A public festivity.
Among the Jews it was held every 49th or 50th year. It was proclaimed with the sound of rams’ horns: no servile work was done on it; the land lay untilled; what grew of itself belonged to the poor and needy; whatever debts the Hebrews owed to one another were wholly remitted; hired as well as bond-servants of the Hebrew race obtained their liberty; inheritances reverted to their original proprietors.
See 25th chap. Leviticus. Jubilee, in a more modern sense, denotes a grand church solemnity or ceremony, celebrated at Rome, wherein the pope grants a plenary indulgence to all sinners; at least to as many as visit the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Rome. The jubilee was first established by Boniface VII. in 1300, which was only to return every hundred years; but the first celebration brought in such store of wealth, that Clement VI. in 1343, reduced it to the period of fifty years. Urban VI. in 1389, appointed it to be held every thirty-five years, that being the age of our Saviour; and Paul II. and Sixtus IV. in 1475, brought it down to every twenty-five, that every person might have the benefit of it once in his life. Boniface IX. granted the privilege of holding jubilees to several princes and monasteries; for instance, to the monks of Canterbury, who had a jubilee every fifty years, when people flocked from all parts to visit the tomb of Thomas-a-Becket.
Afterwards jubilees became more frequent: there is generally one at the inauguration of a new pope; and the pope grants them as often as the church or himself have occasion for them. To be entitled to the privileges of the jubilee, the bull enjoins fasting, alms, and prayers. It gives the priests a full power to absolve in all cases, even those otherwise reserved to the pope; to make commutations of vows, &c. in which it differs from a plenary indulgence. During the time of jubilee, all other indulgences are suspended. One of our kings, viz. Edward III. caused his birth-day to be observed in the manner of a jubilee, when he became fifty years of age in 1362, but never before nor after. This he did by releasing prisoners, pardoning all offences, except treason, making good laws, and granting many privileges to the people. In 1640, the Jesuits celebrated a solemn jubilee at Rome, that being the centenary, or hundredth year from their institution; and the same ceremony was observed in all their houses throughout the world.
Or Jobel more properly, which signifies a rams horn The day of Jubilee was a high feast in the Jewish church, and appointed by the Lord for the great year of release, every forty - ninth year, or seven times seven. In the twenty - fifth of Leviticus, we have the whole account of the appointment. Some have taken for granted, that the name itself was taken from Jubal, or Jobel, the son of Lamech, because he was the father or inventor of music; but others, more probably, derived it from the verb Hebiel, to bring back; because it wasthe year of general restoration, or bringing back. The imagination cannot conceive the effect of the morning of the day which commenced the Jubilee, which must have been wrought upon the different orders, of the people among the Jews. It began we are told on the first day of the month Tizri, the first month of the civil year, and the seventh of the ecclesiastical year, and corresponded to our month of September; and on the ninth day of Tizri, when the trumpets sounded, at that instant, every poor captive among the Jewswas freed; and every mortgaged inheritance returned to its original owner. I leave the reader to his own reflections, what feelings must have been wrought on the different minds of all concerned; both of the master and of the servant, both of the man with whom was vested bonded land, and the one who received back his mortgaged inheritance. But while I pass over the Jewish camp on these particulars, I cannot help observing how infinitely surpassing must be the effect of the Jobel trumpet in the Christian church;whenthe captive sinner, and the poor soul who hath mortgaged his; inherited, inheritance, first hears the joyful sound of redemption by the blood of Christ, and is brought to walk in the light of the Lords countenance. (Ps. lx29, 15.) And this is not limited, to every forty - ninth year, but is every year and every day, yea, every hour of the day since Christ wrought salvation for his people, and the type of the Jubilee trumpet done away by the thing signified being come. Concerning this blessed event the Lord hath said, the year of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isa. l13. 4.) See Feastes. It is said, that after the Jews returned from Babylon the Jubileee was discontinued, but they observed the Sabbatical year. See Sabbatical.
among the Jews, denotes every fiftieth year; being that following the revolution of seven weeks of years; at which time all the slaves were made free, and all lands reverted to their ancient owners. The jubilees were not regarded after the Babylonish captivity. The political design of the law of the jubilee was to prevent the too great oppression of the poor, as well as their being liable to perpetual slavery. By this means the rich were prevented from accumulating lands for perpetuity, and a kind of equality was preserved through all the families of Israel. The distinction of tribes was also preserved: in respect both to their families and possessions; that they might be able, when there was occasion, on the jubilee year, to prove their right to the inheritance of their ancestors. Thus, also, it would be known with certainty of what tribe or family the Messiah sprung. It served, also, like the Olympiads of the Greeks, and the Lustra of the Romans, for the readier computation of time. The jubilee has also been supposed to be typical of the Gospel state and dispensation, described by Isa 61:1-2, in reference to this period, as “the acceptable year of the Lord.”
The word jubilee, in a more modern sense, denotes a grand church solemnity or ceremony celebrated at Rome, in which the pope grants a plenary indulgence to all sinners; at least, to as many as visit the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome. The jubilee was first established by Boniface VII, in 1300, which was only to return every hundred years; but the first celebration brought in such store of wealth, that Clement VI, in 1343, reduced it to the period of fifty years. Urban VI, in 1389, appointed it to be held every thirty-five years, that being the age of our Saviour; and Paul II, and Sixtus IV, in 1475, brought it down to every twenty-five, that every person might have the benefit of it once in his life. Boniface IX granted the privilege of holding jubilees to several princes and monasteries; for instance, to the monks of Canterbury, who had a jubilee every fifty years; when people flocked from all parts to visit the tomb of Thomas a Becket. Afterward, jubilees became more frequent; there is generally one at the inauguration of a new pope; and he grants them as often as the church or himself have occasion for them. To be entitled to the privileges of the jubilee, the bull enjoins fasting, alms, and prayers. It gives the priests a full power to absolve in all cases even those otherwise reserved to the pope; to make commutations of vows, &c; in which it differs from a plenary indulgence. During the time of jubilee, all other indulgences are suspended.
Jubilee, according to some a period of fifty years, according to others, though less probably, of forty-nine years, the termination of which led to certain great changes in the condition of the Hebrews, all of which seem to have been designed and fitted to bring about from time to time a restoration of the original social state instituted by Moses, and so to sustain in its unimpaired integrity the constitution of which he was the author.
Intimately connected with the Jubilee was another singular Mosaic institution, namely, the Sabbatical year. On this account we shall speak briefly of the latter, as preparatory to a right understanding of the former.
While yet wandering in the wilderness, and therefore, before they had entered ’the land of promise,’ the children of Israel received from the lips of their great legislator the following law—’six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed’ (Exo 23:10 sq.). This injunction is repeated in Lev 25:1-7, where it stands as proceeding immediately from the Lord. The land is to keep ’a sabbath for the Lord.’ Then in immediate sequence follows the law relating to the Jubilee (Lev 20:8). ’And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years, forty and nine years; then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound in 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; and ye shall return every man unto his; possession and unto his family,’ etc. etc. (Lev 25:8-24). Land might be redeemed by a kinsman or by the party who sold it; but in the Jubilee year it must return to its original proprietor. Dwelling-houses within a walled city might be redeemed within the first year; if not redeemed within the space of a full year they became the freehold of the purchaser. The houses of villages were to be counted as the fields of the country. The cities and houses of the Levites were redeemable at any time, and could never be held longer than the ensuing Jubilee: the field of the suburbs of their cities might not be sold (Lev 25:25-38). Israelites who were hired servants (Israelitish bond-servants were not allowed) might serve till the year of Jubilee, when they returned to their possessions. A Hebrew sold as a slave to a foreigner resident in Palestine was redeemable by himself or relatives at any time, by making payment according to the number of years to elapse before the next Jubilee; but at the Jubilee such bondsman was, under all circumstances, to be set at liberty (Lev 25:39-55). The only exception to this system of general restitution was in the case of property set apart and devoted to the Divine service—’Every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord; none devoted shall be redeemed’ (Lev 27:28-29).
With these scriptural details the account given by Josephus (Antiq. iii. 12. 3) substantially agrees; and it is worthy of notice that the Jewish historian speaks of the law as a reality, as a present reality, as something in actual operation.
The time required by the Sabbatical year and by the Jubilee to be rescued from the labors of the field, was very considerable. Strictly interpreted the language we have cited would take out of the ordinary course of things every sixth, seventh, and eighth year, during each successive septenary, till the circle of fifty years was in each period completed. Nay more, the old store, produced in the sixth year, was to last until the ninth year, for the sixth year was to bring forth fruits for three years.
The reader has now before him the whole of this extraordinary piece of legislation, which, viewed in all its bearings—in its effects on human labor, on character, on religious institutions and observances, as well as on the general condition of society, no less than on the productiveness of the land, and the means of sustenance to its inhabitants—is wholly unparalleled by any event in the history of the world. It is, however, in strict harmony with the Mosaic economy.
The recurring periods of seven years are in keeping with the institution of the seventh day as a Sabbath for man and beast. The aim in both is similar—needful repose. The leading idea involved in the Jubilee—namely, restitution—also harmonizes with the fundamental principles of the Mosaic system. The land was God’s, and was entrusted for use to the chosen people in such a way that every individual had his portion. A power of perpetual alienation would have been a virtual denial of God’s sovereign rights, while the law of Jubilee was one continued recognition of them. The conception is purely theocratical in its whole character and tendencies. The theocracy was of such a nature as to disallow all subordinate ’thrones, principalities, and powers;’ and consequently, to demand entire equality on the part of the people. But the power of perpetual alienation in regard to land would have soon given rise to the greatest inequalities of social condition, presenting splendid affluence on one side and sordid pauperism on the other. A passage in Deuteronomy (Deu 15:4), when rightly understood, as in the marginal translation—’to the end that there be no poor among you’—seems expressly to declare that the aim in view, at least, of the Sabbatical release, was to prevent the rise of any great inequality of social condition, and thus to preserve unimpaired the essential character of the theocracy. Equally benevolent in its aim and tendency does this institution thus appear, showing how thoroughly the great Hebrew legislator cared and provided for individuals, instead of favoring classes. Beginning with a narrow cycle of seven days, he went on to a wider one of as many years, embracing at last seven times seven annual revolutions, seeking in all his arrangements rest for man and beast, and, by a happy personification, rest even for the brute earth; and in the rest which he required for human beings, providing for that more needful rest of mind which the sharp competitions and eager rivalries of modern society deny to ten thousand times ten thousand. As being of a benign character and tendency, the law of the Sabbatical and Jubilee year is in accordance with the general spirit of the Mosaic legislation, and appears not unworthy of its divine origin.
Warburton adduced this law in order to show that Moses was in truth sent and sustained by God, since nothing but a divine power could have given the necessary supplies of food in the sixth year; and no unprejudiced person can deny the force of the argument.
Now these laws either emanated from Moses, or they did not. If they did not, they arose after the settlement in Canaan, and are of such a nature as to convict their fabricator of imposture, if, indeed, any one could have been found so daring as to bring forth laws implying institutions which did not exist, and which under ordinary circumstances could not find permanence, even if they could ever be carried into operation at all. But if these laws emanated from Moses, is it credible that he would have given utterance to commands which convict themselves of impossibility? or caused the rise of institutions, which, if unsupported of heaven, must come to a speedy termination, and in so doing act to his own discredit as a professed divine messenger?
But it may be asked, Could the land sustain the people? On this point we find the following important passage in Palfrey’s Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures, Boston, 1841, vol. 1 p. 303: ’I find no difficulty arising from any inadequacy of the produce of six years to afford sustenance to the people for seven. To say that this was intended would merely be to say that the design was that the consumption of each year should only amount on an average to six-sevenths of its produce. In such an arrangement it cannot be thought that there was anything impracticable. There are states of this Union which export yearly more than half their produce, and subsist substantially on the remainder, their imports consisting mostly of luxuries. Again, in England nearly three quarters of the families are engaged in commerce, manufactures, professions, and unproductive pursuits; but in Judea every man was a producer of food, with the advantage of a fine climate and a rich soil.’
In spite of all these arguments, some rationalistic writers have hazarded the surprising assertion that these laws were not executed before the Babylonish exile. But in addition to the proofs already mentioned, we have the positive evidence of the Roman historian Tacitus (Hist. v. 4), of Josephus (Antiq. xiv. 10, 6), of Ezekiel (Eze 46:17), and of Isaiah (Isa 61:1-2), to the observance of the Sabbatical year at least. And since the essential element of this system of law, namely, the Sabbatical year, was an established institution in the days of Tacitus, Josephus, the Maccabees, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, we think the fair and legitimate inference is in favor of those laws having been long previously observed, probably from the early periods of the Hebrew republic. Their existence in a declining state of the commonwealth cannot be explained without seeking their origin nearer the fountain-head of those pure, living waters, which, with the force of all primitive enthusiasm, easily effected great social wonders, especially when divinely guided and divinely sustained.
A Hebrew festival, celebrated in every fiftieth year, which of course occurred after seven weeks of years, or seven times seven years, Lev 25:10 . Its name Jubilee, sounding or flowing, was significant of the joyful trumpet-peals that announced its arrival. During this year no one sowed or reaped; but all were satisfied with what the earth and the trees produced spontaneously. Each resumed possession of his inheritance, whether it were sold, mortgaged, or otherwise alienated; and Hebrew servants of every description were set free, with their wives an children, Lev 25:1-55 . The first nine days were spent in festivities, during which no one worked, and every one wore a crown on his head. On the tenth day, which was the day of solemn expiation, the Sanhedrin ordered the trumpets to sound, and instantly the slaves were declared free, and the lands returned to their hereditary owners. This law was mercifully designed to prevent the rich from oppressing the poor, and getting possession of all the lands by purchase, mortgage, or usurpation; to cause that debts should not be multiplied too much, and that slaves should not continue, with their wives and children, in perpetual bondage. It served to maintain a degree of equality among the Hebrew families; to perpetuate the division of lands and households according to the original tribes, and secure a careful registry of the genealogy of every family. They were also thus reminded that Jehovah was the great Proprietor and Disposer of all things, and they but his tenants. "The land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me," Lev 25:23 . And this memento met them constantly and pointedly; for every transfer of land was valuable in proportion to the number of years remaining before the jubilee. Isaiah clearly refers to this peculiar and important festival, as foreshadowing the glorious dispensation of gospel grace, Isa 61:1,2 Luk 4:17-21 .\par See also the notice of a similar institution under SABBATICAL YEAR.\par
The princes and people at Jerusalem first observed it, in accordance with Zedekiah’s covenant made under fear of the Babylonian besiegers; afterward on Pharaoh Hophra interrupting the siege they broke their engagement and enslaved their brethren again; God in retribution gave them a fatal liberty, namely, emancipation from His blessed service, to be given up to the sword, pestilence, and famine (Jer 34:8-22; Jer 37:5-10; compare Neh 5:1-13). The Jubilee prevented the accumulation of land in the hands of a few, and raised legally at regular intervals families and individuals out of destitution to competency; thereby guarding against the lawless and dangerous outbreaks of the penniless against large possessors, to which other states are liable. It tended to foster family feeling, and to promote the preservation of genealogies, and to remind all that Jehovah was the supreme Landlord under whom their tenure was held and the Lord of the Israelites, who therefore could not become lasting servants of anyone else.
"The times of the restitution of all things" are the coming grand Jubilee (Act 3:21), "the regeneration" (Mat 19:28) ushered in by "the trump of God" (1Th 4:16-17). The Spirit is meantime "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:19-23). As in sabbatical years, there was to be no tillage, but the natural produce was to be left open to all. If a Hebrew in poverty disposed of his land the price was regulated by the number of years to run until Jubilee, the sabbatical seventh years not being counted. The "original proprietor" or "the nearest of kin" (
If not redeemed before Jubilee it remained sanctified for ever. Even a bondman who bound himself to willing service by boring his ears was freed at Jubilee (Exo 21:6). No legislator would have enacted such an institution, and no people would have long submitted to it, unless both had believed that a divine authority had dictated it and a special providence would facilitate its execution. Nothing could have produced this conviction but the experience of miraculous interposition such as the Pentateuch describes. The very existence of this law is a standing monument that when it was given the Mosaic miracles were fully believed; moreover this law, in the Pentateuch which the Jews always have received as written by Moses, is coeval with the witnesses of the miracles: therefore the reality of the Mosaic miracles is undeniable (Graves, Pentateuch, 6). The root of "Jubilee" is
It was in the 50th year, so that, the 49th also being a sabbath year, two sabbatical years came together, just as Pentecost came the 50th Jubilee at the end of the seven weeks (49 days) closing with the sabbath. It stood between the two series of sabbatical years in the century. See Isa 37:30, where the reference to Jubilee is not at all certain; also Isa 5:7-10, those who by covetousness prevented the operation of the law of Jubilee. Remission of debts was on each sabbatical seventh year; the bondage for debt was all that Jubilee delivered from. The Jubilee is the crowning of the sabbatical system. The weekly and the monthly sabbaths secured rest for each spiritually; the sabbatical year secured rest for the land. The Jubilee secured rest and restoration for the body politic, to recover that general equality which Joshua’s original settlement contemplated; hence no religious observances were prescribed, simply the trumpets sounded the glad note of restoration. The leisure of the Jubilee year was perhaps devoted to school and instruction of the people, the reading of the law and such services (Ewald).
Jubilee. Lev 25:1-55. A festal year prescribed by the Hebrew law. It recurred every fiftieth year, after seven Sabbaths of years—not being, as some have supposed, the seventh sabbatical year—marking off a great cycle of time, so that at each half century the Israelitish polity began, as it were, afresh; a new morning of holy gratulation and recovered strength dawning on the land. All Hebrew servants were set free, pledges of lands, personal property rights alienated for any reason, were restored, there being only one exception—that of houses built in walled towns. Lev 25:29-31. All were to be put back, as far as possible, into the position in which they began the 50 years. The account of this institution, which had its type in the weekly Sabbath, is carefully given in the law. Lev 25:8-16; Lev 25:23-55. The jubilee commenced on the tenth day of the seventh month, and was proclaimed through the whole country. It was to be a year when, as in the sabbatical year, the land lay untitled; nor was there any formal gathering of its spontaneous produce, which was to be absolutely free to all comers. It has been disputed whether the law of the jubilee ever came into full operation. Little is directly recorded: but there are several allusions to it. Num 36:4; Isa 61:1-2; Eze 7:12-13; Eze 46:16-18. No doubt, like other commandments of the law, it was neglected in days of declension and apostasy. It must have pointed forward also to that future state of glorious spiritual freedom, where the inheritance of each redeemed one is his forever, no forfeiture of his high privileges to be dreaded in God’s eternal kingdom.
This was the fiftieth year, coming at the end of every seventh Sabbatical year. The land was held as belonging to Jehovah, and if sold, or redeemed, the price must be reckoned according to the number of years to the next Jubilee, when all possessions returned to their former owners. Hebrew bond-servants also were set free in the year of Jubilee. If land was consecrated to Jehovah, it might be redeemed before the Jubilee, but if not redeemed by that time it became perpetually consecrated. The trumpet of the Jubilee was sounded in the tenth day of the seventh month, on the great day of atonement. It was to be a year of rest for the land, there being no sowing or reaping.
The Jubilee is clearly a type of the millennium. It follows Lev 24 wherein Israel is seen
1, according to the mind of God as in the place of His light and administration - but all sustained by Aaron, that is, Christ; for
2, in its conduct, Israel actually fell under governmental judgement (Lev 24:13-23); but
3, are ultimately rescued and blessed according to God’s purposes, and on the ground of the day of atonement. Israel have sold themselves and their land to strangers; but when that glad period arrives all the promised land will return to Israel; and the bond-servants will be restored, no matter how powerful those may be who hold them.
It is a very disputed point as to what is the signification of the word Jubilee, or from what root it is derived. Except in Lev 25:9 (where the Hebrew word is teruah, ’loud of sound,’ as in the margin) the word is yobel, translated ’trumpet’ in Exo 19:13; ’rams’ horn’ in Jos 6:4-6; Jos 6:8; Jos 6:13; and ’Jubilee’ in Lev 25:10-15; Lev 25:28-54; Lev 27:17-24; Num 36:4. Fürst traces the word from yabal, ’strong’: hence ’a he-goat, ram,’ and then ’a ram’s horn,’ and hence ’a cry of joy, a joyful noise,’ a designation of the great Jubilee feast.
There is difference of judgement as to when the year of Jubilee commenced. With this must be considered the SABBATICAL YEAR, which occurred every seven years. "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard." Lev 25:3-4. These tables represent the last seven years before the Jubilee.
A |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest. B |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest.
| 1st year | Ingathering. | 1st year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 2nd year | Ingathering. | 2nd year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 3rd year | Ingathering. | 3rd year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 4th year | Ingathering. | 4th year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 5th year | Ingathering. | 5th year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 6th year | Ingathering. | 6th year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest.
| Sabbatical | No ingathering. | Sabbatical |
| | No sowing. | ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ | } Jubilee.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| }
| Jubilee | No ingathering. | ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨| Ingathering.
| | No sowing. | 1st yea | Sowing.
|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| No harvest. |¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯| Harvest.
| 1st yea | Ingathering. | 2nd year | Ingathering.
| | Sowing. | | Sowing.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The above passage speaks of six years of sowing, and six years of pruning the vineyard and gathering in the fruit thereof, but does not speak of six years of harvest. In the above tables it will be seen there would have been but five harvests in the seven years. Then the question arises, Did the Jubilee commence at the end of the seventh Sabbatical year, as in table A ? If so there would be then three years without any harvest. If this was what God intended, He would have provided for His obedient people. Some however judge that the Jubilee year was really half of the seventh Sabbatical year, and half of the first year of the following seven, as in table B. This seems confirmed by the trumpet being sounded on the 10th day of the seventh month. Still it is called the fiftieth year. Lev 25:8-11.
There is no record of the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee ever being kept. Lev 26:34-35 predicts what would happen if the Israelites did not let the land keep the sabbaths. It reads almost like a prophecy: the land should lie desolate "because it did not rest in your sabbaths." In Jer 25:11-12; Jer 29:10; Dan 9:2 the actual desolation is said to be seventy years. And as the land was to have rested one year in every seven, it follows that the 70 answering to 70 × 7 = 490 years. Now the kingdom began B.C. 1095, and Jerusalem was taken in 606, which is just 490 years, and seems to confirm the silence in the history of Israel as to their giving the land the prescribed sabbaths. Apparently in this, as in everything else, they failed to obey; but the Jubilee will be made good to them in grace when they own their Messiah.
See SABBATICAL YEAR AND JUBILEE:
JUBILEE.—See Sabbatical Year.
Derived probably from the Hebrew jobel, ram’s horn, which was used to proclaim certain times of rejoicing, confused with the Latin jubilo, to shout; a time of joy, and of pardon; "Thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee" (Leviticus 25). Every fiftieth year absent members of a household met together, Hebrew slaves were freed, debts remitted, and land returned to its former owners. Every seventh year was also observed. This is the spirit of jubilees in the Church, the first of which is traced to 1300, marked by pilgrimages to Rome, special services there and throughout Christendom. These jubilees have been repeated, when possible, at regular intervals and on occasions of extraordinary rejoicing, as during the year 1929, the fiftieth anniversary of the priesthood of Pius XI. The chief ceremony is the opening at the beginning, and the closing at the end; of the "holy doors" in each of the basilicas the pilgrims visit in Rome, two of them being Saint Peter’s and Saint John Lateran. This ceremony symbolizes the right of sanctuary, which goes back to pagan times and which was actually then observed on the site of the Lateran.
Israelites counted their years in groups of seven. Every seventh year was called the sabbatical year (or rest year), because in that year all farmland was rested from normal agricultural activity (see SABBATICAL YEAR). After seven lots of seven years there was an additional sabbath year called the Jubilee, or Year of Restoration (GNB). In that year all land that had changed ownership during the previous forty-nine years returned to its original owner. This ensured the preservation of the just and fair distribution of land that had been made after Joshua’s conquest. People who became poor could not lose their property for ever, and the rich could not gain control of the country through buying most of the land (Lev 25:8-12).
Since all land returned to the original owners in the fiftieth year, the sale price of land had to be reduced from its original value so that it was proportionate to the number of years that remained to the fiftieth year (Lev 25:13-17). If people needed money they could sell their land, but as soon as possible either they or their close relatives had to buy it back (Lev 25:25-28).
Laws for the return of land in the year of Jubilee applied only to farming and pastoral land, not to land in walled cities. This was because city land was not used for cultivation and therefore had nothing to do with the agricultural ‘rest’ years (Lev 25:29-34).
A special horn and the festival
marked by the blowing of it to announce
that the time had come for slaves to be
set free and land returned to the original
owners. See Lev. 25:9.