The Year of Jubilee | this is the year of jubilee
TheYearofJubileeIntroductionThemostunusualobservancethatGodcommandedtheIsraelitesthroughMoseswasthekeepingoftheyearofJubilee.Formostpeoplethiscelebrationoccurredonlyonceintheirlifetime,andforsomenoteventhat,asitoccurredonlyonceevery50years.AtthisyearofJubileeallIsraeliteswhohadsoldthemselvesintoslaveryweresetfree,andalllandthathadbeensoldrevertedtoitsoriginalowners.ThismeantthatnoIsraelitecouldeverbeinpermanentslavery;norcouldanyIsraelitepermanentlylosehisinheritance.TheEnglishwordJubileeco...
The Year of Jubilee IntroductionThe most unusual observance that God commanded the Israelites through Moses was the keeping of the year of Jubilee. For most people this celebration occurred only once in their life time, and for some not even that, as it occurred only once every 50 years.
At this year of Jubilee all Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery were set free, and all land that had been sold reverted to its original owners. This meant that no Israelite could ever be in permanent slavery; nor could any Israelite permanently lose his inheritance.
The English word Jubilee comes from the Hebrew word yobel (יֹּובֵל) meaning a trumpet sound. Rams horn trumpets were blown on the Day of Atonement to announce the start of the year of Jubilee. For some reason the translators did not translate the word yobel into English, but instead created the word Jubilee, an anglicised version of yobel. So Jubilee has now passed into the English language and we ha...