Leviticus 25:2

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, etc.] What follows, being what the whole body of the people would be under obligation to observe, and therefore must be delivered to them all, at least to the heads and elders of the people, and by them to the rest: when ye come into the land which I give you; the land of Canaan, and until they came thither, the following law concerning the sabbatical year could not take place; and as Maimonides f855 says, it was only used in the land of Israel, and no where else, according to this text, and that both before and after the temple was built: then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord; a rest from tillage, as it is afterwards…”

“When ye come into the land - So as to be settled in it; for the time of the wars was not to be accounted, nor the time before Joshua's distribution of the land among them. Keep a sabbath - That is, enjoy rest and freedom from plowing, and tilling. Unto the Lord - In obedience and unto the honour of God. This was instituted, For the assertion of God's sovereign right to the land, in which the Israelites were but tenants at God's will. For the trial of their obedience. For the demonstration of his providence as well in general towards men, as especially towards his own people. To wean them from inordinate love, and pursuit of worldly advantages, and to inure them to depend upon God alone, and…”

“25:2-7 During the year of Sabbath rest, there was to be no formal cultivation or harvesting of the land; from what grew on its own the landowner could gather what he needed for his household day by day. Whatever remained uneaten was left for the poor and for foreigners (Exod 23:10-11), and what they left provided food for both wild and domestic animals. See also Exod 21:2; Deut 15:1-11.”

“When ye: Lev 14:34; Deu 32:8, Deu 32:49, Deu 34:4; Psa 24:1, Psa 24:2, Psa 115:16; Isa 8:8; Jer 27:5 keep: Heb. rest, Lev 23:32 \*marg. a sabbath: Lev 26:34, Lev 26:35; Exo 23:10; Ch2 36:21 Leviticus 25:4”

“The Sabbatical Year. - When Israel had come into the land which the Lord gave to it, it was to sanctify it to the Lord by the observance of a Sabbath. As the nation at large, with its labourers and beasts of burden, was to keep a Sabbath or day of rest every seventh day of the week, so the land which they filled was to rest (to keep, שׁבּי שׁבת as in Lev 23:32) a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years they were to sow the field and cut the vineyard, i.e., cultivate the corn-fields, vineyards, and olive-yards ( Exo 23:11 : see the remarks on cerem at Lev 19:10), and gather in their produce; but in the seventh year the land was to keep a Sabbath of rest (Sabbath sabbathon, Exo 31:15), a Sabbath…”