THE YEAR OF JUBILEE by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 4, 1878

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

ITS LESSON TO US.

The lines of the inheritance of the tribes of Israel were not to be removed—not even by sale. Though a man might sell his possession, the sale lasted only to the year of jubilee. There was no “fee simple” allowed there. In the year of jubilee the land returned to its former owner.

Accordingly, when a piece of land was sold, its value was estimated according to the nearness or remoteness of the year of jubilee. “In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession. And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy neighbor’s hand, ye shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the jubilee, thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee; according to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee.” Lev. 25:13-16.

This order was reasonable and just. If the year of jubilee was but just passed, a sale would stand good for fifty years, about the time of the active life of a man. In that case he could afford to pay a good price for the land. But if the year of jubilee was near in the future, he could not afford to pay a large price, because he could hold it but a short time. “According to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it.”

Paul says that the things which were written aforetime were written for our learning, or written for our admonition. Is this instruction concerning the year of jubilee written for our admonition? Let us see.

We know that the jubilee was a type. The jubilee trumpet was sounded on the day of atonement. But the day of atonement was certainly typical of the work of our Saviour. And, therefore, the jubilee or fiftieth year, was typical of the great jubilee, when “the great trumpet shall be blown;” Isa. 27:13; when the trump of God shall be heard, and the saints shall leave their earthly possessions, which they have held under a tenure granted by Cæsar. “For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.”

Now the question arises, Do we believe the great jubilee is near to come? We profess to believe it. We profess to believe that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” We tell the world around us that we expect soon to hear the trumpet of release sound, when we shall leave our earthly possessions and go to possess those blessed mansions which the Saviour has prepared for us. We profess to believe that “we have no abiding city here,”—that the heavenly Zion belongs to us, and we “shall have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city.”

And yet, with this hope in us, this faith to support us, and these scriptures “for our learning,” we present to the world this strange inconsistency of action,—we value our earthly possessions as highly, and cling to our property as tenaciously, as if the year of jubilee were far away in the future!

Let us not deceive ourselves. We sing, with great apparent delight,

“The Lord is coming! let this be The herald note of jubilee.”

But too many of us live and act as if the Lord were not coming,—as if there were no herald of the approaching jubilee. But the signs of the times, the remarkable fulfillment of prophecy, are not given for naught. They have their purpose; and that purpose will be accomplished. Somebody will heed these warnings and prepare to meet their Lord. Luke 12. While some others will doubtless let their hearts be overcharged with the cares of this life, and that day will come upon them unawares.

Where shall I be—reader, where will you be—in that day? J. H. Waggoner.