The way I read Leviticus chapter 25, the Jubilee system is established upon a 50-year cycle, not merely 49. The 49 years are calculated upon a series of seven sabbaticals for the land, seven years each. That the fiftieth year is added unto the 49 and that the count resumes following it is evident in verse 15 and 16: "According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee: According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee."

Obviously, one could not sell his or her property during a Jubilee year, because it was required to be in his possession, as its original owner, during that year. The counting of years, therefore, must have resumed after this 50th year, as the Bible indicates. The only question that might possibly remain was whether or not the Jubilee itself was a day or an entire year--but the text seems to clearly indicate a year, and speaks of the Jubilee as being the fiftieth year in the sequence of numbering. Never once do we see mention of it being the first year in the following set of seven or of 49, nor even of the next 50. The Jubilee, therefore, appears to stand on its own.

Further establishing this fact we see God promising to make provision for His faithful people during those two consecutive land-sabbatical years.



Here God promises that the sabbatical would not cause them to go hungry, for the land would yield two three years' worth of food in the year prior to its rest. Why three? To be able to cover the occasion of the Jubilee, which would cause the land to rest again another year immediately following the 49th.

So, I would look for each Jubilee cycle to complete on even 50-year intervals--half a century each. The math, therefore, because quite easy once any known Jubilee can be established.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

The quotes above establish that the 40th year of the wanderings of the children of Israel would have been equivalent to a Jubilee, if we were to extend the years backward from their establishment upon entry into Canaan. The next year after the manna ceased was the first year which the children of Israel ate of the land of Canaan. This would logically have represented the first year in which the children of Israel had resided in Canaan, starting the count of years toward the first Jubilee.

Using other scriptures, we can now attempt to pinpoint some Jubilee years.



If we subtract the 40 from 480, we get 440. If Solomon began building in his fourth year (starting just after three years), and it took him seven years to build, the temple was dedicated in a Jubilee year, 450 years after the children of Israel had entered Canaan. That seems significant. Solomon reigned an additional 30 years following this, after which his son Rehoboam took to the throne. Rehoboam incited the people to rebel, assisted by Jeroboam, the prophecy of which, recorded in Ezekiel 4, leaves 390 years until the destruction of Solomon's temple. This means the first temple lasted 420 years. It was not destroyed in a Jubilee year, only dedicated in a year of Jubilee. Because the 70 years of captivity had begun when Daniel was taken captive about 19 years before the temple was destroyed, the year in which the 70 years' captivity ended, and the people were allowed to return, would have coincided with a Jubilee year, either that year or the year following their return.

Unfortunately, no Jubilee is mentioned in any book of the Bible beyond the books of Moses, so we have no record of this Jubilee in the books of Ezra or Nehemiah.

About 77 years following the end of the captivity, based on Mrs. White and the Bible together, in Ezra 7:7, Artaxerxes gives the third and final decree for the restoration of Jerusalem, the decree which starts the 2300-year prophecy, dated to 457 BC. This would, therefore, have NOT been a Jubilee year, though it is possible that the second temple might have been dedicated during the prior year of Jubilee, approx. 474 BC, 46 years after it had been begun, several years following their return from seventy years of captivity. If Mrs. White's dates are correct, the Jubilee to fall during Jesus' lifetime would have been that of AD 27, the year He began His public ministry. The year of AD 34 would have been a sabbatical for the land, but not a Jubilee. Jesus Himself was crucified in the midst of that week, not on a sabbatical year, nor a Jubilee.

I've often studied Bible chronologies, and am drawing from those studies in making these calculations--but I've never before looked so closely at the Jubilees. I've always seen them as too uncertain to be able to calculate, but I'm now beginning to see otherwise. This post represents my first real study of them in terms of chronology.

Of course, if AD 27 was a Jubilee, and if Jubilees mark periods of half a century each, 2027 will be the next Jubilee, precisely 40 Jubilees after Jesus started His ministry.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

First, to stay with the topic of this thread, I used Mark's methods of calculation. Second, no one disputes that the Jubilee was the 50th year. What is in dispute is if the Jubilee counts at the start of a new cycle or not. IF you have authorative sources on the topic, bring them out. IF the Jubilee was a 50 year cycle and not a 49 year cycle, then the land "Sabbaths" would not be every 7 years. This gives credence to lunar sabbatarians which claim that the weekly sabbath is not every 7 days. IF Pentecost is a model we can follow, Pentacost did not reset the weekly cycle, though the day was significant. So no, you have not firmly established that the Jubilee is not still a 49 year cycle, with the 50th year being the Jubilee, and the start of the next cycle.

Another place to look is the time that Israel went into captivity. They went into captivity for 70 years. Why 70? Because of the 70 land Sabbaths that the land did not receive from Israel. Was this over 490 years, or 500? That should answer the question clearly.

I did. Please read my post again. I would consider the Bible authoritative.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

The modern Jews are right on the reckoning of the cycle in my opinion. It's a 49 year cycle with the 50th year, the Jubilee, also being the first year of the next cycle.

Neither 490 years, nor 500 years would properly represent the number of land sabbaticals missed, if every single one of them were missed consecutively. About 442 consecutive years would yield 70 such sabbatical years on the Jubilee system, depending on where one wished to start and end such a period. If one starts just before a Jubilee, this could be fewer years, since the Jubilee doubles the sabbatical.

Consider:

50 years = 8 sabbaticals, the Jubilee itself being one of them.

The Jubilee system is not synonymous with the weekly Sabbaths, just as the Jewish calendar with its periodic sabbaths as tied to months was not equivalent to the weekly Sabbaths.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

No, you put YOUR interpretation on what the Bible says. Your interpretation is not authoritative. AND you completely ignore what the Bible says about the captivity of Israel being 70 years. Please read this in the Bible. Do you need help finding it? HINT: Are we speaking of 500 years or 490?

APL, thanks for pointing that inconsistency out re my book The Prophetic Calendar. I'll have to revise that. I held the position that 702 and 457 BC and 1798 were all Jubilee's for years up until about seven months ago when a read a fascinating paper by Nora Roth. I discussed my position with her and went through all my scriptural reasons for my position that I cover in my book and at the end of the day I was convinced that she was right and none of those years is a jubilee. I'll post what my current thinking is below.

This is from the appendix to America Under Judgment.

Daniel 9 predicts not only the first coming of Christ but His second as well; not the second coming of Christ to this earth but His second coming to His temple, His church, to redeem His people and to fully liberate them from sin before He returns in the clouds. In this part we’ll look at Daniel 9 and the evidence pointing us to the final Jubilee, the gospel proclamation of complete liberation from sin.

Daniel 9:24 states:


Daniel 9 clearly points us to a time when the atonement of Jesus Christ for His bride is finished. The scriptures teach that the Lord completed the first part of His atonement for us at the cross as foretold in this prophecy. But did He fully liberate His people from sin? The fact that His bride is still here and He is still there shows that the kingdom of God is still future and that “everlasting righteousness” is still waiting to enter the room.

Daniel 9, in a few short verses, covers the whole disposition of sin. It contains two distinct and essential fulfillments. Remember, Daniel is praying about the lethal problem of sin in his own people. Gabriel brings him a dual answer that provides a complete solution. So notice the prophecy again. The word translated “weeks” actually means “sevens” and as such can mean Jubilees because a Jubilee is seven Sabbatical cycles. An essential meaning therefore in verse 24 is 70 Jubilees or 70 x 49 = 3430 years. Now notice the two solutions:

The first solution is given in Sabbatical cycles - seventy “sevens” – 70 Sabbatical cycles – 70 x 7 = 490 years. Seventy “sevens” “are decreed for your people to atone for wickedness.” Jesus made the atonement and sacrifice for our wickedness. He lived a perfect life on earth and then died for our sins making it possible for us to be delivered from sin and to receive eternal life through faith in Him.

The 70 Sabbaticals predicted Christ’s first coming. They began in 457 BC and ended 490 years later in 34 AD. Jesus died and was resurrected in 31 AD in the middle of the 70th Sabbatical cycle. The first coming of Christ occurred at the exact time predicted in Daniel’s prophecy.

But the second solution is the final solution. Seventy “sevens” is 70 Jubilee cycles because a Jubilee is seven Sabbaticals – 70 x 7 x 7 = 3,430 years. Seventy “sevens” “are decreed for your people to put an end to sin . . . and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” The second fulfillment points to the time when God’s people will no longer transgress His law. Under the everlasting covenant eternal righteousness will be brought into their lives and they will cease to sin. Then Jesus will come to take them to heaven. In these two steps God’s people will be forever liberated - from sin. Halleluiah.

One Prophecy, Two Fulfillments

So the prophecy in Daniel 9 has two fulfillments. In a dual prophecy not all of the verses will apply to both fulfillments. For example, Matthew 24 is a dual prophecy. Matthew 24 predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and it also predicts events leading up to the second coming of Jesus. Some of the verses in Matthew 24 apply to the destruction of Jerusalem, some apply to the second coming of Jesus, and some apply to both. In the same way, Daniel 9:24 and 27 apply to both fulfillments. Verses 25 and 26 give specific details about the beginning of the 70 Sabbatical cycles and when Jesus would be baptized and crucified. Verses 24 and 27 surround verses 25 and 26, and apply to both fulfillments. Verses 24 and 27 reach their complete fulfillment in every specification only at the end of the 70 Jubilee cycles.

Then this should be easy for you, from the Bible, show that the Jubilee was COUNTED as a Sabbatical year.