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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? | Lev 25:33 | Searcher56 | 8633 | ||
Nolan ... I don't think it is a command that fits us. Lev 25:2 says "when you enter the land." So I take this to mean the Israelistes only. Lev 25:8-55 (xref Deu. 15:1-18) talks about the Jubilee. Also, read Exo. 21:2-11 as another cross reference to verses 39 to 55. There were strict gudelines on how to handle the purchase and the return of property. The passage you referanced is about the Levites. In verse 30, the non-Levites di not get their house inside the walled city during Jubilee. I don't think we could understand all the rules God laid out, much less follow them. Tho some farmers fallow part of their land for a year, or the used to. I don't think they ever let it rest for two years. I know there is talk of having a Jubilee and forgiving the poor nations? Can we rich nations do this? Why not forgive all what we owe. Searching Scripture Steve |
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2 | Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? | Lev 25:33 | Makarios | 8637 | ||
Thanks melchizedekau and Steve for attempting to answer this question.. :) The various ordinances of Jewish law in Leviticus differ greatly in character and in detail; and it is also true here when speaking of the "Year of Jubilee" or a "Sabbatical Year".. In Ex. 23:10-11, an entire cessation of all fieldwork is ordered to take place in every 7th year.. This is said to be dictated by a regard for the poor and the beasts of the field. In effect, the gift of one year's produce to the poor is prescribed, that the landless may receive the usufruct of the soil. In Exodus 21:2-6, it is laid down that a Hebrew slave can be kept in bondage only for six years. After this period he was automatically emancipated, though his wife and children must remain in servitude, if he had married after his term of service began. But provision was made for cases where a slave might desire to remain in this condition. A public ceremony took place which signified his acceptance of the position in perpetuity. Nothing here is said which leads us to suppose that there was one simultaneous peroid of emancipation all over the country, and no reference is made to redemption of land or remission of debts in Scripture. Could this happen in a capitalist country such as the one that we live in today? It would be impossible! First of all, this nation has already dealt with the issue of slavery, so no emancipation is needed here. As for land and fieldwork, could you imagine what would happen if our country practiced cessation from all fieldwork? The Gross National Product would plummet, people would starve, and the lower class would swell, only forcing production to begin again.. (The demand would exceed the supply) So it would be impossible for this country or any other capitalist country, since we are so integrated in the trade and economy of other countries that we simply couldn't risk it! Ancient Israel depended upon no other country's trade, economy, or continuous supply of production in order to keep their 'economy' stable, so there was no limit to what they could do, and their economy in no way hindered (or was an excuse for them) the law of God. Therefore, they could accomplish these subtle but noble and far-reaching acts of grace towards a slave, former landowner, or poor person, which helped to balance out their society and give reprieve to the 'have-nots'. However, the people of this country never began in this way, and we are slaves to our economical system- there is no way that we could give reprieve to the poor or the former landowner, since our system wouldn't allow it. |
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3 | Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? | Lev 25:33 | Makarios | 8638 | ||
In Deuteronomy 15:1-3, the 7th year is assigned as the peroid at which all the liabilities of a Jew were suspended (or possibly, as Josephus supposes, entirely cancelled); this provision was to be of universal operation. In Deut. 15:12-18, the law is repeated in Ex. 21 with regard to the emancipation of slaves; here again prescribes that the Law is to be read every 7th year (the 'year of release') at the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Nehemiah 8:13-18). Nothing is said in Deuteronomy about a possible resumption of land.. We would especially enjoy this 'Sabbatical benefit'! If all of our debts where cancelled after seven years, then credit card companies would become bankrupt! Not only that, but it would spell an abrupt end to the Business world as we know it.. Actually, this proposal isn't sounding too bad after all! :) In God's sovereignty, He gave Israel the law in such a time when the technology was not so far advanced as it is today, and in this way God 'protected' the Israelites through His timing and the timing of the revelation of technology in that they would not have to worry so much about property, credit, debt, like we do today. Yes, we could enforce a 'sabbatical releasing of debt' in today's world, but not without retribution from large businesses and the other nations of the world at large.. This proves also that a "Year of Jubilee" would not be practical for our nation today.. Sources: "What Everyone Should Know About Economics and Prosperity" by James D. Gwartney, "Economics and God" by E.E. Tasker, Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible by Hendrickson, The Ryrie Expanded Edition Study Bible, The Complete Works of Josephus Good study on the "Sabbatical Year"! Nolan |
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4 | Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? | Lev 25:33 | Makarios | 8640 | ||
In Leviticus 25:1-55, a provision is made for a seventh-year fallow; but there is no mention of the poor. The reason assigned is that the land, being God's land, must keep Sabbath- the Sabbath principle is extended to cover nature as well as man. We also find here the jubilee ordinances. After 49 years had elapsed, every 50th year was to be inaugurated as a jubilee by the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement. All slaves were to be emancipated (this may be a modified substitute for the earlier provisions with regard to emancipation after 7 years); no mention is made of the possibility of perpetual slavery, but it is ordained that the Hebrew slave of a foreigner may be redeemed by a relative, all Jews being essentially God's servants. The land was to lie fallow, and providential aid is promised to ensure sufficiency of produce during the period of three years when no harvest could be gathered- the 49th year- which would be a sabbatical fallow, the Year of Jubilee, and the following year, when tillage would be resumed. Here we also find elaborate directions for the redemption of land in the Jubilee Year. Summarized, they are: 1) No landed property may be sold, but only the usufruct of its produce up to the next Jubilee, and the price must be calculated by the distance from that period. 2) A kinsman may redeem land thus mortgaged, or (the meaning may be) exercise a right of pre-emption upon it. 3) The mortgager may redeem at the selling price, less the yearly proportion for the time elapsed since the sale. 4) House property in walled towns (not in villages) may be sold outright, and is redeemable only during one year. Such property was presumably regarded as human and artificial, while all land was essentially the property of God. 5) The Levitical possessions were redeemable at any time, and did not come under the Jubilee provisions. 6) Nothing is said in Leviticus as to the remission of debts, but there is a general prohibition of usury. 7) In Leviticus 27:16-25 a field devoted to God must be valued at once at a fixed rate, and might be redeemed at this price, plus a fine of 20 percent, up to the year of Jubilee. If not redeemed by then it became sacred property; no redemption of it was thereafter possible. Sources: "What Everyone Should Know about Economics and Prosperity", "Economics and God", Hasting's Bible Dictionary, The Ryrie Study Bible |
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5 | Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? | Lev 25:33 | Makarios | 8643 | ||
What is the significance in a Year of Jubilee? Or why did God create such an 'expansion' of the Sabbath day by creating this ordinance? For basically four reasons: 1) The periodical fallow- this is a common provision in agriculture and the seven years' period is still observed today in Syria. Since the fallow year was not at first everywhere simultaneous, the earlier historical books are silent about it; and indeed it cannot have been generally observed. For the 70 years' captivity and desolation of the land was regarded as making up for the unobserved Sabbaths of the land (2 Chr. 36:21, Lev. 26:34,43). The reference in Nehemiah 10:31 could be to the periodic fallow or remission of debts. 2) The emancipation of slaves (Jer. 34:8-9). Such a provision must have been extremely difficult to enforce! This is the only reference to it. 3) The remission or suspension of debts. The only reference is the dubious one found in Nehemiah 10:31.. 4) The redemption of real property. This is not uncommon in other countries. Jeremiah 32:6, Ruth 4, Ezekiel 7:13; 46:17 shows that something like this did exist in Palestine. But it was in no sense 'universal', since Isaiah and Micah speak of 'land grabbing'; on the other hand, 1 Kings 21:3-4 gives us an example of the inalienability of land. Even though God provided Israel with this "Year of Jubilee" ordinance, we have no sign that the sabbatical and jubilee provisions were ever strictly observed in Biblical times. Their principles of rest and redemption, though never practiced as a piece of social politics, were preached as ideals, and may have had some effect in discouraging slave-owning, land-grabbing, and usury, and in encouraging a more merciful view of the relations between Jew and Jew. Isaiah 61:1-3 is steeped in Jubilee phraseology, and Christ adopted this passage to explain His own mission (Luke 4:18).. Nolan |
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