The Year of Jubilee in the Biblical Tradition

Andrzej Sebastian Jasiński OFM

Uniwersytet Opolski

Abstract

Leviticus 25 details the biblical system of jubilee. The year of jubilee came at the end of the cycle of 7 Sabbatical Years. In essence the jubilee was en economic institution. Israel had a three-tier pattern of kinship, comprising the tribe, the clan, and the household. Leviticus 25 is interwoven with the economic practice of the redemption of land and persons (primarily for the protection of the clan). One of the central pillars of the faith of the Israelites was that the land they inhabited was Yahweh land. The land was the goal of the Exodus redemption tradition. Divine judgment eventually meant expulsion from the land, until the restored relationship was symbolized in the return to the land. The jubilee functioned as a necessary override to the practice of redemption. The regular operation of redemption over a period could result in the whole territory of clan coming into the hands of a few wealthier families, whit the rest of the families in the clan in a kind of debt servitude, living as dependent tenants of the wealthy, precisely the kind of land-tenure system that Israel had overturned. The jubilee was based upon several central affirmations of Israel’s faith, and the importance of these should not be overlooked when assessing its relevance to Christian ethic and mission. Jesus announced the in breaking of the eschatological reign of God. He claimed that the hopes of restoration and messianic reversal were being fulfilled in his ministry (Luke 4,16-30).

Keywords:

Leviticus 25, jubilee year, jubilee as an economic institution, redemption of land and people, land of Israel, God of Israel

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Published
2021-07-17

Cited by

Jasiński OFM, A. S. (2021). The Year of Jubilee in the Biblical Tradition. Scriptura Sacra, (21), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.25167/ScrS/4159

Authors

Andrzej Sebastian Jasiński OFM 

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