Propitiation that brings us 'in' can alone justify the cry 'Send now

prosperity' that accompanied the 'Hosannahs' of Israel at the concluding

feast of their year.  After the seventh month no further feasts were observed

that were of Divine origin.  In the eighth month the feast of Dedication was

kept, and the tenth month the fast for the siege of Jerusalem was observed.

These, however, belong to the religious history of the Jews, as distinct from

the inspired record of the Scriptures.

Let us be grateful for these shadows of good things to come, but let us

be more thankful for the realities which they foreshadow.

In dealing with the great importance of redemption in the typical

history of Israel, the year of the jubilee must be included.  The jubilee

occurred every fifty years, when hired servants, property and possessions

(with one or two exceptions) automatically went out free, and were restored

to their liberty or to their possessions.

The word jubilee has come into English as a transliteration of the

Hebrew word yobel, which is derived from yabal, meaning to flow or go forth,

as in Isaiah 55:12:

'For ye shall go out (yatsa, as in the exodus, Exod. 14:8, and in the

jubilee, Exod. 21:2,3) with joy, and be led forth (yabal) with peace'.

The first and the last occurrences of the word yobel

are Exodus 19:13 and Joshua 6:4,5,6,8,13, where it is translated in the

Authorized Version by 'trumpet' and 'rams' horns'.  The remaining twenty

occurrences, all of which are found in Leviticus and Numbers, are translated

by the word 'jubile', which we more commonly spell 'jubilee'.  This spelling

we now adopt.

While dealing with the meaning of the word we must not ignore the

testimony of the Septuagint.  Granting that the translators of the Septuagint

were uninspired men, we must ever remember the following facts, that the bulk

of the quotations in the New Testament are from the Septuagint version, and

the presence in the home, synagogue and school of that version for several

centuries gave sanction and fixity to the words used in its doctrines which

neither the Lord nor His apostles contravened, but accepted as starting

points for their own teaching.

The word used by the LXX throughout Leviticus and Numbers for

translating jubilee is the Greek word aphesis.  What they meant by the word

they explain themselves:

'And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty'

(Lev. 25:10).

'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me ... to proclaim liberty to

the captives ... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord'

(Isa. 61:1,2).

The connection between the jubilee and the acceptable year of the Lord

is beyond controversy if words mean anything.  Moreover this 'acceptable

year' is given another title in Isaiah 63:4 where it is called 'the year of