‘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; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field. (vv.8-12)
Simply put, once every fifty years universal liberty was proclaimed in the land belonging to Israel. All prisoners and captives obtained their liberties, slaves were declared free, and debtors were absolved. The land, as on the sabbatic year, was neither sowed nor reaped, but allowed to enjoy with its inhabitants a sabbath rest; and its natural produce was the common property of all. Moreover, every inheritance throughout the land of Judea was restored to its original owner. This meant that no family would be forever without land. Every fifty years, every family would have the opportunity to start again.
The liberty every man was born to (if sold or forfeited) should return at the year of jubilee. This was a foreshadowing of the redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and Satan, and of being brought again to the liberty of the children of God. Today, some of the principles of the Year of Jubilee would be a blessing for modern society, such as a system of the cancellation of debts every fifty years. However, since God did not assign land for modern people across the globe as He did for Israel in Joshua 13-21, we can’t take every principle of a Jubilee and apply it to the modern world.
What I take away from this in terms of application fro today is, If we obey God – even when it doesn’t make sense – we can trust He will provide our every need. If we seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, all those practical things will be provided (Matthew 6:33). And in that we can rejoice.
The Truth: “And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals: for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” (Rev.5:9)
