Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.

Then shell the land enjoy her sabbaths all the days of her desolation: when you shall be

Then doth the land enjoy its sabbaths, all the days of the desolation, and ye in the land of your enemies, then doth the land rest, and hath enjoyed its sabbaths;

Then will the land take pleasure in its Sabbaths while it is waste and you are living in the land of your haters; then will the land have rest.

Then shall the land be paid her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and repay her sabbaths.

Then the land will be pleased by her Sabbaths, throughout all the days of her solitude. So, while you will be

Tunc perficiet (vel, oblectabitur) terra sabbatha sua cunctis diebus quibus desdata fuerit: vos autem eritis in terra inimicorum vestrorum: tunc, inquam, requiescet terra, et perficiet sabbatha sua.

Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths. In order that the observance of the Sabbath should be the more honored, God in a manner associated the land in it together with man; for whereas the land had rest every seventh year from sowing, and harvest, and all cultivation, He thus desired to stir up men more effectually to a greater reverence for the Sabbath. God now bitterly reproves the Israelites because they not only profane the Sabbath themselves, but do not even allow the land to enjoy its prescribed rest; for this repose of the seventh year did not hinder the land from continually groaning under a heavy burden as long as it nourished such ungodly inhabitants. He says, therefore, that the land was disturbed by ceaseless inquietude, and thus was deprived of its lawful Sabbaths, since it bore on its shoulders, as it were, and not without great distress, such impious despisers of God. Moreover, because the whole worship of God is sometimes included by synecdoche in the word Sabbath, (Jeremiah 17:21; Ezekiel 20:12,) He indirectly administers a sharp reproof to His people, because not only is He defrauded of His right by their impiety, but He cannot be duly honored in the Holy Land unless He expels them all from hence; as if He had said, that this was the only means that remained for the assertion of the honor due to His name, viz., that the land should be cleared of its inhabitants, and reduced to desolation; inasmuch as this extorted rest should be substituted in the room of the voluntary Sabbath.

Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths - This Houbigant observes to be a historical truth - "From Saul to the Babylonish captivity are numbered about four hundred and ninety years, during which period there were seventy Sabbaths of years; for 7, multiplied by 70, make 490. Now the Babylonish captivity lasted seventy years, and during that time the land of Israel rested. Therefore the land rested just as many years in the Babylonish captivity, as it should have rested Sabbaths if the Jews had observed the laws relative to the Sabbaths of the land." This is a most remarkable fact, and deserves to be particularly noticed, as a most literal fulfillment of the prophetic declaration in this verse: Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land. May it not be argued from this that the law concerning the Sabbatical year was observed till Saul's time, as it is only after this period the land enjoyed its rest in the seventy years' captivity? And if that breach of the law was thus punished, may it not be presumed it had been fulfilled till then, or else the captivity would have lasted longer, i. e., till the land had enjoyed all its rests, of which it had ever been thus deprived?

Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,.... The sabbatical years, or seventh year sabbaths, when, according to the law in the preceding chapter, it was to rest from tillage, Leviticus 25:2,
as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; so long it should lie uncultivated, at least in part, there not being a sufficient number left to till it in general, or as it should be; this was the case during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon:
even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths; or complete them, as Aben Ezra, which is a bitter sarcasm upon them for their neglect of observance of the law concerning the sabbatical years; but now the land should have its sabbaths of rest whether they would or not; and it seems as if it was on account of this sin, as well as others, that they were carried captive; and it is remarkable, if what Maimonides (x) says is right, that it was at the going out or end of a sabbatical year, that the first temple was destroyed, and the Jews carried captive, and endured a seventy years' captivity; which some say was because they had neglected seventy sabbatical years; see 2-Chronicles 36:21.
(x) Hilchot Shemitah Vejobel, c. 10. sect. 3.

Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, &c.--A long arrear of sabbatic years had accumulated through the avarice and apostasy of the Israelites, who had deprived their land of its appointed season of rest. The number of those sabbatic years seems to have been seventy, as determined by the duration of the captivity. This early prediction is very remarkable, considering that the usual policy of the Assyrian conquerors was to send colonies to cultivate and inhabit their newly acquired provinces.

Object of the Divine Judgments in Relation to the Land and Nation of Israel. - Leviticus 26:34 and Leviticus 26:35. The land would then enjoy and keep its Sabbaths, so long as it was desolate, and Israel was in the land of its foes. השּׁמּה ימי כּל, during the whole period of its devastation. השּׁמּה inf. Hophal with the suffix, in which the mappik is wanting, as in Exodus 2:3 (cf. Ewald, 131e). רצה to have satisfaction: with בּ and an accusative it signifies to take delight, take pleasure, in anything, e.g., in rest after the day's work is done (Job 14:6); here also to enjoy rest (not "to pay its debt:" Ges., Kn.). The keeping of the Sabbath was not a performance binding upon the land, nor had the land been in fault because the Sabbath was not kept. As the earth groans under the pressure of the sin of men, so does it rejoice in deliverance from this pressure, and participation in the blessed rest of the whole creation. וגו אשׁר את תּשׁבּת: the land "will rest (keep) what it has not rested on your Sabbaths and whilst you dwelt in it;" i.e., it will make up the rest which you did not give it on your Sabbaths (daily and yearly). It is evident from this, that the keeping of the Sabbaths and sabbatical years was suspended when the apostasy of the nation increased, - a result which could be clearly foreseen in consequence of the inward dislike of a sinner to the commandments of the holy God, and which is described in 2-Chronicles 26:21 as having actually occurred.

The land shall enjoy her sabbaths - It shall enjoy those sabbatical years of rest from tillage, which you through covetousness would not give it.