Ownership of Land
From Eco-Bible 1
These are notes for an incomplete "Concept" page.
- Information is being added as the Bible Pages are added. In the end, everything will be compiled, further information added (as necessary), broken links connected, etc.
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- See also: Land Given by God.
- See also: Property Issues.
- See also: Inheritance Issues. Ultimately, this may or may not be a separate topic.
Scripture Pages that Link to Here
- Lev 25:23 " 'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
- As far as the human owner... During the Jubilee: Everyone's property is to be returned. You do not “buy” land from someone else; you are only buying or selling the crops that will be grown on it. The land can be bought back at any time, or (if not) it must revert back to the original owner during the year of Jubilee. (Does not apply to houses inside walled cities. Also, some special restrictions apply to the Levites.)
- God is owner of the land, and he gives it to whoever he wants. He also takes it from those who choose to become irreversibly wicked.
- COMMENTS: Possession of the land is based on who God gives it to. As other passages have said, God is the ultimate owner, not people. He has the right to give the land to those who are willing to honor (rather than defy) him. Note also that God didn't give Israel any other land. This is why Israel could not take over any other land, besides what God had allotted to them.
- The land they inherited was described as "the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess it."
Deuteronomy 32:8
- Deu 32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.
- God is the one who gives the nations their inheritance and establishes their boundaries. This implies that it is his to give. (See also Acts 17:26-27.)
- Yahweh - described as "the Lord of all the earth." This passage described how he stopped the Jordan River, so that the Israelites could cross over to Canaan, the land he was about to give to them.
- Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard; but "Naboth said to Ahab, Yahweh forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you."
- In Israel, possession of land was to remain permanently with the family. It could not be permanently sold; it could only be leased, and then returned to the original owner at the Jubilee. This is because the land ultimately belongs to God. (For that matter, the whole earth belongs to God - Psalm 24:1.)
- Isa 5:8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! (The poor would be dispossessed of their homes and land, and have no place to live.)
- In Israel, land was never to be sold (much less obtained by devious means), because it was permanently assigned to individual families by God (who is the ultimate owner). It could be leased temporarily, but would eventually revert back to the original owner. (Under certain circumstances, houses in walled cities could be permanently sold; but that is not the focus here.)
Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.
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