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Let us summarize the history of the mitzvot whose status depends upon Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. After forty years in the desert, the Jews fulfilled the mitzva of conquering the Land. Once they divided the Land among the twelve tribes in 2503 (1258 BCE), they became obligated in all the agricultural mitzvot, including tithing, the sabbatical year, and the Jubilee.
However, it took many years for the Jews to complete the conquest and settle in the Land. In the interim, there was no Temple and no judicial system. Instead, the Tabernacle was in Shiloh, and various judges led the people for short periods of time. After about four hundred years of this, Samuel the Prophet became the judge. As a result of his activities, the judicial system was established, and the Jews began to fulfill the mitzva of establishing a government. Not long afterwards, the Davidic dynasty was inaugurated. David’s son King Solomon fulfilled the mitzva to build the Temple in 2929 (832 BCE).
The First Temple stood for 410 years before the Babylonians destroyed it. As a result of the destruction of the First Temple and the exile of the Jewish people, the mitzvot of tithes, the sabbatical year, and the Jubilee could no longer be observed.
After seventy years of exile in Babylonia, the Jews began the process of returning to the Land and building the Second Temple. They established the Great Assembly, a high court of 120 Sages, with Ezra the Scribe at its head. The Men of the Great Assembly established the texts of blessings and prayer services, reestablished the justice system, and reinstituted the obligations of tithing, the sabbatical year, and ĥalla (24:6 below). However, since most of the Jews remained in exile, these mitzvot were only rabbinically binding, as is still the case today.
