Is the year of Jubilee a blindspot among Bible scholars?
The year of Jubilee is possibly hiding in plain sight within Daniel’s famous seventy weeks prophecy. But if so, it’s so obvious, it is usually overlooked by most Bible scholars. I just posed a question, and I am not ready to claim that I know the answer to my own question. But I will speculate because there is something in Daniel 9:24 that has escaped the attention of many scholars and Bible students. The year of Jubilee is an important biblical subject but it is often pushed aside for other presumably more interesting subjects. And that’s especially true in regard to Bible prophecy. I’ve had the uncomfortable nagging feeling for years that this fact has been a mistake for those looking for answers to several prophecy puzzles.
It’s possible that the God-ordained year of Jubilee has a prominent role in the timing of biblical prophecy. And in particular, the timing of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy could be critically linked to the Jubilee.
What is the Year of Jubilee, God-ordained?
The word jubilee comes from the Hebrew word “yovel.” It came to be associated with the idea of liberty. See Ezekiel 46:17. The Lord established this “freedom” principle as a cornerstone of the young Jewish nation when they entered the Promised Land. It freed people and their land inheritances from past obligations and unwise financial blunders. Its commencement was announced by the blast of a cornet. A cornet is an instrument very similar to a trumpet. So, a trumpet blast would announce the freeing of slaves, canceling of debts, and the return of lands that were lost to unwise choices.
The jubilee year was counted out as seven “sabbaths” of years. Put another way, it was “seven weeks of years” or seven times seven years. That totaled 49 years. And then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, during the 49th year, in the day of atonement, the approach of the Jubilee in the following year was announced. The following year was a special 50th year.
A Hunch about the Year of Jubilee
And it is my strong hunch that the year of Jubilee is a key component in Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy. In that prophecy, Daniel receives specific insight into the timing of Jesus’ first arrival. Most Jewish readers who studied the Old Testament were anxiously looking for the appearance of the Messiah.
From Genesis to Malachi, the scriptures promised the arrival of the Anointed One who would fulfill every promise of God.
But something important was hiding in plain sight. And many, if not most, Jewish readers and scholars missed it.
The Messiah was prophesied to arrive twice. In Daniel chapter nine, an angel gave the prophet a key timeline. The angel’s timeline revealed the exact year of the Messiah’s arrival. But his arrival and the fulfillment of all the prophecies would be cut short. He would die.
And surprisingly, his death would occur after a period of “weeks of years.” But one of the “weeks of years,” was left unaccounted for. I’m purposely highlighting the phrase “weeks of years” because it’s a correlation to the year of Jubilee. But Bible commentators often miss it.
The year of Jubilee
But we all miss things in the Bible. In many ways, it’s a simple book. A child can understand the messages of God’s love. But in other ways, the Bible is a great puzzle that God invites the eager student to explore. In my opinion, the year of Jubilee is a key factor in Daniel’s prophecy.
Daniel 9:24
“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”
Do you see it? It’s right there at the beginning of the verse. The phrase “Seventy weeks” is the first clue that should lead the Jewish reader to think back to God’s Law. Now today, the Christian student is excused for missing this. But to the Jewish reader, it should have been obvious. But the Jewish reader is temporarily blinded to the truth. So the Christian must take up the mantel of understanding.
Verse two of Daniel’s seventy weeks.
Daniel 9:25
“So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.”
Did you see that? If you’re a curious student you’ve probably asked an important question. Did the Holy Spirit lead Daniel to write the verse/equation like that?
Well, of course. So, why did he start with seven weeks? And why is the next section divided into another series of weeks?
I think it was a clue. The clue was the word “weeks.” So, what did that mean to the Jewish reader? The Holy Spirit intended the reader to notice the correlation to the “weeks of years” that was prominent in the Jubilee year.
Let’s read the Lord’s instructions regarding the year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25.
Leviticus 25:8-12
8‘You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years.
9‘You shall then sound a ram’s horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement, you shall sound a horn all through your land.
10‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.
11‘You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.
12‘For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field.
So what now?
In other articles, I’ll dive deeper into the verses and the timeline. But first I wanted to give you a chance to think about Daniel’s prophecy from another perspective. So much attention has been given to adding up days and years. And in the course of the math problems, eyes glaze over and readers check out.
Just below, you’ll find a quote from a respected scholar on the topic of the math found in Daniel’s prophecy. It can be very confusing but in the end, no one has a conclusive answer to this critical passage.
“Sir Robert Anderson, using a 360-day year (which Israel used in Daniel’s day), calculated 173,880 days from the decree to the triumphal entry, fulfilling the prophecy to the day. “It is customary for the Jews to have twelve months of 360 days each and then to insert a thirteenth month occasionally when necessary to correct the calendar.” (Walvoord)
And then he follows it up by saying this.
“No one today is able dogmatically to declare that Sir Robert Anderson’s computations are impossible.” (Walvoord)
So, the experts are unsure. And that leaves us to go back to our Bibles and explore. The angel told Daniel that the answers would become more clear at the time of fulfillment. We are very near that time now.
Let’s read some additional comments from Bible scholars who did see the importance of the Jubilee in Daniel’s prophecy.
Benson Commentary
2 Chronicles 36:21. Until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths — “God had commanded them to let their land rest every seventh year; and because the Jews had violated this, as well as other precepts, God gave their land a long sabbath, or rest, for no less than ten times seven years, which Jeremiah threatened, as in the margin. If it is true, that they had neglected this law for the space of four hundred and ninety years, having plowed their ground in the seventh as well as in other years, then the judgment of God upon them was very remarkable…
In the Benson Commentary, we find a key verse, 2 Chronicles 36:21. And the verse explains why the Lord punished the Israelites for exactly 70 years. The seventy years were punishment for skipping over the 490 years of the Jubilee celebration.
2 Chronicles 36:21
“To fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.”
The seventy years of captivity in Babylon had a specific purpose. Four hundred and ninety years had passed since the Nation of Israel had kept the year of Jubilee.
Here’s another commentary.
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,… That is, the Jews were so long servants in Babylon, as in the preceding verse, to accomplish Jeremiah’s prophecy of it, 2 Chronicles 25:12.
until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; the sabbatical years, or seventh-year sabbaths, which, according to the law of the land, was to rest from being tilled, Leviticus 25:4, which law had been neglected by the Jews, and now, whether they would or not, the land should have rest for want of persons to till it:
for as long as she lay desolate she kept the Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years; as threatened in Leviticus 26:34
Here’s a contrasting view that ignores the importance of the year of Jubilee.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
threescore and ten years] i.e. two whole generations. It is very unlikely that the Chronicler intended to suggest that the Sabbatical years had been neglected throughout the period (about 490 = 70 × 7 years) during which the kingdom lasted, for he mentions several God-fearing kings (David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat) whose reigns would need to be subtracted from this total so that the number of violated Sabbatical years would fall considerably below 70.
In the Cambridge commentary quoted above, the writer doesn’t think it’s possible the Jewish nation had rejected the Jubilee year for an entire 490 years. But why would that seem to be unlikely? For the entirety of their existence, they rebelled against God’s instructions. In their failures, they set a great example for all of us to learn from. But we have foolishly followed that poor example. Thus the reason for the Messiah’s first arrival and his death on the cross.
So there you have some hints at where this study will take us. The Jubilee just might be the missing link as we search for the Holy Grail of Bible prophecy.
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