The Fiftieth Year is the Jubilee Year

Leviticus 25 describes the fiftieth, or Jubilee, year. “Jubilee” means “liberty.”

The Jubilee year is proclaimed with the sound of a trumpet on the Day of Atonement, so that all know the holy year has begun. God owns the land, and in the Jubilee, He wants the return of every man to his possession. Men, who have worked as a servant to pay off their debt, must be freed and allowed to return to their own land and to their families:

“And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you . . . For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

“In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another . . .

“If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

“And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. And then he shall depart from you — he and his children with him — and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers.” (Leviticus 25:8-14, 35-41)

Leviticus 27:14-34 describes the redemption of gifts and tithes, which are calculated based on the number of years to Jubilee. Numbers 36:1-9 says that the purpose of Jubilee is to keep the inheritances separate, preventing dispossession. Ezekiel 46:16-18 states that even the prince of Israel is not to dispossess people of their inheritance. Gifts from the prince shall revert back to the family of the prince at the year of liberty.

Why did Israel go into captivity?

Leviticus 26 tells us plainly that one of the main reasons Israel went into captivity was for not letting the land rest:

“And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

“I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall rest — FOR THE TIME IT DID NOT REST ON YOUR SABBATHS WHEN YOU DWELT IN IT.

“The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.” (Leviticus 26:27-28, 33-35, 43)

Jeremiah 34:8-17 informs us that because Israel reneged and did not free their Hebrew servants, God would proclaim “liberty” unto these cruel taskmasters to the sword, pestilence, famine and captivity. 2Chronicles 36:14-21 describes how Judah mocked God’s prophets and so were carried away captive to Babylon, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths. Israel rested seventy years before the Jews returned from captivity.

How does the ministry of Jesus relate to the Jubilee Year?

Isaiah 61:1-11 compares the Millennium with the Sabbatical or Jubilee years. In Luke 4 the Savior began His ministry by preaching a “Jubilee” message:

“So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“’The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, TO PROCLAIM LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’

“Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ ” (Luke 4:16-21)

Since the Jubilee year began on the Day of Atonement, it is most likely the Sabbath on which this message was given. True liberty can only be had by accepting our Savior as Master and Lord.

History of the Jews in relation to the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years

In Josephus’ book Antiquities (History) of the Jews he describes historical events, in relation to the Sabbatical year and Jubilee, that involved or impacted the Jews . Antiochus besieged Judas Maccabeus and Jerusalem’s Temple during a Sabbatical year. The war between Ptolemy and Hyrcanus happened in a Sabbatical year. Taxes were not paid to Caesar during the seventh year. Josephus also states that Herod the Great’s plundering of the wealthy and the dead for silver and gold to give to Anthony occurred in a Sabbatical year. In the thirteenth year of Herod the Great there was a great famine and pestilence. In Whiston’s footnotes to Josephus, he says this famine was worse than the famine of the days of Ahab, and even worse than the days of Jacob, and that this was a Sabbatical or Jubilee year.

What is the meaning of the Sabbatical and Jubilee Years?

The significance of the Sabbatical and Jubilee year is not limited to the rest of the land and rejuvenation of the soil. It is to remind us, as does the weekly Sabbath, that the Eternal is the Creator. Just as it took faith for Israelites not to farm on the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, so today it takes faith to trust Him for sustenance. Man is not the sole owner of the soil, and he does not hold property in perpetuity but only under the Almighty’s trust (Leviticus 25:23). We own nothing by inherent right, for like the children of Israel, we were slaves in spiritual “Egypt” (Deuteronomy 15:15). Out of gratitude to the Eternal for our liberation, we must extend liberty to our debtors and servants.

The word translated “release” in Deuteronomy 15:1 can also mean “dropping.” The seventh year is a year of dropping, or cancellation, of debts. What better time than the seventh year to settle debts with people and to move on. We were on spiritual death row, waiting for execution in the lake of fire. Then, the Almighty in His great mercy, called us and forgave us. Through His Son the Messiah, all charges were dropped against us. This should be a cause for rejoicing.

If a nation observed the Sabbatical and Jubilee years it would be tremendously blessed instead of cursed. There would be no crushing debt nor an imbalance of the very rich and the very poor. Land values would be relatively stable, and inflation and depressions would not occur. The Law of God would be taught in detail every seventh year, which would result in good government and prosperity. But we will have to wait for the millennium for the good results of national obedience to the Almighty’s laws.

When will the next Jubilee Year occur?

According to William Whiston’s footnotes to Josephus, 24 B.C. was a Sabbatical year and 23 B.C. was a Jubilee year. This would mean that A.D. 27 was a Sabbatical year and A.D. 28 was a Jubilee year. If this is true, then Sabbatical years would occur in 2013, 2020 and 2027 A.D., with the next Jubilee year occurring in 2028 A.D. Personally, I believe the next Jubilee year “most likely” will begin exactly on the Day of Atonement: September 23, 2015!

The Jews today are in confusion as to Sabbatical and Jubilee years. True fifty-year Jubilee years were only counted during Temple times. Some Jews believe that every 15th and 65th years of the world era are Jubilee years. Thus, 1955 and 2005 A.D. would have been Jubilee years. And 1976 and 1983 A.D. would have been Sabbatical years.

Why are the Jews confused? Because THEY DID NOT OBEY GOD. They admit that when the First Temple stood a full fifty-year cycle was used. The next year after the Jubilee was the first year of the next fifty-year cycle of seven seven-year cycles. Because the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were exiled, tradition says, the Jubilee was no longer in effect, because it was for ” . . . all the inhabitants thereof,” (Leviticus 25:10). The Jubilees were not properly calculated, and a 49-year cycle was instituted where the “Jubilee” year was also the beginning year of the next seven year cycle. Jubilee is counted by the Jews exactly as they erroneously count when to keep the day of Pentecost each year.

Around 153-105 B.C. an apocryphal book called the Book of Jubilees was written. It divides the history of the world into “Jubilees” of 49-year periods (seven weeks of years). The biblical idea of the Jubilee year, the 50th year following the seven weeks of years (Leviticus 25:8-12) is ignored. Thus, the Jews accepted this erroneous idea and are confused as to the true Jubilee. As the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1962), article “Jubilee, Year of,” admits, the so-called Book of Jubilees completely disregards the original and true Jubilee Year:

“. . . in the official count of Sabbatical Years in the Maccabean and post-Maccabean periods the Jubilee Year was omitted entirely and the Sabbatical Years followed each other in uninterrupted succession every seven years. Moreover, certain later, rabbinic authorities likewise reckoned a Jubilee period as of only forty-nine years, although a majority adhered, quite naturally, to the biblical reckoning of the period as of fifty years.”

Jews began to believe that the Law of Jubilee did not apply to them because the land of Israel was not fully occupied by them. Today, Rabbis have relaxed the Sabbatical year because of “economic hardship.” Land is “sold” to Moslems and leased back. It is observed only ceremonially, not in reality, in order to perpetuate the memory of the Sabbatical year.

Jews, however, still believe the Son of David will come on the last Jubilee:

“The precept of the Jubilee is often regarded as one of the basic precepts of the Torah! There are seven basic precepts: offerings, tithes, shemittot, Jubilees, circumcision, honor of father and mother, and study of the Torah.” (Judaica, page 582)

When is the Jubilee year? When is the Sabbatical year? The issue is of major importance. Israel went into captivity for not obeying this law. If God will send modern Israel into captivity for the same reason as ancient Israel, knowledge must be increased, and the modern-day children of Israel must be warned (Amos 3:7, Daniel 12:4, John 7:17). We look forward to the time when we will understand, and witness, the fulfillment of the Land Sabbath and Jubilee year.