Catholic Encyclopedia -
Year of Jubilee 99
About the time
when Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis
appeared to the Egyptians. Now Apis
is the god whom the Greeks call Epaphus. As soon as he appeared, straightway all the
Egyptians arrayed themselves in their gayest garments, and fell to feasting and jollity: which when Cambyses saw, making sure that these
rejoicings were on account of his own ill success, he called
before him the officers who had charge of Memphis, and demanded of
them- "Why, when he was
in Memphis before, the Egyptians had done nothing of this kind, but
waited until now, when he had returned with the loss of so many of
his troops?" The officers made answer, "That
one of their gods had
appeared to them, a
god who at long intervals of time had been accustomed to show himself
in Egypt- and that
always on his
appearance
the whole of
Egypt feasted and kept jubilee." The procedure has been to denounce the demand
for "teaching one another" with the revealed words of Christ
(Colossians 3:16) or His Spirit (Ephesiand 5:18-19) with what is
termed "praise songs." This translates to really good sentiment
teaching really horrendous lies. The next step is to replace the
"body" with musical worship or musical praise teams. The final step,
if not stopped, is the introduction of instruments to try to rescue
the financial structure collapse brought on by taking the Word away
from the people. There is not a shred of evidence that the
assembled church should "praise" themselves by singing empgy -- at
times heretical -- feeble sentiment. The prophecy was that Jesus
would sing unto us as He taught the Word through men such as Paul:
Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise
(hymns) unto thee. Hebrews 2:12 A hymn is not self-composed but is
a "hymn" or religious ode (one of the Psalms) Vine. To see that this means that the "evangelist"
must go out and teach the nations as the only way he can fulfill this
command to be Jesus Who is doing the actual praising Click Here. The Jubilee image is related to
Jubal
who was the "Father of those who handle musical instruments
without authority to control the religious brothers." In the Apocalyptic
literature, Jubal is Genun. Satan came into him when he was a youth
and taught him how to play instruments and organize mixed choirs to
seduce the people away from God's Word. Another image of Jubilee is to usher in the
Atonement which has not fully arrived on earth as it is in heaven.
While we all wish for the kingdom to come in
our own image, it has been noted that such searches: "May result from
spiritual immaturity from lack of an adequate program of teaching the
Bible." The following quotes are from the Catholic
Encyclopedia at New
Advent. "According to the Pentateuchal
legislation contained in Leviticus, a Jubilee year is the year that
follows immediately seven successive Sabbatic years (the Sabbatic
year being the seventh year of a seven-year cycle). Accordingly, the
Jubilee year takes place at the end of seven times seven years, i.e.
at the end of every forty-nine years, or the fiftieth. Hence, the institution
of the Jubilee-year system is but an extension or the working out of the Sabbatic-year
legislation, viz. that as at
the end of every six years there succeeds a Sabbatic year, so at the
end of each seven Sabbatic years there succeeds a Jubilee year.
Arguing from the analogous Pentecostal system, it is evident that the
actual year in which the Jubilee occurs is not the last of the
seventh Sabbatic cycle (i.e. the forty-ninth year), but the year
following, namely, the fiftieth. Hence, at the end of each
forty-eight years there occur two consecutive fallow years, viz. the
forty-ninth, or the Sabbatic year of the seventh Sabbatic cycle and
the fiftieth, or the Jubilee year. From the nature and purpose of the
Jubilee legislation, it is also evident that the Jubilee Year is to
be reckoned with in itself absolutely, and not in relation to the
length of time, or duration, of each particular event or contract. So
that if, for example, the year 195O is Jubilee Year, and an
Israelite became a slave in
the year 1930, this slave is
to be set free not in 1980, but in 1950, which is the appointed year
of Jubilee. The term jubilee year
(Vulg. annus
Jubile, or Jubileus) is of Hebrew origin,
the etymological meaning of which is, in all probability,
"ram", which metonymically stands for
"the horn of a
ram". Thus the name
"the year of the blowing of
the ram's horn"
exactly corresponds to "the day of the blowing of the horn", or the "feast of the new year", and it was, like the latter, announced to the people
by the blowing of the horn. In Ezechiel (xlvi, 17) the Jubilee Year
is called "the year of release"; hence some commentators have derived
the Hebrew word for "Jubilee" from the stem which means "to emit",
"to liberate". The first derivation, however, is more
acceptable. The legislation
concerning the year of Jubilee is found in Leviticus, xxv, 8-54, and
xxvii, 16-24. It contains three main enactments: rest of the soil;
reversion of landed property to its
original
owner, who had been
driven by poverty to sell
it; and the freeing or manumission of those
Israelites who, through poverty or otherwise, had become the slaves of their
brethren. The first enactment (contained in
Leviticus, xxv, 11-12) enjoins that as in the case of each Sabbatic
year, so in each Jubilee year the soil is to be at rest, and that there is to be no tillage nor harvest, but
that what the land produces spontaneously and of its own accord is
free to be utilized by all Israelites, including, of course, the
landlord himself, but only for their own actual and immediate use and
maintenance, and, consequently, not to be stored by anyone for any
other time or purpose. The object of this law, as well as of the two
following, is most commendable, as by it the poor and all those who,
mainly on account of poverty, do not actually own any land, are
hereby provided for, not only for a whole year every seven years, but
also in every fiftieth year. The second enactment, contained in
Leviticus, xxv, 13-34, and xxvii, 16-24, enjoins that any owner of
landed property, who, for reason of poverty or otherwise, has been
compelled to part with his land, has the right to receive his
property back free in the
Jubilee year, or to
redeem it even before the Jubilee year, if either
his own financial circumstances have improved, or if his next of kin
will redeem it for him by paying back according to the price which
regulated the purchase. Hence, among the ancient Hebrews, the
transfer of property was not, properly speaking, the sale of the land
but of its produce for a certain number of years, and the price was
fixed according to the number of years which intervened between tbe
year of the sale and that of the next year of jubilee. Accordingly,
the right of possession of real estate was inalienable. Whether a
landowner was ever allowed to part permanently with his property for
speculation, or for any purpose other than poverty, is not explicitly
stated, although according to later rabbinical interpretation, this
was considered as legally unlawful. Real estate in walled towns was
made an exception to this law. An owner who had sold was permitted to
redeem his property provided he did so within a year, but not
afterwards. Levitical cities, on the other hand, as well as all the
property in them, came under the provisions of the general law,
reverting back to their original owners in the year of jubilee. Land
in the suburbs of such cities could not be disposed of, or traded
with in any manner. In case a man dedicated property to the Lord, he
was permitted to redeem it, provided he added to it one-fifth of its
value as reckoned by the number of crops it would produce before the
year of Jubilee, and provided, also, he redeemed it before that
period. If not reclaimed then or before that period it was understood
to be dedicated forever. The details of these exchanges of property
probably varied at different times. Josephus informs us that the
temporary proprietor of a piece of land made a settlement with its
owner at the year of Jubilee on the following terms: after making a
statement of the value of the crops he had obtained from the land,
and of what he had expended upon it, if his receipts exceeded the
expenses, the owner got nothing; but if the reverse was true, the
latter was expected to make good the loss. The third enactment (contained in
Leviticus, xxv, 39-54) enjoins that all those Israelites who through
poverty have sold themselves as slaves to their fellow- Israelites or
to foreigners resident among them, and who, up to the time of the
Jubilee year, have neither completed their six years of servitude,
nor redeemed themselves, nor been redeemed by their relatives, are to
be set free in the Jubilee year to return with their children to
their family and to the patrimony of their fathers. Exception, of
course, is made in the case of those slaves who refuse to become free
at the expiration of the appointed six years' servitude. In this case
they are allowed to become slaves forever and, in order to indicate
their consent to this, they are required to submit to the boring of
their ears (Ex., xxi, 6). This exception, of course, is in no way in
contradiction with the Jubilee-year's enactment. It is not necessary,
therefore, in order to explain this apparent contradiction, to
maintain that the two legislations belong to two distinct periods,
or, still less, to maintain that the two Iegislations are
conflicting, as some modern critics have maintained. It is important,
however, to remark that the legislation concerning the various
enactments of the Jubilee year contained in Leviticus, is not
sufficiently expanded so as to cover all possible hypotheses and
cases. This want has been more or less consistently remedied by later
Talmudic and rabbinical enactments and legislations. The design of the Jubilee year is
that those of the people of God who, through poverty or other adverse
circumstances, had forfeited their personal liberty or property to
their fellow brethren, should have their debts forgiven by their
co-religionists every half century, on the great day of
atonement, and be restored to their families and
inheritance as freely and fully as God on that very day forgave the
debts of his people and restored them to perfect fellowship with
himself, so that the whole community, having forgiven each other and
being forgiven by God, might
return to the original order which had been disturbed in the lapse of
time, and being freed
from the bondage of one
another, might unreservedly
be the servants of him who is their redeemer. The aim of the jubilee, therefore,
is to preserve
unimpaired the essential
character of the theocracy, to
the end that there be no poor among the people of God (Deut. xv, 4).
Hence God, who redeemed
Israel from the bondage of Egypt to be his peculiar people, and
allotted to them the promised land, will not suffer any one to usurp
his title as Lord over those whom he owns as his own. (Note: Israel rejected the
direct rule of God and demanded a king like the nations. Therefore,
all that we see under the United Kingdom period involving Saul, David
and Solomon is of a people worshiping like the nations around
them.) It is the idea of grace for all the
suffering children of man, bringing freedom to the captive and rest
to the weary as well as to the earth, which made the year of jubilee the symbol of
the Messianic year of grace
(Isaiah 61:2), when all the conflicts in the universe shall be
restored to their original harmony, and when not only we, who have
the first-fruits of the Spirit, but the whole creation, which
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, shall be restored
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God (comp. Is. lxi, 1-3;
Luke, iv, 21; Rom. viii, 18-23; Heb. iv, 9). The importance of this institution
will be apparent if it is considered what moral and social advantages
would accrue to the community from the sacred observance of
it. It would prevent the accumulation of
land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at
large. It would render it impossible for
any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his
hereditary land. It would preclude those inequalities
which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make
one man domineer over another. It would utterly do away with
slavery. It would afford a fresh opportunity
to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again
their career of industry, in the patrimony which they had temporarily
forfeited. It would periodically rectify the
disorders which creep into the state in the course of time, preclude
the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve
the theocracy inviolate. GABRIEL OUSSANI Transcribed by
Donald J. Boon However, Jesus came
to fulfil all of the Old Covenant types such as Pentecost, Jubilee
and the Atonement. Whe should never endanger ourselves by denying
that He has cancelled the debts: He went
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he
went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
Luke 4:16 The
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he
found the place where it is written: Luke 4:17 "The Spirit of the
Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me
to proclaim
freedom for
the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the
oppressed,
Luke 4:18 to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:19 Then he rolled up
the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of
everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, Luke 4:20
and he
began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing."
Luke 4:21 It would be a denial
of Christ to attempt to restore the Jubilee festival which never
happened without the Day of Atonement. Kenneth
Sublett: See our Hohenwald Resource
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