The right of redemption shows up over and over in chapter 25 in relation to the year of Jubilee. Seems like an odd socioeconomic system, or at least very foreign to my American lifestyle. No Israelite is beyond this right, no matter their circumstances they have the opportunity to be redeemed by their own account, or by a relative, or by the year of Jubilee. Undergirding this hope is the reality that "you're My tenants" (Lev. 25:23). God gave them the land, it is His, and they are the foreigners, sojourning on His land. That's really not different for me, also a foreigner, a sojourner in this life -- He is the giver and the owner of all that I have and more importantly, it is by His sacrifice that I am redeemed from slavery to sin.
Isaiah prophesied about Jesus:
The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace -- a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies -- and to comfort all who mourn. To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. (61:1-3, Msg)It is Christ who is our Jubilee, our redemption. And Peter says,
...be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives....As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."...Your life is a journey [you are a foreigner, sojourner] you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb...whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future [a Jubilee] in God. I Peter 1:13-21That's as much as I can assimilate in my current mental state. There's so much more to this year of Jubilee that I don't know. Please feel free to chime in on your thoughts and understanding on this right of redemption.
4 comments:
Staci - hope you're feeling better today!
I love the idea of a year of Jubilee. Since it was every 50 years, most Israelites would only experience it once in their lifetime. I wonder what that was like. Must have been amazing for everyone to return to their family lands, to let the fields and vineyards rest, and to see all those enslaved Israelites go free. Just another reminder that they are just stewards of what God has given them.
I've been trying to find out if the Israelites actually kept the Jubilee year and if so, for how long because I don't recall reading about it later in the Old Testament. I read something that suggested that they may have kept it from the time of Joshua entering the Promised Land through the times of the Judges, but there's no record of it.
I was also struck by the story in chapter 24 of the guy who blasphemed the Name of God and was stoned by the entire congregation. We speak of God so irreverently in our culture today that this story seemed pretty harsh. It makes me realize how offensive our culture must be to the Lord given how much we take His name in vain.
I love the Year of Jubilee concept, and am thankful for it. I love the idea of that being a year of redemption and celebration, when property and people return to their intended position, their original design, when fields are left to rest and people live in abundance and grace.
This concept gives my soul rest and hope. And when i think that Jesus came to proclaim the Year of Jubilee: we are restored to our original design, position, owner. I am no longer a slave to sin, having been sold into sin-slavery by my ancestors. I am set free to live out God's intended design for me, as a worshipper.
This life here is the now and not yet. I've been introduced to freedom, but i don't know how to live in it after living under sin's tyranny for so long.
Could this life now be the Levitical training for an eternity in heaven? A time to learn how to respect and value God's holiness when everything my cultural context teaches me tells me to be more offended by the stoning of a man than with the blaspheming of my God?
A thousand miles away from each other, Sarah and Cici are on the same wavelength at the same time! :-) Interesting...
Lev. 25:55 The People of Israel are my servants whom I brought out of Egypt. I am God, your God.
What beautiful thoughts from all 3 of you.
Repentance. Redemption. Rest. Restoration.
Wonder what it was like to be offered such grace in the year of the Jubilee where they had time to rest and be real. Makes me so want to be a better servant to my Redeemer. Speak LORD for your servant is listening. Joshua 3:15-16
I bet they all heard the "sheer sound of silence" in their Jubilee, I Kings 19:12.
Staci, whispering (I'm the librarian today) a prayer for you from the library. Thank you for your very good labor of love in midst of feeling horrible.
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