Sabbatical and Jubilee Analysis

Presentation Series

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”  (Eze 22:30)

Disclaimer

The conclusions reached in this document have been thoroughly researched; however they represent the informed opinion of the author. As the reader, you are responsible to prove whether these things be so. (Act 17:11)

Executive Summary

The Sabbatical and Jubilee instructions are found in Exo 21:1-6,
Exo 23:10-11,
Lev 25:1-55, Deu 15:1-18 and Deu 31:10-13. These instructions provide:

1. An easy to understand 50 year repeating implementation schedule
   • Instructions to count the 49 Sabbatical years
   • Instructions to count the 50^th Jubilee years
2. Agricultural sowing and reaping practices
3. Sabbatical year farming practices
4. When and how to proclaim the Jubilee year
5. Property redemption rights
6. Inheritance rights
7. Forgiveness of debt
8. Creditor responsibilities and practices
9. Bondman and hired servant practices
10. Transactions with brothers verses foreigners
11. Kinsman redeemer regulations
12. Proration of debt
13. Promises for obedience
14. Completion and gratuity instructions for Sabbatical release

These instructions were given to Moses at Mount Sinai prior to the Israelites entering into the Promised Land in c. 1406 BCE.

There is minimal Biblical historical evidence directly proving that Israel maintained the observance of the originally commanded 50 year Sabbatical/Jubilee system. Interestingly, there are a number of scriptures that reference the practice in an indirect way. For example, in Deu 31:10-13:

Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear YHWH your Elohim and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear YHWH your Elohim as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

The reading of the law at the Feast of Tabernacles was commanded as a reminder of the importance of YHWH’s Sabbatical law. Although inconsistent, we find examples of reading of the law during the 1^st Temple period until its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 587 BCE. There are several Old Testament examples of this command being performed:

Possible Sabbaticals:

• Jos 8:34-35 – Joshua (not likely Sabbatical)
• 2Ch 17:7-9 – Jehoshaphat
• 2Kg 23:1-2 – Josiah (likely Sabbatical)
• Neh 8:2-3 – Ezra (likely Sabbatical)

There is however, substantial Biblical record that the Israelites did not properly keep the Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle.

YHWH states in  2Ch 36:20-21:

“And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of YHWH by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”

Since the 50 year Sabbatical and Jubilee cycle had not been consistently observed, Judah would be taken captive in order to let the land rest. This would include a total of 490 years of missed Sabbatical/Jubilee year cycles (7 x 70 = 490) . We know the captivity started in 587 BCE. Adding 490 years to 587 equals 1077 BCE. This dates to the time Samuel the prophet. We can conclude that the Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle was neglected or improperly observed from 587 BCE as far back as Samuel the prophet in 1077 BCE and is symptomatic of Israel’s apostasy and the reason YHWH sent Judah into exile.

After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, there is one Jubilee found in Ezekiel 40 that provides an Old Testament anchor for a Jubilee date. Ezekiel’s millennial Temple vision takes place on the Day of Atonement in 574 BCE. The chronological events that led up to this Jubilee proclamation are detailed in the associated video presentations. The geo-political events in the Southern Kingdom are interlinked and synchronized to prove a Jubilee year event in 574 BCE.

After the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 587 BCE and the 70 year exile of Judah, Nehemiah and Ezra returned to rebuild the temple in 539 BCE. The second Temple was dedicated initially with a renewed zeal by the returning Jews and Israelites; however the 50 year Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle was likely replaced with a 49 year accounting.

In 331 BCE, Alexander’s army defeated Persian King Darius III and gained total control of the Persian Empire including the land of the tribes Israel. Alexander’s Greek influence forever changed the administration of the Temple with the imposition of burdensome taxes. Without Alexander’s dispensation of taxes, the Israelites were no longer able to let the land have her rest. They simply could not afford it. Dispensation for the land tribute was sometimes approved by Alexander, but only for the 7^th year Sabbatical. The 50^th year Jubilee was abandoned and became an economic relic of the past.

After the decline of the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire grew in power and influence. From the death of Alexander in 323 BCE until the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus starting in 27 BCE, the second Temple administration became progressively more spiritually corrupted. Although the Maccabee’s repossessed control of the Temple from Antiochus IV Epiphanies’ Hellenization program in 164 BCE, the Torah had become marginalized by the competing sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sabbaticals were still observed, however the Jubilees had long been forgotten.

In this period of time we find substantial secular evidence of “land Sabbath” tax dispensation. Josephus references the land rest Sabbatical year as well as other historical records, both providing consistent date collaboration. We have consistent and reliable records of consecutive 7 year Sabbatical cycles from 163 BCE through 531 CE. There are, however, no 50 year Jubilee years recorded in this timeframe. The 50 year Jubilee cycle, originally commanded in Leviticus 25, had been eliminated and replaced with a 49 year corrupted cycle, which has survived until today.

It is assumed today, as a result of the proven authenticity of secular recorded evidence of Sabbatical observance from 163 BCE through 531 CE, that we can easily extrapolate the 7 year cycles and determine the current Sabbatical year. Most Sabbatical explanations do just that. In fact, most Bible commentators and church assemblies have now compressed the 50^th year Jubilee into the 49 year Sabbatical cycle. This approach adds the 50^th year Jubilee to either year 49 of the current cycle or year 1 of the next 49 year cycle or eliminates it altogether. To some, this man made consolidation of years meets the spirit of observing the Sabbatical/Jubilee. It certainly does not meet the letter of YHWH’s original instruction in Leviticus 25. The end result is that confusion reigns, misinformation is extant and those that endeavor to study this subject are frustrated to find the fullness of the story.

It should be no surprise when Yahushua came as The Messiah from 5 BCE until His crucifixion in 30 CE, that He corrected what had become the corrupted Sabbatical and Jubilee system. And He did just that! The original 50 year cycle, commanded in Leviticus 25 just “happened to happen” to synchronize with the 49 year corrupted cycle during His ministry. Mathematically and theoretically, this can only occur once in 2450 years (49 x 50 = 2450). This happens when the 50^th year Jubilee (of the 50 year cycle) is concurrent with the 49^th year Sabbatical (of the 49 year cycle), AND both accounting systems start over in year 1 of the next cycle count.

During Yahushua’s ministry, the Judean society under Roman governance did observe the Sabbatical, although it was the 49 year corrupted counting cycle. Josephus, The Book of Maccabees and the Seder Olam all reference Sabbatical year events that provide a consistent seven year counting cycle.

You will find the late second Temple Sabbatical observed dates and references as follows:

49 Year Sabbatical Records

• 163 – 162 BCE 1 Maccabees 6:49
• 135 – 134 BCE Josephus – Antiquities (Book 13:8:1)
• 44-43 BCE Josephus – Antiquities (14:10:5-6)
• 37-36 BCE Josephus – Antiquities (14:16:2)
• 41-42 CE King Agrippa recital
• 55-56 CE Wadi Murabba papyrus
• 69-70 CE Seder Olam, 30
• 132-133 CE Bar Kokhba revolt
• 139-140 CE Wadi Murabba papyrus
• 237-238 CE Archeological ruins

The year 27–28 CE was a Sabbatical year according to the 49 year corrupted reckoning. This same Julian calendar civil year was also the 50^th year Jubilee according to the originally commanded 50 year Sabbatical/Jubilee cycle. The year 27–28 CE would have been the beginning of the correctly calculated 50^th year Jubilee as well as the beginning of the incorrectly calculated 49^th year Sabbatical (however the 49^th year Sabbatical was what was observed in the Judean society). Since the 50^th year Jubilee had been eliminated by this time, Yahushua proclaimed its relevance and corrected the timing cycle. Even though Yahushua corrected and re-established the 50 year cycle, the corrected timing lasted only until the subsequent 7^th Sabbatical cycle in 76–77 CE. The second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by General Titus, at the end of a Sabbatical year, and as a result there is no evidence the Jubilee that should have followed in 77–78 CE was observed.

Although the local Judeans observed the Jubilee proclaimed by Yahushua in 27 CE, they kept it as a Sabbatical. As a result, the 49 year cycle that Yahushua corrected, never really was corrected and is the same 49 year cycle that we find to this day. The most widely accepted Sabbatical cycle dates today are a 49 year cycle that synchronizes back to 27 – 28 CE. Unfortunately, the correct accounting for the 50^th year Jubilee has remained fundamentally lost. In an effort to uphold the Jubilee instructions found in Leviticus 25, some church assemblies today have compressed the 50^th year Jubilee into the 49 year Sabbatical cycle by inserting or “stacking” the Jubilee year in either year 1 or 49 of the Sabbatical cycle. This is an attempt to observe the Jubilee, however not as an intercalated 50^th year. The instructions in Leviticus 25 call for a separate intercalated 50^th year for the Jubilee, not integrated or “stacked” with the 49 year Sabbatical cycle.

The Sabbatical and Jubilee cycle is a full 50 year cycle with ending boundaries at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 etc. New 50 year cycles start at 51, 101, 151, 201, 251 etc. The Sabbaticals occur on years 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49. The 50^th year is the Jubilee. Year 51 is the first year of the next cycle with Sabbatical years of 57, 64, 71, 78, 85, 92 and 99. The 100^th year is another Jubilee.

The Jubilee anchor Ezekiel proclaimed in 574 BCE (Eze 40:1) and Yahushua’s announced Jubilee in 27-28 CE (Luk 4:18), happen to be exactly 600 years apart. That would calculate to be exactly twelve 50 year Jubilee cycles. From this correlation are derived Sabbaticals and Jubilees dating back to 724 BCE as follows:

Sabbatical & Jubilee – Historical Events

• Fall of Samaria in 724 BCE – Jubilee year
  2Kg 17:1-6, 2Kg 18:1-19
• Sennecherib’s 4^th invasion of Northern kingdom in 717 BCE – Sabbatical year
  2Kg 19:29, Isa 36:1, Isa 37:30
• Josiah’s reforms in 624 BCE – Jubilee year
  2Kg 22 & 23, 2Ch 34 & 35, 2Kg 22:8
• Redemption of Hanameel’s land by Jeremiah – Zedekiah proclaims liberty for Hebrew slaves in 589 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Jer 32:1-44, Jer 34:8-14, Jer 35-Jer 37
• Ezekiel’s Temple vision in 574 BCE – Jubilee year
  Eze 1:1-2, Eze 40:1
• Zerubbabel returns to rebuild Temple in 538 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Ezra 3:4-6, Ezra 2:1
• 2^nd Temple re-construction finished in 517 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Ezr 4:24, Ezr 6:15-16
• Under Ahasuerus (Xerxes) Esther, Mordecai and Jews liberated in
  474 BCE – Jubilee year
  Est 3:7-13, Est 8:9-17
• Artaxerxes I releases 2^nd group of exiles in 460 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Ezr 7:7
• Artaxerxes I releases Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem in 446 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Neh 2:1, Neh 8:1-18, Neh 1 & 2, Neh 6:15
• Nehemiah’s second return to Jerusalem in 432 BCE – Sabbatical year
  Neh 5, Neh 13:1-19
• 2^nd Temple destroyed in 70 CE by Titus – end of Sabbatical year
  Mat 27:35-44, Mar 15:24-32
• USA declaration of Independence July 4, 1776 – Sabbatical year
• USA defeats British at Battle of Saratoga in Sept 19 and Oct 7 in 1777, declares liberty from King George III – Jubilee year
• UN Resolution 181 declares Israel’ statehood May 15, 1948 – Sabbatical year