251 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, in mount Sinai, saying, 2 'Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, When ye come in unto the land which I am giving to you, then hath the land kept a sabbath to Jehovah. 3 'Six years thou dost sow thy field, and six years thou dost prune thy vineyard, and hast gathered its increase, 4 and in the seventh year a sabbath of rest is to the land, a sabbath to Jehovah; thy field thou dost not sow, and thy vineyard thou dost not prune; 5 the spontaneous growth of thy harvest thou dost not reap, and the grapes of thy separated thing thou dost not gather, a year of rest it is to the land. 6 'And the sabbath of the land hath been to you for food, to thee, and to thy man-servant, and to thy handmaid, and to thy hireling, and to thy settler, who are sojourning with thee; 7 and to thy cattle, and to the beast which 'is' in thy land, is all thine increase for food.
8 'And thou hast numbered to thee seven sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and the days of the seven sabbaths of years have been to thee nine and forty years, 9 and thou hast caused a trumpet of shouting to pass over in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month; in the day of the atonements ye do cause a trumpet to pass over through all your land; 10 and ye have hallowed the year, the fiftieth year; and ye have proclaimed liberty in the land to all its inhabitants; a jubilee it is to you; and ye have turned back each unto his possession; yea, each unto his family ye do turn back. 11 'A jubilee it 'is', the fiftieth year, a year it is to you; ye sow not, nor reap its spontaneous growth, nor gather its separated things; 12 for a jubilee it 'is', holy it is to you; out of the field ye eat its increase; 13 in the year of this jubilee ye turn back each unto his possession. 14 'And when thou sellest anything to thy fellow, or buyest from the hand of thy fellow, ye do not oppress one another; 15 by the number of years after the jubilee thou dost buy from thy fellow; by the number of the years of increase he doth sell to thee; 16 according to the multitude of the years thou dost multiply its price, and according to the fewness of the years thou dost diminish its price; for a number of increases he is selling to thee; 17 and ye do not oppress one another, and thou hast been afraid of thy God; for I 'am' Jehovah your God. 18 'And ye have done My statutes, and My judgments ye keep, and have done them, and ye have dwelt on the land confidently, 19 and the land hath given its fruit, and ye have eaten to satiety, and have dwelt confidently on it. 20 'And when ye say, What do we eat in the seventh year, lo, we do not sow, nor gather our increase? 21 then I have commanded My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it hath made the increase for three years; 22 and ye have sown the eighth year, and have eaten of the old increase; until the ninth year, until the coming in of its increase, ye do eat the old.
23 'And the land is not sold—to extinction, for the land 'is' Mine, for sojourners and settlers 'are' ye with Me; 24 and in all the land of your possession a redemption ye do give to the land. 25 'When thy brother becometh poor, and hath sold his possession, then hath his redeemer who is near unto him come, and he hath redeemed the sold thing of his brother; 26 and when a man hath no redeemer, and his own hand hath attained, and he hath found as sufficient 'for' its redemption, 27 then he hath reckoned the years of its sale, and hath given back that which is over to the man to whom he sold 'it', and he hath returned to his possession. 28 'And if his hand hath not found sufficiency to give back to him, then hath his sold thing been in the hand of him who buyeth it till the year of jubilee; and it hath gone out in the jubilee, and he hath returned to his possession. 29 'And when a man selleth a dwelling-house 'in' a walled city, then hath his right of redemption been until the completion of a year from its selling; days—is his right of redemption; 30 and if it is not redeemed until the fulness to him of a perfect year, then hath the house which 'is' in a walled city been established to extinction to the buyer of it, to his generations; it goeth not out in the jubilee; 31 and a house of the villages which have no wall round about, on the field of the country is reckoned; redemption is to it, and in the jubilee it goeth out. 32 'As to cities of the Levites—houses of the cities of their possession—redemption age-during is to the Levites; 33 as to him who redeemeth from the Levites, both the sale of a house and the city of his possession have gone out in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession in the midst of the sons of Israel. 34 And a field, a suburb of their cities, is not sold; for a possession age-during it 'is' to them. 35 'And when thy brother is become poor, and his hand hath failed with thee, then thou hast kept hold on him, sojourner and settler, and he hath lived with thee; 36 thou takest no usury from him, or increase; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; and thy brother hath lived with thee; 37 thy money thou givest not to him in usury, and for increase thou givest not thy food; 38 I 'am' Jehovah your God, who hath brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give to you the land of Canaan, to become your God.
39 'And when thy brother becometh poor with thee, and he hath been sold to thee, thou dost not lay on him servile service; 40 as an hireling, as a settler, he is with thee, till the year of the jubilee he doth serve with thee,— 41 then he hath gone out from thee, he and his sons with him, and hath turned back unto his family; even unto the possession of his fathers he doth turn back. 42 'For they 'are' My servants, whom I have brought out from the land of Egypt: they are not sold 'with' the sale of a servant; 43 thou rulest not over him with rigour, and thou hast been afraid of thy God. 44 'And thy man-servant and thy handmaid whom thou hast 'are' of the nations who 'are' round about you; of them ye buy man-servant and handmaid, 45 and also of the sons of the settlers who are sojourning with you, of them ye buy, and of their families who 'are' with you, which they have begotten in your land, and they have been to you for a possession; 46 and ye have taken them for inheritance to your sons after you, to occupy 'for' a possession; to the age ye lay service upon them, but upon your brethren, the sons of Israel, one with another, thou dost not rule over him with rigour. 47 'And when the hand of a sojourner or settler with thee attaineth 'riches', and thy brother with him hath become poor, and he hath been sold to a sojourner, a settler with thee, or to the root of the family of a sojourner, 48 after he hath been sold, there is a right of redemption to him; one of his brethren doth redeem him, 49 or his uncle, or a son of his uncle, doth redeem him, or any of the relations of his flesh, of his family, doth redeem him, or—his own hand hath attained—then he hath been redeemed. 50 'And he hath reckoned with his buyer from the year of his being sold to him till the year of jubilee, and the money of his sale hath been by the number of years; as the days of an hireling it is with him. 51 'If yet many years, according to them he giveth back his redemption 'money', from the money of his purchase. 52 'And if few are left of the years till the year of jubilee, then he hath reckoned with him, according to his years he doth give back his redemption 'money'; 53 as an hireling, year by year, he is with him, and he doth not rule him with rigour before thine eyes. 54 'And if he is not redeemed in these 'years', then he hath gone out in the year of jubilee, he and his sons with him. 55 For to Me 'are' the sons of Israel servants; My servants they 'are', whom I have brought out of the land of Egypt; I, Jehovah, 'am' your God.
23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 24 saying, 'Away! what—to us and to thee, Jesus the Nazarene? thou didst come to destroy us; I have known thee who thou art—the Holy One of God.' 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be silenced, and come forth out of him,' 26 and the unclean spirit having torn him, and having cried with a great voice, came forth out of him, 27 and they were all amazed, so as to reason among themselves, saying, 'What is this? what new teaching 'is' this? that with authority also the unclean spirits he commandeth, and they obey him!' 28 And the fame of him went forth immediately to all the region, round about, of Galilee.
29 And immediately, having come forth out of the synagogue, they went to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John, 30 and the mother-in-law of Simon was lying fevered, and immediately they tell him about her, 31 and having come near, he raised her up, having laid hold of her hand, and the fever left her immediately, and she was ministering to them.
32 And evening having come, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all who were ill, and who were demoniacs, 33 and the whole city was gathered together near the door, 34 and he healed many who were ill of manifold diseases, and many demons he cast forth, and was not suffering the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 And very early, it being yet night, having risen, he went forth, and went away to a desert place, and was there praying; 36 and Simon and those with him went in quest of him, 37 and having found him, they say to him,—'All do seek thee;' 38 and he saith to them, 'We may go to the next towns, that there also I may preach, for for this I came forth.' 39 And he was preaching in their synagogues, in all Galilee, and is casting out the demons,
40 and there doth come to him a leper, calling on him, and kneeling to him, and saying to him—'If thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me.' 41 And Jesus having been moved with compassion, having stretched forth the hand, touched him, and saith to him, 'I will; be thou cleansed;' 42 and he having spoken, immediately the leprosy went away from him, and he was cleansed. 43 And having sternly charged him, immediately he put him forth, 44 and saith to him, 'See thou mayest say nothing to any one, but go away, thyself shew to the priest, and bring near for thy cleansing the things Moses directed, for a testimony to them.' 45 And he, having gone forth, began to proclaim much, and to spread abroad the thing, so that no more he was able openly to enter into the city, but he was without in desert places, and they were coming unto him from every quarter.
(Read Mark 1:23-28)
The devil is an unclean spirit, because he has lost all the purity of his nature, because he acts in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit of God, and by his suggestions defiles the spirits of men. There are many in our assemblies who quietly attend under merely formal teachers; but if the Lord come with faithful ministers and holy doctrine, and by his convincing Spirit, they are ready to say, like this man, What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth! No disorder could enable a man to know Jesus to be the Holy One of God. He desires to have nothing to do with Jesus, for he despairs of being saved by him, and dreads being destroyed by him. See whose language those speak, that say to the Almighty, Depart from us. This unclean spirit hated and dreaded Christ, because he knew him to be a Holy One; for the carnal mind is enmity against God, especially against his holiness. When Christ by his grace delivers souls out of the hands of Satan, it is not without tumult in the soul; for that spiteful enemy will disquiet those whom he cannot destroy. This put all who saw it upon considering, What is this new doctrine? A work as great often is wrought now, yet men treat it with contempt and neglect. If this were not so, the conversion of a notorious wicked man to a sober, righteous, and godly life, by the preaching of a crucified Saviour, would cause many to ask, What doctrine is this?
(Read Mark 1:29-39)
Wherever Christ comes, he comes to do good. He cures, that we may minister to him, and to others who are his, and for his sake. Those kept from public ordinances by sickness or other real hinderances, may expect the Saviour's gracious presence; he will soothe their sorrows, and abate their pains. Observe how numerous the patients were. When others speed well with Christ, it should quicken us in seeking after him. Christ departed into a solitary place. Though he was in no danger of distraction, or of temptation to vain-glory, yet he retired. Those who have the most business in public, and of the best kind, must yet sometimes be alone with God.
(Read Mark 1:40-45)
We have here Christ's cleansing of a leper. It teaches us to apply to the Saviour with great humility, and with full submission to his will, saying, "Lord, if thou wilt," without any doubt of Christ's readiness to help the distressed. See also what to expect from Christ; that according to our faith it shall be to us. The poor leper said, If thou wilt. Christ readily wills favours to those who readily refer themselves to his will. Christ would have nothing done that looked like seeking praise of the people. But no reasons now exist why we should hesitate to spread the praises of Christ.
