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The Year Of Jubilee : A Special Year

Decent Essays

The year of Jubilee is a special year in which people´s offences are forgiven and all debts are canceled. It is a celebration held every fifty years, which marks the end of a set of seven weeks of a year times seven years times seven (Leviticus 25:8). Since it is only celebrated every fifty years, most people only participate in it once or in some cases twice at the most. The mentioning of this celebration first appears in the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus 25:8-55 where Jubilee is defined, and its rules and implications are established. The word Jubilee comes from the Hebrew word yobel, which means trumpet sounds. The command of keeping the fiftieth year sacred appears several times throughout the Old and New Testaments. Jubilee´s frequent mentioning attests its importance to the Israelite people. However, as opposed to other commandments that are still practiced today, the observance of Jubilee is hardly commemorated. Although the year of Jubilee is an important commandment created by God, its implementation in the twenty-first century would be controversial and inconvenient. The celebration of Jubilee does not start by keeping the fiftieth year sacred but by observing the Sabbath and the sabbatical year as well. Exodus 20:11 is the first time the Sabbath is mentioned. In a certain manner, it can be stated that keeping the Sabbath and sabbatical year holy are a preview of what the Jubilee year will be like. The people of Israel were given a strict set of rules

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