Vers. 8-17.-The/ubilee. The sabbath of the seventh day is commemorative of the rest of God after the work of creation, and anticipative of the rest in heaven for 'his people after the world's great week of toil and sorrow (see Heh. iii., iv.).· · -The more> to impress these things upon us, to keep alive our gratitude, and to stimulate our faith and hope, be also instituted the sabbaths of the Levitical system. Conspicuous amongst these are the grand sabbaths mentioned in this chapter, viz. that of the sevent~ year and that of the week of years. This last comes now under review; and we notice-- I. THE TIKE OF THE JUBILEE, 1. In its astronomical aspect. (1) It was rerulated by the sun. It was reckoned from the entrance of the children of Israel into Canaan and recurred at the time of the autumnal harvest. (2) It was also regulated by the moon'. It \\"as counted from the tenth day of the first month, that being the month in which Israel crossed the Jordan, (3) It was itseU an important factor in reconcilin"' solar and lunar time. Forty-nine years is a soli-lunar cycle. The interval from th; tenth day of the first month of the year to the tenth of the seventh month of the forty-ninth· year is exactly six hundred lunations. 'l'he sabbaths are all worked in, as. elements of intercalation, and the intercalations of the Levitical system are very superior to those of the Gregorian (see 'Dissertation Concerning the Sabbath; and a Sabbatical Era' in the third volume of King's 'Morsels of Criticism'). Who but God could have instituted a system so scientifically perfect? (se_e Gen. i. 14). 2. In its theological aspect. (1) The jubilee dated from the great Day of Atonement. Some compute that the very year in which Christ suffered was the year of jubilee, and the last of the Leviticar series. (2) Its provisions were typical of gospel mysteries. As the jubilee ended the yoke and burden of the slave, so the bringing in of the gospel released us from the yoke and burden even of the ceremonial Law itself. (3) When the gospel is received by faith, it introduces us into a spiritual rest from the burden and yoke of sin. (4) 'l'he rest of the soul in Christ is an earnest of the rest in heaven, This last also springs from the great atonement of Calvary. IL THE PBOCLAJUTION OF THE JUBILEE. 1. This foreshadowed the preaching of el111 gospel. (1) It was by sound of trumpet. Some suppose that the jubilee had its name (',:i,,) from a particular sound of the trumpet. The word jobel (',::i•) is used for a trumpet in Exod. xix. 13. The gospel should have a certain sound (see 1 Cor. xiv. 8). (2) 'l'he trumpet was sounded over the sacrifices. This foresho""ed the connection between the great atonement of Christ and the blessings of salvation. '!'he preaching of the gospel is the preaching of the cross. "The great liberty or redemption from thraldom, published under the gospel, could not take place till the great atonement- the sacrifice of the Lord Je611S-had been offered up" (Clarke). (3) The trumpet was sounded throughout the land (ver. 9). (a) If the land of Canaan be taken as a specimen of the world at large, then was this a prophecy of the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 16; Col. i. 23). (b) But if the land be taken in_a restricted sense as applicable to the people of the Law in contradistinction to the heathen, then the teaching is that those only who renounce sin by repentance are concerned in the blessings of the gospel. 2. The trumpet also 11ugge1Jta the ;'udgment. (1) The ;'obel, or trumpet, sounded at the giving of the Law (Exod. xiL 13). It callecl attention to the Law as the standard by which we shall be judged. 'fhe trumpet will sound at the Inst day, (a) to awaken the dead (1 Cor. xv. 62); (b) to summon all men to the tribunal. (2) The jubilee trumpet was the trumpet of a seventh period. There was the trumpet of the seventh day; again, of the seventh year; and now again, of the sabbath of a week of sabbatic periods. To these correspond the seventh of the seven great trumpets of the Apocalypse, which proclaims the judgment. (3) While to the wicked the trumpet of the judgment is a fearful alarm, to the gootl it is a joyful sound. If we sing of judgment we must also sing of mercy (Ps. ci 1). The seventh trumpet heralds in the reign of peace. III. 'l'n'!: BLESSINGS OF 'l'HE JUBILEE. 1. It proclaimed a release. (1) As to the person. 'l'be slave was released from the hand of his brother; from the hand of the stranger. Whom the Son maketh free is free indeed. (2) As to the land. Every man returned to his possession. Adam Clarke derives the wordjubi1ee (',:ii•) from lwbil (',,:nn), to cause to bring lack, because estates, etc., which had been alienated, ww11 then brought back to their primitive owners. No true believer can be deprived of en. xxv. 1-55.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 403
~is share in the land of promise (see Eph. i.14; Heb. xi. 9-14). 2. It was a season o/ ;oy. (1) The poor then rejoiced in plenty. In the sabbatic year the fruit of the Lord's land was free. In the year of jubilee every man returned to his possession. (2) The generous rejoiced in the prosperity of the poor. No doubt there were churls. Such persons are never to be envied ; least of all in a season of rejoicing. Heaven would be hell to the churl. (3) The spectacle of blessedness periodically witnessed in sabbatic years and jubilees encouraged generous habits of thouuht, feeling and action. Happy is the people whose God is the Lord.-J. A. M. ., '