When is the next Jubilee?

When is the next year for the observance of Jubilee on the Jewish calendar? -- Dan, Arkansas

The Biblical command regarding the Year of Jubilee was first given in Leviticus 25. The rule(s) of the Sabbath year is that not only were the Jewish people supposed to plant for six years and allow the land to lay fallow for the 7th year (25:3-7) but that seven sevens were to be counted off and once every fifty year would be a time of Jubilee. In this year of Jubilee, all servants were to be freed and it was to be a time when no work in the field was to be done (25:8-17) because God wanted them to understand that the land was only given to them because the Land is God's to give and to do with what He pleases (25:23). And one of the reasons given for their 70 years in Babylon can be inferred in 2 Chron. 36:21 due to their inattentiveness to the Jubilee rules. There is question according to the International Standard Biblical Encyclopedia (ISBE) whether the years of Jubilee were observed after the return from exile in 536. However, other sources believe the observance continued (www.creation-answers.com/chronoj.htm).

Now as to the question of the timing of the next year of Jubilee, we can answer it concretely as well as spiritually. First the concrete date setting has to begin with an approximate date of the Exodus. I personally set the date early at around 1445 BC and not the traditional date of 1290 BC (another question for another day). If the rules surrounding Jubilee were established at around 1443 or 1440 BC, then between now and then there should have been 69 observances of Jubilee (50 x 69 = 3450 - 1440 = 2010). So one could set the next year of Jubilee at 2010. Another option is the view that sets the date for the last Jubilee at 2001/2002. Another source (www.ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/196/Q3/) sets the date for the next Jubilee at 5765 on the Jewish calendar which corresponds to 2005 on the modern calendar. Therefore, depending on dates and giving oneself a year or two either way. The timing on God's calendar for the next Year of Jubilee would be/is within the first decade of the 21st century. Hmm, interesting. One side note is that most Jewish people do not practice the Sabbath year or the Year of Jubilee (see above weblink); however, the Lubavitch sect of Hasidim in Israel are preparing for the Year of Jubilee and this can be found in Robert Eisenberg's work, Boychiks in the Hood.

Now as to the spiritual answer, this is also subject to one's interpretation of eschatology. And I am not touching that one with a 10-foot pole! But the important thing to remember is that there will be a year in which the ultimate and final Jubilee is found in Israel because the King has come and brought true and lasting peace to the land. And for my personal eschatology, that time could begin even 7 years from today. But again, I am not touching that one with a 100-ft. pole!