Schori

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February, 2000 - Vol. XXIX No. 1
Jubilee: Hope in New Beginnings

"The Roots of Jubilee"
by The Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

The word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word, yobel. The word probably refers to the trumpet made of a ram’s horn, which would have been sounded to announce the beginning of the year of jubilee. The Hebrew tradition of a year of jubilee (found in Leviticus 25) is designed to make economic restitution. At the seventh sabbatical year all Israelites who have been enslaved for debt are to be set free, and all ancestral lands which have been sold because of economic need are to be restored to their historic tenants*.

When the Hebrew people first began to exercise political control in the land of Canaan, we read (Num 26, Josh 13-21) that the land was distributed among the tribes of Israel, according to their "need." This is apparently one of the first recorded instances of egalitarian land reform. Along with the distribution went the essential proviso that the land could not be permanently alienated from its original holder. In other words, ancestral family land couldn’t be sold outside of the kinship group. The root of this idea comes from the realization that Yahweh is the true owner of the land – human beings are merely guests (Lev 25:23). The people of Israel have received this land as a good inheritance, but they are stewards, rather than "lords" over it. Residence in this promised land was seen as a sign of God’s favor toward Israel; when the nation went far enough astray, exile from the land to Babylon was seen as just reprisal.

The people of Israel were not "owners" of the land, but rather guests or residents of the land. Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt, and given the land to this chosen people. They were therefore to treat foreigners or those with no claim to be part of the nation equally as guests. Similarly, since God had brought his slaves out of Egypt, no Israelite could treat another Israelite as slave – all belonged equally to God.

Jubilee really begins with the concept of sabbath – rest on the seventh day, which is intended to be holy and consecrated to Yahweh. The weekly sabbath rest is extended to a sabbath year, when fields are to be kept fallow, for even the earth deserves a rest. The jubilee builds on this sabbatical year, so that at the seventh cycle of sabbath years, a grand jubilee takes place: liberty to the slave and return of the exile to the ancestral promised land. The jubilee probably took place at the 50^th year, rather than the 49^th, although the issue is still debated by scholars.

Apparently to maintain the economic usage of farm and grazing land, the expectation developed that someone in dire economic need could sell the use of the land, but not the land itself, and only for the time remaining until the next jubilee year. For example, if the jubilee is due 35 years from now, the use of a family’s land could be sold for that time, and would presumably be worth more than if the jubilee were due next year. In addition, the rules about land applied only to rural land (and their appurtenances in villages), not to urban dwellings (except for the tribe of Levi, which did not receive a share in the original rural land apportionment). The jubilee law spells out fairly precisely what were the permissible responses to penury. A family in dire economic straits could sell the use of their land, and eventually could sell themselves into indentured servitude, but only until the next jubilee. Through all of this, more affluent relatives were expected and enjoined to support the family in any way possible, including redeeming (buying back) the land or slaves. However, these rules only applied to the nation of Israel. Foreigners who lived among the chosen people (resident aliens) did not have the same rights to redemption and release at the jubilee.

Scholars cannot provide any external evidence that the jubilee year was ever observed in its literal fullness. There is, however, earlier evidence from surrounding nations of occasional general debt remission, often at the accession of a new monarch. Probably this Hebrew vision was a very early one, which became impossible (and decidedly inconvenient) when the nation of Israel developed a monarchy and a stratified society under Solomon and his successors. The scale of social and economic disruption occasioned by the development of a monarchy in effect made the jubilee too distasteful a concept to the ruling elite, for a small percentage of the population controlled the vast majority of the productive land. The prophets’ continuing critique of the socio-politico-economic system in Israel has much to do with the growing disparity in land and wealth distribution, and, indeed, the jubilee eventually becomes an image for the "day of the Lord" when all will be restored to right relationship. The concept of jubilee has shifted from a normal expectation in the life of the nation to an ideal to be fully realized only at the end of time. However, the jubilee vision continues to motivate the prophets’ critique of the state of the nation.

Jesus also uses the vision of jubilee in proclaiming that the reign of God is among us and within us and all around us. Recall the petition in the prayer which he teaches his disciples: "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." While most Episcopalians are not as familiar with that translation, it is probably more accurate. Jesus calls for a jubilee that includes both economic normalization and more general release from debt, sin, and enslavement of all kinds. Jubilee is both a sign of God’s reign and a response to an awareness of God’s inbreaking presence.

So what does all this mean for us today? Few people are arguing for a literal return to the jubilee model, but this vision does underlie many conceptions of the Reign of God as a world in which the ability to grow food, find employment, and maintain one’s family is pretty equally distributed among all people. That vision also includes the premise that each of us has responsibility for the other members of our family, for their economic well-being, and deliverance from slavery. Many Christians understand that all human beings are brothers and sisters, children of the same God, and therefore we are responsible for each other. The jubilee also holds up the value of the basic family unit, and provides specific remedies for what would otherwise be crushing economic debt. If our vision of the reign of God today has roots in the jubilee, it will include the means to prevent debt-slavery (perhaps beginning with attention to a culture of consumption that encourages the accumulation of mountainous debt). Above all, the jubilee acknowledges God as sovereign of time and creation – all creation ultimately belongs to God, not to us, and is to be stewarded accordingly. I hope you can hear echoes of stewardship, evangelism, and ethics in the midst of all that!

A vision of jubilee can undergird the whole Christian life, beginning with the summary of the law: love God with your whole being, and your neighbor as yourself. Right use of resources, respecting the dignity of all human beings (especially the impoverished), doing the reconciling work of Christ in restoring right relationships among human beings and between humanity and creation, seeking and serving Christ in all – those are all aspects of jubilee living.

Gracious God, you are the source of all blessings. Make us more aware of those who are enslaved, of those who lack the basic means for living, and of the ways in which we contribute to those poverties and slaveries. Bless us with the willingness to release those debts and to restore the economies of this world. Give us boldness to challenge systems of slavery. May your reign come quickly!

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* The Anchor Bible Dictionary, D.N. Freedman, ed. was a major source for this article.

Katharine is a priest at Good Samaritan, Corvallis, and editor of The Vineyard. Contact her at kjefferts@aol.com