The Spiritual Meaning of Jubilee

Look in a dictionary for the definition of jubilee, and you’ll probably find a description similar to one the Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers: “A special anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary.”

This modern concept traces its origins to an ancient word found in the Bible. The English word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word yōḇel, which refers to the long blast of a ram’s horn once every 50 years.

The sound signified a special time when all tracts of property were supposed to revert to the original owners or their families.

What was the purpose of this practice, and is there a spiritual meaning of the Jubilee for us today?

The Jubilee and the land of promise

It’s impossible to understand the ancient concept of a Jubilee year without first appreciating the significance of land to people who lived long before the industrial age. In the agrarian economy of the times, the land was essential.

Most people in the ancient Near East grew their own produce, raised their own livestock, made their own clothing and crafted their own tools. Without land, a person could not be a farmer. Without land, families could quickly become destitute.

On a national scale, the quality and quantity of land often determined the prosperity of a people. Prior to delivering the 12 tribes of Israel from Egyptian bondage, God promised to give them “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, 17). Milk and honey served as a metaphor for agricultural abundance.

This had been God’s intent all along. Centuries before the existence of Israel, God had already promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8). He repeated that promise to succeeding generations (Genesis 26:2-3; 28:13-14; Deuteronomy 34:4).

Tribal allotments and the Jubilee

As Israel entered the land God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the 12 tribes first faced the task of defeating the inhabitants. Leadership for that task fell to Joshua, who also divided the land among the tribes by lot (Joshua 14:1-5).

Scholars do not agree about the precise method of casting lots, and Scripture does not explain. However, the purpose is clear—to ascertain the will of God. Joshua cast lots to determine where God wanted each of the tribes to settle.

It is in this context that we can come to understand the Jubilee year. God had provided for every family in Israel. (Levites did not inherit farmland. Instead, they received a portion of the tithes offered to God.) It was God’s intent to bless everyone with the opportunity for a productive and abundant life.

Unfortunately, people make mistakes. That has always been true. When the men and women of ancient Israel fell into hard times, perhaps because of their own mistakes, they often had few options. Many sold their land holdings, and some even sold themselves into indentured servitude.

God allowed this. However, He made it clear that all parcels of land were meant to eventually revert to the original family groups (Leviticus 25:23). This provision would have prevented a handful of wealthy individuals from accumulating massive tracts of land to the detriment of their neighbors.

The Jubilee was the time when God restored land ownership back to the original families. God directed that it be observed every 50 years (verses 8-10). It was also a time when poor Israelites who had sold themselves into indentured servitude were to be released (verses 39-42) so they, too, could return to their families and family properties.

The Jubilee in light of sin

The Promised Land was a key component of God’s covenant, or agreement, with ancient Israel (Exodus 6:3-5). It was an essential part of His blessing on His people.

Just as the Jubilee was created to provide a means and an opportunity for ancient Israelites to return to their lands and communities, Jesus died so that we might return to our God and the spiritual inheritance He had always intended for humanity. The covenant was not a one-sided agreement. Just as God promised to give the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel, Israel promised to obey God. Remaining in the land was contingent on the Israelites’ obedience and fidelity to Him. This is clear from God’s words to Solomon immediately after he dedicated the temple.

God warned Solomon about the national consequences of disobedience and idolatry, saying, “I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them” (1 Kings 9:7). God went on to say that “this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight.”

David recognized this relationship between obedience and being allowed to remain in the land on an individual level: “Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it” (Psalm 37:34).

As a nation, being in the land signified God’s pleasure and His blessing. For individuals, remaining in their ancestral inheritances indicated that they were part of this blessed community. Returning to their land in the Jubilee would have meant so much more than merely owning land—it would have meant returning to take up their place in the community of God’s people!

The Promised Land as a symbol

The writer of Hebrews pointed out the symbolism of the Promised Land. Noting that the patriarchs “all died in faith, not having received the promises,” he then explained that they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13), and that what they sought was “a better, that is, a heavenly country” (verse 16).

The physical land of Israel was a tremendous gift, but the spiritual land of promise is greater. That land of promise is not a matter of going to heaven. (For more on this topic, read “Will You Spend the Hereafter in Heaven?” on the Life, Hope & Truth website.) Rather, it is becoming part of the family of God and joint heirs with Christ in the Kingdom of God.

For the vast majority of humanity, that has not been possible. Ever since Adam and Eve made the wrong choice in the Garden of Eden, human beings have been cut off from God.

God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and out of His presence (Genesis 3:24). He had done to them what He later stated would happen to Israel. Disobedience would lead Him to cut off Israel from the land which He gave them (1 Kings 9:7). But God, in His mercy, provided a way back.

The profound spiritual meaning of the Jubilee

At the beginning of the Jubilee year, Israel was to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants” (Leviticus 25:10). For the people who had lost their ancestral lands or had sold themselves into servitude, this proclamation would have had an enormous emotional impact.

In a larger sense, all of humanity has lost its place with God and sold itself into bondage. We are all slaves of sin (John 8:34). Just as humanity’s parents, Adam and Eve, were expelled from the Garden of Eden, humanity as a whole has been barred from God’s presence.

We all desperately need restoration back to God’s original intent. Fortunately, God provided an answer for our dilemma.

Early in His ministry, and with this mission in mind, Jesus outlined His intentions in the synagogue at Nazareth. Quoting Isaiah 61, Jesus told the crowd that He had come “to proclaim liberty to the captives” and “to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18).

These expressions connect Jesus’ mission with the Jubilee year.

Confirming His intent, Jesus added a phrase that directly spoke of the Jubilee, calling it “the acceptable year of the LORD” (verse 19). This proclamation was possible only because Christ “was cut off from the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8), paying the penalty for sin.

Just as the Jubilee was created to provide a means and an opportunity for ancient Israelites to return to their lands and communities, Jesus died so that we might return to our God and the spiritual inheritance He had always intended for humanity.

This is reflected in the prophecies of the world to come, which will be like the Garden of Eden, from which our first parents were evicted.

“For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3).

The Jubilee and the trumpet of God

The return of Christ to establish His Kingdom on earth will set the stage for this restoration of all things.

A loud trumpet blast will announce the glorious return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). In essence, this blast will “proclaim liberty throughout all the land” (Leviticus 25:10), much as the yōḇel did for ancient Israel.

At first, for those people who have never known God, that trumpet blast will result in confusion and arouse fear. For God’s faithful, though, this blast of the trumpet will inspire tremendous joy and excitement, just as it would have for the people of ancient Israel to hear the trumpet announcing the Jubilee.

Christians can look forward to this awesome spiritual meaning of the Jubilee. We eagerly await that time when we can receive the awesome inheritance God always intended for us (Colossians 3:24).

What about you? Will you be among those who rejoice at the sound of the trumpet blast that will usher in the ultimate Jubilee?