Jubilee

A joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the fields (Lev. 25:11, 12). All landed property during that year reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-24), and all who were slaves were set free (25:39-54), and all debts were remitted. The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isa. 5:7, 8, 9, 10; 61:1, 2; Ezek. 7:12, 13; Neh. 5:1-19; 2 Chr. 36:21) which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed. The advantages of this institution were manifold. “1. It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. 2. It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. 3. It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. 4. It would utterly do away with slavery. 5. It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. 6. It would periodically rectify the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.”

JUBILEE, YEAR OF, came at the close of seven weeks of years, or eveiy fiftieth year, so that two sabbatical years came together. It commenced on the great day of atonement, and was ushered in by the blast of the jubilee

curved trumpets. The remarkable feature of this festival was that it restored individuals, families, and communities, as far as possible, to the same situation they occupied at the beginning of the fifty years. All servants of Hebrew origin were set free, even those whose ears had been bored in evidence of their free service; all pledges were given up, and the inheritances which had been alienated, no matter how often nor for what cause, came back to the hands of the owners. The only exception was in the cases of houses built in walled towns. Lev 25:29-31. The law in regard to this festival is given in Lev 25:8-17, Lev 8:23-55; Lev 27:16-25; Num 36:4. "The jubilee is the crown of the sabbatical system. The weekly and monthly sabbaths secured rest for each spiriturally; the sabbatical year secured rest for the land: the jubilee secured rest and restoration for the body politic, to recover the general equality which Joshua's original settlement contemplated. Hence no religious observances were prescribed; simply the trumpets sounded the glad note of restoration. The leisure of the jubilee year was perhaps devoted to school and instruction of the people, the reading of the Law, and such services." — Fausset: The Englishman's Bible Cyclopedia. It has been disputed whether there ever was a year of jubilee observed. No direct mention is made of any, but there are evident allusions to it in Isa 61:1-2; Eze 7:12-13; Eze 46:16-18.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Every fiftieth year, being the year following the completion of each seventh sabbath of years, at which time all the slaves of Hebrew blood were liberated, and all lands which had been alienated during the whole period reverted to their former owners. [In this sense spelled also, in some English Bibles, jubile.] Lev. xxv. 8-17.

2. The joyful commemoration held on the fiftieth anniversary of any event; as, the jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign; the jubilee of the American Board of Missions.

3. A church solemnity or ceremony celebrated at Rome, at stated intervals, originally of one hundred years, but latterly of twenty- five; a plenary and extraordinary indulgence grated by the sovereign pontiff to the universal church. One invariable condition of granting this indulgence is the confession of sins and receiving of the eucharist.

4. A season of general joy. The town was all a jubilee of feasts. Dryden.

5. A state of joy or exultation. [R.] "In the jubilee of his spirits." Sir W. Scott.