Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord gives Moses commands for the lamp stands in the sanctuary (tabernacle), more laws are given regarding appropriate behavior including helping the poor, the Lord commands that the 7th year will be a Sabbath year in which slaves in Israel will go free, and the Lord proclaims that the 50th year will be a year of jubilee.
The Lord commands Moses to tell Israel to bring oil for the lights so that the lamps will burn continually outside the veil of the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle before the Lord. He gives instructions again about the bread on the table and says that frankincense must be on it and that it is to be arranged each Sabbath, and Aaron and his sons must eat it in a holy place.
An Israelite woman has a son whose father was an Egyptian, and this son and a man of Israel fight, and the son "[blasphemes] the name of the Lord and [curses,]" and so they bring him to Moses to judge. The Lord tells Moses to take him outside the camp and to let all the congregation stone him. Then, He tells him to tell Israel that whoever blasphemes or curses God must be put to death, and that every man must stone him. If anyone kills a man, he will be put to death. If a man kills an animal, he must recompense it. If a man causes disfigurement to a man, the same should be done to him, "eye for eye, and tooth for tooth."
The Lord tells Moses on Mt. Sinai to tell Israel that the land should have a Sabbath on the seventh year, that no sowing or pruning or reaping should be done. After 49 years, on the 10th day of the 7th month, the Day of Atonement, they should sound a trumpet through the land and consecrate the 50th year, proclaiming liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants. It is to be a year of jubilee, and each person should return to his family. It will be a Sabbath year. He also commands them not to oppress one another. If Israel keeps God's commands, they will dwell in the land with safety, and the land will yield its fruit and they will eat their fill and dwell with safety. If they ask what they are to eat on the seventh year, the Lord says He will command His blessing on them so that in the 6th year, the land will produce three years' worth of produce, and they will eat the produced from the 6th year until the 9th year. They will eat it until the new harvest (sowed on the 8th year) comes in. Also, the Lord commands that the land should never be sold permanently, because it is the Lord's, and Israel "[dwells] with [Him} as a sojourner." The Lord gives laws about buying and selling land. If a fellow brother falls into poverty, they are to help him and let him live with them and not charge him interest for borrowing, but instead fear God. If that poor brother sells himself to them, he should only be a hired servant and not a slave until the year of jubilee, and then return to his own family, "to the possession of his fathers." No one is to be sold as slaves out of Israel, although He does permit the buying of slaves from outside Israel and from strangers that dwell among them, that they may take them as an inheritance for their children as permanent slaves. If a stranger nearby becomes rich, and an Israelite becomes poor and sells himself to that man, he may be redeemed again by one of his kin or by himself, the price being according to the number of years he was sold until the year of jubilee. However years are remaining, he must pay that price. His brethren should not allow him to be "ruled over with rigor." If he is not redeemed, he must be released in the year of jubilee along with his children, because Israel is collectively God's servant.
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
Why do you think rest is so important to God?
How do you see the year of jubilee applying to new testament believers?