(31) But the houses of the villages which have no wall.--Houses in villages, however, form an exception. They are part of the landed property, and hence, like the cultivated land on which they are erected, are subject to the law of jubile.
25:23-34 If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.
But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round about them,.... As there were many in the days of Joshua, the Scripture speaks of: the Jews suppose that such are meant, even though they were afterwards walled:
shall be counted as the fields of the country; and subject to the same law as they:
they may be redeemed; at any time before the year of jubilee, and if not, then
they shall go out in the jubilee; to the original owners of them, freely, as Jarchi says, without paying anything for them.
shall be counted as the fields of the country; and subject to the same law as they:
they may be redeemed; at any time before the year of jubilee, and if not, then
they shall go out in the jubilee; to the original owners of them, freely, as Jarchi says, without paying anything for them.