Exodus 23.10, 11   
¹⁰ “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, ¹¹ but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.”

During the seventh year people were not to work the land. It was to be allowed to rest and to produce naturally whatever God was pleased to draw forth from it. The poor, as well as the wild beasts (note the conservationist thrust of this) were allowed to wander the fields for a year of “gleaning” in order to meet their needs, whereas landowners were expected to store up food from the sixth year to last all the way to the eighth. God promised that He would allow their harvests to be ample for this institution, but the people had to be faithful and obey.

Modern farmers understand the wisdom, for their fields’ sake, of allowing a section to lie fallow for a season. These are often sown with clover and other plants that re-enrich the soil for subsequent years fruitful sowing. Even the earth needs a rest in this time of sin, as it groans and travails under the demands of men and other creatures that it faithfully and fruitfully supply their needs.

T. M. Moore

The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.