Category:Jubilee

Ju"bi*lee, n. Etym: [F. jubilé, L. jubilaeus, Gr. y the blast of a trumpet, also the grand sabbatical year, which was announced by sound of trumpet.]

1. (Jewish Hist.)

Defn: Every fiftieth year, being the year following the completion of each seventh sabbath of years, at which time all the slaves of Hebrew blood were liberated, and all lands which had been alienated during the whole period reverted to their former owners. [In this sense spelled also, in some English Bibles, jubile.] Leviticus 25:8-17.

2. The joyful commemoration held on the fiftieth anniversary of any event; as, the jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign; the jubilee of the American Board of Missions.

3. (R. C. Ch.)

Defn: A church solemnity or ceremony celebrated at Rome, at stated intervals, originally of one hundred years, but latterly of twenty- five; a plenary and extraordinary indulgence grated by the sovereign pontiff to the universal church. One invariable condition of granting this indulgence is the confession of sins and receiving of the eucharist.

4. A season of general joy. The town was all a jubilee of feasts. Dryden.

5. A state of joy or exultation. [R.] "In the jubilee of his spirits." Sir W. Scott.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Jubilee - A joyful shout or clangor of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the fields (Leviticus 25:11, Leviticus 25:12). All landed property during that year reverted to its original owner (Leviticus 25:13-34; Leviticus 27:16), and all who were slaves were set free (Leviticus 25:39-54), and all debts were remitted. The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:9, Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2; Ezekiel 7:12, Ezekiel 7:13; Nehemiah 5:1-19; 2 Chronicles 36:21) which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed. The advantages of this institution were manifold: (1.) It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. (2.) It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. (3.) It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. (4.) It would utterly do away with slavery. (5.) It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. (6.) It would periodically rectify the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate.