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The Lord blesses Israel with an incredible economic plan that has never been equaled. It eliminates the serious problems that human economic systems create.

God gives instruction to Israel concerning the feasts to be observed in Leviticus 23, and the special years to be observed in Leviticus 25. The interval between these events is based on the number seven, from the seven-day week of Creation that ended on the Sabbath. The feasts all involved some sort of a sabbatical rest.

The annual cycle of feasts begins in the spring with the Feast of Passover and is followed by the Feast of Pentecost, seven weeks later (although the ancients, with their system of reckoning, call it 50 days later).

Seven months after the Passover, trumpets are blown for the Feast of Trumpets, announcing the judgment of the Day of Atonement, on the tenth day. The Feast of Tabernacles follows in the same month.

All of the annual feasts deal with some portion of the yearly harvest; Passover marks the beginning of the grain harvest, and Pentecost marks the end. Trumpets begin the seventh month that ends with Tabernacles, marking the end of the fall harvest of olives and grapes.

The first of the special years is the Sabbatical Year. Every seventh year is designated as a Sabbatical Year of rest. There is to be no planting or harvesting so the land can rest and be renewed. Also, all indentured slaves who have sold themselves to repay a debt are freed, and their debts are cancelled. The maximum length of service for an indentured slave is 6 years, and for most, it is far less.

The second special year is called the Jubilee Year. It occurs simultaneously with the seventh Sabbatical Year. This year rectifies the misfortunes of those who have gone into debt during the previous 49 years and have had to deliver their land to whomever they were indebted to. At the Jubilee Year, their debt is cancelled, and their land is returned. The maximum number of years one can lose their land is 48 years. For most individuals, the period is far shorter. In the Hebrew’s way of reckoning time, the Jubilee Year is called the fiftieth year.

God’s economic plan does not function on the basis of money, but on the value of land, goods, and services. In God’s economic system, the value of services cycles every seven years, because in the seventh year, the indentured slaves go free. Land depreciates about two percent per year, because it will revert back to the previous owner in the Jubilee Year. As the land depreciates, the value of goods increases. Then, when the land appreciates again, the value of goods decreases. This eliminates inflation, and prosperity is continuous as the population increases.

In today’s terms, the gross national product probably increased somewhere in the range of two to six percent annually. The result is no entrenched poverty or wealth, yet there is steady prosperity. The Sabbatical Years are also a great blessing to the people, because their land does not wear out through continuous farming.

The system of Sabbatical Years is a great spiritual blessing to Israel because they have to depend on the Lord to supply their needs during the time of no planting or harvesting. They also learn that God wants them to see value in their fellow men by not allowing anyone to lord over them through permanent slavery or wealth.

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