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Whatever our appreciation of the LXX may be, we can have no reserve with regard to
the inspiration of the Hebrew of Ezekiel. There we have the Greek word aphesis
translating the Hebrew deror, "then it shall be his to the year of liberty" (Ezek. 46: 7),
which is a direct reference to the jubilee, "to proclaim liberty throughout the land"
(Lev. 25: 10).
These passages present one solid unassailable front and he who rejects them rejects
the Word of God. To complete our survey we must observe the way in which the word
aphesis is used in the N.T.:--
Forgiveness.--Mark 3: 29; Acts 5: 31; 13: 38; 26: 18; Eph. 1: 7; Col. 1: 14.
Deliverance.--Luke 4: 18 (confirming Isa. 61: Sept.).
Liberty.--Luke 4: 18 (confirming Isa. 61: Sept.).
Remission.--Matt. 26: 28; Mark 1: 4; Luke 1: 77, 3: 3, 24: 47;
Acts 2: 38, 10: 43; Heb. 9: 22, 10: 18.
The institution of the Jubilee.
The institution of the jubilee follows immediately upon the law concerning the
sabbatic year recorded in Lev. 25:, and is indeed an extension of the principle of the
sabbath:--
"And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years,
and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh
month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all the land.
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all
the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you: and ye shall return every man unto
his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family" (Lev. 25: 8-19).
There is a designed stress upon the number seven. The trumpet of the jubilee sounds
at the end of the 49th (7*7) year, in the 7th month. The tenth day of the seventh month is
the day of atonement. The jubilee is most clearly associated with that day. It comes into
effect in the fiftieth year, but it has its roots in the 10th day of the 7th month of the
49th year. The jubilee is the year of the Lord's redeemed. The self-same redemption that
formed a basis for the forgiveness (aphesis) of sin purchased the possession into which
the redeemed shall yet enter (Eph. 1: 7 and 14), but there were not sacrifices offered for
this twofold redemption. What we must remember when dealing with Israel is that they
were a redeemed people. The jubilee and the day of atonement belong to Israel as a
redeemed people and not otherwise. Seeing moreover that their redemption, their
sacrificial system, their land were typical of the future reality, we must trace this
progression of sabbaths up to its climax. We have the seventh day, the seventh month,
the seventh year, the seven times seven years, and lastly as a fulfillment of all the seventy
times seven of Dan. 9::--
"Seventy sevens are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to