Isaiah 5:8 Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land.

Within the Sabbath regulation is an elaborate control over land ownership (Read Leviticus 25 if you need a refresher). That include provision for land to be redeemed to its original owner during the Year of Jubilee.

Had that provision been followed, the situation as described in Isaiah 5:8 would never have happened. Wealthy land owners would not be able to purchase large expanse of land and build huge mansions (add house to house) and large farms (join field to field cf. Lev. 19:9).

What is the consequence of violating Sabbath provisions? Economic collapse. As we see in the next verse:

^Isaiah5:9 The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing:

“Surely the great houses will become desolate,
the fine mansions left without occupants.
¹⁰ A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath^[a] of wine;
a homer^[b] of seed will yield only an ephah^[c] of grain.”

Those who are familiar with Old Testament history will realize that such collapse indeed occurred within the Northern Kingdom of Israel and led directly to its downfall.

Back to our modern time. We are not unfamiliar with economic collapses within our own generation. Our tendency to use land ownership as a mean of profit making has been and will be our downfall. Land belongs to the Lord. He grants us stewardship of the Land so that He can provide for everyone, rich or poor.

Be care not to use life’s essential resources as investment vehicle, or you may find yourself standing between the Lord and those He cares.