The Sabbatical and Jubilee Years

The Sabbatical Year (Hebrew: Shemitah, meaning “release”) and the Jubilee Year were established by God. The Sabbatical Year was the seventh year in every seven-year cycle, and the Jubilee Year was the year after the seventh Sabbatical Year (the 50th year).

The Sabbatical Year dates back to Exodus 23:10-11, which says, “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.” During this time, the land was to rest. All agricultural activities—plowing, sowing, pruning, and harvesting—were forbidden by law. Other agricultural tasks, such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, and mowing, were permitted only as preventative measures and not to increase the yield of trees and crops. Additionally, any produce that grew during the Sabbatical Year was considered ownerless (hefker), and anyone could take it. Another aspect of the Sabbatical Year was the forgiveness of debts. At the end of the year, personal debts were considered nullified and released.

The Jubilee Year was also a year of rest for the land. After seven Sabbatical years (49 years), God commanded the Israelites to observe a special Jubilee Year (the 50th year; see Leviticus 25:8-55, 27:16-25). The land was to rest again. However, God promised that the sixth year would produce a harvest large enough to last for three years, so the people’s needs would be sufficiently met. Furthermore, during this year, all family property, no matter how it had been lost, could be redeemed, and all slaves were to be set free.

The Bible is never remote from our daily lives. In Western universities, professors traditionally receive a “sabbatical” year every seven years, which they use for research, travel, and writing. This practice, traditionally occurring every seven years, follows the principle of the Sabbatical Year, helping professors make academic discoveries that might easily be missed and deepen their theoretical knowledge through self-study.

The Bible records:

(Leviticus 25:1-7) The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and for the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land—all its yield shall be for food.’”

(Deuteronomy 15:1-2) “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not require it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.”

(Leviticus 25:8, 10-14) “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.”