Why NOT a Fifty Year Jubilee Cycle
Lev. 23:11, “He shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after (Sunday, the 1st day of the next 7-day Sabbath cycle) the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
Lev. 23:15, “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after (Sunday, the 1st day of the next 7-day Sabbath cycle) the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths (49 days exactly) shall be completed.”
Lev. 23:16, “Count fifty days to the day after (Sunday, the 1st day of the next 7-day Sabbath cycle) the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to Yahweh.”
As we examine Moses’ teaching on the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, we see a Scriptural pattern of 49 and 50 days, seven Sabbath cycles, and then a day after the seventh Sabbath, the 50th day. Now notice something important, that 50th day is always a Sunday, which is always the 1st day of the next Sabbath cycle. The 50th day IS NOT a day zero, IT IS DAY 1 OF THE NEXT SABBATH CYCLE! To call the Sunday, or day after the 7th Sabbath, a day zero would break the Scriptural pattern of the Sabbath week, or Shabuwa.
Now take this Scriptural pattern and look at Moses’ teaching in Leviticus 25 concerning the Jubilee year. Leviticus 25:3-4, “Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to Yahweh. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.” Notice that the six-year work years and seventh year rest year are simply an expansion of the weekly Shabuwa, work six days and rest the seventh. Lev. 25:8-9, “And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.” Here we see the six years of work and seventh year of rest expanded into a 49-year cycle of Sabbatical years. Lev. 25:10-13, “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year (the Sunday year, which we know from the Scriptural pattern found in the Feast of Weeks, is always the 1st day (year) of the next cycle), and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
13‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.”
To try to make the 50th year a year zero breaks the Scriptural pattern found in the mini-Jubilee we see in the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot. I’ve seen some teachers of the Jubilee confuse the 49th year with the Jubilee, but the 49th year is simply the 7th seven-year sabbatical year; NOT the Jubilee year. The Jubilee occurs the NEXT year, which is always a Sunday-type year, which is always the FIRST year of the next 49-year Jubilee cycle. The 49-year Jubilee cycle, with its 7 seven-year Sabbatical cycles is the only Scriptural cycle that matches with known historical celebrations of Sabbatical years. A 50-year Jubilee cycle simply does not match with known history.
All known sabbatical years can be tied to Hezekiah/Isaiah’s Jubilee year that Isaiah prophesied to Hezekiah in Isaiah 37:30 and 2 Kings 19:29, “This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year (the 49th year, or 7th Sabbatical year of the Jubilee cycle) such as grows of itself, and the second year (the Jubilee year itself, the Sunday-type year) what springs from the same; also in the third year (the 2nd year of a new Jubilee and Sabbatical cycle) sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.” This singularly unique Scriptural Jubilee example occurred in 702/701 BCE. 702/701 BCE was the 49th year, or year 7 of the regular Sabbatical cycle, which ties to ALL other known historical Sabbatical year celebrations. 701/700 BCE was the Jubilee year itself, the 8th year of Lev. 25:22, “And you shall sow in the eighth year. . .” (after the Jubilee is over) 700/699 BCE was the 9th year of Lev. 25:22, “. . . and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.” The 7th, 8th, and 9th years spoken of here are the three years spoken of in Lev. 25:20-21, “And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” 21Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.”
Here is verse 21 in equation form: year 1 = 7th year of old cycle = 49th year of old cycle; year 2 = 8th year of old cycle = 50th Jubilee Year = 1st year of new cycle; year 3 = 9th year of old cycle = 2nd year of new cycle
The Scriptural 49-year Jubilee pattern was set in the teaching of the Feast of Weeks. Isaiah prophesied a Jubilee Year that actually occurred in Scriptural history; see 2 Kings 19. The 49-year Jubilee Cycle is the only one that matches the Scriptural teachings and Hebrew history, corroborated by Assyrian history. 702 BCE was Assyrian King Sennacherib’s 3rd year, his 2nd attack on Judah, during his 4th war campaign, which apparently was his last. 2 Chronicles 32:21, “Then Yahweh sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land.” 2 Kings 19:36, “So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.”
Bless you brother. I hope this clarifies the Jubilee Cycle for you. Keep up the great studies!
Gene Benjamin II
November 11, 2011 CE