JUBILEE, YEAR OF

JUBILEE, YEAR OF, came at the close of seven weeks of years, or eveiy fiftieth year, so that two sabbatical years came together. It commenced on the great day of atonement, and was ushered in by the blast of the jubilee curved trumpets. The remarkable feature of this festival was that it restored individuals, families, and communities, as far as possible, to the same situation they occupied at the beginning of the fifty years. All servants of Hebrew origin were set free, even those whose ears had been bored in evidence of their free service; all pledges were given up, and the inheritances which had been alienated, no matter how often nor for what cause, came back to the hands of the owners. The only exception was in the cases of houses built in walled towns. Lev 25:29-31. The law in regard to this festival is given in Lev 25:8-17, Lev 8:23-55; Lev 27:16-25; Num 36:4. "The jubilee is the crown of the sabbatical system. The weekly and monthly sabbaths secured rest for each spiriturally; the sabbatical year secured rest for the land: the jubilee secured rest and restoration for the body politic, to recover the general equality which Joshua's original settlement contemplated. Hence no religious observances were prescribed; simply the trumpets sounded the glad note of restoration. The leisure of the jubilee year was perhaps devoted to school and instruction of the people, the reading of the Law, and such services." — Fausset: The Englishman's Bible Cyclopedia. It has been disputed whether there ever was a year of jubilee observed. No direct mention is made of any, but there are evident allusions to it in Isa 61:1-2; Eze 7:12-13; Eze 46:16-18.