Jubilee
“Ram's horn, trumpet, or joyful shout”
Summary
The fiftieth year in the Hebrew calendar, proclaimed by trumpet on the Day of Atonement, when all lands reverted to their original owners, Hebrew slaves were freed, and the land rested from cultivation—a sabbath of sabbaths foreshadowing ultimate redemption.
☩The Name and Institution
The Jubilee (Hebrew yobel, possibly meaning 'ram's horn' or 'joyful shout') was the fiftieth year following seven cycles of seven years (forty-nine years). On the tenth day of the seventh month—the great Day of Atonement—the blast of curved trumpets proclaimed liberty throughout the land. This timing was significant: only after guilt had been ceremonially removed through atoning blood could true liberty be announced. The proclamation 'Liberty to all the inhabitants of the land' is inscribed on America's Liberty Bell, testifying to the enduring influence of this institution. The year received its name either from the ram's horn trumpet used to announce it, or from the jubilant sound streaming forth from those instruments.
☩Reversion of Property
Under the Mosaic law, the Promised Land was divided by lot among Israelite families as a perpetual inheritance from God. When poverty forced a man to sell his land, the transaction was essentially a lease until the next Jubilee, with the price calculated according to the number of harvests remaining. In the fiftieth year, all alienated lands automatically reverted to the original families—a provision that prevented the accumulation of large estates by wealthy individuals and protected families from permanent dispossession. A kinsman-redeemer (goel) could redeem land at any time before the Jubilee by paying its remaining value. Houses within walled cities were excepted and could only be redeemed within one year of sale; but houses in villages and Levitical cities followed the land rules.
☩Freedom for Bondservants
Hebrew bondservants—those who had sold themselves into service due to poverty—were automatically freed in the Jubilee year. This applied even to servants who had voluntarily bound themselves to perpetual service by having their ear bored at the doorpost. The price of a Hebrew slave was regulated by proximity to the Jubilee. This provision taught that Israelites were ultimately Jehovah's servants, redeemed from Egypt, and could not permanently belong to any human master. The Jubilee thus maintained the fundamental dignity of every Israelite and prevented the development of a permanent slave class among God's people.
☩Rest for the Land
Like the sabbatical seventh year, the Jubilee required that the land lie fallow—no sowing, pruning, or systematic harvesting. The people lived on what grew spontaneously and on stores from the previous year. When Israel asked, 'What shall we eat the seventh year?' God promised, 'I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.' This provision required profound faith in God's provision, teaching Israel to depend not on their own labor but on His blessing. The combination of the forty-ninth (sabbatical) year and fiftieth (Jubilee) year meant two consecutive years without regular agriculture—a supreme test of faith and opportunity for spiritual renewal.
☩Prophetic Significance
The Jubilee finds its antitype in 'the acceptable year of the Lord' proclaimed by Christ in the Nazareth synagogue, quoting Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus announced deliverance to captives and recovery of sight to the blind—the spiritual realities that the Jubilee foreshadowed. The 'times of restitution of all things' (Acts 3:21) represents the ultimate Jubilee, when creation itself will be delivered from bondage to corruption. The Spirit is the 'earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.' There is no biblical record that Israel ever faithfully observed the Jubilee; Jeremiah 34:8-22 records their breaking of a covenant to free slaves. The land's seventy years of Babylonian desolation may have compensated for seventy sabbatical years (490 years) of neglected rest.
Related Verses5 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Jubilee," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Jubilee Year," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Jubilee," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Jubilee," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).