Introduction
Leviticus 25:8-55 introduces and outlines the Jubilee. Every fifty years, the nation of Israel was commanded to press the reset switch, as it were. In essence, the Jubilee set free both land and Israelite heads of households that had been sold to another.
It is the thesis of this chapter that the Jubilee was thus a law of ancient Israel that aimed to preserve Israel’s egalitarian system of land tenure, recalled the Sabbath rest of
creation, and reenacted Yahweh’s liberation of Israel from Egypt. The Jubilee legislation complements the Sabbath year debt and debt-slave release laws by releasing and restoring a pater familias to his land along with any members of his family who had been sold as debt-slaves.1F1 The Jubilee thus ensured that all Israelites were released from poverty and restored to their plot of land at least once a generation.
The goal of the Jubilee was to curb the accumulation of power and money by a wealthy class, while also ensuring that no Israelite family would find themselves in a state of perpetual landlessness. The Jubilee thus kept Israelites from exploiting one another, while also providing a mechanism whereby they could work out their vertical covenant commitments on the horizontal, socioeconomic plane. Because the Jubilee happened on the Day of Atonement, it taught faith in God’s providence, a faith that was motivated by the memory of the Exodus redemption.
The drama of the Jubilee recalled the Sinai covenant as Israelites heard loud horns blown throughout the land and heard the entire law read as their ancestors did at the
1 Pater familias is latin for “father of a family” and stands in for the head of the father’s house in ancient Israel.
foot of Mount Sinai. This drama also recalled the Exodus redemption as Israelites found themselves released from an enslaved status while carrying a portion of their former master’s goods with them. Furthermore, the Jubilee drama reenacted the conquest of the land as families once again took possession of their God-given plot of land. While this drama looked back to remind Israelites of all that the Lord had done for the nation, it naturally looked forward to a time when God would bring rest not just to Israel, but to all of creation through Israel. The tenets and practice of the historical Jubilee is outlined in Leviticus 25. This chapter will look at the placement of the Jubilee within the theology and structure of Leviticus, provide a detailed exegesis and outline of Leviticus 25:8-55, and discuss within the exegesis of the passage how the Jubilee related to the Sabbath debt and slave release laws. The chapter will then consider other texts that mention or
potentially allude to the Jubilee. The chapter will conclude by considering and critiquing other theories regarding the aim of the Jubilee.
Structure and Setting of Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus falls within the broader narrative frame of Exodus 19:1 to Numbers 10:10, which describes the events at Sinai, instructions for building and erection of the Tabernacle, Moses’ reception of the laws in Leviticus, and Israel’s
preparation to set out from Sinai toward Canaan.2F2 In this narrative frame, Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan slows down and focuses on initiating and maintaining their
relationship with Yahweh. This slowing is signified by the timeline. While the rest of the Pentateuch marks out the passing of years, Exodus 12 to Numbers 10 is counted by months.3F3 The entire book of Leviticus comprises one month within this narrative frame.
2 For support and discussion of this narrative frame, see Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, NAC, vol.
3a (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000), 40; L. Michael Morales, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus, NSBT 37 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2015), 35-38.
3 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 35-36.
Thus, Exodus 40:2, “On the first day of the first month” and Numbers 1:1 (“on the first day of the second month”) report that a month of time elapsed while the instructions recorded in Leviticus were given. Morales points out that the book itself is “timeless and spaceless” given that it entirely lacks the typical “itinerary notices and chronological markers.”4F4 The absence of chronological and geographical markers points to the one of the major concerns of Leviticus: sacred space and time. The central theological concern of Leviticus is how to live with Yahweh.
Sacred space and time are so central to Leviticus that they are built into its structure. Mark Smith argues that a ring structure that encompasses all of Leviticus puts the Day Atonement in Leviticus 16 at the center, where the most sacred space and most sacred time converge at the Tabernacle.5F5 The converging of these two centrals motifs, sacred space and sacred time, at the Tabernacle points once again to the wider goal of Leviticus: Israel’s meetings with Yahweh, or how to live with Yahweh. The centrality of the Tabernacle is likewise confirmed by the wider narrative of Exodus 19:1 to Numbers 10:10, which likewise frames the tabernacle within Israel’s time at Mount Sinai. This framing can be visually represented as follows:
Wilderness journey → Mt. Sinai → Tabernacle → Mt. Sinai → Wilderness journey6F6
While the Tabernacle forms the center of the wider geographical narrative, the Day of Atonement forms the center of Leviticus.7 The entire narrative structure is driving at the
4 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 36.
5 Mark S. Smith and Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus, JSOT 239 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 186-87, cited in Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 35-36.
6 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 36.
7Mary Douglas has suggested that Leviticus 19 is the center of the book with its focus on the meaning of righteousness, practically described as loving one’s neighbor (Lev 19:16) and committing to just judgments and measures (Lev 19:35-6). Douglas’ reading of the book is built around the two narratives in Leviticus 10 and 24:10-23. In this reading, the tripartite structure of Leviticus’ laws mirror the tripartite structure of the tabernacle. As one moves through Leviticus, one moves from the entrance of the tabernacle,
central theological concern of meeting with Yahweh. The Tabernacle provides the place, the Day of Atonement provides the means, and all of Leviticus flows toward and then out of the climax of Leviticus 16. The central importance of the Day of Atonement can be seen in the ring structure or chiastic structure of Leviticus:7F8
Lev 1 – 7 Sacrifices
Lev 8–10 Institution of priesthood/inauguration of cultus Lev 11–15 Clean/unclean in daily life
Lev 16 Day of Atonement Lev 17–20 Holy/profane in daily life Lev 21–22 Legislation for the priesthood Lev 23–27 Festivals/Sacred Time
This general ring structure is confirmed by the fact that eighteen divine speeches occur on either side of Leviticus 16.8F9 In this structure, the way that the book flows toward and then out of the Day of Atonement is evident. Leviticus 1–15 deals with approaching God while Leviticus 17–27 deals with communing with God. The outer panels of Leviticus
to the outer courtyard, to the sanctuary, and finally to the holy of holies. The set of laws in each section match the concerns in each section of the Tabernacle. Quite interestingly, by her reading, the Jubilee is an outer frame around the central chapter of chapter 26, which reiterates the covenant that sits in the ark of the covenant. Chapter 25 deals with “person-to-person obligations” (p. 244) while chapter 27 deals with obligations to the Lord. In chapter 27, the Lord himself comes under the powers of the Jubilee laws.
Douglas’ contention is in broad keeping with Morales’ argument in that Douglas’ likewise sees the Tabernacle as the very center of Israel’s cult and understands the Jubilee as picturing the everyday culmination and fulfillment of living in the presence of God. While there is no disagreement that Leviticus 19 is central to the theology of Leviticus, her scheme requires an odd ring structure between Leviticus 1-7 and Leviticus 11-15. It is the ritual and moral purity achieved at the Day of Atonement that then allows for a daily life of moral purity (Leviticus 17-25). Despite this disagreement, her explanation of the role of the blasphemer narrative in Leviticus 25 is compelling. The one who blasphemes the Name is put to death just as the curses promise that the one who breaks the laws and so blasphemes the Name will also be put to death. Mary Douglas, Leviticus as Literature. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
8 Chiasm reproduced from Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 29.
9 Wilfried Warning, Literary Artistry in Leviticus, Biblical Interpretation Series 35. (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1999), in Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 28. For a full bibliography of scholars who see a ring structure in Leviticus, see Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 27-29.
connect spiritual reality with everyday reality: sacrifice of life (Lev 1–7) and living a life of sacrifice (Lev 23–27). The outer panels once again point to the main goal of the book, which is how to live in Yahweh’s presence.
Morales has argued that the literary structure of Leviticus moves Israel from a cult that worships a God who dwells in his ןכָּשְׁמִ (“dwelling place) to a community who enjoys God’s presence in their midst at the דﬠֵוֹמלהֶאֹהָ (“tent of meeting”). In other words, the shift in language yet again shows that the goal of Leviticus is to prepare the people to meet regularly with their God. The deaths of Nadab and Abihu drive the program of Leviticus through the Day of Atonement and out into the affairs of everyday life, where Yahweh expects his covenant people to emulate his own holiness. Leviticus does this by making sacred people (Lev 1–10, 17–22), sacred space (Lev 11–15), and sacred time (Lev 23–25). The Levitical legislation is thus an “invitation to life with God.”10 As one moves closer to the presence of God in the Tabernacle, fuller and fuller life is offered.
Holiness grants a full life under God’s merciful care, such that “the tabernacle’s grades of holiness are seen rather as grades of life, with the holy of holies representing the fullness of life.”11
The broader structure of Leviticus 23–25 reinforces the idea that the program of Leviticus sought to bring fulness of life in the presence of God. Leviticus 23 describes the Sabbaths of Israel while Leviticus 25 describes the ultimate Sabbath for the land, the Jubilee. In the middle of these chapters is Leviticus 24:1–9, which describes the twelve loaves of bread basking in the light of the seven lamps of the menorah. The twelve loaves signify Israel and the seven lamps signify the light of God’s presence. In other words, the loaves and lamps symbolize the ideal of Israel living in the continual light of God’s
10 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 31.
11 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 31. The Hebrew term for lamp is רוֹאמָ, which is typically used to describe the sun and moon, especially in the creation account (Ps 74:16; Gen 1:14-16; Ps 136:7). Moses could have used the word נִר to describe the lamp. The choice of י רוֹאמָ appears to purposefully recall the sun and moon from the creation account.
presence. Through the regular meetings with God, which are prescribed in Leviticus 23, Israel is enabled to do just that. Leviticus 25 likewise acts as a defensive measure, ensuring that every Israelite is free to experience the generous benefits of God’s rule on their allotted land. Leviticus 23 provides for regular meetings with God while Leviticus 25 ensures that every Israelite can experience the joy of God’s presence every single day.
This symbolism has important ties to the creation account, which hints that the goal of Leviticus is much more than just Israel meeting with their God. The goal is much more grand: the restoration of Israel to the original purpose for mankind within the cosmos through fellowship with God. By virtue of the Jubilee’s placement within the program of Leviticus, it is shown that the Jubilee’s goal is much broader than just ensuring every Israelite is free to live and work on their God-given land. The Jubilee’s goal is to ensure that every Israelite once again enjoys the privilege of a right relationship with God and a right relationship with the land, as Adam experienced in Eden before the Fall. This goal of restoration helps highlight why the land is so significant in Israel’s covenant. The goal of the covenant is not merely to restore Israel to God, but also to restore Israel, and thus mankind, to its caring dominion of the land. In support of this argument, Morales' words bear presenting in full:
Once more I suggest that the goal of the tabernacle, in harmony with that of the cosmos, is portrayed symbolically in Leviticus 24:1-9. We have already noted the correspondences between the lamps of the menorah and those of the cosmos, along with the Sabbath tāmîd and the seventh day. In short, all the necessary elements of Genesis 1:1–2:3 are found in Leviticus 24:1-9 for the sake of presenting a cultic picture of Israel’s basking in renewing light of God’s Sabbath-day Presence—a beautiful, theological symbol for the significance of the tabernacle cultus as it has unfolded in Leviticus. . . . The unfulfilled purpose for which the cosmos was created may now be realized through the tabernacle cultus of Israel.12
The goal of the Jubilee is that every Israelite can bask in the light of God’s presence day- to-day. For this to happen, all Israelites had to conduct themselves with holiness, including how they treated their impoverished neighbors and relative. The Jubilee thus provides an
12 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 200.
important component in ensuring the overall holiness of Israel as it guaranteed holy business transactions, prevented socioeconomic injustice, and ensured every Israelite family was free to enjoy the presence of God as they worked their land. In other words, the Jubilee served as a defensive measure that protected against unholy economic practices.
This Edenic goal is further confirmed by the fact that the Jubilee year is a super-Sabbath year. If the purpose of Leviticus is meeting with God, then the Sabbath is the time set apart specifically for the meetings to happen. This is one reason why
Leviticus 26 connects keeping Sabbaths with keeping the covenant (Lev 26:2). The covenant is ultimately about relationship, and the Sabbaths are the “dates” set apart for that relationship to flourish. Just as the sun and moon govern the cycle of days, evenings, and seasons, so the Sabbaths govern the cycle of coming into God’s presence on a regular cycle. This Sabbath cycle is symbolized in the seven lamps of the menorah.13 The Lord will meet with Israel at the appointed Sabbath times: weekly (Sabbath Day), annually (Day of Atonement on seventh month), septennially (Sabbath Year), and super-
septennially (Jubilee).14 The goal of Israel’s Sabbaths, as with the covenant, is likewise fellowship and relationship with God, a theme which unites all of chapters 23–25.
Morales explains this intimate connection between the Sabbaths and the covenant:
There are seven major festivals, seven days of rest, several festivals occurring on the seventh month, every seven years being a sabbatical year, and there is a grand sabbatical year after the seventh of the seven-year cycles. As Jay Sklar remarks, this structure: “brings a Sabbath feel to the entire year and thus a constant reminder of the covenant the Sabbath signifies.”15
Within the wider structure of Leviticus and the spectrum of Israel’s Sabbaths, the Jubilee year is the climactic event in the cycle of Sabbaths where fellowship with God is not only enjoyed, but is returned to its proper form whereby every Israelite can “eat of
13 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 190.
14 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 189.
15 Morales, Who Shall Ascend?, 189; Jay Sklar, Leviticus, TOTC, vol. 3 (Downers Grove, IL:
IVP, 2014), 277.
his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink water of his own cistern” in the presence of God (Isa 36:16; cf. Mic 4:4; Zech 3:10). The goal of the Jubilee is the goal of the Sabbath and the goal of Leviticus: fellowship with God in the covenant and restoration of the cosmos to its proper order. Since the Jubilee is the climax of the Sabbath spectrum, it well remembers the rest of God at creation to which all the Sabbaths are so intimately tied (Exod 20:11). As was shown in chapter three, the Sabbath spectrum is also marked by significant humanitarian concern whereby all manner of workers (people, animals, land) are rested regularly and all forms of
insolvency are severely limited (debts, debt-slavery, and complete insolvency). Hence, keeping Sabbath is also tied to keeping justice (Isa 58:1–13).16 Obviously, the Jubilee does not accomplish this goal by itself, yet it provides a key to Israel’s Sabbath-keeping by protecting Israel’s egalitarian system of land tenure and thus ensuring that Israel loves their neighbors and cares for their land as they ought.
Structure of Leviticus 25
Before embarking on a detailed exegesis of Leviticus 25, it is instructive to consider an overall outline of the chapter. The outline helps highlight the goal of the Jubilee, redemption/restoration of people and land. The outline also clearly shows the repeated structure for the successive stages of destitution in verses 39-55. It is within these three stages that the laws of redemption are explicated. As such, the Jubilee cannot be rightly understood without understanding the interrelationship between the Jubilee, the laws of redemption, and the successive stages of destitution detailed in Leviticus 25:39ff.
The following is an outline of Leviticus 25:17
I. The Jubilee is a Sabbath for the Land and for the People (vv. 1–22).
16 For the Jubilee background of Sabbath-keeping in Isaiah 58, see chap. 5 of this dissertation.
17 This outline is loosely adapted from Gregory Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the ANE (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 322.
Fear Motivation: “You shall fear your God” (v. 17a) [‡יהֶ†אֱמֵתָארֵוְיָ].
Covenant Rationale: “I am the Lord your God” (v. 17b) [כֶיהֵ†אֱהוָהיְי נִאֲ].
Excursus: Practical Concern with the Fallow (vv.18–22).
II. The Jubilee is for the Redemption of Property (vv. 23–38).
General Principle: “You shall allow a redemption of the land” (vv. 23–24).
Stage 1: An Israelite Needs to Sell Part of His Land (vv. 25–28) [‡יחִאָ•וּמיָ־יכִּ].
Excursus: Practical Concern with Dwellings in the City (vv. 29–34).
Stage 2: An Israelite Sells All of His Land and Needs Regular Support (vv. 35–
37) [‡יחִאָ•וּמיָ־יכִּ].
Fear Motivation: “You shall fear your God” (v. 36) [‡יהֶ†אֱמֵתָארֵוְיָ].
Covenant Rationale: “I am the LORD your God” (v. 38a) [‡יהֵ†אֱהוָהיְי נִאֲ].
Motivation: “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (v. 38b) [ץרֶאֶמֵםכֶתְאֶי תִאצֵוֹה־רשֶׁאֲ].
III. The Jubilee is for the Redemption of Persons (Verses 39–55)
Stage 3a: An Israelite Sells Himself to Another Israelite (vv. 39–43) [‡יחִאָ•וּמיָ־יכִּ].
Egypt Motivation: “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (v. 42a) [םיִרָצְמִץרֶאֶמֵםתָאֹי תִאצֵוֹה־רשֶׁאֲ].
Fear Motivation: “You shall fear your God” (v. 43b) [‡יהֶ†אֱמֵתָארֵוְיָ].
Excursus: Practical Concern regarding Foreign slaves (vv. 44–46).
Stage 3b: An Israelite Sells Himself to a Foreigner (vv. 47–54) [‡יחִאָ•וּמיָ־יכִּ].
Covenant Rationale: “I am the LORD your God” (v. 55) [כֶיהֵ†אֱהוָהיְי נִאֲ].
Egypt Motivation: “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (v. 55b) [םיִרָצְמִץרֶאֶמֵםתָוֹאי תִאצֵוֹה־רשֶׁאֲ].
The first section of Leviticus 25 presents the Jubilee as a Sabbath for the land and for the people. Verses 1–7 discuss the fallow year, while verses 8-22 discuss the Jubilee year in general, with an excursus about the fallow year in verses 18-22. The fact that the main Jubilee law is sandwiched between sections that discuss the fallow year signifies that the Jubilee is a Sabbath. This sandwiching also lends credence to what is