Leviticus is unrelenting. There are a total of five sentences of narrative in the book (24:10-12, 23), the rest is entirely taken up in laws. Dr. Sailhamer once mentioned that he thought that the experience reading the laws reflects the oppression of living under them.
I was struck again by how concerned God is that the land itself enjoy a sabbath rest - in chapter 26, amidst a list of curses that God will bring upon an unrepentant Israel, and after Israel is driven from the land, it reads,
Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its sabbath years. As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it. (vs.34-35)
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