Caesar's sabbatical-year exemption

Julius Caesar's decrees exempt the Jews from tribute in the sabbatical year, on the stated ground that they neither sow nor gather in it.

In plain words

Julius Caesar exempts the Jews from tribute in the sabbatical year, because they neither sow nor reap in it: the release seen from outside. A foreign treasury changed its own tax schedule around a practice it had no reason to believe in, and tax offices do not give up revenue for a practice that is not happening.

The mechanism

RELEASE, OBSERVED FROM OUTSIDE — a foreign imperial fisc adjusted its own tax schedule around a fallow it had no reason to believe in. Tax administrations do not concede revenue to a practice that is not happening.

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: COMMITTED; a release
• Letter eraTHE PROPHETS AND THE ROAD 776 BC to 4 BC
• SourcesSECULAR RECORD — Josephus, Antiquities 14, citing the Roman decrees