Background: God has been giving the Israelites instructions for giving their farms and such a year off from growing crops every 7 years and to have a special homecoming celebration every 50th year. (Leviticus 25) Then He tells them to fear Him and obey Him but not to be afraid of where their food would come from in the years of rest because He would provide for them perfectly:
Leviticus 25:17-22English Standard Version (ESV)
17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.
18 “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.
