Jubilee Economics (Leviticus 25)

The Bible introduces us to jubilism, a unique system designed by God to protect the weak and create economic justice for all. It begins with equal distribution of the land into private hands. Did the jubilee economic system provide a way for people to get out of poverty? Did it act as an equalizer across the board, lost to modern economic theories? Can we learn from it? Let’s examine Leviticus 25.

How did the land sabbath work as a farming system?

While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year. For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. (Leviticus 25:1-4a NLT)

What was to be done during the fallow year on the farm?

You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you. For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food. (Leviticus 25:4b-7 WEB)

What was the economic benefit to regaining the family farm in the jubilee year?

Count off seven weeks of years—that is, seven times seven—so that the seven weeks of years totals forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet blown on the tenth day of the seventh month. Have the trumpet blown throughout your land on the Day of Reconciliation [Atonement]. You will make the fiftieth year holy, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee year for you: each of you must return to your family property and to your extended family. (Leviticus 25:8-10 CEB)

Did the jubilee conclude two years of land rest? What was the reason for celebration that year? Was this a great economic equalizer?

This is a year of complete celebration, so don't plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce. In this time of sacred celebration you may eat only what grows on its own. During this year, all property must go back to its original owner. (Leviticus 25:11-13 CEV)

How was the lease of the land to be transacted honestly between two parties?

And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 25:14-17 ESV)

How would God provide enough food during the sabbath year?

You are to keep My statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat, be satisfied, and live securely in the land. If you wonder: ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’ I will appoint My blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest. You will be eating this until the ninth year when its harvest comes in. (Leviticus 25:18-22 HCSB)

Who really owns the land, indigenous people, conquerors, later settlers or God?

The land is not to be sold with any finality, because the land belongs to me. You’re sojourners and travelers with me. So throughout all of your land inheritance, grant the right of redemption for the land. (Leviticus 25:23-24 ISV)

Is the jubilee a way that a family can regain its land, lost due to ill health, foolishness, war, drought or some other cause of poverty?