Leviticus 25:10, commentary and pictures

The fiftieth year is hallowed as the jubilee after seven sabbaths of years, and its trumpet sounds on the Day of Atonement throughout all the land to call the people to gladness because satisfaction has been made for sin. The liberty it proclaims is that every man returns to his possession and to his family, with landed property reverting to the family of the original possessor so no one can permanently barter away his children's inheritance, while the land rests unsown, its increase belongs to the poor, and Hebrew slaves are set free. It teaches that the Lord is Householder and owner of the whole earth and the people are His tenants, and He makes the land productive by His blessing when they are obedient. It pictures the final jubilee and deliverance at Christ's return, commencing when God speaks deliverance to His people, when the pious slave rises in triumph and shakes off his chains while the wicked master is left in confusion, and the land rests. Its principles for the distribution of property and care for the poor apply to the world today, and carried out now they would prevent oppression of the poor by the rich and hatred of the rich by the poor, hinder the amassing of great wealth in ill-paid servitude, and bring a peaceful solution to problems that threaten anarchy and bloodshed.

Meaning of Jubilee Year

The fiftieth year is hallowed as the jubilee, the great year of release coming after seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years. Its trumpet sounds on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, throughout all the land wherever the people dwell, calling all to welcome the year of release with gladness of heart because satisfaction has been made for sin. The liberty then proclaimed means that every man returns to his possession and to his family, with all landed property reverting to the family of the original possessor to whom it was divided by lot. Though one might for a time dispose of his possession, he cannot permanently barter away his children's inheritance, and by this every family is secured in its possession as a safeguard against the extremes of wealth and want.

In that year the land rests, is not sown or reaped, and all it produces belongs to the poor, while Hebrew slaves not freed in the sabbatical year are set free. The arrangement rests on the fact that the Lord is Householder and owner over the whole earth and owner of the land while the people are His tenants, and He makes the land productive by His blessing when they are obedient. To prevent beggary and suffering for food, as well as selfishness, oppression, and dissension, the land was divided by lot according to number, so that none could join field to field and take what money could buy, or choose the fertile parts for himself and leave the poor portions to a brother. No one was to trade his estate from love of change or desire for money nor sell his land unless compelled by poverty, and when he or any of his kindred wished to redeem it the purchaser must not refuse to sell it. If he had no one to redeem it for him and was unable to redeem it himself, it reverted to him in the jubilee so he could return home and enjoy it again, giving the poor and unfortunate an equal chance with their more fortunate neighbors.

Final Great Jubilee

The fiftieth year is the final jubilee of deliverance at Christ's return. It commences when God speaks deliverance to His people, speaking the day and hour of Jesus' coming. At that speaking He pronounces the never-ending blessing on those who honored Him in keeping the Sabbath holy, and then the land rests. In that proclaimed liberty the pious slave rises in triumph and victory and shakes off the chains that bound him, set free from bondage. His wicked master is left in confusion and knows not what to do, for the wicked cannot understand the words of the voice of God.

This jubilee liberation leads directly into the coming of the Son of Man on the great white cloud. Then come the resurrection and immortality of the sleeping saints, the instant change and catching up of the living saints, and their entrance into the Holy City. Because that Jubilee is coming very soon, the present is a critical place, especially for youth tempted to go back. If they give up after receiving knowledge of the truth there will be no more hope, and it is too late to be entangled. So every hindrance must be cut loose, idols such as tobacco must be laid aside, God must be called upon, and the truth must be carried swiftly to hungry souls here and elsewhere.

The verse does not mean the Jubilee has already arrived so that labor is sin, the land must rest, property must be sold and given as alms, and the poor must be supported without work. To claim to be in that jubilee is error that confuses and distracts, deceives some, cannot prosper, and will be brought down while truth triumphs in the end. Those who hold it dishonestly and continue to despise teaching and reproof will be left in total darkness until their folly is made manifest to all.

Present Principles and Application

The fiftieth year hallowed as jubilee teaches liberality and generosity, overcoming stinginess, selfishness, and hardness of heart toward brethren in need. It teaches that the land belongs to the Lord, who stands over the whole earth as Householder and owner while the people are His tenants, and who makes the land productive by His blessing when they are obedient. It teaches that the Lord takes care of the poor and makes special provision for them by His own interposition, connected with the spontaneous crops in the seventh year and the sixth year's yield of food for three years. These lessons are to be worked intelligently and obeyed in practical life now.

The same hallowing gives practical missionary work and the duties of people to one another, which are the principles of Christianity and the gospel of the Old Testament given to the Hebrews. It lays down principles for the distribution of property that apply to the world today. Carried out now, those principles would change the condition of the people by preventing oppression of the poor by the rich and hatred of the rich by the poor. They would hinder the amassing of great wealth while preventing the ignorance and degradation of tens of thousands held in ill-paid servitude to build colossal fortunes, and would bring a peaceful solution to problems that threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed.

The command to proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants is the work of religious liberty, to be done wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The jubilee as a year of liberty, when every man returns to his family and to his possession, with its song of freedom, applies to the relief of the schools and educational institutions from debt and reproach. Willing, self-sacrificing help and work for their support will lift the reproach and bring freedom and rejoicing to be heard throughout the church and community.