~Year of Jubilee~

Happy New Year! So I have been studying about the year of Jubilee in the Old Testament, and I have found some conflicting information which leads me to question if the 7th year of each of the 7 Sabbatical Year Periods is considered the Year of Jubilee as well as the 50th, but I am more or less going to use a metaphor for myself despite what it really is, and say that 2006 is a year of jubilee for me, which is also a sabbatical year. Basically, I feel I have been through 6 years of some sowing and pruning and now God is bringing me into a year of rest and release! Praise the Lord. For inquiring minds, here is a little information on the year of jubilee from the Old Testament.

ju·bi·lee-A season or an occasion of joyful celebration.

The term jubilee year (Vulg. annus Jubilei, or Jubileus) is of Hebrew origin, the etymological meaning of which is, in all probability, "ram", which metonymically stands for "the horn of a ram". Thus the name "the year of the blowing of the ram's horn" exactly corresponds to "the day of the blowing of the horn", or the "feast of the new year", and it was, like the latter, announced to the people by the blowing of the horn. In Ezechiel (xlvi, 17) the Jubilee Year is called "the year of release"; hence some commentators have derived the Hebrew word for "Jubilee" from the stem which means "to emit", "to liberate". The first derivation, however, is more acceptable. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08534a.htm)

The Sabbatical Year

The seventh day was special and the seventh month was special, and so also was the seventh year. It was a sabbatical year. Leviticus 25: 1-4 reads: 'The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.'"'

Every seven years the land is to rest, with no sowing or harvesting of crops, and pruning of vineyards (Leviticus 25:1-5). Whatever grows by itself in the fields or grows on the untended vines shall not be harvested. But people, especially the poor can go out into the fields or vineyards and pick what they need to eat (verses 5-6; Exodus 23:10-11).
Associated with the Sabbatical Year is the "Year of Release." At the end of "every seven years" Israelites were to cancel the debts owed to them by their fellow countrymen. This regulation did not apply to debts owned by non-Israelites (Deuteronomy 15:1-11). Also, at the end of every seven years, during the Year of Release, the people heard the Law of God read to them during the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).

Through my prayer and reflection on 2006 the Lord has also brought to my mind several verses that keep reccuring to me.

1 Peter 1:6-10
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Job 23:9-11
When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

Nehemiah 8:10-13
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
The Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve."
Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD's Favor
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD

Today was a reflective day for me. I spent time with family today as my Mom and her husband Larry flew back to Colorado and I had a girl's day with my sister Angela and my niece Amanda as we went to see a movie, The Family Stone.

This morning my Mom came and laid in the bed with me and we talked. It was so comforting and refreshing just to talk with her on that level. Later in the afternoon I saw a scene in the movie that made me think of my time with her this morning in which one of the daughters in the family of 5 children goes into lay with her Mom as she is napping. It is such a sweet scene of love and acceptance of things we cannot control and learning to enjoy the moments we have as Diane Keaton, the mother in the movie, is dying of breast cancer. The Lord has used today for me to reflect on Christ's love for us and our love for others based on the time we are given by Him. I was later surrounded by friends and found myself very quiet and just focused on each of them and thinking of how I pray they truly have brothers and sisters in Christ that are cherishing moments with them and that I can be one of those people in their lives that cherishes them.