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“Remember The Time...”
Categories: OLD TESTAMENTWe had the question in our Bible class about the Year of Jubilee the Israelites were to observe every fifty years. My question is: did they keep this commandment? And where is it recorded in the Bible?Sincerely,
Jubilant
Dear Jubilant,
Lev 25:10-12 says that the Year of Jubilee was a holy year observed every fifty years. Every fifty years, the Jews were to let all their Jewish slaves go free, and all land that had been leased (you couldn’t sell your land permanently in Israel) was to be returned to their original owners.
As far as we can tell, the Bible never specifically mentions an instance where the Israelites kept this commandment, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t. There are many feasts and offerings commanded in the Old Testament that we never read about the Israelites following. The assumption would be that during times of faithfulness, the Israelites remembered these feasts, and when they turned away from God, they probably forgot them. At least, that is the pattern we see with the Passover feast. When Hezekiah became king, he reinstituted the Passover because the Israelites, in their idolatry, had stopped keeping it (2 Chr 30:1-3).
