The Jubilee year. God had said to Israel: “No one should come to be poor among you.” (De 15:4, 5) The Jubilee year, as long as observed, prevented the nation from sinking into a situation where only two classes existed, the very rich and the very poor. On every 50th year (counted from the time of Israel’s entering Canaan), every man returned to his inheritance, and any land he had sold was to be restored to him. Because of this law, the price of land decreased every year as the Jubilee approached. Actually, the buyer, in a sense, only leased the land, the price depending on the number of crops until the Jubilee year. (Le 25:13-16, 28) Even a buyer of another’s inheritance could not necessarily hold it until the Jubilee. If the original owner acquired enough money, he could repurchase the land. Also, any repurchaser (close relative) could repurchase it for the original owner.​—Le 25:24-27.

The Levites. As a protection to the Levites, their fields could not be sold; this was because Levites had no individual land inheritance​—they had been given only houses in the Levite cities and the pasture grounds surrounding them. If a Levite sold his house in a Levite city, the right of repurchase continued for him, and in the Jubilee, at the latest, it was returned to him.​—Le 25:32-34.

The sanctuary. The sanctuary of Jehovah could also become a landholder by reason of fields “sanctified” to Jehovah; that is, the produce of these fields went to the sanctuary for a period of time designated by the owner or possessor. (Le 27:16-19) If a field that was “sanctified” by the owner was not repurchased, but was sold to another man, that field would become the permanent possession of the sanctuary at the time of the Jubilee. (Le 27:20, 21)