Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Jubilee

"Count off seven Sabbaths of years - seven times seven years: Seven
Sabbaths of years adds up to forty-nine years. 9 Then
sound loud blasts on the ram's horn on the tenth day of the seventh month, the
Day of Atonement. Sound the ram's horn all over the land. 10 Sanctify
the fiftieth year; make it a holy year. Proclaim freedom all over the land to
everyone who lives in it - a Jubilee for you: Each person will go back to his
family's property and reunite with his extended family. 11 The
fiftieth year is your Jubilee year: Don't sow; don't reap what volunteers itself
in the fields; don't harvest the untended vines 12 because
it's the Jubilee and a holy year for you. You're permitted to eat from whatever
volunteers itself in the fields. 13 "In
this year of Jubilee everyone returns home to his family property. 14 "If
you sell or buy property from one of your countrymen, don't cheat him. 15 Calculate
the purchase price on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. He is
obliged to set the sale price on the basis of the number of harvests remaining
until the next Jubilee. 16 The
more years left, the more money; you can raise the price. But the fewer years
left, the less money; decrease the price. What you are buying and selling in
fact is the number of crops you're going to harvest. 17 Don't
cheat each other. Fear your God. I am God, your God. 18 "Keep
my decrees and observe my laws and you will live secure in the land. 19 The
land will yield its fruit; you will have all you can eat and will live safe and
secure. 20 Do
I hear you ask, 'What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we don't plant
or harvest?' 21 I
assure you, I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will
yield enough for three years. 22 While
you plant in the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and continue until
the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

So, is the practice of keeping the Sabbath year and the Jubilee still go on anywhere? I am curious so I checked it out. According to this site, the Jubilee is no longer counted or celebrated. That seems kind of sad. Although the Jews do no cling to Christ for redemption, they also do not cling to the Law as set forth in the Torah.

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