The Jubilees and the Shemittah

 


The first mention of the Jubilee is in Exodus 19:13, when Moshe received the Ten Commandments from YHWH at Mount Sinai.  The word ‘Jubilee’ is ‘ha-yovel’ (הַיֹּבֵל), which most English versions render simply as ‘trumpet.’

Strong’s Concordance tells us the word ‘yovel’ (יֹּבֵל) means ‘trumpet;’ particularly silver trumpets.

OT:3104 yowbel (yo-bale'); or yobel (yob-ale'); apparently from OT:2986; the blast of a horn (from its continuous sound); specifically, the signal of the silver trumpets; hence, the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced: -jubile [sic], ram's horn, trumpet.

The reference at OT:2896 has to do with flowing, and bringing forth, as in sounds (especially with pomp).

OT:2986 yabal (yaw-bal'); a primitive root; properly, to flow; causatively, to bring (especially with pomp):

KJV - bring (forth), carry, lead (forth).

However, the ‘flowing’ sound of the yovel is not always associated with silver trumpets.  In the conquest of the Land of Canaan, the Yovel (הַיֹּבֵל) is associated with the ram’s horn (called a ‘shofar’).  In Joshua 6:4-6 it is called the “trumpet of ram’s horns” (שׁוֹפְרוֹת הַיּוֹבְלִים).

So if the Yovel (Jubilee) is not necessarily associated with silver trumpets, then what is a Yovel?  To answer this question, first let us look at the seven-year land-rest cycle, in Hebrew called a ‘Shemittah’ (שְּׁמִטָּה).

Deuteronomy 15:1-4 tells us that every seven years, we are to release all debts with our Israelite brethren.  In Hebrew, this ‘release’ is called a ‘Shemittah’ (שְּׁמִטָּה).  This explains why the word ‘Shemittah’ has come to mean ‘a seven-year cycle.’

Many scholars see a parallel between the daily ‘count-seven’ for the Sabbath, and the yearly ‘count-seven’ for the Shemittah.

As we saw in the chapter on the Sabbath, Exodus 16:22-30 tells us not to cook on the Sabbath.  Rather, we are to prepare twice as much food on the sixth day of the week, so that we do not have to cook on the Sabbath (except perhaps to warm our food up). 

Shemote (Exodus) 16:22-30

23 Then he said to them, "This is what YHWH has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a set-apart Sabbath to YHWH. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'"

24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moshe commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

25 Then Moshe said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to YHWH; today you will not find it in the field.

26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."

27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.

28 And YHWH said to Moshe, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?

29 See! For YHWH has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Similarly, in Leviticus 25:20, YHWH promises to provide a double-sized harvest in the sixth year, so that there is no need to plant or reap until the eighth year.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:20-22

20'And if you say,"What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?"

21 Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.

22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. 

The commandments regarding the Yovelim (Jubilees) are listed in Leviticus 25.  Leviticus 25:8-10 tells us to count seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years (i.e., forty-nine years), and then to declare a Yovel in the fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:8-10

8 '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.

9 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.

10 And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, 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.’

Scholars disagree as to how this passage is to be interpreted.  One group believes that the Yovel is to be calculated according to a 49-year cycle, while the other group believes in a 50-year cycle.  To understand how these two different groups arrive at two different conclusions, let us review the Pentecost, and the Omer Count.

In the chapter on the Pentecost we saw that while Passover can fall on any day of the week, the Omer count always begins on the first day of the week that follows the Passover.  Let us emphasize that the Pentecost always falls on the first day of the week, no matter when the Passover comes.  For example, the chart below shows us what happened when the children of Israel came into the land in Joshua 5:10-12: both the Wave Sheaf (the start of the Omer Count) and the Pentecost fell on the first day of the week.

Pass.  = Passover (Pesach)

Wave  = The Wave Sheaf Offering

Om.     = What day of the Omer Count

Shabt = Shabbat (Seventh-Day Sabbath)

Pent.   = Pentecost (fiftieth day)

Those who teach a 49-year Jubilee cycle tell us that the 50^th year of the Jubilee cycle is also the 1^st year of the new Jubilee cycle.  This, they say, is because the Yovel is built upon the Shemittot (Shemittah land sabbaths), which are based upon the concept of ‘counting seven years.’  They claim that the concept of recurring sevens is inviolable, and they also say that it makes sense to count this way, because it appears to follow the same pattern as the Pentecost cycle.

While the 49-year cycle has some attractive features, there are also some difficulties.  Chief among these is that the 49-year pattern appears to violate the commandment given in Leviticus 25:3, which tells us to plant six years.

This commandment to plant and reap for six years before allowing the land to rest in the seventh year appears to run parallel to the Fourth Commandment, which tells us to labor six days, and then to take a rest on the seventh day.

Shemote (Exodus) 20:8-11

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it set apart.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of YHWH your Elohim. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

11 For in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore YHWH blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.”

Leviticus 25:3 says to sow and reap six years before giving the land a rest.  This is impossible on the 49-year Jubilee model, because it is unlawful to plant or reap during a Jubilee year.

In the 49-year model, one also plants and reaps only five years before letting the land rest.  This is a direct violation of Leviticus 25:3, which tells us to sow our fields and prune our vineyards for six years before allowing the land to rest.  Therefore, proponents of the 50-year Jubilee model tell us that the only model that fits is the 50-year Jubilee model, shown below.

In the chart above, the position of the Shemittah year seems to ‘migrate backwards’ a year for every Jubilee cycle.  While this ‘migration’ may not seem as visually pleasing as the concept of continually ‘counting seven’ (as in the 49-year model), it keeps the ‘work six, then rest’ pattern commanded both in Exodus 20:8-11, and in Leviticus 25:2-4.

Champions of the 50-year cycle also point out that if the earth is expected to last for some 7000 years, the number 7000 divides neatly into 140 Jubilee cycles, 140 being a multiple of 14 (and hence, also 7).  They also tell us that if Yeshua came at the 4000 year mark, He would have arrived on the 80^th Jubilee (8 being a number signifying new beginnings).  Further, if the Millennium begins in the year 6000, then the Millennium would begin at the 120^th Jubilee (which is a multiple of 12, a very common Scriptural number).  This would also place Yeshua's second coming neatly at the 140^th Jubilee.  While all of these numbers seem to flow beautifully, in contrast, 7000 divided by 49-year cycles yields a comparatively messy 142.857+ Jubilees.

But why should it matter whether the Jubilee cycle is 49 or 50 years long?  The answer is that when Ephraim returns back home to the Land of Israel, and the Torah is established as the national law, the Jubilee and the Shemittah cycles will have to be re-established.  But how can that be done?  When the Jews were taken into the Exile to Babylon, the Jubilee and the Shemittah cycles were lost.

Josephus and the Book of Maccabees mention the Jubilees and the Shemittot, but the dates mentioned in these sources are questionable, for the simple reason that Judah has made other corruptions to the calendar, and has not always followed YHWH’s means of timing.  How then, can we know for sure when YHWH wants us to observe the Shemittot and the Jubilees?  In order to answer that question, we need to learn a little bit more about what we are to do in the Yovel.

Leviticus 25:11-12 tells us that in the fiftieth year, we are not to sow, and we also are not to ‘reap’ anything that grows of its own accord.  That is, YHWH allows us to go out and pick what we need for the day (or for two days on the Sixth Day), with the manna in the wilderness.  However, YHWH does not want us to ‘bring in the harvest’ with a sickle or a basket, in order to ‘store anything up’ for later.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:11-12

11 “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.

12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be set apart to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.”

Thankfully, Scripture gives us a clue as to when YHWH may have last declared a Jubilee.  In Second Kings 19:29-34 we read about how the King of Assyria laid siege to Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah.  With the Jews greatly outnumbered, King Hezekiah feared they would be overcome by the Assyrian forces.  However, YHWH sent Hezekiah a message by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah.  YHWH said the people would eat that year what grew of itself (i.e., without being planted), and that in the second year they would eat that which sprang from what grew the year before (also without being planted).  Then in the third year, the Jews would plant.

Melachim Bet (2^nd Kings) 19:29-34

29 ‘This shall be a sign to you:

You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from the same; also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.’

As we saw earlier, this is the exact pattern YHWH commands us to keep during the Yovel: we are not to plant or reap either in the 49^th or the 50^th years.  Rather, we are to wait for the first year, to begin planting and harvesting again.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:20-22

20 'And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?"

21 Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.

22 And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.’

Historians such as Edwin R. Thiele (The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings) and Jack Finnegan (The Handbook of Bible Chronology) date the siege by the Assyrian forces at approximately 701 BCE.  If this number is correct, then the Jubilee cycles would progress forward in the following manner:

Remembering that there is no ‘zero year’, if one does the calculations on the 49-year cycle, the last Jubilee was 1996.  This date ties into numerous prophecies we earlier detailed in the Nazarene Israel study.  At the time of this printing, the next Jubilee would be 2045.  The Shemittot dates would then be 2003, 2010, 2017, 2024, 2031, and 2048. 

Since the 50-year Jubilee cycle progresses forward by perfect fifties, the last Jubilee on the 50-year cycle was the year 2000.  At the time of this printing, the last Shemitta would have been 2007, and the next Shemitta would be in 2014, followed by 2021, 2028, 2035, 2042, and then the next Jubilee will occur in 2050.

But what else happens in the Jubilee, apart from letting the land rest?  Another major theme is the release of property, and the release from debt.  In the Yovel, all debts between Israelites are to be canceled, and all property is to be released to its original owners.  (Since land in Israel can only be sold according to the number of years until the next Jubilee, in modern-day terms, the land is only supposed to be leased.)

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:13-17

13 'In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.

14 And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another.

15 According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you.

16 According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops.

17 Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your Elohim; for I am YHWH your Elohim.’

Although we are only commanded to keep the Yovel and the Shemittah when we live in the Land of Israel, there are benefits and advantages to keeping the Yovel in the Dispersion.  One Messianic farm family told me they made the decision not to plant in the seventh year, in obedience to the command.  They reported that their harvests increased an average of 40-50%, and not just in the sixth year, but in all years.  While this Messianic farm family did not know the exact earthly cause of the increase, they believed it had something to do with disruption of the natural cycles of weeds and parasites.  They theorized that because the normal cycles of the weeds and parasites were disrupted, the crops were able to ‘compete’ much better than they would normally have been able to.  However, they were also quick to point out that it was ultimately YHWH who provided the increase.

Another major theme of the Yovel is how YHWH’s land and His people ultimately belong not to any earthly human being, kingship or government, but to YHWH Himself; and as such they are to be treated as His.  We are to grant release of all indebtedness from our brothers (and one might also draw a ‘spiritual parallel’ to grudges, resentments, and lack of forgiveness).

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:23-24

23 'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.’

While we will not delve into the specific rules for the release of land, debt and Israelite slaves here, the rules are fairly simple, and self-explanatory.  No contract involving land in Israel, loans to Israelites or Israelite slaves can extend beyond the next Jubilee.  At the Yovel (the ‘flowing’), all land is to be released to its original owner, and all debts of every type are to be cancelled.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:25-28

25 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.

26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,

27 then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.

28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.’

Earlier we saw how YHWH’s people belong to Him.  In Exodus 21:1-6 and in Deuteronomy 15:12-18 we read about the Torah of the Hebrew slave who does not wish to be set free from his master.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 15:12-18

12 "If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed;

14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what YHWH has blessed you with, you shall give to him.

15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your Elohim redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today.

16 And if it happens that he says to you, 'I will not go away from you,' because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you,

17 then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.

18 It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then YHWH your Elohim will bless you in all that you do.

If an Israelite slave realizes that he has it better under his master than he knows how to do for himself, then he has the option of foregoing the release.  Earlier we saw how the first six years of the Creation Week symbolize the first six thousand years of man’s existence, as well as how the Sabbath symbolizes the Millennial Reign.  Could it be that the slave desiring not to be sent away from his master’s house (because he has it better than he knows how to provide for himself) is spiritually symbolic of all those Israelites who desire not to be set free from their Master YHWH, since they have it so much better with Him?

The releasing of slaves and of property takes place on Yom Kippur, at the sounding of the shofar.

Vayiqra (Leviticus) 25:8-10

8 '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.

9 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.

10 And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, 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.’

Since one of Yeshua’s purposes was to proclaim release to the captives, Messianic tradition informs us that Yeshua’s ministry may have begun around the time of Yom Kippur, when the release of the captives was declared.

Judaism traditionally calls for an immersion (baptism) on the day before Yom Kippur, the most set-apart day of the year.

Luqa (Luke) 3:21-23

21 When all the people were immersed, it came to pass that Yeshua also was immersed; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.

22 And the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

23 Now Yeshua Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age….

As we will show in the next chapter on Hanukkah, Yeshua was probably born on the first day of the Fall Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles).  Since Yom Kippur takes place five days before Sukkot, Yeshua would have been “about thirty years of age” when He began His ministry.

As another witness that Yeshua’s ministry may have begun around the Sukkot timeframe, notice that after being tempted of the Devil for forty days, Yeshua returned to Natseret (Nazareth), and announced that He had been sent to proclaim release to the captives.

Luqa (Luke) 4:13-21

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

14 Then Yeshua returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.

15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18 "The Spirit of YHWH is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the Good News to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

19 To proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH.”

20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Finally, we should state that in all Shemittah and Yovel years, the Wave Sheaves are taken from wild barley, which may be symbolic of Ephraim.