The Year of Jubilee occurs every 50 years. It has a special impact on the ownership and management of land. The book of Leviticus tells us that servants will be freed and return to their own families and properties:
8 “ ‘You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.
13 “ ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.
When families become poor, they can sell property and land to support themselves. The law of the Year of Jubilee ensures that they eventually get their land back again. This law wisely prevents families from permanently losing their land. The amount of money they can raise by selling their land is controlled by the number of years to the next Jubilee, when they will get their land back again and have a fresh start.
We can see the wisdom of this law, which prevents rich, fortunate, families having large estates and poor, unfortunate, families having no land and no means of support.