Year of Jubilee!
Ok dear friends – I need you to hang with me on this post. God has been prompting me to write about the Year of Jubilee as I have been studying the book of Deuteronomy. After a conversation today with one my best girlfriends about this very thing, I had to be obedient to God’s prompts! To be honest – it scares me a little! I am having to think high up on my tippy toes and I am going to ask you to do the same. Not because it is hard to understand, but because the concept of Jubilee runs from Leviticus all the way to Revelation! So hang on to your hat for a thrilling ride!
Most people realize that the number 7 is spiritually significant because of the designation of the 7th day of the week as a Sabbath. The 4th Commandment tells us to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The general thought of the number 7 is that it signifies completion of a work, after which, rest is commanded.
Not only is the 7th day of the week set aside to be special, but also the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, and every 7th year. Finally, 7 sets of 7 years (49 years) is called the Jubilee year. Let me break that down for you:
- 7th Day of the week = Sabbath
- 7th Month of the Jewish calendar (Tishri) = 3 significant Jewish holy celebrations: Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Feast of Booths/Tabernacles
- 7th Year = Sabbatical Year for the land that was farmed by the Jews in “The Promised Land”. Lev. 25:1 and Deuteronomy 15
- Following 7 sets of 7 years (49 years), the 50th year = the Jubilee year! Lev. 25
Ok, I am already tired! Kidding – lets get into it a little more. I want to focus on the last two items: the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee Year. Remember the Jews at this point are very tied to the land agriculturally. They depended on it for their food source. According to Leviticus 25, the Sabbatical year (every 7th year), the land, the animals, and the people are to rest! Agriculturists will tell you that letting the ground lie fallow is a good practice so it can be re-enriched with nutrients that growing crops can zap. That is why I love to worship on Sunday (and observe the scriptural Sunday afternoon nap). I get zapped from six days of work and the daily grind. My mind needs to be renewed with the Word and my body needs to be restored by rest.
I love what Deuteronomy 15:1 says concerning the Sabbatical year – “At the end of every seven years you shall grant remission of debts.” Verse 12 tells us that servants are also set FREE! Now consider the audience here – Jewish people who have just come out of slavery themselves. I am not totally sure…but I don’t think old Pharaoh allowed them to have any “day of rest”, much less, a year! Remission of debts and/or being set free from slavery – now that is reason to rejoice!
So how does this apply to us all these years later? Christ totally brought us out of the bondage of slavery. He redeemed us from our captor (Satan) and set us free from the debt of sin. Romans 6:23 tells us that we were absolutely in debt up to our eyeballs – the wages of sin is death. But, the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now for the ultimate Sabbath – the Year of Jubilee. This occurred after 7 sets of seven years had passed (49 years for you mathematically challenged folks). It was actually celebrated the year after, which makes it the 50th year. Jubilee (Hebrew transliteration, Yowbel) literally means “ram’s horn”. To bring in the year of Jubilee, a ram’s horn was sounded throughout the land on the day of Atonement. Surely this would have brought images to the minds of the Israelites of the ram caught in the thicket by its horns as Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac. Jehovah Jireh provided a substitutionary sacrifice on that mountain top just as He provided Christ as ours.
Listen to this verse from Lev. 25:10, You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release (or liberty) through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you and each of you shall return to his family.” Oh my, I have holy chill bumps all over my arms right now! This verse is even inscribed on our Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
One major difference in this Year of Jubilee is that the land (the Jew’s inheritance) reverted back to the original families even if it had been sold. After all, the land was not even really their’s to sell because it all belonged to God anyway (Lev. 25:23). This way, no Jew while living in the Promised Land, would be left without an inheritance. Would to God that the Church had this attitude. We cling so tightly to our material wealth when it isn’t even ours to begin with. God can do so much more with it than we could ever imagine!
As Christians, we have been adopted into the family of God through Christ. Ephesians 3 describes this as a great mystery – that through Christ, two nations have been made into one family. Galatians 4:7 proclaims that “…you are no longer a slave , but a son; and if a son, than an heir through God”. Somebody better be shouting hallelujah about right now!
In my next post, we will explore how the Year of Jubilee is related to Christ and the long awaited return to claim His own! A final Jubilee is coming…are you ready? Stay tuned…
One of my favorite songs that references the year of Jubilee is “Days of Elijah”. Enjoy it!
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