is primary; the Jubilee is the absolute outer limit.

How does Joseph's sale in Genesis 37 illuminate the obligation his brothers violated?

Joseph's brothers sold him to Ishmaelite traders -- precisely the non-Israelite bondservice that Leviticus 25:48 later obligates the family to reverse. Their failure to redeem him is the wound at the center of the Joseph narrative. The later reconciliation scene (Genesis 45) is in part the family finally acting as it should have.

Commandment #172 · Positive · Family Laws

After He Is Sold, Redemption Shall Belong to Him

Q: What specific scenario does Leviticus 25:47 describe, and why does the Torah single out sale to a non-Israelite?

An Israelite who has become poor sells himself to a resident foreigner who has become wealthy. The Torah singles out this situation because service to a non-Israelite removed the normal covenant-community protections that applied when serving a fellow Israelite, making the obligation to redeem more urgent.

Q: Who bears the redemption obligation under Leviticus 25:48-49, and in what order?

The obligation falls first on a brother, then an uncle, then a cousin, then any blood relative in the clan -- and finally the man himself if he prospers enough to buy back his freedom. The family network is the primary safety net; the Torah encodes that obligation in law.

Q: How is the redemption price calculated under Leviticus 25:50?

The redeemer pays the difference between the original sale price and the value of wages earned to date -- essentially purchasing the remaining years of service. With more years remaining until Jubilee, the price is higher; fewer years remaining means a lower redemption cost.

גְּאֻלַּת עֶבֶד עִבְרִי

Source: Leviticus 25:48 · Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive #236

Leviticus 25:47–55 describes a situation born of economic desperation: an Israelite sells himself as a bondservant to a resident foreigner. The Torah's response is immediate: 'after he is sold, redemption shall belong to him.' The sale is legal but not final. Leviticus 25:48 makes the family obligation explicit — one of his relatives must redeem him — with Leviticus 25:49 listing uncle, cousin, blood relative, and finally the man himself if he prospers.

After He Is Sold, Redemption Shall Belong to Him

אַחֲרֵי נִמְכַּר גְּאֻלָּה תִּהְיֶה לּוֹ אֶחָד מֵאֶחָיו יִגְאָלֶנּוּ

"they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them."

Leviticus 25:48 — Open in Torah Reader

Leviticus 25:47–55 addresses the situation of an Israelite who has fallen so deeply into debt that he sells himself as a bondservant to a foreigner or sojourner living in the land. The verse opens with a critical word: 'after he is sold, redemption shall belong to him' — the sale does not extinguish the right of return. The man is still an Israelite; his family's obligation to restore him remains.

The obligation falls on the extended family in a specific order (Leviticus 25:49): uncle, cousin, any blood relative, and finally the man himself if he prospers. The commandment is not permissive but obligatory — Maimonides (Positive Commandment #236) counts it as a duty of the family to redeem a kinsman sold into servitude to a non-Israelite. The family network is the first line of social protection; the Torah encodes that network into law.

In Proportion to the Years He Shall Calculate

וְכִי תַשִּׂיג יַד גֵּר וְתוֹשָׁב עִמָּךְ וּמָךְ אָחִיךָ עִמּוֹ וְנִמְכַּר לְגֵר תּוֹשָׁב עִמָּךְ

"If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's clan,"

Leviticus 25:47 — Open in Torah Reader

The specific scenario — an Israelite selling himself to a resident foreigner — is singled out because it creates a dual tension. Working for a co-Israelite, the slave retains certain protections and the relationship functions within covenant community. Serving a non-Israelite, those protections are not guaranteed. The Torah's concern is that an Israelite in this position be treated 'not as a slave but as a hired worker' (Leviticus 25:40) and that his departure be secured when redemption is possible.

The calculation for redemption price runs on years remaining until Jubilee (Leviticus 25:50): the redeemer pays the difference between the original sale price and the wages earned to date. The system prevents the non-Israelite employer from profiting unfairly from redemption while also ensuring the redeemer doesn't pay more than the remaining value of service. The Jubilee serves as the absolute outer limit: if no redeemer acts, the Jubilee year releases every Israelite bondservant unconditionally (Leviticus 25:54).

Key Figures

Naomi and Her Daughters-in-Law

When Naomi returned from Moab destitute (Ruth 1:21), the family-redemption system described in Leviticus 25 was the social mechanism that stood between her and permanent poverty. Boaz, as kinsman-redeemer, fulfilled the role that Leviticus 25:48 assigns to the extended family — stepping in when Naomi had no one else to restore what was lost.

Joseph Sold into Egypt

Genesis 37:28 (Genesis 37) records Joseph sold to Ishmaelite traders for twenty pieces of silver. His brothers' failure to redeem him — the exact obligation Leviticus 25:48 would later encode — is the wound at the center of the Joseph narrative. The later reconciliation scene (Genesis 45) is, in part, the family fulfilling the redemption obligation it had abandoned.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study

What specific scenario does Leviticus 25:47 describe, and why does the Torah single out sale to a non-Israelite rather than sale to any Israelite?

Who bears the redemption obligation under Leviticus 25:48-49, and in what order does responsibility fall across the extended family?

How is the redemption price calculated under Leviticus 25:50, and what principle of proportional justice does that calculation express?

What does the Jubilee year's role as an unconditional release (Leviticus 25:54) add to the family-redemption system?

How does Joseph's story in Genesis 37 illuminate the obligation his brothers violated — and what does Leviticus 25:48 later say about that failure?

Read the full passage in the Torah reader.

Open Leviticus 25 in the Bible Reader

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