HomeVisionStatement Of FaithArticlesPhoto GalleryEditor's NoteLinksContact

When Is The Next Biblical Jubilee?


When I wrote the previous article “The Biblical Jubilee”, I did not have any intention of dealing with any endtime event. My desire was simply to study how Israel celebrated their Jubilees according to the Bible.

But after reading the article, someone asked me this very interesting question, “When is the next Biblical Jubilee?” I did some studies, and I was totally awed by what I found.

There are many different opinions on this matter. I will attempt to answer this question by presenting only 3 different scenarios.

Scenario One: When All The Tribes Have Returned Home To Israel

Source: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/513212/jewish/When-is-the-next-Jubilee-year.htm

According to the Jewish rabbis, the Jubilee year is currently not observed or commemorated in Israel. The main reason is that the Jubilee is only observed when all twelve tribes of Israel are living in the Promised Land.

Leviticus 25:10
And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.

According to this verse, Jubilee is only sanctified when all its inhabitants are living in all the land, and when each tribe is living in the specific area of the land which the LORD had divinely allotted to them.

In the 6th century BC, the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Majority of these Israelites went into exile, and till now, their descendants have still not yet returned home. They are historically known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

After this point in time, the Jubilee was not regularly observed or commemorated in Israel.

Thus, according to this reasoning, the next Biblical Jubilee year in Israel will only be celebrated when God brings back all the tribes home to Israel. It will begin on the most important and holiest day of the Hebraic calendar - Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. The year is only known to God.

Leviticus 25:9
Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.

Scenario Two: Yom Kippur 2027

Source: http://www.giveshare.org/HolyDay/Jubilee.html

According to William Whiston's footnotes to Josephus's book entitled “Antiquities of the Jews”, 24 BC was a Sabbatical year, and 23 BC was a Jubilee year.

If 23 BC was a Jubilee year, then its next Jubilee would begin on Yom Kippur in 27 AD. That was the year that Jesus began His ministry. Jesus was born in 4 BC and crucified in 30 AD.

Luke 4:17-19
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when He had opened the book,
He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

By adding 2000 years or 40 Jubilees later, the next Biblical Jubilee in Israel will be in 2027 AD. It will begin on Yom Kippur in the evening of October 10.

Scenario Three: Yom Kippur 2017

Sources:
http://focusontheprophecies.org/Jubilee_2017.htm
http://destination-yisrael.biblesearchers.com/destination-yisrael/2012/12/rabbi-judah-ben-samuels-Jubilee-prophecy-gives-the-year-of-the-messiah.html

This will be the 120th Jubilee or 6000 years from the day of creation.

From Creation to Exodus (1483 BC) 2500 years 50 Jubilees
From Exodus (1483 BC) to 2017 AD 3500 years 70 Jubilees
From Creation to 2017 AD 6000 years 120 Jubilees

There was an interesting prophecy given by Rabbi Judah ben Samuel in 1217 AD that revealed the year of the Messiah.

Also known as Judah He-Hasid or Judah the Pious, this rabbi lived in the 12th and 13th century in Germany. He was born in Speyer in 1140, and died in 22 February 1217 in Regensbug.

He was one of the fathers of Chassidei (Hassidic Judaism), a movement of Jewish mysticism that was very different from Kabbalistic mysticism. The Chassids emphasized strong moral ethics and prayer.

It was in the year of 1217 AD that this legendary rabbi made an astounding prediction about the future of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah.

In 1217, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel began publishing his Biblical calculations called the Gematria, plus his astronomical observations and gave this prophecy:

In summary - “When the Ottomans (Turks) – who were already a power to be reckoned with
on the Bosporus in the time of Judah Ben Samuel –
conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight Jubilees.
Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one Jubilee,
and then in the ninth Jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation –
which would signify the beginning of the Messianic endtime.”

According to some of his pupils, Rabbi Judah the Pious was an excellent and godly example of strict abstinence and selfless service to others. His burning desire was praying for the coming of the Messiah.

When people questioned about his source of revelation and wisdom, his answer was: “The prophet Elijah, who will precede the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and emphasized that the precondition for answered prayer is that it is fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”

Unknown to Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, the first known reference of the Ottomans was in 1215 AD, just two years before he died. The Ottomans were a Turkish speaking tribe that was first ruled by Ertugrul in the land of Anatolia. His son, Osman, then became the father of the Ottoman Turks.

As Judah ben Samuel had predicted, 300 years later or six Jubilees after 1217 AD, the Ottoman Turks took control of Jerusalem for 400 years (8 Jubilees) until they were overthrown by the British and Allied forces under the command of General George Allenby in 1917.

Even after the Declaration of Independence by Israel in 15 May 1948, the city of Jerusalem remained a divided city. The Jordanian government controlled the eastern part of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem. There was a strip of land dividing Western Jerusalem (controlled by the State of Israel) and East Jerusalem (controlled by the Jordanians). This strip of land was called “The No-Man’s Land” by both Israelis and Jordanians.

Then in 1967, Israel was attacked again. After the Six Day War, on 17 June 1967, the entire region of the West Bank was conquered by the Israeli Army. The entire city of Jerusalem was returned back to the Jewish people.

750 years after the prophecy was first made by the rabbi, from 1217 to 1967, almost all the texts of the prophecy were fulfilled to the date.

The remaining portion of his prophecy is this: “In the ninth Jubilee Jerusalem will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which will signify the beginning of the Messianic endtime.”

According to this Jewish rabbi, the end of this ninth Jubilee will “signify the beginning of the Messianic endtime.”

If so, the next Jubilee in Israel will be Yom Kippur 2017. It will begin in the evening of Friday, 29 September 2017.

Our God is faithful to fulfill whatever He has promised in His written Word – the Holy Bible:

Isaiah 55:11
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

When I read about Rabbi Judah ben Samuel, my heart was thrilled. Why? Simply because God is still revealing His plan and purpose to His beloved people in Israel who are waiting upon Him and desiring to hear His still small voice.

If you ask me which scenario is most likely to happen, my reply will be: "Please seek God and ask Him personally." Maybe another scenario may happen. Hereby I am not prophesying or making any prediction. I am just sharing my findings with you. Like the question whether we will be taken by the Lord before the Tribulation (pre-Trib) or in the middle of the Tribulation (mid-Trib) or after the Tribulation (post-Trib). My answer is: “Pray for pre-Trib but be prepared for post-Trib. If mid-Trib happens, we will be both ready and thankful.”

This one thing I will do: Read Matthew 25.

1. Be ready (The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins)
2. Be faithful (The Parable of the Talents)
3. Be loving (The Parable of the Sheep and Goats)

And while we are redeeming the time, let’s remember to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD – His Jubilee!

Maranatha! Come, O Lord!

Note: You may be interested to know what another well-known rabbi did before his death in 2006. Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri revealed the name of the Messiah! Just click here to watch a 5-minute video.

Please also read: The Biblical Jubilee

Written on 11 July 2014