Leviticus 25 introduces the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee.  After the people of Israel would enter the land that the Lord would give them, they were commanded to keep a "sabbath unto the Lord" every 7 years.. not planting their crops or pruning their vineyards.  God would provide 3 years worth of food during the 6th year so that they would have enough for the 7th and 8th year when they would plant again.  He promised that they would have enough to feed themselves, any servants, and even the cattle or other animals that they kept. 

And.. to add to that every 50th year they would celebrate a year of Jubilee. The 49th year and the 50th year would be set apart.. and they would not plant for those 2 years.. trusting the Lord to provide enough. "For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field."  This celebration would start with the sound of trumpets on the day of atonement.  

Not only was the year of jubilee a year to give rest to the land.. but it was a year of liberty.  During this year any land that had been sold would have to be returned to the man and his family who sold it. The number of years until the next jubilee year determined the amount that someone would pay for the land.   The Lord said, "The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me." ( v23)

Also, any person who sold himself because of his poverty would have to be set free on the first day of the jubilee. The Lord desired His people to help each other. "Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner , that he may live with you." (v35)  They were forbidden to charge "usurious interest... but fear they God; that thy brother may live with thee." (v36)

The Lord taught His people the need for redemption. If a fellow Israelite became so poor and sold himself to a foreigner then they should make arrangements to buy them back.. pay the redemption price that corresponds to the number of years to the next jubilee. 

It is Jeremiah who reveals how much the Lord valued the keeping of these sabbath years and the Year of Jubilee.  In Jeremiah 25:10-11 he prophesied, " Moreover I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."  Israel had failed to observe the sabbath year (7th year) 10 times.. 70 years..  Jeremiah 29:10 "For thus says the Lord, when seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. " 

Jeremiah also recorded the covenant that God made with King Zedekiah and the people in Jerusalem.. to set free the Hebrew men and women who had been kept in bondage by their own people. (Chapter 34). The people first obeyed this law.. but then took it back.. ".. you turned and profaned My name and each man took back his male servant and .. his female servant, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection.. " (v16)  Because of this the Lord said, "You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you... to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth." (v17)

I don't know if Israel ever kept the sabbath years or the years of Jubilee.. or if they do now.  But, I know this.. Jesus proclaimed, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He  anointed  Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." ( Luke 4:18-19) 

This is the reason we can celebrate .. sound the trumpets.. rejoice in God's provision of a Wonderful Savior who came to release us from captivity and bring us home..to where He is.. forever and ever! Amen.