Appendix D
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Jubilee cycles
explain
a year for a day
The purpose and
beauty of the ancient Jubilee
Calendar is now beginning to
unfold. Its purpose has been
shrouded in mystery for
centuries, but now the secrets of
the Jubilee calendar are becoming
known. Dating back to the days of
the Exodus, this time mechanism
was given to Moses for some very
interesting reasons.
A rest
for the land
Upon entering the
Promised Land, God had Joshua
divide the land of Canaan into
twelve “parcels.” Each
tribe was given a parcel
according to its size and the
families within a tribe were
given a tract of land. All were
free to use the land as they saw
fit. They could even sell the
land to fellow Hebrews in other
tribes, but the Year of Jubilee
arrived, the land had to revert
back, at no charge, to the
original tribe and family that
received it from Joshua. The
exception to this rule was city
property. (Joshua 14, Leviticus
25:10,29)
The Year of
Jubilee was celebrated at the end
of each Jubilee cycle. Study the
chart at the end of this study
and notice that each day of the
week represents a year. (A
complete full sized chart can be
obtained for $2 by calling (937)
848-3322.) Notice that at the end
of each week, the seventh year is
a sabbatical year for the land.
Understand that the sabbatical
year was not a sabbatical year
for the people, but for the
land. (Leviticus 25:2) After
seven weeks of 49 years had fully
ended, the year of Jubilee
commenced. You will notice that
the 50th year
celebration occurs during the
first year of the next cycle of
49 years (See 1388 B.C.). At
first, this confuses many people.
How can the 50th year
of celebration also be the first
year of the next cycle? Consider
the mechanism: The Jews marked
off 49 days (seven weeks) from
the Feast of Unleavened Bread to
observe Pentecost. If Passover
occurred on a seventh-day
Sabbath, then seven Sabbaths and
one day later, the 50th
day, the Day of Pentecost
arrived. (Leviticus 23:15,16)
Understand that in this case, the
50th day, the day of
Pentecost, is also the first day
of the week. The point here is
that God’s Jubilee calendar
is based on recurring cycles of
seven weeks. And the 50th
year of the old cycle falls at
the same time as the first year
of the new cycle. (For those who
are thinking ahead, this is the
only way the 70 weeks of Daniel 9
can equal 490 years.)
Not
man’s calendar
The Jubilee
Calendar was given to Israel for
two wonderful reasons. First, God
made Israel time-keepers for
mankind. They were the only
people to receive the perpetual
responsibility of marking the
passage of time as God sees time.
And, to prevent Israel from
guessing at time, God
synchronized His eternal calendar
on two occasions. First, He told
Moses when to start
counting. (Exodus 12:2) Then, for
forty years, He constantly
verified the days of the week in
the minds of His people by
doubling the amount of manna that
fell on the sixth day and
withholding manna on the seventh
day of the week. (Exodus 16:26)
In addition to
synchronizing His people with His
calendar, God required the
perpetual observance of the
seventh-day Sabbath to mark the
passage of the weekly cycle. This
observance would distinguish His
people from others. God declared
that His seventh-day Sabbath
would be a sign between Him and
His people. (Exodus 31:17) But
keeping up with the weekly cycle
was only part of the larger
purpose. God also required the
observance of new moons to mark
the passage of monthly cycles (2
Chronicles 2:4). He required the
observance of the Passover on the
15th day of the new
year to mark their yearly
anniversary of deliverance. He
required the observance of each
seven-year sabbatical to mark
seven-year cycles within the
Jubilee. And God required the
observance of the Year of Jubilee
to mark the completion of each
49-year cycle.
(Leviticus
26:14-44)
Not
observed now
Because Jubilee
cycles aren’t observed
today, many people depreciate the
importance of these timing
cycles. When Jesus died on
Calvary, the observances of feast
days and ceremonies became
unnecessary (Colossians 2:11-16.
Galatians 4:9-11), but the
time-periods they marked remain
with us. As afar as God is
concerned, the weekly cycle, the
monthly cycle, the yearly cycle,
the week of years and the Jubilee
cycle are still intact. (This
assertion will be demonstrated
later.) The point here is that
when Jesus died, the ceremonial
services that occurred at these
specific times became
unnecessary, but the cycles of
time remain. In fact, the
cleansing of the heavenly
sanctuary is directly connected
to 2,300 day/years that have
their origin in the Jubilee
calendar!
A
starting point
A day in the
Jubilee calendar represents a
year. Verify this point by
looking at the chart at the end
of this study. The Jubilee
Calendar marks the passage of
time by counting “weeks of
years.” That is, a week of
seven days represents seven
years. This may sound
complicated, but remember, the
Jews did not have a fixed date by
which to mark their calendars
like we do today. When we say
2009, what are we referring to?
We are saying that there have
been 2,009 years since the birth
of Jesus (actually, 2009 years is
incorrect but this is beside the
point). Because our calendar
dates from an event that is
recognized by all nations, we can
keep track of the years quite
easily. But suppose the Japanese
did not base their calendar on
the birth of Jesus, what year
Honda would they be selling in
the U.S.A. right now?
The
weekly cycle is a template
God foreknew the
problems of keeping track of
time, so he created a calendar based
on the template of the weekly
cycle. Many people understand the
importance of the cycle of the
week, but few understand the
importance of the other cycles.
We will investigate two:
The
sabbatical
God declared that
a sabbatical year must occur
every seventh year (Leviticus
25:3-7). Every seventh year, the
land was not to be planted or
harvested. In His divine wisdom,
God accomplished two important
things with the seventh-year
sabbatical. First, the land
itself received a much-needed
rest. Secondly and more
importantly, He wanted to test
Israel’s faith every seventh
year. He wanted to see if they
would trust Him enough to provide
for their needs. Think about
this, would it take considerable
faith for an agricultural nation
to let the land lay fallow for a
whole year? So, God declared that
year 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49
were perpetual Sabbatical years.
The land was to receive its rest.
The Year
of Jubilee
The 49th
year was the last sabbatical of a
Jubilee cycle. It was considered
a high year because it was the
seventh sabbatical. And the high
sabbatical of the 49th
year was followed by the
once-per-generation Year of
Jubilee. Again, the immediate
purpose of the Year of Jubilee
was the test of faith. God wanted
His people to realize that the
land they enjoyed was a gift from
Him. He wanted them to know that
they did not work for it, earn
it, nor deserve it. Therefore, it
was given back to its original
owner every 50 years with the
same cheerful spirit that He gave
to them because the land was not
theirs to own. He wanted them to
know that they were only stewards
of it. And, if they were
faithful, they could remain upon
the land. If they were unfaithful
to Him, He promised to throw them
out. (Joshua 24:13; Leviticus
18:24-28; 25:23 and Jeremiah
2:7). He also required that they
were not to plant or harvest
their fields during the Year of
Jubilee, for it was a holy year
(Leviticus 25:11,12),
The
harmony of time
The observance of
the seventh-day Sabbath kept the
weekly cycle intact. The
observance of new moons kept the
monthly cycle intact. The
observance of the Passover kept
the yearly intact. The observance
of the seventh-year sabbaticals
keep the week of years intact.
And, the observance of the
Jubilee cycle kept the land in
the hands of its original owner.
Note: In
all but the very first Jubilee
cycle, there were eight
sabbatical years per Jubilee
cycle. These include the Year of
Jubilee (year 1) plus seven
sabbaticals (years 7, 14, 21, 28,
35, 42, 49). See the charts at
the end of the study for further
detail.
Warning
When God gave
Israel the Jubilee Calendar, He
made clear their responsibility.
He warned, “But if you
will not listen to me and carry
out all these commands… then
I will do this to you: I will
bring upon you sudden terror,
wasting diseases and fever that
will destroy your sight and drain
away your life… Your land
will be laid waste, and your
cities will lie in ruins. Then
the land will enjoy it Sabbath
years all the time that it lies
desolate and you are in the
country of your enemies; then the
land will rest and enjoy its
Sabbaths. All the time it lies
desolate, the land will have its
rest it did not have during the
Sabbaths you lived in it.” (Leviticus
26:14-35).
If we look
carefully at the penalty for
violating the sabbatical years we
may correctly estimate their
value in God’s sight. The
penalty for violating the
sabbatical years was severe
because God wanted Israel to live
by faith. He also wanted Israel
to perpetuate His calendar.
Since the Jubilee calendar was
initiated at time of the exodus
(Exodus 12:2), God designed that
Israel should never forget their
deliverance, their benevolent
Creator and God. He required them
to observe His sabbatical years.
Anything God calls holy has an
important lesson in it. He does
not declare something holy to
tempt men with disobedience.
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