Some folks
asked me, an economist, to explain the relevance of the Year of Jubilee and the
impact of applying it today. It may seem
a bit pedantic, but I need to build up to the answer. First, let’s look at what Jubilee was in the
Bible. Next, let’s explain what it wasn’t in the Bible. Third, how do we apply it today?
What’s the Bible say? The Year of Jubilee is explained in
Leviticus 25:9-55. Please
take a moment, click the preceding link, and read it. To see what is actually
written in the Bible is of the upmost importance.
You should want God’s Word, not what others want
you to think it means.
STOP! Did you really read the passage?
Yeah, it is
a long passage.
I know it is hard, but
you can do it.
So MAN UP!
(Grow a couple.)
Click: Leviticus 25:9-55. Let’s do this right!
If you can’t be bothered, then please stop
reading this and go back to looking at cat videos and pictures of other people’s
food on
Facebook.
Highlights Concerning Property in Leviticus
25:
- Land was an inheritance from God and could not
be sold outright (v. 23).
- Land could be “sold” but the owner or a relative
could redeem it, or buy it back (v. 25).
- The price of the land, and the price to redeem
it, was based on how many years were left until the year of Jubilee (v. 26-27).
- If no one
redeemed it, then in the Year of Jubilee the land would revert to the original owner
since it is his inheritance from the Lord (v. 28).
- A house in a walled city could be sold in perpetuity
but the owner had a right to redeem it only during the first year after the
sale (v. 29-30).
Highlights Concerning People in Leviticus 25:
- Lending or selling for profit to an Israelite in
need was prohibited (v. 35-37).
- A poor Israelite could not sell himself and his family into slavery to another Israelite. He must be treated as a hired hand and only required
to serve until the Year of Jubilee (v. 39-40).
- The Year of Jubilee did not apply to non-Israelites
(sojourners and foreigners). They could
be bought and sold as slaves and owned in perpetuity (v. 44-46).
- A poor Israelite could sell himself and his family into slavery to a non-Israelite but
only until the Year of Jubilee (v. 47, 54)
- All Israelites could be redeemed, whether
serving as a hired worker to another Israelite or as a slave to a non-Israelite
(v. 48-49).
- As with land, the redemption price was based on
how many years were left until the Year of Jubilee (v. 50-52).
Financially,
the Year of Jubilee applies to two things:
the debts of Israelites repaid with labor, and the land that God gave as
an inheritance to the Israelites. First,
non-Israelite slaves were not set free. The
Jubilee only applied to slaves who were Israelites. The Children of Israel belonged to God. They could not sell themselves into perpetual
slavery because they were not their own, but God’s property. Second, the land was a gift from God, an inheritance,
bequeathed with the unchangeable restriction that it was the permanent possession
of the Children of Israel. In short, they
could not sell it outright. It is like Canton’s
Village Park which is actually owned by the Presbyterian Church. It was bequeathed to the church with a restrictive
covenant that it could not be sold. The
church cannot give the land title to the Village of Canton and be done with it,
even with the guarantee of its continued use as a park. Neither could the Children of Israel sell their
land in perpetuity.
What’s NOT in the Bible? An implication of the above is that none of the
following has anything to do with the Year of Jubilee:
- Cancel all
debts!
- Stop the
foreclosures!
- Free those
in financial bondage!
You might be
thinking that although it may not literally
be in the Bible, can’t the Year of Jubilee be an application of biblical principles that are indicative of God’s desire,
his heart for social justice for those in financial bondage?
No.
Why
not? The short answer is because such an application
uses the Bible to deny, even pervert, the picture of God’s mercy, love and
holiness.
(As you
might suspect, the long answer is to follow.)
In Leviticus 25 the Jubilee requires neither
the renunciation of debts nor the nullification of agreements or
contracts. The agreement to the sale of
land is not voided by the Jubilee because there never was a sale in perpetuity. It is very clear that both sides were to
understand up front that purchasing use of the land was only temporary until a
buyback (redemption) or until the Year of Jubilee. God said, “And if you make a
sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one
another” (v. 14) when outlining the amount of the sale and the redemption prices. Likewise, the obligation of a hired
man or an Israelite slave to work was also known to everyone involved to be temporary
until a buyback or the Year of Jubilee.
Of course there
are numerous Bible verses concerning the forgiveness, including the forgiveness
of debt. However, the admonition to
forgive debts is always to the lender not the borrower. Forgiveness is voluntary, not imposed by a
third party, and certainly not by God.
No one is
entitled to receive forgiveness.
God is a
promise keeper, not a promise breaker. He
will not coerce a lender to accept another person’s violation of an
agreement. God is all powerful but not unrighteous.
How Do We Apply the Year of Jubilee Today? The Year of Jubilee presents a beautiful
picture of God’s love for his people. The
Children of Israel received an inheritance of land from God. God guaranteed this inheritance would be restored
even if someone purposed to lose it. Children
of Israel may put themselves into slavery but God guaranteed they would be restored.
They were His.
Today each of
us was once part of a people who were not His people. With our sin, we each sold ourselves into slavery. We belonged to Satan and he was not about to
forgive our sins and set us free. Rather,
Jesus redeemed us. Satan was not forced
to renounce his hold over us. We were
not stolen from Satan as a result of the coercion of an all-power God. Rather, Jesus redeemed us. The price for sin was death but Jesus paid
the price for our sins, life for life, with his own blood. There is no entitlement to receive such forgiveness. Rather, Jesus redeemed us.
.
Since Jesus
redeemed us, we are now the Children of God by adoption. We are his and he can renounce the debt of
sin because he paid for it. God owns us
and we cannot change that even if we want to because we are not our own but were
bought with a price.
In accepting Christ's redemption, we are co-heirs with Jesus. We cannot lose our inheritance.
Jubilee is not about a Get-Out-of-Debt-Free Card. It is all about Jesus. Jesus is our Jubilee.
