15:1,2
Most of the chapter is concerned with the cancellation of debts and the freeing of slaves at the end of seven years. This was to happen at the end of every seven years. So any load made to a fellow Israelite would be cancelled at the end of the seven year period. This is described as the “Lord’s time for cancelling debts”. All that we have comes from the Lord, without Him none of us would have anything.
15:3
This practice naturally raises many questions, for it seems unworkable to us, or even unfair. One feature of the system that reasonably raises questions is that it did not apply to foreigners. Why was this? A possible explanation is that the foreigner may only be in the country for a time, though from a practical point of view that would make lending to him at all a risky business. Perhaps the answer is that Israel was meant to demonstrate the goodness of God’s kingdom to the world, so ultimately all would become Israelites.
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