The Jubilee Year

The Liberty Bell carries a quotation from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land Unto all the Inhabitants thereof.”

In Bible times, all Israeli males were required to show up at the Temple to attend the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement always falls on the tenth day of Tishrei—month seven of the biblical calendar. At that point in time, “each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field. In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.” (Leviticus 25:10-13 WMB)

The biblical Jubilee had nothing to do with debt forgiveness, and it had nothing to do with a change of ownership. The original owner couldn’t actually sell his land to someone else, no matter how badly he needed the money. What he was actually doing, in today’s terminology, was renting his land to someone else. In other words, when he “sold” his land, what he was actually “selling” was a number of potential crops: “According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops [and not the land itself] to you” (Leviticus 25:15-16 WMB).

Scriptures About the Jubilee Year

8 “ ‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud shofar on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the shofar throughout all your land. 10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

14 “ ‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. 15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. 16 According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 25:8-17 (WMB)