I have not yet done the study I need to do concerning the Old Testament biblical concept of jubilee. But, if I’m getting this right, God told Israel that every7 years your land was supposed to rest. On that seventh year there was no planting, and the fields themselves enjoyed a season of sabbath. Additionally, every 49 years (on the 50th year) it was a a year of jubilee where the land was to rest, slaves were to be set free, and land was to be returned to its ancestral owner. In other words, everything started over.
While, as I understand it, we have no proof that Israel ever practiced this 50th year jubilee, it is nonetheless God’s idea. And a beautiful one at that!
One author while calling Christianity today to practice the spirit of jubilee says:
Those who have been trained to trust God for provision are the only people who will ever believe that Jubilee is a good idea. Otherwise, it looks like losing everything you have worked so hard to earn. But if we never earn anything-if everything is a gift-then it begins to make sense that God would want to redistribute gifts as a guard against injustice in a broken and sinful world.
That’s a powerful thought isn’t it? Don’t we so often fall into that trap of thinking that our stuff is actually ours? God had intended that for Israel everything would be leased. Nothing would be owned longer than 50 years unless it was given to your family by God. Well in reality, doesn’t everything that we own belong to God? So, in essence, everything we have is leased. It belongs to us only for a season (for this life) and will not stay with us forever. And yet we spend so much time worrying about what we have…oops, sorry, I’m starting to preach. That’s not what I intended. Let me share one more connected and quick thought.
I once commented to a wise older friend saying that I loved capitalism, but what it seemed to be lacking was a year of jubilee. Capitalism works really well until eventually the scales get so lopsided that it no longer becomes a free market system but instead becomes a free market to those who are privileged with opportunity. So what capitalism is lacking is a do-over. I commented that capitalism needs a point in time where we start things new, and create a clean slate. My friend smiled and said “that’s what a recession is.”
interesting.
When you say older and wiser friend did you mean me? Because I am pretty sure you are older than me?
Just finished this book. Not much to do with Jubilee, but much to do with capitalism. Highly recommended.
Some interesting thoughts I gathered from the book… capitalism doesn't really lead to imbalanced wealth, rather it leads to wealth overall. But, some people get so rich that they make the new middle class look poor. Also, charity is at it's strongest through capitalism.