ABSTRACT
This chapter is an attempt to interpret Leviticus 25 for India today following the method that Gadamer calls Horizontverschmelzung (Fusion of Horizons): it is indeed a reader-oriented approach and it searches for reader meaning. This reader-oriented perspective is followed solely with the aim of making meaning and meaningfulness of Lev. 25 for people in India today. Against the background of Gadamer's method, this chapter studies Lev. 25 in three parts. The first part explores the horizon of Lev. 25, which details the biblical system of jubilee and is concerned with basic ecological and economic realities—the care of the land and those who worked the land, debts, slavery and the distribution of the land. Lev. 25 was probably composed during the Persian period (5th century) in which “Israel” was under the wealthy and politically influential foreigners inside its land. This period is known for the formation of latifundia, the ruin of small land owners and slavery. The second part exposes the horizon of Indian readers today, which can be described as the Tale of Two Indias: India has the best of times and the worst of times. There is sparkling prosperity as well as stinking poverty. The number of rural landless families increases. Modern slavery, including human trafficking, is rife. Illegal money lending or mortgage business is proliferating. After describing the two horizons, the third part engages in a hermeneutical dialogue by the fusion of two horizons. As a result, Indian readers are able to draw up three motivational principles from Lev. 25 to fight against social tensions and economic injustice: humans are to live as aliens and tenants and not owners during their earthly life (Lev. 25.23), as God's servants (Lev. 25.55) and as goel to each other (Lev. 25.25).
