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The Jubilee Perspective of
Freedom
26. The parallel efforts to bind
the ownership of land to its possessor in perpetuity and also to distribute
land equitably among all the families of Israel gave rise to one of the most
striking social institutions of that people: the Jubilee (cf. Lev 25).(17) This institution translates God's lordship
directly onto the social and economic planes, and seeks to affirm or defend three
types of freedom.
The first freedom concerns fields
and houses, which must return to their original owners in a Jubilee year.
Fields and houses can be sold, but this sale is simply a transfer of rights of
use and does not affect the right to the property of the owner (or a relative)
who can redeem it at any time. In any case, such transferred properties return
to the original families every fifty years.
The second freedom concerns
people who must return free to their families and properties in a Jubilee year.
The third freedom concerns the
land, which must be allowed to rest for a year during Jubilee and sabbatical
years.
The basis for these three
freedoms is particularly interesting: "... for I am the Lord your
God" (Lev 25:17) and "... the land is mine; for you are
strangers and sojourners with me" (25:23). The underlying reason is thus
God's lordship, a lordship seen in the gift to men: "I am the Lord
your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land
of Canaan, and to be your God" (25:38).
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