What does EGW write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Year of Release (Jubilee Year)"
Answer
The Year of Release or Jubilee Year was a divine institution in ancient Israel that was proclaimed every 50 years at the end of the Day of Atonement. It served to restore social justice by freeing slaves, canceling debts, and returning sold land to its original owners. This regulation made clear that God is the true owner of the land and people are merely stewards. The Jubilee Year was the most joyous of all festivals and symbolized the people's willingness to forgive others as God had forgiven them. Prophetically it points to the final redemption and the restoration of the heavenly inheritance.
The Restoration of Property and Freedom
As in the Sabbatical year, the land was not to be sown nor harvested, and everything it produced was to be considered the rightful property of the poor. Certain classes of Hebrew slaves ... were now set free. What distinguished the Jubilee Year, however, was the return of all land ownership to the family of the original owner. ... If it was not repurchased, it reverted in the Jubilee Year to its first owner or his heirs.
On the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement," sounded the trumpet of the Jubilee Year. Everywhere in the land ... the sound was heard, calling all the children of Jacob to welcome the year of liberation. On the great Day of Atonement atonement was made for Israel's sins, and with a joyful heart the people welcomed the Jubilee Year.
The people were to become aware that the land was God's land, which they were permitted to possess for a limited time; that He was the rightful owner, the original possessor, and that He would take special consideration for the poor and the afflicted. It was to be impressed upon everyone that the poor also have a right to a place in God's world just as the rich do.
The Day of Atonement was the most solemn of all festivals, and the Jubilee Year the most joyous. ... When all of Israel's sins were forgiven ..., the people, recognizing what God had done for them, were ready to forgive the debts of their fellow men, to release them from bondage, and to restore everything in their own land as willingly as they expected God to give them their eternal inheritance in the antitypical Jubilee Year.
All the economic interests of ancient Israel taught the gospel. While the Israelite was allowed to dwell in the promised land and enjoy its privileges, he was still only a steward, not an owner. The divine decree read: "The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me.
On the tenth day of the seventh month in the Jubilee years, the great jubilee trumpet was blown throughout the land. All debts were then cancelled, all prisoners or slaves were set free, and every man returned to his possession. We therefore have good reason on that day to look to the great liberation and the greatest of all Jubilee Years.
- Restoration of the inheritance
- Meaning of the Day of Atonement
- Social justice in ancient Israel
Original Sources (English)
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