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Multi-Version Concordance Jubilation (1 Occurrence). Hosea 9:1 Don't rejoice, Israel, Hosea 9:1 Don't rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. ...
Jubilee. The word "jubilee" is derived from the Hebrew word jobel, which means "ram's horn"; since it was precisely that horn which was used as a trumpet, whose sound indicated to everybody the beginning of the jubilee year.
Feb 2, 2020 · View full text Download PDF. The concept of the Jubilee, or the collective forgiveness of all debts and debtor/slaves, had its origins in the Ancient Near East where it was a secular practice of kings.
- James A. Sanders
- 2020
Jubilate Deo. 1 O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands : serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song. 2 Be ye sure that the Lord he is God : it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 3 O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving,
- The Sabbatical Year
- The Jubilee Year
- The Year of The Lord’s Favour
- Theological Reflection
Terminology
Hebrew uses two distinctive terms in connection with the sabbatical year, namely šabbat (‘rest’, cf. Gn 2:2–3; Ex. 23:12) and šemiṭṭa (š-m-ṭ). The verb š-m-ṭ in Exodus 23:11 means to ‘let (the land) rest’ by leaving it fallow in the sabbatical year; whereas in Deuteronomy 15:1 šemiṭṭameans to ‘cancel’ a debt. Driver (1902) and Craigie (1976) suggest that this verse only legislates for the deferring of debts during the sabbatical year, not their cancellation, but it would appear from the follo...
The agrarian context
In the ‘Book of the Covenant’ (Ex. 21–23) there are two regulations concerning the sabbatical year, one about agriculture and one about slavery. First, the regulation concerning agriculture is found in Exodus 23:10–11: The land is to rest in the sabbatical year, by lying fallow, just as human beings and animals rest on the seventh day (Ex. 20:9–10).1 During that seventh year, the produce of the land which grows of its own accord becomes the property of the poor, not of the owner of the land,...
The urban context
In Exodus and Leviticus, in the context of an agrarian economy, the sabbatical year is prescribed as a year of rest for the land and freedom for Hebrew slaves. In Deuteronomy 15:1–18 the regulations for the sabbatical year are formulated again for a new context, that of a trading economy which is more urban in nature. (Perhaps we could see this as an ancient example of contextualisation.) There is one new stipulation, then some of the former regulations are repeated in more detail and with so...
Terminology
Two distinctive Hebrew terms are used in connection with the jubilee year, namely yobel and deror. Most scholars consider the word yobel to originate from the trumpet made from a sheep’s horn that was sounded at the beginning of the jubilee year (Lev. 25:9; cf. Ex. 19:13; Jos. 6:4–5). North (1990) disagrees, linking it instead with the verb y-b-l (‘lead back, lead forth’, Is. 55:12; Je. 31:9). This suggestion is supported by the translation of yobel in the Septuagint as aphesis (‘liberation’)...
Legislation
The jubilee legislation is set out in Leviticus 25, preceded by a summary of the regulations for the sabbatical year (vv. 2–7). After seven cycles of seven years (v. 8), the fiftieth year is designated as an extra sabbatical year, a sort of ‘super-sabbatical’ (v. 10): In that year liberty (deror) is to be proclaimed for (almost12) all inhabitants of the land (v. 10a). As in the sabbatical year, no sowing is to take place on the land during the jubilee year (vv. 11–12). Moreover land which has...
Observance
As in the case of the sabbatical year, we need to consider how far the jubilee year was in fact observed regularly in ancient Israel. De Vaux (1961: pp. 175–77) is of the opinion that this is an idealistic regulation which was never carried out in practice, whereas van Selms (1976) believes the jubilee year was observed but only irregularly. Westbrook (1991: pp. 38–52) concludes that the jubilee regulations reflect an institution which was observed from time to time, as also was the case in a...
Isaiah 61
Apart from the sabbatical and jubilee years, there is also what is described in Isaiah 61:1–2aas ‘the year of the Lord’s favour’. In this text, the prophet reinterprets the jubilee year eschatologically: The messianic age19 is described as ‘the year of the Lord’s favour’ (v. 2a), an idea which draws at least some of its inspiration from that of the jubilee. One of the prophet’s tasks is to ‘proclaim liberty’ (qara deror, v. lc), a distinctive phrase found in the jubilee regulations (Lev. 25:1...
Isaiah 58
A similar idea is found in Isaiah 58:6: The expression šallaḥ ḥopšim, translated ‘set free’ here, is different from qara deror in the previous text, but its meaning is almost identical. Although the prophet does not specifically mention the jubilee year, there are many similarities between Isaiah 58 and the jubilee regulations, as shown by Hanks (1983: pp. 99–103: cf.Weinfeld 1995: p. 18). In particular: ■ the prophecy of Isaiah 58 is opened with the simile of a trumpet (v. 1). and the jubile...
Luke 4
According to the New Testament, the messianic age has begun with the coming of Jesus Christ, as he himself declares in his first sermon recorded by Luke, in the synagogue at Nazareth (Lk. 4:16–21). Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1–2a, with an insertion from Isaiah 58:6,23and announces that the prophecy about ‘the year of the Lord’s favour’ has begun to be fulfilled that day. Troomé (1973: ch. 2) argues that Jesus in his speech in Nazareth was proclaiming a jubilee year (cf.Strobel 1972). He reckons a...
Three major themes have emerged from our study of holy years in the Bible, namely rest, freedom and restoration. Let us now take these themes one by one and reflect on their relevance today. Some of the practical suggestions I mention can be based on wider OT data, including the very first chapter of Genesis, but the three themes I identify here em...
Feb 26, 2024 · The word ‘Jubilee’ is used throughout the Bible and is highly significant in several contexts. The term comes from the Hebrew word ‘yovel’ and has been translated in various ways to mean ‘celebration’ or ‘festival of emancipation’.
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