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Sabbatical Year
SABBATICAL YEAR (שַׁבָּת, H8701, sabbath, sabbath year). The sabbatical year was the final year in a cycle of seven years within the Heb. calendar, set aside as a year of rest for the soil, care for the poor and for animals, remission of debts, and manumission of Israelite slaves. The year following seven such sabbatical years was known as the year of Jubilee, during which the soil was given another year of rest, and during which there was also the manumission of Israelite slaves and the reversion of landed property to the original owner or his heirs.
The Book of the Covenant refers to the sabbatical year merely as “the seventh year” (
In the Holiness or Priestly Code, the seventh year is designated as “a sabbath of solemn rest for the land” (
The Holiness Code also provided special observance of the seventh year in a series of seven sabbatical years (
In the Deuteronomic Code, the sabbatical year is called “the year of release” or the year of “dropping” or “cancellation” (
It is not known how well the Israelites observed the sabbatical years, but
There is evidence from extra-Biblical lit. that the Jews observed the sabbatical year after the Exile. Both the Book of Maccabees and Josephus recount that Bethzur fell to Antiochus IV because the food supply of the garrison was quickly exhausted, since it was during a sabbatical year (
The Qumran community seems to have observed the sabbatical year by non-cultivation of the soil and cancellation of debts. Rabbinical writers refer to a similar observance, but the absence of detailed discussion of such observance in the Talmud bears witness to its gradual discontinuance. There is no evidence that it was ever observed outside of Pal. Even in Pal., it became meaningless, impractical, and eventually obsolete.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
sa-bat’-ik-al, shenath shabbathon; eniautos anapauseos, "a year of solemn rest"; or shabbath shabbathon; sabbata anapausis, "a sabbath of solemn rest" (
1. Primary Intention:
We find the first rudiments of this institution in the so-called Covenant Book (Ex 21-23). Its connection with the day of rest (Sabbath) is obvious, although it strikes us as somewhat remarkable that in
We must, therefore, conclude that in this early period of the history of Israel the regulation regarding the 7th year was primarily intended for the relief of the poor and for the awakening of a sense of responsibility in the hearts of those better provided with the means of subsistence. It would be wrong, however, to deny its Sabbatic character, for the text says expressly, "But in the 7th year thou shalt let it rest" (literally, "thou shalt release it"), implying that the land was entitled to a rest because it needed it; it must be released for a time in order to gain fresh strength and insure its future fertility. Two motives, then, present themselves most clearly, one of a social, the other of an economic character, and both are rooted in God’s dealings with Israel (compare
2. Mosaic Legislation Humane:
Another evidence of the humane spirit pervading the Mosaic Law may be found in
According to
Moreover, we are now almost compelled to assert the Sabbatical year by this time had become an institution observed simultaneously all over the country. From the wording of the regulation regarding the 7th year in the Covenant Book we are not certain about this in those early times. But now it is different. "Yahweh’s release hath been proclaimed."
3. General Observance:
It was a solemn and general proclamation, the date of which was very likely the day of atonement in the 7th month (the Sabbatical month). The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (booths) began five days later and it lasted from the 15th day to the 21st of the 7th month (Tisri). In the Sabbatical year, at that time, the Law was read "before all Israel in their hearing," a fact which tends to prove that the Sabbatical year had become a matter of general and simultaneous observance (compare
In
4. Central Idea:
One central thought is brought home to them, namely, God is the owner of the soil, and through His grace only the chosen people have come into its possession. Their time, i.e. they themselves, belong to Him: this is the deepest meaning of the day of rest; their land, i.e. their means of subsistence, belong to Him: this reveals to us the innermost significance of the year of rest. It was Yahweh’s pleasure to call the children of Israel into life, and if they live and work and prosper, they are indebted to His unmerited loving-kindness. They should, therefore, put their absolute trust in Him, never doubt His word or His power, always obey Him and so always receive His unbounded blessings.
If we thus put all the emphasis on the religious character of the Sabbatical year, we are in keeping with the idea permeating the Old Testament, namely that the children of Israel are the chosen people of Yahweh. All their agricultural, social, commercial and political relations were to be built upon their divine calling and shaped according to God’s sovereign will.
But did they live up to it? Or, to limit the question to our subject: Did they really observe the Sabbatical year? There are those who hold that the law regarding the Sabbatical year was not observed before the captivity. In order to prove this assertion they point to
The possibility of observing the precept respecting the Sabbatical year is demonstrated by the post-exilic history of the Jewish people. Nehemiah registers the solemn fact that the reestablished nation entered into a covenant to keep the law and to maintain the temple worship (
For a certainty we know that the Sabbatical year was observed by the Jews at the time of Alexander the Great. When he was petitioned by the Samaritans "that he would remit the tribute of the 7th year to them, because they did not sow therein, he asked who they were that made such a petition"; he was told they were Hebrews, etc. (Josephus, Ant, XI, viii, 6).
During Maccabean and Asmonean times the law regarding the Sabbatical year was strictly observed, although it frequently weakened the cause of the Jews (1 Macc 6:49,53; Josephus, Ant, XIII, viii, 1; compare Josephus, Jewish Wars, I, ii, 4; Ant, XIV, x, 6; XV, i, 2). Again we may find references to the Sabbatical year in Josephus, Ant, XIV, xvi, 2, etc.; Tac. Hist. v.4, etc., all of which testifies to the observance of the Sabbatical year in the Herodian era. The words of Tacitus show the proud Roman’s estimate of the Jewish character and customs: "For the 7th day they are said to have prescribed rest because this day ended their labors; then, in addition, being allured by their lack of energy, they also spend the 7th year in laziness."
See also ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 5, (3), (4); JUBILEE YEAR.