In honor of Labor Day… You know, if our country is so intent on stimulus packages and bailing companies out, maybe we should take a page from God’s book and just institute the Year of Jubilee. Then we would bail everyone out and let everyone start over. Leviticus 25:10-11 ‘You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.’
Leviticus 25:10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. I wish we still had a year of Jubilee! Essentially every 50 years all land reverted to its original owner, and all Hebrews who were indentured were freed. Can you imagine if we did that today? I have no idea how the land thing would work because we don’t work the land and don’t really think of it as part of our ability to survive. Land was more significant then when survival was based on what you could grow on your land. And, only land reverted to its original owner. Houses in the city were exempt (except in the Levite cities since they didn’t get a share of the land, according to the Torah), presumably because they weren’t necessary for survival. Houses outside the city were part of the year of Jubilee because they were on a portion of land. But what if all debts that enslave people were forgiven every 50 years? Imagine what that would do to the economy! If debts across the board were wiped out around the world, I think that would provide a HUGE boost to everyone’s economy. Even when we owe money to us, usually there’s someone who owed us money. For example, we owe money to China, but I believe England and several other European nations owe us money. It’s a nasty, tangled mess of intermingling lines. There would be, undoubtedly, some sticky points, but the writers of the Torah (or was it Jesus commenting on the Torah) said that you shouldn’t refuse to lend someone money just because it was close to the year of forgiveness (btw, monetary debt was supposed to be erased every Sabbath year – every 7th year). I also think it’s pretty cool that every 7th year the land was supposed to rest. There was to be no farming or reaping or sowing. But the people wouldn’t starve. God promised to make the land grow 3 times as much in the 6th year so that there would be food during the 7th year AND during the 8th year when the new set of crops were being planted and grown, as well as providing enough seed to sow in the 8th year. It’s amazing to me how God thinks of little details like that. I’d have been like, “Sure, I’ll provide enough food for the 7th year” but I’d not even think about the fact that it would take the 8th year to sow and reap before food was available! He thinks about the details. Kainoah is sick today. He came home last night with a nasty, tight cough and shaking with fever (poor little guy). Since John was laid off a few weeks ago, he’s had a lot of free days. This week he has every day off except for today. Of all the days! So, I’m taking one of my last sick days to stay home with Kai and take him to the doctor. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but I have 2 meetings to go to for Gavin’s preschool enrollment (they have to do an evaluation and we have to write an IEP) and needed the days off for that. BUT, I realized (and keep trying to remember) that this, like John’s jobless state, is not a surprise to God. He knows that I need to go to those meetings for Gavin. He knows that John has off every day but today. And He knew that Kai was going to get sick. So, it’s not an accident. It’s not a mistake. To every thing there’s a purpose, and so it is with this. I don’t know why Kai’s sick and I have to stay home, but I do know that it serves a purpose somehow and that God will work through it and in it. He’ll hand the details of sorting out the other issues, and if that means I get docked pay, well, He knows that and already has a plan in place for that contingency. So, God is God.
Sadly this is a note in passing since Kainoah woke up before me this morning (yeah, 4:50am is really early, even if you normally get up at 5am), and as much as I love him, his wakefulness isn’t particularly conducive to study! The Year of Jubilee has been on my mind since my amazing husband mentioned something that he feels God told him about it. So, today I spent a little time (after trying to figure out where the Year of Jubilee commands were) refreshing my memory and doing some research. In brief: It was the Sabbath Year – the land was to rest without any plantings or harvesting. Anything that grew was for those who were slaves, servants, and foreigners, as well as livestock and wild animals. Interestingly enough, if these laws were followed, the year preceding the Year of Jubilee would provide enough food to last them through the entire year and past it until they could plant and harvest in the next year! Talk about provision – I’m thinking there are some interesting parallels to our lives in that…. It was the year of freedom – land that was sold or lost due to bankruptcy or debt would be returned to its original owner. It was a year of redemption from bondage – those who were slaves to debt had their debt canceled and they were set free. So, I’m not sure what John feels his message means, but I’m going to keep reading because there are definitely interesting implications in it, no matter what our situation.