Tuesday April 2nd, 2019 Leviticus 25:1-19
In this year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property. (verse 13)
As a child, I loved the game of Scrabble. It involves making words out of seven tiles, each containing one letter of the alphabet. One day I had only H-H-Q-W-W-X and Z. It was impossible to make a word out of this combination! So I used the game’s provision to return all the tiles and choose new ones. The fresh start worked.
God’s provision of the jubilee is similar. Every fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast would signal liberty throughout the land. All property that had been taken by others for unpaid debts would have to be returned to the original families. Everyone who had been indebted was then released from that debt and able to start over again by having their land returned to them. This allowed those who lost everything, even sometimes their freedom, to gain it back. A fresh start.
The Jubilee year foreshadows our salvation. Just as the land, people and property were released, so we, too, have been released from a debt that we could not pay. Symbolically, we are all prisoners and slaves of sin, but Christ’s ransom sacrifice sets us free.
God of mercy and love, thank you for providing us with a fresh start through your Son, Jesus Christ. — MDB
Contributed by A fresh start
As a child, I loved the game of Scrabble. It involves making words out of seven tiles, each containing one letter of the alphabet. One day I had only H-H-Q-W-W-X and Z. It was impossible to make a word out of this combination! So I used the game's provision to return all the tiles and choose new ones. The fresh start worked.
God's provision of the jubilee is similar. Every fiftieth year, on the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast would signal liberty throughout the land. All property that had been taken by others for unpaid debts would have to be returned to the original families. Everyone who had been indebted was then released from that debt and able to start over again by having their land returned to them. This allowed those who lost everything, even sometimes their freedom, to gain it back. A fresh start.
The Jubilee year foreshadows our salvation. Just as the land, people and property were released, so we, too, have been released from a debt that we could not pay. Symbolically, we are all prisoners and slaves of sin, but Christ's ransom sacrifice sets us free.
