Leviticus 25:8 - Meaning and Application

Here is the general law of the jubilee, in Leviticus 25:8. It was to come after seven sabbaths of years. Learned men have long debated whether this means the forty-ninth year or the fiftieth. The writer thinks the forty-ninth, the seventh sabbatical year, is the most likely view, though he does not stop to argue it here.

Seven sabbaths of weeks were counted from Passover to Pentecost, which means “fiftieth day.” In the same way, seven sabbaths of years were counted from one jubilee to the next, and the seventh was called the fiftieth. God gave special honor to the number seven because he rested on the seventh day after creation.

The jubilee was to be announced with trumpet blasts throughout the land (Leviticus 25:5). This would let everyone know it had come, and it would also show joy and celebration. The word jubilee is thought to refer to a special trumpet sound that could be recognized clearly. A trumpet that gives an uncertain sound does little good (1 Corinthians 14:8).

The trumpet was blown at the close of the Day of Atonement. That was fitting, because after they had humbled themselves for sin, they were to hear this voice of joy and gladness (Psalm 51:8). When peace with God had been made, liberty could be proclaimed, because guilt must be removed before true comfort can enter (Romans 5:1, Romans 5:2). In this proclamation of the jubilee, Christ was foretold as the one who would preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61:2). He sent his apostles to announce it with the trumpet of the everlasting gospel to every creature. And the Bible still points ahead to the last day, when the trumpet will sound and free the dead from the grave, restoring them to their inheritance.

In that special year, more than the ordinary sabbath rest of the land was required, which was already observed every seventh year (Leviticus 25:11, Leviticus 25:12), along with the release of personal debts (Deuteronomy 15:2, Deuteronomy 15:3). Every Israelite was also to be restored legally to whatever property and liberty had been lost since the last jubilee. No people were so protected in their freedom and property, which are great marks of a nation’s honor, as Israel was.

God made sure that, as long as they stayed close to him, these gifts would not be taken from them by force, and not thrown away through their own folly. The land in Canaan belonged to each family as a divinely given share, and it could not be permanently sold. At the jubilee, the land returned to the original owner or his heirs, with full right and peaceful possession, as if it had never left them (Leviticus 25:10, Leviticus 25:13). So if someone had sold or mortgaged part of his estate, it came back free of all claims.

This was not unfair to the buyer, because the jubilee date was fixed, and everyone knew when it would arrive. People could set their price with that in mind. In human law, a grant of land may be valid even if it includes a condition against selling, though lawyers may dispute such a condition. But God was teaching Israel that the land was his and they were only tenants. So they could not sell it outright, only lease it for a term of years that did not go beyond the next jubilee.

This arrangement had several wise purposes. It helped preserve family records, which later helped in tracing our Savior’s family line. It also kept the tribes distinct, since land bought in another tribe would return at the jubilee. It kept any one person from becoming too wealthy by gathering more and more land (Isaiah 5:8). Instead of expanding endlessly, people were to focus on working the land they had. It also kept families from being crushed and left in lasting poverty.

God cared about preserving the honor of his people. He protected not only the nation’s share in the land, but each family’s own portion, so it would remain a lasting inheritance. In this, the land pointed ahead to that better portion that will never be taken away from God’s people.

The same was true of personal freedom. If a person had been sold or had lost his freedom, that freedom was to return in the jubilee: “You shall return every man to his family” (Leviticus 25:10). Those who had been sold into other households had become strangers to their own, but in this year of release they were to come back. This pictured our redemption by Christ from slavery to sin and Satan, and our return to the glorious freedom of God’s children. Some think the year Christ died was itself a jubilee, and the last one ever kept. Whether that is so or not, we know this much: the Son makes us free, and then we are free indeed.

On this same occasion, God gave a law against cheating in the buying and selling of land (Leviticus 25:14-17). Neither buyer nor seller was to take advantage of the other. In simple terms, the buyer was not to pay less than the land was truly worth, and the seller was not to demand more, since the land had to return at the jubilee. They were to calculate the land’s yearly value and then count how many years of use remained until the jubilee. But they were to count only the years in which the land would produce crops (Leviticus 25:15), so the sabbatical years had to be left out.

It is easy to see that the nearer the jubilee came, the less the land would be worth. “According to the fewness of the years, you shall diminish the price.” Yet it is not so easy for people to apply the same lesson to worldly things. Since our time is short and this world is passing away, those who buy should act as though they did not fully possess what they own. One would not pay much for an old house that is close to falling down.

All such dealings should follow this rule: do not oppress one another or take advantage of another person’s ignorance or need, but fear your God.

The fear of God in a person’s heart would keep them from doing wrong to a neighbor, in words or actions. Even if no human sees it, God will punish those who cheat or overreach their brothers and sisters (1 Thessalonians 4:6). Nehemiah seems to refer to this law when he says he did not oppress the people under his authority because he feared God (Nehemiah 5:15).

God also assured them that they would lose nothing, and in fact gain much, by keeping these years of rest. He promised, first, that they would be safe: “You shall dwell in the land in safety” (Leviticus 25:18), and again in verse 19. The word means both outward safety and inward peace, so they would be free from danger and from fear.

Second, he promised that they would be well supplied: “You shall eat your fill.” If we are careful to do our duty, we can calmly trust God with our comfort. Third, he promised that they would not lack food in the year when they did not sow or reap: “I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will yield enough for three years” (Leviticus 25:21).

This was a standing miracle. At other times, one year’s harvest only helped provide for the next year, but the produce of the sixth year would last until the ninth. God’s blessing on our supply can make a little go a long way, and even the poor can be satisfied with bread (Psalm 132:15). It was also a lasting reminder of the manna, which was given double on the sixth day so that it would last for two days.

This promise was meant to encourage all God’s people, in every age, to trust him while doing what is right, and to cast their cares on him. Nothing is truly lost when we obey in faith and deny ourselves for God’s sake.