Why the Earth Rests in the Seventh Year and Suffers for Human Sin

"And in the seventh year, etc." This is to affirm the renewal of the world. Just as He commanded to perform labor for six days and to rest on the seventh, so He commanded to sow for six years and to release the land in the seventh, for the Holy One, blessed be He, has compassion upon His creatures. And Israel is beloved before the Holy One, blessed be He. And the earth, too, prays before Him more than all created things, for she conceives and brings forth and gives birth all the year through, and produces her yield before the Holy One, blessed be He. And when the creatures do the will of the Omnipresent, she sings with her wings, as it is said: "From the wing of the earth we have heard songs" (Isaiah 24:16). But when they sin, she is stricken on their account. Adam sinned, and she was stricken because of him, as it is said: "and you ate from the tree, etc." (Genesis 3:17). Cain sinned, and she was stricken because of him, as it is said: "When you till the ground, etc." (Genesis 4:12). The generation of the Flood sinned, and she was stricken because of them, as it is said: "Behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Genesis 6:13). The men of Sodom sinned, and she was stricken because of them, as it is said: "and He overthrew the cities" (Genesis 19:28). Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave over the law to rest in the seventh year.