J1JBELEE arebi-le), (Heb. 14",yo-bale', Lev.
xxv:8; Vulg. AnnusJubilei, orJubileus).
According to some, a period of fifty years, ac cording to others, of forty-nine years, the termi nation of which led to certain great changes in the condition of the Hebrews, all of which seem to have been designed and fitted to bring about from time to time a restoration of the original social state instituted by Moses, and so to sustain in its unimpaired integrity the constitution of which he was the author.
(1) Sabbatical Year. Intimately connected with the Jubilee was another singular Mosaic in stitution, namely, the Sabbatical year. On this account, we shall speak briefly of the latter, as pre paratory to a right understanding of the former.
While yet wandering in the Nvilderness, and, therefore, before they had entered 'the land of promise,' the children of Israel received from the lips of their great legislator the following law—six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof ; but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest ; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed' (Exod. xxiii:to, sq.). This injunction is repeated in Lev. xxv :1-7, where it stands as proceeding immediately' from the Lord. The land is to keep 'a sabbath for the Lord.' (2) Seven Sabbaths of Years. Then in im mediate sequence follows the law relating to the Jubilee (Lev. xxv :8). 'And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years. forty and nine years; then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound in the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof ; and ye shall return every man unto his possession and unto his family (Lev. xxv:8-24). Land might be redeemed by a kinsman or by the party who sold it ; but in the Jubilee year it must return to its original proprietor. Dwelling-houses within a walled city might be redeemed within the first year; if not redeemed within the space of a full year they became the freehold of the purchaser.
The houses of villages were to be counted as the fields of the country. The cities and houses of the Levites were redeemable at any time, and could never be held longer than the ensuing Jubi lee; the field of the suburbs of their cities might not be sold (verses 25-38). Israelites who were hired servants (Israelitish bond-servants were not allowed) might serve till the year of Jubilee. when they returned to their possessions. A He brew sold as a slave to a foreigner, resident in Palestine, was redeemable by hirnsaif or relative dt any time, by making payment according to the number of years to elapse before the next Jubilee; but at the Jubilee such bondsman was, under all circumstances, to be set at liberty (verses 39-55). The only exception to this system of general res titution was in the case of property set apart and devoted to the divine service—Tvery devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord ; none devoted shall be redeemed' (Lev. xxvii:28, 29). With these scriptural details, the account given by Jo sephus (Antiq. :12, 3) substantially agrees.
The time required by the Sabbatical year and by the Jubilee to be rescued from the labors of the field, was very considerable. Strictly inter preted, the language we have cited would take out of the ordinary course of things every sixth, sev enth, and eighth year, during each successive septenary, till the circle of fifty years was in each period completed. Nay, more, the old store, pro duced in the sixth year, was to last until the ninth year, for the sixth year was to bring forth fruits for three years.
The reader has now before him the whole of this extraordinary power of legislation, which, viewed in all its bearings—in its effects on human labor, on character, on religious institutions and observances, as well as on the general condition of society, no less than on the productiveness.of the land, and the means of sustenance to its in habitants—is wholly unparalleled by any event in the history of the world. It is, however, in per fect concord with the Mosaic economy.