Jubilees – Part One

The Jubilee is all about redemption. If for some reason the owner of land in Israel had to sell it, in the Year of Jubilee the land was restored to the original owner. Actually, the owner did not “sell” his land but rented it until the next Jubilee. The instructions for the price are found in Leviticus 25:15-16.

For reasons that are not clear to me, it was considered by the Jews that the Year of Jubilee came every forty-nine years. The instructions from the Lord clearly indicate fifty years.

“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 Jubile(e) 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, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubile(e) unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A Jubile(e) shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.” – Leviticus 25:8-11
The Year of Jubilee followed the Sabbatical Year, which meant that the Children of Israel had to live two years from the bounty of the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle. The seventh year was a year of rest for the land, as was also the Jubilee Year.

In the fiftieth year the land was redeemed and given back to the original owner. Therefore, the number “fifty” is related to redemption. This is confirmed by the Day of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Even Jewish rabbis, who do not recognize Jesus as Messiah, know that the Feast of Pentecost is about redemption.

Just as the practice of animal sacrifice ended with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., the deportation of the Jews from Israel in 135 A.D. brought an end to the Year of Jubilee. The Israelites were no longer in the land. They were not there to receive it back. Therefore, there were no more Jubilees.

But the Chosen of the Lord are back in the Holy Land. I believe the Jubilee cycle has begun, and I will explain why in the next lesson.

Until then, praise the Lord for what He reveals to us in these Last Days.

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