Jubilee Cycle

The Jubilee cycle, which involves the periodic release of debts, freedom, and land ownership rights, has been debated and interpreted for centuries. The Bible specifies a 50-year cycle for the Jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-13.

(Lev 25:8)  And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
(Lev 25:9)  Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
(Lev 25:10)  And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
(Lev 25:11)  A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
(Lev 25:12)  For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
(Lev 25:13)  In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

Some scholars have argued that the cycle should be 49 years, based on their interpretation of the Bible. These two renditions have been the subject of much discussion and disagreement over the years.

The proponents of the 49-year cycle say that the 50th year and the 1st year of the next 49-year Jubilee cycle are the same. An illustration would better demonstrate their point of view.

The 50-year Jubilee cycle is similar to the 49-year cycle, except that the 50th year is considered independent and not part of the subsequent cycle.

The Jubilee was also a year for the land to rest, as stated in Lev 25:11, just like the seventh year. Lev 25:4

Herein lies the BIG issue with the 49-year cycle concept. It contradicts the Bible!
As shown in Table 1 above, the 50th year is the same as the 1st year of the next cycle. The Jubilee is a year for the land to rest. So for that next set of seven years (and every other set of seven years after a Jubilee), they could only sow for five years. But the Bible clearly states six years to plant and harvest the land. Not five. Lev 25:3

Also, if the 50th is the 1st, why is that not stated in the Bible? Would it not be more straightforward and less confusing if Scripture said the Jubilee was the 1st year of the 49 years?
Why is it not? Because the 50th year is not the 1st year of the Jubilee cycle.

The Jubilee Cycle is 50 years.

Now some might say that it cannot be two subsequent years that the land rests. What would they eat?

Simple. The sixth year produces a bumper harvest, just as the Bible states.

(Lev 25:20)  And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
(Lev 25:21)  Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
(Lev 25:22)  And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

Although the above verses refer to the rest in the 7th year and then sowing in the 8th. You can see God has blessed the 6th year’s harvest to provide enough food for three years to last up to the 9th year, providing ample food for two subsequent (7th and 8th) years of rest.