Word Studies - Jubilee

Our English words "jubilee," "jubilation," and "jubilant" are used to describe occasions of great joy, but they are not derived from nor related to the word "joy" or its predecessors. These words came into our language ultimately from the Hebrew tongue, and they have purely biblical roots. The Hebrew word "yobel" is rendered "trumpet" in Exodus 19:13, then in 20 references in Leviticus and Numbers, it is translated "jubilee." In Leviticus 25:9 the Lord instructed Moses to "cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound" on a certain day, signalling the commencement of a special year, a year of great joy, a year belonging to the Lord. In the fiftieth year the Israelites were to "proclaim liberty throughout all the land" (Lev. 25:10), as those who had come to poverty and sold themselves into servitude would be freed (Lev. 25:39, 40, 54). Indeed, all Israel could feel a special sense of freedom and brotherhood in the year of Jubilee, for their God had released them from their forced servitude in the land of Egypt.

The Jubilee was a year of restoration, for in the fiftieth year real property outside of walled cities was to revert to its original owners. The conquered land of Canaan was parcelled out to the tribes and families of Israel, as recorded in Joshua 13 and 14. If an Israelite sold his property to someone outside the original family, he or his kinsmen had the right to redeem the land at any time they had ability to pay for it; but if it was never redeemed, it would nonetheless go back to the original possessor or to his heirs in the year of Jubilee. It was a time when things would be put back as they should be.

The Jubilee was a year of rest for the land and those who worked it. There was to be no sowing or reaping (Lev. 25:11, 12). Since the fiftieth year would always follow a sabbath year, this meant that one harvest must feed the people for three years. Thus, this year of great joy would be a time when the Hebrews' faith would be tested. Those who walked by faith in the God of Abraham would follow His explicit orders, carefully storing their forty- eighth-year harvest, then not planting again until seedtime in the fifty-first year. Those whose faith wavered would plant as usual and never reap the great spiritual benefits and the bountiful joy that the Lord intended for them through observance of the Jubilee.