Lev 25:8-17 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Lev 25:8-17: 25:8-17 The Year of Jubilee took place every fiftieth year as a release from obligations and servitude. The same year was also treated as a Sabbath year with no farming. Some scholars argue that the forty-ninth year served as both Sabbath (seventh) and jubilee (fiftieth) years. A simple count of fifty years would place the Year of Jubilee immediately after the seventh Sabbath year, which would mean two consecutive years without harvests. • Each Year of Jubilee the land was to revert to the clan or tribe that had originally received it under Joshua (Josh 13–21 ). Land had two functions: (1) It provided an economic basis for existence; and (2) it tied the landowner to his ancestors and, through them, to the land allocation under Joshua and even to the covenant with Moses. The return of the land was to prevent powerful land monopolies that would close out the poor.

a25:8-17►

bJosh 13–21►

c25:10►

d25:39-43►

e47-55►

f25:11-12►

g25:15-16►

h25:23►

‏ Leviticus 25:8-17

Summary for Lev 25:8-17: 25:8-17 ^a The Year of Jubilee took place every fiftieth year as a release from obligations and servitude. The same year was also treated as a Sabbath year with no farming. Some scholars argue that the forty-ninth year served as both Sabbath (seventh) and jubilee (fiftieth) years. A simple count of fifty years would place the Year of Jubilee immediately after the seventh Sabbath year, which would mean two consecutive years without harvests.

• Each Year of Jubilee the land was to revert to the clan or tribe that had originally received it under Joshua (Josh 13–21 ^b). Land had two functions: (1) It provided an economic basis for existence; and (2) it tied the landowner to his ancestors and, through them, to the land allocation under Joshua and even to the covenant with Moses. The return of the land was to prevent powerful land monopolies that would close out the poor.
25:10 ^c proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there: See 25:39-43 ^d, 47-55 ^e.

• return to the land that belonged to your ancestors: If the individual who originally owned the land had died, the land was returned to his heirs.
Summary for Lev 25:11-12: 25:11-12 ^f All the regulations of the Sabbath year also applied to the Year of Jubilee.
Summary for Lev 25:15-16: 25:15-16 ^g the number of years: The law did not allow the land to be sold in perpetuity. It was God’s, and Israel was simply permitted to use it (25:23 ^h). However, if the owner was forced to give it up due to financial distress, it could be leased for up to forty-nine years (until the next jubilee). The price was adjusted according to the length of the lease. At the end of that time, the land was to revert to the family of the original owner.