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#6.
The Jubilee.
pp. 37 - 41
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, were restored to their liberty or to their possessions.
The meaning of the word.
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 Isa. 55: 12:--
"For ye shall go out (yotsa, 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 Exod. 19: 13 and Josh. 6: 4,
5, 6, 8, 13, where it is translated in the A.V. 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.
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 N.T. are from the
Septuagint version, and the presence in 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 hollow 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 Isa. 63: 4 where it is called "the year of my redeemed". Isa. 35: refers to the
same event. There we have the close association of vengeance and the salvation of
Israel. If the acceptable year is called the year of my redeemed in Isa. 63:, they who
participate in it are called "the ransomed of the Lord" (Isa. 35: 10).