Eric Casagrande (17 June 2006)
"The Jubilee Count"

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Hi John & All:

 

I just wanted to say that, while I enjoy Miriam's scholarly work, I disagree with her reported method of counting the Jubilee years. If this methodology was in fact biblical, there would still not be 10 full Jubilees within 490 years, because the last Jubliee would not even start until the 491st year.

 

But there is another little problem with this methodology, which I have taken the trouble to outline below:

 

Year	Jubilee
1	No
2	No
3	No
4	No
5	No
6	No
7	No
8	No
9	No
10	No
11	No
12	No
13	No
14	No
15	No
16	No
17	No
18	No
19	No
20	No
21	No
22	No
23	No
24	No
25	No
26	No
27	No
28	No
29	No
30	No
31	No
32	No
33	No
34	No
35	No
36	No
37	No
38	No
39	No
40	No
41	No
42	No
43	No
44	No
45	No
46	No
47	No
48	No
49	No
50	Yes	1
51	No	2
52	No	3
53	No	4
54	No	5
55	No	6
56	No	7
57	No	8
58	No	9
59	No	10
60	No	11
61	No	12
62	No	13
63	No	14
64	No	15
65	No	16
66	No	17
67	No	18
68	No	19
69	No	20
70	No	21
71	No	22
72	No	23
73	No	24
74	No	25
75	No	26
76	No	27
77	No	28
78	No	29
79	No	30
80	No	31
81	No	32
82	No	33
83	No	34
84	No	35
85	No	36
86	No	37
87	No	38
88	No	39
89	No	40
90	No	41
91	No	42
92	No	43
93	No	44
94	No	45
95	No	46
96	No	47
97	No	48
98	No	49
99	Yes	50	1
100	No		2
101	No		3
102	No		4
103	No		5
104	No		6
105	No		7
106	No		8
107	No		9
108	No		10
109	No		11
110	No		12
111	No		13
112	No		14
113	No		15
114	No		16
115	No		17
116	No		18
117	No		19
118	No		20
119	No		21
120	No		22
121	No		23
122	No		24
123	No		25
124	No		26
125	No		27
126	No		28
127	No		29
128	No		30
129	No		31
130	No		32
131	No		33
132	No		34
133	No		35
134	No		36
135	No		37
136	No		38
137	No		39
138	No		40
139	No		41
140	No		42
141	No		43
142	No		44
143	No		45
144	No		46
145	No		47
146	No		48
147	No		49
148	Yes		50	1
149
150

 

The Bible very clearly states what the counting is to the Jubilee Year. Namely, that there are 49 regular (i.e. "non-Jubliee") years ... and then the 50th year is to be marked as the Jubilee Year (note "Year", not day, week, or month):

 

"And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee,

...seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths

...of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

 

...Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on

...the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement

...shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

 

...And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year ... A jubilee shall that

...fiftieth year be unto you ..."

 

- Leviticus 25: 8-11

 

As William Shakespeare once penned: "Aye ... there's the rub."

 

In counting the first Jubliee period (as outlined in the above chart), there are indeed 49 full and complete regular (non-Jubilee) years, until the 50th year, which is in perfect alignment with the Word of God.

 

The problem, however, is that when you have the Jubilee year being both the 50th year of one count AND the 1st year of the subsequent period, you wind up with only 48 regular (non-Jubilee) years, until the next Jubilee (50th) year.

 

The first Jubilee is year 50 ... but the second Jubilee is year 99, with only the aforenoted 48 regular years in between (i.e. years 51 through 98 inclusive).

 

The 50th year cannot both be a Jubilee Year (for one period), AND a regular (non-Jubilee) year, at the same time. You can't be half-pregnant.

 

No offense intended, but if something doesn't jive with the Word of God, then I don't care what Rabbi or Chief Priest came up with the idea.

 

See ya in the air,

 

Eric