Today, we finish Leviticus; Numbers is just around the corner!
Leviticus has no story arc and only a barely discernable outline. But if there’s a climax or one exultant moment in this book, it occurs in Leviticus 25. Let me quote from one of my favorite Charles Wesley hymns:
Blow ye the trumpet, blow! The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know, to earth’s remotest bound:
The year of Jubilee is come! The year of Jubilee is come!
Return ye ransomed sinners, home.
After reminding us of the prescribed feasts in Leviticus 23, and cleaning up some commandments concerning the tabernacle furnishings in Leviticus 24 (along with one brief account of a young man who “cursed” the name of God), Moses passes along the Lord’s instructions concerning the “Year of Jubilee.” After seven cycles of Sabbath years, when farmers were to give the land a “rest” (another example of God giving wisdom to Israel that predates the science that supports it!), God commanded a 50th year, a year of Jubilee, a year that begins on the Day of Atonement with the blast of a trumpet (The Hebrews word for Jubilee means “trumpet!”).
The point of this celebration can be made with one word: freedom. In the Year of Jubilee, slaves were set free, debts were forgiven, and lost property was returned. At least, this was what God instructed. The fact that there is no evidence that Israel ever celebrated the Year of Jubilee makes us wonder: Why is the command to celebrate it included?
Followers of Jesus Christ have long agreed: the Year of Jubilee constitutes an ongoing longing in the hearts and minds of God’s people for freedom from slavery and debt. Jesus personally inaugurated the Era of Jubilee through His death and resurrection, paying our debt and freeing us from slavery to sin!
Through the love of Jesus we can (look back at Leviticus!) show kindness to the poor (Leviticus 25:35-46), serve as instruments of redemption (Leviticus 25:47-55), live lives of obedience (Leviticus 26), and keep our promises (Leviticus 27). The year of Jubilee has come! Praise His Name!
Until tomorrow,
Pastor Gary
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