his listeners.
The Language of Jubilee
Isaiah speaks of the “year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19 – Isa. 61:2). The adjective “favorable,” in Hebrew ratson, comes from the verb ratsah, which means either “to pay a debt” when it refers to the person paying it, or “to be favorable” when it refers to God accepting the payment. The Revised Standard Version uses “acceptable year,” which points to the double meaning of ratson. For example, in Leviticus 26:41, we read, “Then [when they are in exile] when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,” and further on (v. 43), “For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths [it will lie fallow to compensate for all the unobserved sabbatical years]…and they will pay (ratsah) for their sins.”8 Here payment of debt is in view. Other passages, however, emphasize favor and acceptance.9 In the passage quoted by Jesus, the Messiah proclaims, “The Lord has anointed me to…proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (a year of acceptance, or ratson) and the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus stops the quote with “the Lord’s favor,” but for Isaiah, the God “of vengeance” and the God “of mercy” are one and the same, in whom there is no contradiction.10 In this context the “year of favor” proclaimed by Jesus involved a judgment as well as a pardon or the forgiveness of God. This was the content of the good news.
The passage in Isaiah also refers to “freedom.” “The Lord has anointed me…to proclaim freedom to the captives.” The Hebrew word derôr, which means literally “liberty,” is also found in Leviticus 25:10: “Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.” Ezekiel 46:17 also calls the Jubilee the “year of freedom.” This strongly suggests that derôr was used as a technical term referring to the periodic liberation of slaves as prescribed by Moses.11
Closely related is the idea of “release.” This word (shemittah, in Hebrew) is found neither in Isaiah nor in Leviticus, but only in Deuteronomy (chapters 15 and 31). The verb shamôt means “to let alone, to let rest, to release, to remit (the payment of a debt).” Shemittah occurs six times in Deuteronomy 15:1–11, where it means “release, periodic cancellation of debts.”12
In Luke’s text, the Greek word aphesis translates both shemittah and derôr.13 “The Lord has anointed me to proclaim aphesis (liberty, release) to the captives.” Aphesis comes from the verb aphiemi (to send away, to liberate, to leave aside, to remit a debt). Sometimes it means “liberty,” or better, the “liberation” of a slave, sometimes, “the remittance of a debt.”
This word occurs quite frequently in the Gospels both as a substantive and as a verb. For instance, when John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance it was for the release of sins considered as debts (Mark 1:4).14 Later, referring to the healing of the paralytic, Jesus stated, “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive (aphiemi) sins” (Matt. 9:6). For the Messiah, the jubilean remission of debts extended to all areas of life – material, moral, and social. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus portrays God as a king who remits (aphiemi) debts acquired by his servant (Matt. 18:27–32). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus advises us to also “let go” or “remit” our cloak to him who wants our coat (Matt. 5:40).15
The jubilean significance of aphesis in the first three Gospels is beyond doubt. Peter, Andrew, James, and John, when called by Jesus, “left everything (aphientes panta) and followed him” (Luke 5:11). Shortly before Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, the apostles happily reminded him that they had put the jubilean ordinance into practice as soon as they had heard his call: “We have left everything (aphekamen panta) to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matt. 19:27). And Jesus told them that their obedience meets God’s generous jubilean initiative: “No one who has left (apheken) home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – and with them, persecutions), and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10: 29–30).
Finally, Jesus uses the same word during the Last Supper, where the Jubilee is announced in eschatological terms: “This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness (aphesis) of sins. I tell you, I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:28–29). The supreme Sabbath celebrated in the kingdom of God is thus announced by a terrestrial Jubilee that foreshadows it.
In addition to the above language of freedom and release there is the notion of restoration. The word “jubilee” itself (yobel, in Hebrew) does not seem to have had any particular meaning. The yobel was probably the ram’s horn used in the land every forty-nine years on the Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, to proclaim the beginning of the year of Jubilee. Later, it became associated with the Latin word jubilum (from jubilare, to rejoice, to exult), but this was merely a verbal coincidence. Philo of Alexandria, a contemporary of Jesus, rightly designated the Jubilee by the term apokatastasis. This word means to reestablish something or somebody to his previous state, a restoration or restitution of prisoners or hostages, for example. This is a subject to which Philo devotes several chapters throughout his works (cf. his Decalogue) and it squares beautifully with the basic meaning of the Jubilee. The very purpose of the Jubilee was to “reestablish” the tribes of Israel as they were at the time they entered Canaan.
The New Testament itself uses apokatastasis several times to express the idea of restoration. For instance, it can mean the reestablishment or “recovery” of a sick person.16 In Matthew 17:11, referring to the messianic “restoration” of the kingdom of Israel, Jesus said, “Elijah comes and will restore all things.” In Acts 1:6 the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” And later in Acts Peter, quoting Deuteronomy 18:15–19, declares, “Jesus must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people…’” (Acts 3:21–22).
In the last passage, Peter describes Jesus as a second Moses, who will once again enforce the ancient ordinances. Moses’ return and consequently the reestablishment of the Jubilee through repentance and remission of sins are described as the condition for the great restoration when Jesus returns. Whether referring to the healing of persons or the reestablishment of the king, apokatastasis should be understood as having jubilean connotations. The restoration of the sick, the reestablishment of Israel, and the reestablishment of property were all part of the Messiah’s redemptive task. Jesus’ mission was one of jubilee!
Jubilean Provisions
The year of Jubilee was celebrated every forty-nine years, that is every seventh Sabbath of years (seven times seven).17 Just as the week ended with a “day of release” called the Sabbath and a “week of years” ended with a sabbatical year (every seventh year), each period of forty-nine years ended with a Year of Jubilee.
Why the Year of Jubilee? What were the religious principles upon which the Year of Jubilee was based? We can identify two basic rationales.
First, God is the owner of the land. In Leviticus 25:23 we read, “The land shall not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.” In the ancient world, such a declaration was not unique. The land, along with the flocks, constituted the only source of capital, and its possession guaranteed wealth and power. As a general rule, the land belonged to the god of the area or country. In practice this meant that it belonged either to the priests of the god or to the king who incarnated the god, as in Egypt. The situation was then somewhat similar to modern socialist states: the king granted the use of his lands to whomever he pleased.
But the remarkable thing about the Jubilee was that it did