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1 [1] וידבר ה' אל משה בהר סיני, it is noteworthy that nowhere else when the Torah announces new legislation does it also mention where this legislation was originally issued. The only time such locations are mentioned is when a new element of that commandment is added. We have heard about the principle of the sh’mittah legislation in Exodus 23,11 where the general outline was presented, the Torah writing that the produce of the land during the seventh year should be left untouched by the farmer and is intended for the poor of the nation.
Now the Torah reverts to present this legislation in greater detail. This is the reason why we are told where these details were first spelled out. What we read here is only a prototype. The principle does not apply only to the sh’mittah legislation, but wherever some legislation had been mentioned in a general manner only, when the details were filled in this took place at Mount Sinai, just as it did in the case of the sh’mittah legislation. (Torat Kohanim 1,1)
The reason that Moses mentioned this particular legislation at this point is because at this time he was still under the impression that the Israelites would proceed in short order to the land of Canaan, the sin of the spies which set them back by forty years not having occurred yet. Even as late as Numbers 10,29 Moses still spoke to the people of the impending journey to the Holy Land. Speaking about the soil of the holy Land “resting,” is the subject in Leviticus 26,34 as well as in Chronicles II 36,21. This shows that the main focus of the sh’mittah legislation concerns the “Sabbatical” experienced by the farmland of the nation.
Version: Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash
License: CC-BY