Apr 30 - May 6, 2023

Dr. "Joey" Alan Le

Leviticus 25: The Year of Jubilee

In ancient times, during the normal course of events, people who experienced hardship often went into great debt and some sold themselves into servitude to their family members or others, and some sold their land. In fifty year’s time, these types of transactions would have led to a terrible disparity between the rich and the poor (Cannon 27). Do you have personal experience of, or have you heard about, the cascading effect of inescapable poverty?

The name “jubilee” has no connection to Latin jubilare “shout for joy” (cf. English “jubilation”); rather, it seems to be derived from a root meaning “to bring” and to mean “homebringing,” i.e., liberation (Gaventa and Petersen 78). How significant might these laws be for people and families who have lost their home?

The fundamental idea of jubilee is that these laws provide an escape from the endless cycle of indebtedness and servitude that can occur in that ancient agrarian economy. The Jubilee legislation resets debt by restoring all land to the original owner and forgiving all loans. The law protected Israelites who faced vulnerable circumstances through specific remedies (Adams 407).

Read through the entire chapter of Lev 25. What pattern do you see? Can you discern the ethical values that God wishes his people to have through these laws? Big picture, what would be the communal or societal result of living in such a way?

2 THE LAND THAT I AM GIVING YOU. Who does the land belong to?

4 BUT IN THE SEVENTH YEAR THERE SHALL BE A SABBATH OF COMPLETE REST FOR THE LAND. What might this teach us about our levels of productivity and consumption?

5 YOU SHALL NOT REAP. Letting the land rest and living off of the previous year’s supply requires two things: obedience to God’s sovereignty and trusting the providence of God (Wright 209).

9 THE TRUMPET SOUNDED LOUD. The jubilee was proclaimed with a blast on the trumpet, an instrument associated with decisive acts (see Isa 27:13; 1 Cor 15:52) (Wright 210).

12 FOR IT IS A JUBILEE; IT SHALL BE HOLY TO YOU. What does it mean to be holy?

13 YOU SHALL RETURN, EVERY ONE OF YOU, TO YOUR PROPERTY. What does this law say about God’s concern for each person?

20 SHOULD YOU ASK, “WHAT SHALL WE EAT IN THE SEVENTH YEAR, IF WE MAY NOT SOW OR GATHER IN OUR CROP?” Do you share some of this anxiety about giving up your assets, or giving up your potential for profits? What is God asking his people to do?

23 THE LAND SHALL NOT BE SOLD IN PERPETUITY, FOR THE LAND IS MINE. Land belongs to God, and as the landlord, God establishes terms for its occupation and use. All land exchange was to be temporary. The land is held in trust by members of the covenantal community and is not to be sold permanently, in order to prevent the kind of grinding, multi-generational poverty that recurring Jubilee redistribution was intended to mitigate. The moral logic is that the poor must not remain poor in perpetuity (Barram 82). How would your attitude about property and possessions change if you reminded yourself that God is the true owner? Would you be more generous with others? How does God’s concern for multiple generations change how you make decisions that affect other families?

WITH ME YOU ARE BUT ALIENS AND TENANTS. Landholders are described in terms normally reserved for the most socially and financially vulnerable: “aliens and tenants.” These groups of people are usually “othered,” and were often landless and financially insecure. The God of exodus provides the very land to these aliens and tenants. The Jubilee legislation makes it imperative that God’s people not alienate others by allowing landless poverty to endure for more than fifty years (Barram 83). Explain how remembering that you were and are an alien/tenant can help you treat another alien/tenant with respect?

24 THROUGHOUT THE LAND THAT YOU HOLD, YOU SHALL PROVIDE FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THE LAND. Whatever land a person buys, they must allow the original family to redeem it back from them. What might that look like in American economics?

25 IF ANYONE OF YOUR KIN FALLS INTO DIFFICULTY. Lev 25:25-40 presents different levels of indebtedness, each more serious than the last:

1. Selling a portion of one’s land to cover a debt (vv. 25-34)

2. Serving as a tenant farmer (vv. 35–38)

3. Working off a loan as hired or bound laborers (vv. 39-40) (Adams 407).

36 DO NOT TAKE INTEREST IN ADVANCE OR OTHERWISE MAKE A PROFIT FROM THEM, BUT FEAR YOUR GOD; LET THEM LIVE WITH YOU. Why do you think God forbids his people from charging interest, and making a profit from borrowers? How does that square with our own society?

37 YOU SHALL NOT LEND THEM YOUR MONEY AT INTEREST TAKEN IN ADVANCE, OR PROVIDE THEM FOOD AT A PROFIT. Debt happens, and the Old Testament recognizes that fact. Falling into debt could split families up. Debt is a huge cause of social disruption and decay, and tends to breed many other social ills, including crime, poverty, squalor, and violence. But the jubilee was an attempt to limit its otherwise relentless and endless social consequences by limiting its possible duration. The economic collapse of a family in one generation was not to condemn all future generations to the bondage of perpetual indebtedness. The jubilee aimed to restore social dignity through maintaining or restoring their economic viability (Wright 208). Can you imagine how debt forgiveness would address homelessness, hunger, and lack of water?

38 I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, TO GIVE YOU THE LAND OF CANAAN, TO BE YOUR GOD. Why does God keep reminding his people of the exodus deliverance in regard to how they are to live on the land, and how they deal with their needy neighbors?

54 THEY AND THEIR CHILDREN WITH THEM SHALL GO FREE IN THE JUBILEE YEAR. The moral principles of the jubilee can be universalized. What God required of Israel reflects what God desires for humanity: broadly equitable distribution of the resources of the earth, the land, and a curb on the tendency to accumulation with its inevitable oppression and alienation  (Wright 208). How might the jubilee critique the massive private accumulation of land and wealth? What are some creative ways we can live up to God’s moral vision today?

55 FOR TO ME THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ARE SERVANTS; THEY ARE MY SERVANTS WHOM I BROUGHT OUT FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT: I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. Israelites, like land holdings in Canaan, are Yahweh’s property. He took them out of Egypt not in order to make them free but to make them slaves: his slaves (Gaventa and Petersen 79). Would you say that you direct your life like a free person or God's slave (or someone else's slave)?

Summary

1. The jubilee has two major thrusts: release/liberty and return/restoration. Both of these were easily transferred from the strictly economic provision of the jubilee to a wider metaphorical application (i.e. a spiritual liberation) (Wright 210).

2. The jubilee anticipates God’s final restoration of Israel and all things (Acts 1:6; 3:21). The early church put these jubilee principles to practice. Acts 4:34 “there were no needy persons among them” is virtually a quotation of Deut 15:4, “there will be no needy person among you” (Wright 206).

3. No one blames the victims for being poor, because of laziness or foolishness. The poor do not deserve to be poor, regardless of what may have happened in the past. The onus for change is on those with means, not upon the poor. Need is need (Barram 84).

4. God requires his people to take action even if they are not responsible for the problem. The entire community takes responsibility for the material well-being – past, present, and future – of each of its members (Barram 84).

What does the Jubilee legislation communicate about God’s character and purposes? How might it inform our task of meeting Everyday Necessities?

Pray

• For individuals and families in our local communities and around the world experiencing housing and food insecurities.

• For global communities without access to clean water.

• For organizations that provide immediate relief such as Covenant World Relief and Development.

• For long-term, systemic solutions that affirm the dignity and basic necessities of all people.