Sabbath Year

I'm not sure how well I understand the Sabbath Year (every seventh) described in the Old Testament Law. Does it mean that for a whole year you don't work so much? You eat what you stored? In the weekly Sabbath you rest, your animals and servants rest, and you eat food prepared the day before.

Exodus 23:10-12,

"And six years thou shalt sow thy land,

and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still;

that the poor of thy people may eat:

and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat.

In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard,

and with thy oliveyard.

Six days thou shalt do thy work,

and on the seventh day thou shalt rest:

that thine ox and thine ass may rest,

and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger,

may be refreshed."

Leviticus 25:3-7,

"Six years thou shalt sow thy field,

and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard,

and gather in the fruit thereof;

But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,

a sabbath for the LORD:

thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest

thou shalt not reap,

neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed:

for it is a year of rest unto the land.

And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you;

for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid,

and for thy hired servant,

and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land,

shall all the increase thereof be meat."

Leviticus 25:20-22,

"And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year?

behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year,

and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

And ye shall sow the eighth year,

and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year;

until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store."

Just to spark your imaginations (and perhaps even the elusive comment), I would share an idea I had. In the Old Testament, men worked six-day work weeks. In America today the middle class man works five-day work weeks and takes Saturday to watch sports or do odd jobs around the house: clean the garage, install shelves, fix leaky faucets. Sundays are, to the pious, devoted to church and thoughts of God and family. Oh, and eating. That seems to be big on Sunday. And football, in the fall.

In the Old Testament it would seem that every seventh year a man has only to care for his animals. The poor may glean in the fields what grows without being tended. The middle class man, who has been working very hard for six years and saving his food (or becoming poor so he has to glean) is now resting for an entire year. What would that be like?

I can see some advantages. People would be taught to save on a seven year plan, but not necessarily to hoard their goods for some fabled retirement or splurge of luxury. Families would get a sort of vacation every seventh year. Wouldn't that be neat? To have Dad around for a whole year? And on the six-day work week plan, there is not as much time given to dissipation.

Apply this lifestyle to today's world. You don't go into debt to begin with, so you can start saving money right away. For six years of hard labor by the head of house (while women are preparing meals, saving money, earning money from home, keeping the house, supporting the husband) everyone saves enough, on a plan, that they could eat and keep electricity and water for a seventh year. A man tells his boss he will be quitting, taking a year's vacation, enjoying an extended leave of absence (or if he is self-employed, he shuts down for a year; think: no income tax that year!). Six years is a long time. The year-long vacation wouldn't happen all that often.

After the year off, a man goes back to work refreshed, perhaps more educated if he has used his time wisely, and ready to work hard again for another six years. His family knows him better, and knows how to better care for him as he works. They are refreshed and taught and encouraged to go on working and saving. Everyone talks about their vacation and looks forward to the next one.

So, would it work? Would anyone dare try it? What if God actually knows what He's talking about?

To God be all glory.