Does the Jubilee Cycle Last 49 Years?

Over the past ten years, many studies have been published on the GB website highlighting the magnificent meanings of the Jubilee year, not least in connection with biblical chronology. Remarkable milestones in biblical history consistently coincide with Jubilee years. Essential to this
approach is, of course, the fact that a Jubilee year is the fiftieth year. Leviticus 25 states:

8 “And thou hast numbered to thee seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven sabbaths of years have been to thee nine and forty years, 9 and thou hast caused a trumpet of shouting to pass over in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month; in the day of atonements ye do cause a trumpet to pass over through all your land, 10 and ye have sanctified the fiftieth year, and proclaimed liberty in the land to all its inhabitants; it is a jubilee to you…” (YLT)

It must be clear that the Jubilee year follows a period of forty-nine (7×7) years. Our word ‘jubilee’ is derived, through various linguistic routes, from this biblical concept. Biblically speaking, a jubilee is by definition a golden jubilee: the fiftieth year.

The 49th year?

No matter how clear the above may seem, there has always been much debate about the length of a Jubilee cycle. A well-known interpretation suggests that the Jubilee year is not an inserted year but serves as the first year of the new cycle of sabbatical years. In that case, only the first Jubilee year would be the fiftieth year, while all subsequent Jubilee years would fall in the forty-ninth year.

The argument for this reasoning is derived from Leviticus 23, where Pentecost is mentioned as the fiftieth day after seven weeks/sabbaths (Lev. 23:15,16). Since the fiftieth day is also the first day of a new week, it is concluded that the Jubilee year is also the first year of a new sabbatical cycle. However, this parallel with Pentecost does not hold. Weeks of days are of a completely different order than weeks of years. Cycles of day-weeks continue indefinitely, without interruption. Yearweeks, on the other hand, count up to seven and then conclude with a Jubilee year. After that, a new cycle of seven sabbatical years begins. Each fiftieth year is a Jubilee year, whereas not every fiftieth day is Pentecost.

A Sanctified Year

A golden jubilee is the fiftieth year, after which a new count of fifty years begins. Thus, two golden jubilees together span exactly one hundred years. The same applies to the Jubilee year. The fiftieth year is a sanctified, i.e., a set-apart year, and therefore does not belong to the preceding forty-nine years. If the Jubilee year were also the first year of a new sabbatical cycle, a problem would arise. In that case, the first sabbatical year would come after only five years of agriculture instead of the prescribed six years of sowing and harvesting. This contradicts what Leviticus 25 states:

3 “Six years thou dost sow thy field, and six years thou dost prune thy vineyard, and hast gathered its increase, 4 and in the seventh year is a sabbath of rest to the land…” (YLT)

The conclusion must be that the Jubilee year is by definition the fiftieth year and always follows AFTER seven times seven years. Only with this premise can we arrive at a biblical timeline in which the milestones align perfectly with the Jubilee years. While this may not serve as direct proof, it is nevertheless a magnificent confirmation!

Delen: