Leviticus - Part 9: Jubilee
Leviticus - Part 9: Jubilee
Leviticus 25
Pastor Scott Skones
I don’t know if any of you have had the opportunity to visit the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. Our family has been there a couple of times. The first time we visited, I was captivated by one of the exhibits.
The picture of this particular exhibit is on the screen. It’s a graphic representation of the number of people incarcerated broken down by each nation. And the thing that is most startling is how high our rates of incarceration are compared to other nations.
You can think of it this way: in the US we have more people incarcerated right now than the entire population of North and South Dakota combined.
In North Dakota today we have somewhere around 4,000 people incarcerated. I wondered how that compares to when I moved to North Dakota nearly 25 years ago. In the year 2000, North Dakota had about 1800 people incarcerated. So it’s more than doubled in the last quarter-century.
Now, I have some thoughts and opinions about this trend, and about the related social problems that mass incarceration creates, but we aren’t here to solve those problems today.
But a thoughtful and careful Christian thinker, observing this trend, would wonder how many of these people that we are locking up are there because of crimes related to addiction?
Or one might ask, how strong is the correlation between poverty and incarceration? In college, I took a sociology class that dove deep into this question and I did some year-end research work on the cycle of poverty, and how poverty plants the seeds for addiction, violence, and incarceration.
Or the thoughtful Chrisitan might wonder how mass incarceration affects fatherlessness. As we have increased mandatory minimum sentences, especially for drug crimes and violent crimes, which are disproportionately committed by young men, those men are leaving behind children when they are sent away for 10, 20, 30-year sentences. What impact does that have on the next generation?
You see these issues are all intertwined – because we know that children raised without a father are considerably more likely to face an incarcerated future. We know that children of people who struggle with addiction are considerably more likely to struggle with addiction.
Now, as I mentioned, I have a lot of thoughts and some opinions, but not many clear answers. But whenever I do some reading and thinking on these issues, I continually come back in my mind to this thought:
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a “reset” button? Wouldn’t it be a gift if we could just press “reset” on social problems like poverty, addiction, incarceration, and fatherlessness so that when it boots up again, everything is back to the way it was supposed to be?
We talked two Sundays ago in Leviticus chapter 25 about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a sort of weekly reset that God put in place. It’s an excuse to say no, an excuse to drop everything else and allow God’s word to reset your heart, renew your mind, and reorient your priorities.
But, we also saw how God put another “reset” in place – the year of sabbatical that was to take place every 7 years when the land would rest and the people would trust the Lord for his provision.
And in our text for today, we are going to see a third “reset” that God put in place for his people in Israel. It’s often referred to as the year of Jubilee.
According to God’s commands to Israel, every 7th day was to be a sabbath day. Every 7th year was to be a sabbath year. And after they completed 7 sets of 7 years – which is 49 – the 50th year would be a year of Jubilee. A great “reset” for God’s people.
Debts would be forgiven. Servants and prisoners would be set free. Land would be returned to the control of its original owner. People would return to their homeland and start over fresh.
This year of Jubilee was a very real command for God’s people, but it also pointed forward to something greater.
Let’s take a look at what Leviticus 25 has to say about this year of Jubilee, this great year of reset and renewal – and then we will talk about what it means for us today on this side of the cross.
It might be helpful if you have a copy of the scriptures in front of you because I’m not going to be reading all of chapter 25 today – we’re going to jump around a little.
Leviticus 25:8-17
“‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.
14 “‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
And then let’s go down to verse 23:
“‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
25 “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold. 26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27 they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property. 28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.
And then Leviticus details what is to happen if someone sells land or goes into poverty.
And then I want to jump down to the end of chapter 25, verses 54-55 which conclude this passage:
“Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55 for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
Here ends the reading of God’s word.
The Jubilee was a year of reset. Of restoring people and property to their right and proper condition.
Let’s take a couple of moments to briefly outline the Jubilee – particularly as it relates to indebtedness and land – which is the central theme.
At the core of the Jubilee command is the stewardship of land and the reality of indebtedness. So we’re going to highlight 5 main elements of the Jubilee, and then from that some related applications for us today, who find ourselves in a very different economy and land ownership structure.
Element 1 (25-28) - If one becomes poor, they can sell property to remedy their situation. If there is a relative who can redeem that property, they should. If the poor person’s situation changes and they can afford to buy the property back, they can and should do so. God fixed the price of property based on the number of years that remained before the Jubilee.
Element 2 - If one’s relative gets into financial trouble, they should support the debtor by hiring them as a laborer and loaning interest-free money. God commands that his people don’t take advantage of the vulnerable.
Element 3 - When finances demanded it, the debtor might enter into indentured servitude. These servants are to be treated well and not taken advantage of.
Element 4 - Servants should be redeemed as soon as possible from their indentured servitude. God fixes the price based on the number of years until the Jubilee.
Element 5 - If debt hadn’t been paid or a servant released by the year of Jubilee, they would be released and the debt would be forgiven.
So those are sort of the 5 pieces of land stewardship and debt forgiveness as it relates to this year of Jubilee.
I would be remiss if I failed to point out that God speaks of things like debt forgiveness in other places too, like in Deuteronomy 15 where he commands that every 7 years debts were to be canceled. And we could look elsewhere as well.
But what we find is that this year of jubilee was to serve as a new beginning. A time when failure was undone. When mistakes and misfortunes would be erased.
It was also a means by which God would ensure that the wealthy didn’t get too wealthy and that the poor didn’t get too poor. And especially that the poor didn’t get taken advantage of by the wealthy to widen the gap between the two.
One of the things that you might be recognizing is that God’s economic principles for Israel are a little different than those that most of us were raised with.
Now we want to be careful here because our world tries to handle every issue as black or white. If you listen to politicians talk about economics, you’d think that there are only two positions or perspectives on every issue. If it’s coming from the right the positions are: You either agree with me, or you're a communist. If it’s coming from the left the positions are: you either agree with me or you’re a fascist.
But, of course, the way that God is structuring economic life in Israel here in Leviticus isn’t any of those perspectives. Instead, he’s putting in place spiritual values that should drive the economic activities and interactions of his people.
One quick example of this is in the price of land. Land was tied – NOT to some mysterious market value like it is today — but to the number of harvests. God fixed the price so that people wouldn't get taken advantage of. So that the rich wouldn't get richer and the poor get poorer.
Here are just a few things that God emphasizes that might inform how we think about our interactions:
God’s people don’t take advantage of their neighbors.
God’s people have a responsibility when it comes to the financial well-being of neighbors, and especially family.
God’s people see themselves as trustees, not owners.
God’s people care for the land that has been entrusted to them.
God’s people are always redemptive.
And so while we don’t live in a time and place with the same economic and property ownership system that God put in place in Israel, we can and should live according to those principles – those values – that express God’s desire for his people and for his creation.
How can we love our neighbors? How can we work for our neighbor’s good in all things? How can we believe more deeply that we are trustees and stewards, rather than owners? How can we live redemptively?
The year of Jubilee was a festival – not looking BACK like most of Israel’s celebrations – but looking forward to what God has promised.
It was a corporate confession that “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” It’s a public declaration that the people believe that God is the true and rightful owner and sustainer of all that exists.
It was a reset button – when families would be reunited on the land that was originally entrusted to them. When those with mistakes and misfortunes would have a new lease on life.
The year of Jubilee was a year of good news. A year of fresh starts. A year of new beginnings. A year of freedom for those who had been caught up in the messiness and bondages of life. It was a year of hope. A year of setting things back to the way that God designed them to be. And a year that pointed the eyes of the people forward to God’s redemptive plan.
You see, the prophet Isaiah connected this year of Jubilee to something much larger, much greater than just an every 50-year reset. He said that actually, the Jubilee is a precursor, a shadow, and an arrow pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah.
Listen to Isaiah 61:1-3:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
Almost every commentary on Isaiah that I looked at made the connection between Isaiah’s prophecy and the Year of Jubilee. There’s almost universal consensus that Isaiah is connecting the proclamation of liberty in verse 10 of our text to the message of Isaiah – this year of the Lord’s favor. And what this means is that the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25 is another arrow pointing forward to Jesus.
For Israel in the Old Testament, God was making provision for that reset – for debts to be forgiven and land to be returned and people to be redeemed. But in the promised Messiah of which Isaiah speaks, those things would come in fullness.
But what is really interesting is how Jesus speaks of Isaiah’s prophecy.
In Luke chapter 4, Jesus’ ministry is just beginning. He was baptized, he was tested in the wilderness, and then he went home briefly to Nazareth. And listen to these words from Luke 4, starting in verse 16:
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 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. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Did you hear what Jesus said? Jesus goes to the synagogue, stands up and reads those words from Isaiah – the words where Isaiah speaks of the Year of Jubilee. And what does Jesus say? “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Think about what that means for our text in Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 25 is all about Jesus. That Jesus IS the Jubilee.
Jesus is the fulfillment of our text for today.
Jesus forgave the debt of sin.
Jesus gives true sabbath rest.
Jesus promises us a true and better homeland.
Jesus sets the slaves free.
Jesus gives second chances.
Jesus purchases the freedom of his people.
The year of Jubilee is about making everything right again. It’s about undoing mistakes and sin and failure and misfortune. It’s about what the Jews called “shalom.” Peace. Making everything as it should be. It’s about redemption and restoration.
And that is exactly why Jesus came.
The year of Jubilee is all about Jesus. It is Jesus showing up in tangible ways through the actions of God’s people in Israel. And it pointed their eyes forward. Forward to Jesus’ coming in the flesh. Forward to his death in the place of debtors. To redeem those who were sold into slavery to sin.
Jesus is the Jubilee.
There is a challenging dynamic to our text for today. It’s found in verses 44-46. Listen to these words:
Leviticus 25:44-46: “Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.”
Those are challenging words, particularly in our context – with the horrific evil of slavery in our nation’s past.
But I want you to think about why this provision is made in light of what we just talked about – that the Jubilee points us to Jesus – and, in fact, is fulfilled in Jesus. Think about this allowance for slaves from surrounding nations.
Israelite indentured servants would be set free, but foreign slaves could be bequeathed to children as inherited property. Why is this a thing? Why is this here? How do we make any sense of this?
And I would argue that APART from the fulfillment of this text in Jesus, this actually makes very little sense.
But notice what God is saying here. God is proclaiming, centuries before Jesus would die for the sins of the world – that forgiveness, redemption, freedom, favor, and new life is only for those who are in Christ.
Forgiven debt, true sabbath rest, a true and better homeland for eternity, freedom from slavery to sin, second chances – all of those things that the year of Jubilee brings are ONLY found in one place – and that’s in Jesus Christ. All of those things are only received by one group of people – those who are the people of God by faith.
Those outside. Those who reject God’s gift of salvation – are not beneficiaries of the jubilee. They don’t receive those gifts that God offers in Jesus Christ.
And so God includes this difficult provision to illustrate for time and eternity that Jesus is the only way to receive what he mercifully offers. That there is no other way.
And so I’d ask you today – are you a child of God? Are you counted among those who are being redeemed and set free and whose debt is forgiven?
It’s only by faith. By trusting in the one who came to fulfill the Jubilee. The one who lived a perfect life and died in our place to set us free from the prison of our sin. Look within your heart – where is your faith and your trust?
Faith in Jesus is the only way to receive what our merciful heavenly father offers all who believe. If you aren't sure – come talk to me. Stop by this week and let’s talk about it.
As we close today, let’s identify one more important concept when it comes to this year of Jubilee, and that’s this:
The year of Jubilee doesn't only point us to Jesus, but is a foretaste of the New Heavens and the New Earth. It’s a foretaste of eternity. It’s an arrow pointing forward to that day when the redemption plan and mission of God is brought to its fullness. When sadness and oppression and indebtedness and sin and struggle are no more. When all of the effects of the curse are undone. When everything is made new. When everything sad comes untrue.
You see the Year of Jubilee is an Old Testament appetizer of what it is Jesus came to do. To return creation to the state that God intended for it. To reconcile all things to God.
And so as we look back to Leviticus, we rejoice because these words were fulfilled in Jesus – and because he is coming again to make them our eternal reality.
This sermon is offered as a resource by Living Word Lutheran Brethren Fellowship in Dickinson, North Dakota. It has been lightly edited for the website, but the original tone remains unchanged, and no grammatical revisions or style adjustments have been made.