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unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family; a jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you." Besides, if the law had meant, that the forty-ninth should be the jubilee, there would have been no need of forbidding sowing, reaping, &c., on the jubilee, because that being the sabbatical year it was forbidden in the preceding law relating to that year, Lev. xxv, 4, 5.

As to the supposed dearth, the gentlemen on this side of the question conceive, there could be no danger of that while God protected the nation by a special providence; and especially since we have an instance of their living without any harvest for two years together, when the Assyrians had trodden down or spoiled the crop of one year, and the next was probably a sabbatical year; and yet there was no famine, but they had sufficient to eat of that which grew of itself, 2 Kings xix, 29.

The authors of the Universal History have endeavoured to reconcile these two opinions; observing, that as the jubilee began on the first month of the civil year, which was the seventh of the ecclesiastical, it might be said to be either the forty-ninth or fiftieth, according as the one or the other of these different computations was followed*.

The jubilee began on the tenth day of the month Tizi, at the evening of the day of atonement, Lev. xxv, 9. A time, saith Dr. Patrick, very fitly chosen; for they would be better disposed to forgive their brethren their debts, when they had been craving pardon of God for their own. To which we may add, that when their peace was made with God by the sacrifices of atonement, it was the proper time to proclaim liberty and joy throughout the land.

The peculiar observances of the jubilee beyond those of the common sabbatical year were the following:

1st, That it was proclaimed by the sound of the trumpet throughout the whole land. Maimonides saith, every private man was to blow with a trumpet, and make a sound nine times+.

* Universal History, Hist. of the Jews, book i, chap. vii, Laws relating to the Jubilee, note R.

+ Maimon. de Anno Sabbat. et Jubilæo, cap. x.

2dly, The jubilee was a year of general release of all slaves and prisoners. Even such as had voluntarily relinquished their freedom, at the end of their six years' service, and had had their ears bored in token of perpetual servitude, were yet set free at the jubilee; for "then they were to proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof," Lev. xxv, 10.

3dly. In this year all estates, which had been sold, were returned back to their former proprietors, or to the families to which they originally belonged; by which means it was provided, that no family should be sunk and ruined, and doomed to perpetual poverty; for the family estate could not be alienated for longer than fifty years. The nearer, therefore, the jubilee was, the less was the value of the purchase of an estate, ver. 15. This law of the Jews was famous among the Heathens, some of whom copied after it. Diodorus Siculus saith, it was not lawful for the Jews, т85 1885 xxŋpas πwλev, to sell their own inheritances; and Aristotle, in his Politics+, saith of the Locrians, that they were prohibited by their laws from selling their ancient possessions.

The reason and design of the law of the jubilee was partly political and partly typical.

1st, It was political, to prevent the too great oppression of the poor, as well as their being liable to perpetual slavery. By this means the rich were prevented from accumulating lands upon lands, and a kind of equality was preserved through all their families. Never was there any people so effectually secured of their liberty and property, as the Israelites were; God not only engaging so to protect those invaluable blessings by his providence, that they should not be taken away from them by others; but providing in a particular manner, by this law, that they should not be thrown away through their own folly; since the property, which every man or family had in their dividend of the land of Canaan, could not be sold or any way alienated for above half a century. By this means also the distinction of tribes was preserved, in respect both to their families and possessions; for this law rendered it ne

Diod. Sicul. lib. xl, eclog. prim. p. 922, edit. Hanov. 1604. + Arist. Politic. lib. ii, cap. vii; see also lib. vi, cap. iv.

cessary for them to keep genealogies of their families, that they might be able, when there was occasion, on the jubilee year, to prove their right to the inheritance of their ancestors. By this means it was certainly known, of what tribe and family the Messias sprung. Upon which Dr. Allix observes, that God did not suffer them to continue in captivity out of their own land for the space of two jubilees, lest by that means their genealogies should be lost or confounded.

A further civil use of the jubilee might be for the readier computation of time. For, as the Greeks computed by olympiads, the Romans by lustra, and we by centuries, the Jews probably reckoned by jubilees; and it might, I say, be one design of this institution to mark out these large portions of time for the readier computation of successive years of ages.

2dly, There was also a typical design and use of the jubilee, which is pointed out by the prophet Isaiah, when he saith, in reference to the Messiah, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," chap. Ixi, 1, 2; where "the acceptable year of the Lord," when "liberty was proclaimed to the captives," and "the opening the prison to them that were bound,” evidently refers to the jubilee; but, in the prophetic sense, means the gospel state and dispensation, which proclaims spiritual liberty from the bondage of sin and Satan, and the liberty of returning to our own possession, even the heavenly inheritance, to which, having incurred a forfeiture by sin, we had lost all right and claim.

I have only further to observe, that this jubilee of the Jews hath been in some sort imitated by the pope; who, after a certain returning period, proclaims a jubilee, in which he grants a plenary indulgence to all sinners, at least to as many as visit the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome.

The jubilee was first established by Pope Boniface VIII, anno 1300, and was only to return every hundredth year; but the first celebration brought such stores of wealth to Rome, that Clement VI reduced the period to fifty years; afterwards

Urban VI appointed the jubilee to be held every thirty-five years; and Sextus IV brought it down to twenty-five*.

One of our kings, Edward III, caused his birth-day, when he was fifty years of age, but neither before nor after, to be observed in the manner of a jubilee; this he did by releasing prisoners, pardoning all offences, treason itself not excepted, and granting many privileges to the people+.

et

* See on this subject Dieteric. Antiq. Biblicæ, ex Lev. xxv, 4, p. 220 seq. edit. Gissæ et Francof. 1671.

+ Polydor. Virgil. Histor. Anglican. lib. xix, p. 494, Lugdun. Bat.

1651.

CHAP. XI.

THE FEASTS OF PURIM AND OF DEDICATION. BESIDES the sacred festivals, already considered, no other were appointed by the law of Moses. However, the Jews, in process of time, added several others; two of which are to be the subject of this chapter, namely, the feast of purim, of the occasion and institution of which we have an account in the book of Esther, chap. ix, 20-ult.; and the feast of dedication, mentioned by the evangelist John, chap. x, 22. They were both of them annual festivals, and observed in commemoration of national mercies and deliverances.

The former, the feast of purim, was instituted by Mordecai, to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews from Haman's conspiracy, of which we have an account in the book of Esther. Many suppose, that in this he had a special direction from God, delivered by some prophet, perhaps Haggai, or Malachi. But if so, it is strange that the sanction of divine authority should not be expressly stamped on the institution, and that the name of God should not be mentioned so much as once, in the history of it or of the events relating to it. Thus much is certain, it hath had the effect, which mere human institutions in matters of religion very commonly have, to occasion corruption and licentiousness of manners, rather than to promote piety and virtue. Though still celebrated by the Jews with great ceremony, it is a time of general riot and debauchery; and they make it a sort of rule of their religion to drink till they can no longer distinguish betwixt the blessing of Mordecai and the cursing of Haman*. Insomuch

* Talmud cod. Megillah, fol. 7, 2, quoted by Buxtorf. Synag. Judaic. cap. xxix, p. 559, 3d edit. in Lexic. Talmud. sub voc. 2 p. S24; and by Leusden. Philolog. Hebræo-mixt. dissert. xl, p. 285, 2d edit. Ultraject.

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