It set me thinking about the whole 'fifty years' thing. The Israelites of the Old Testament knew all about the fiftieth year- God had declared it to be the Year of Jubilee [Leviticus 25]
Yes, there was to be jubilation - celebration of God's continuing goodness and provision
Not enough just to celebrate - they had to demonstrate that God had blessed them, and they needed to bless others.
They were commanded to write off any outstanding loans, to offer freedom to the slaves, to restore property to the rightful owners, and to allow the land to lie fallow, and so that it would rest and regain strength, to produce better crops in following years. And they were to take particular care of the poor and the foreigners living among them. Wealth was to be redistributed fairly.
Restitution, restoration, redistribution, rest - and care for the poor and the stranger.
Strikes me we could do with some of these Jubilee Principles in our nation right now!
[the mugs are the ones I designed for our church jubilee in London in 1989]
That's an interesting article! Whenever I read how much something costs, I am always curious to know how much a person earns and what is the percentage of the cost to income.
ReplyDeleteAs for the ways in which to observe a jubilee year makes me wonder if anyone actually observes those principles?
I agree - the 'how many hours must I work to buy this loaf of bread?' is always an interesting question. Here in the UK, food is much cheaper than it was 50 years ago, in terms of proportion of family income.
DeleteI remember there was some movement for the Queen's Jubilee to write off the debts of poorer nations. Do you know if that ever happened? Or am I mixing up Jubilee 2000? The brain's going, you know...!!
ReplyDeleteI think it was part of the Jubilee 2000 campaign. I don't think anything much was actually accomplished though.
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