Sabbatical and Jubilee Years

Unambiguous determination of a sabbatical year can be used to verify the accuracy of the Biblical chronology. An important question arises as to which month a sabbatical year should start. Most modern rabbis believe that a sabbatical year should start from Tishri 1, on the feast day of Trumpets. It is unclear whether this belief has any Biblical basis.

In the books of Moses, the beginning of a year was clearly set on Nisan 1, in the context of a description of the first Passover. "Yehowah said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 'This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.'" (Exodus 12:1-2). This new year celebrated the creation of the Jewish nation through the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt. Nisan, as the first of the months, coincided with the beginning of Jewish national history.

But the Scriptures made no mention of a new year on Tishri 1, which is so central to the Jewish religious experience today. The Scripture's reference to Tishri 1 is a holiday characterized primarily by the blowing of a shofar (trumpet). "In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. You shall not work at your occupations, and you shall bring an offering by fire to Yehowah." (Leviticus 23:24-25).

According to Josephus (Antiq. bk 1, ch. 3, 80-81), Moses appointed Nisan 1 as the beginning of the year after Yehowah brought the Israelites out of Egypt while the new year started on Tishri 1 in Egypt. The statement of Josephus implies that the Israeli new year day of Tishri 1 originates from Egypt.

The Israelites and Egyptians considered the year to begin around the autumn harvest and the beginning of the rainy season, which both signified the start of a new agricultural year. Although the Scriptures never explicitly refer to an autumn new year, the apparent timing of the autumn harvest festivals gives a minor hint of a possible autumn new year. According to Exodus 23:16, the Feast of the Harvest, i.e., the Feast of Tabernacles occurs at "the going out of the year" (b'tzayt ha-shanah), signifying the close of an agricultural year and the beginning of the next agricultural year. The Hebrew word "b'tzayt" used here is the same word used in Exodus 13:8 to refer to the Israelites' going out of Egypt. In other words, the Feast of Tabernacles comes at "the going out" of the agricultural year (that is, just after the end of the old agricultural year). Similarly, in Exodus 34:22, the Feast of the Ingathering, i.e., the Feast of Tabernacles is said to occur at the turn of the year (t'kufat Hashanah).

From the contexts of the Scriptures, one can clearly see that Yehowah appointed Nisan 1 as the beginning of a calendar year for the Israelites and Tishri 1 as the beginning of an agricultural year.

Therefore, the Feast of Tabernacles takes place 14 days after a new agricultural year. Most English Bibles change the literally translated phrase "the going out of the year," "from the end of the year," and "at the turn of the year" into "at the end of the year." The phase "at the end of the year" means the ending part of a year, which is different from the beginning part of a year when the Feast of the Tabernacles celebrates. For Deuteronomy 31:10, the LXX Septuagint English version reads: "And Moses charged them in that day, saying, after seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles..." In this English translation, the phrase "after seven years" has the same meaning as "from the end of seven years." We believe that the LXX Septuagint English (Greek) version correctly translates this Hebrew verse.

After we have made a clear distinction between the calendar year and the agricultural year, we can discuss whether the sabbatical year should be counted according to the calendar year or the agricultural year. It is claimed that the sabbath year (shmita Hebrew: [שמיטה]{dir="rtl"}‎, literally "release") is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the law for the land of Israel.

Where did Moses tell us that the year of release is counted according to the agricultural cycle? Let's carefully study Deuteronomy 31:10 (LXX): "And Moses charged them in that day, saying, after seven years, in the time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles ..." This verse clearly says that the Feast of Tabernacles occurs after the seventh agricultural year and during the time of the year of release (the sabbatical year). In other words, the sabbatical year continues after the seventh agricultural year ends. This implies that a sabbatical year is not counted from Tishri 1 but Nisan 1.

Deuteronomy 31:9-13 also tells us that all the people of Israel should gather for the Feast of Tabernacles during the sabbatical year to read, to hear, to learn, and to observe all the words of the Law of Yehowah. This special holy convocation should take place during the sabbatical year, the Sabbath of Yehowah.

Just as every seventh day is sanctified and set apart as holy, so is every seventh year. The seventh holy day starts from the beginning of a day appointed by God, which is from sunset. The seventh holy year should also start from the beginning of the year appointed by God, which is on Nisan 1. Therefore, the seventh holy year should be counted from the beginning of the calendar year.

The above conclusion is also supported by Leviticus 25:20-22 (NIV): "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?'  I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.  While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in."

These verses tell us that they would eat the old crop of the sixth year until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. This implies that the crop of the ninth year's harvest must be planted in the eighth year. If the sabbatical year were counted according to the agricultural cycle, the crop planted in the fall of the eighth year would be harvested in the spring and summer of the same eighth year. If the sabbatical year is counted from spring to spring, the crop planted after the fall of the eighth year will be harvested in the spring and summer of the ninth year. Only the latter is consistent with Leviticus 25:20-22.

Although a sabbatical year is not explicitly recorded in the Bible, we can infer it from Chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah where it records in detail the observation of the Feast of Tabernacles in the 20^th year of Artaxerxes I after the wall of Jerusalem was completely repaired (Nehemiah 6:15). According to the chronology of Babylon and Persia in Chapter 8, the 20^th year of Artaxerxes I was from the fall of 445 BC to the fall of 444 BC. Nehemiah left Shushan for Jerusalem during the spring of 444 BC, which was on the 20^th year of Artaxerxes I (Nehemiah 2:1). The wall of Jerusalem was completely repaired on the twenty-fifth of Elul (Nehemiah 6:15). After that, they celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in the month of Tishri.

During the Feast, "Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the book of the Law of God. They celebrated the Festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly." (Nehemiah 8:18, NIV). According to Deuteronomy 31:9-13, the people of Israel shall hear the Law of God in the Feast of Tabernacles during the year of release (shmita). Therefore, the year of the wall completion was in a sabbatical year, that is, the sabbatical year was from Nisan 1 of 444 BC to Adar 29 of 443 BC. Once one sabbatical year is determined, we can calculate any other sabbatical year by adding or subtracting multiple 7's.

According to the Biblical chronology in Chapter 10, the first calendar year was from Nisan 1 of 3971 BC to Adar 29 of 3970 BC. The first sabbatical year was then from Nisan 1 of 3965 BC to Adar 29 of 3964 BC. From Nisan 1 of 3965 BC to Nisan 1 of 444 BC, there were 3,521 (503×7) years. Indeed, the Biblical chronology is consistent with the fact that the year starting from Nisan 1 of 444 BC was a sabbatical year.

In Chapter 13, we showed that the summer of 38 BC, when Jerusalem was taken by Herod, was in a sabbatical year. Since the fall of 444 BC was also in a sabbatical year, the sabbatical years of 444 BC and 38 BC must have started in the spring. Otherwise, if a sabbatical year would start from Tishri 1, then Tishri 15 of 444 BC and Tammuz 17 of 38 BC could not have been in sabbatical years simultaneously. Therefore, a sabbatical year must be counted from Nisan 1.

Another sabbatical year recorded by Josephus was the year of the siege of Gaza and Tyre. After Alexander took Gaza in September of 332 BC and made haste to go up to Jerusalem, Jaddua the high priest made a request to Alexander that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all he requested. After that, the Samaritans also approached to him and petitioned that he would remit the tribute of the seventh year to them, because they did not sow thereon. But he did not grant them that privilege. The story here suggests that the year from the spring of 332 BC to the spring of 331 BC was a sabbatical year. From 444 BC to 332 BC, there were 112 years (7×16 years), which confirms that the year starting from the spring of 332 BC was indeed a sabbatical year.

Simon was killed on January 7 of 135 BC according to 1 Maccabees 16:14: "Now Simon was visiting the cities of the country and attending to their needs, and he went down to Jericho with Mattathias and Judas his sons, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year, in the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat." On other hand, Josephus (Antiq. bk 13, ch. 7-8) tells us that the year Simon was murdered was a sabbatical year, that is, the year from the spring of 136 BC to the spring of 135 BC was a sabbatical year. From 444 BC to 136 BC, there were 308 years (7×44 years). This confirms that the year starting from the spring of 136 BC was a sabbatical year.

What about a jubilee cycle? Leviticus 25:8-10 gives us a clear instruction, "And you shall number seven sabbaths of years unto you, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto you forty and nine years. And shall you cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishri), on the day of Atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and you shall return every man unto his possession, and you shall return every man unto his family."

These verses tell us that the jubilee starts on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the day of Atonement, which is in the middle of a sabbatical year and just after a 7^th agricultural new year. Calendric Signs (4Q319) in the Dead Sea Scrolls also indicate that the jubilee cycle (a period of 49 years) starts and ends in the middle of a sabbatical year. Therefore, a jubilee cycle starts on the day of Atonement in the middle of the first sabbatical year or in the first (or 8^th) agricultural year. The fiftieth (agricultural) year is the last year of the jubilee cycle, starting from the day of Atonement in the middle of the 8^th sabbatical year and ending on the 9^th day of the 7^th month of the following year. This fiftieth (agricultural) year shall be hallowed. The new jubilee cycle also starts from the fiftieth (agricultural) year.

Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5827-era#anchor2) says: "There is no record in the Bible of the actual beginning of the jubilees nor of their actual ending. Tradition relates that the fifteenth year after the entering of the Israelites into the land of Canaan was the first year of the first jubilee period."

We know that the Israelites entered the land of Canaan in 1417 BC, which was a sabbatical year. The fifteenth agricultural year after the Israelites' entering the land of Canaan was the first year of the first jubilee cycle. Therefore, the first jubilee cycle should have started from the 7^th month of 1403 BC (the first agricultural year to the Israelites). The first fiftieth year (the second jubilee cycle started) being hallowed was in 1354 BC. From 1354 BC to 2028, there are 3381 (69×49) years. This implies that the 70^th jubilee year to be hallowed should start from the day of Atonement of 2028. From the beginning of the first jubilee in 1403 BC to the day of Atonement in 2028, there are exactly 3430 (70×49) years. According to the Law: A woman who gives birth to a girl shall be deemed to be clean after 80 days. One expects a very important event may happen in Israel on the day of Atonement of 2028 because that day exactly marks the end of the 70^th^ jubilee circle and exactly 80 years after the nation of Israel was born again.

In Table XI, we list some important events which occurred in sabbatical years. It is remarkable that the Chinese dynasties always started in sabbatical years before the time of Yeshua Messiah, but after Yeshua's time the pattern changes completely. Among so many dynasties, only the Qin Dynasty appeared to have started in a sabbatical year (1636 AD) if the dynasty started from the reign of the second emperor 皇太极 (Huang Tai Ji). However, if the dynasty effectively started from the reign of the first emperor 努尔哈赤 (Nu Er Ha Chi), as should be the case, it began in 1616 AD, which was not in a sabbatical year.

The sudden change of the ruling pattern in China after the time of Yeshua agrees with the statement of Yeshua in John 14:30, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me (no power over me)." Indeed, the Son of God, the seed of the woman, bruised the head of Satan, the serpent of old and the ruler of the world, as prophesized in Genesis 3:15. The Son of God destroyed the works of the devil (sins). The devil has sinned from the beginning while Yeshua and his believers can overcome the sins because the Spirit of God dwells in them. Although the ruler of the world came to the world to bruise the heel of Yeshua, he has no power over Yeshua. After Yeshua went to his Father, the devil has power over the world, but not over the children of God.

China used to be called 神州(the land of God) and the people in the land worshipped the heavenly God. After Yeshua ascended to heaven, the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one (1 John 5:19). This may explain the sudden change of the ruling pattern in China after the time of Yeshua.

Similarly, Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful king of the Babylonian kingdom was also raised by God. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom was the first beast in the vision of Daniel. He started to reign in a sabbatical year (605 BC). God also raised Alexander the Great, the king of Greek kingdom (the third beast). Alexander overthrew the city of Tyre and established his kingdom in a sabbatical year. Augustus may have been raised by God as well. He won the important war in the battle of Actium in September 31 BC (in a sabbatical year) to establish the Roman Empire (the fourth beast). The United States of America was established in 1776 AD, which was also in a sabbatical year. This powerful nation should be raised by God to become the closest ally of Israel.

The nation of Israel was effectively established when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River to enter the promised land of God in 1417 BC. The land filled with milk and honey was originally occupied mostly by the Canaanites. But because of their great sins and unrepentance for over 400 years, God decided to destroy them and give the land to His own people, the Israelites. Thus, the nation of Israel was initially established in the spring of 1417 BC, which was in a sabbatical year.

Solomon started to build the temple of God in the spring of 977 BC and dedicated to the temple in the Feast of Tabernacles of 969 BC after he finished its building. The dedication of the temple in Jerusalem was the starting date for the celebration of the Feasts of Yehowah in Jerusalem, which was the chosen place by God. The dedication also took place in a sabbatical year, marking it as important in the sight of God.

Yeshua was baptized and anointed on 24 February 27 AD. During his baptism, the Father proclaimed him as His beloved Son. This event was prophesized by Daniel about 600 years ago and took place in a sabbatical year.

The great city of Nineveh was conquered in 612 BC, marking the end of the Assyrian Empire. The destruction of Nineveh was prophesized by Nahum and took place in 612 BC, which was also in a sabbatical year. God wanted to destroy it because its people were murderous, and the city was known as the "blood city." God made judgment to the wicked city in a sabbatical year, marking the important divine judgment by God.