June 18, 2018: Day 65 – Leviticus 25

The year of Jubilee is described in this chapter.  This was a big deal back in Italy when the Roman Catholic Church declared a year of jubilee for the year 2000.  The door into St. Peter’s Basilica was opened and then closed again.  Here is the door that I am talking about.

The year of Jubilee is not just a party.  It is a time to set the slaves free, it is a time to forgive debt, it is a time to return home after you have been away.  If you go through this chapter you see that there are very specific rules on what is to happen on the year of jubilee.

Now, we don’t follow the year of jubilee any longer, but what would happen if we forgave everyone’s debt on the year of jubilee.  What if every 50 years lending institutions said: “Okay, this year, we are going to wipe the slate clean.”  Yeah, I don’t see it happening either.  But do you notice that in this chapter there was also a provision, or it was more of a commandment, that you are not to lend to a member of the tribe with interest.  You are simply to help them out and not expect anything in return.  Again, that would be something significant if we were able to enact that as well.