Purity and Jubilee

Once again, we see that God insists on purity.  In our studies over the past few days, how many times have we seen repeated that sacrifices should be made with an animal “without spot or blemish”?  And how often have we read that the priests were to be clean?  But what did God mean by “clean”?   Certain restrictions were placed on the priests which, if followed, would keep them “clean” in God’s sight.   They could not touch anything dead.  They could not shave.  They could not mar their bodies.  They had to marry virgins.  These things set the priests apart from other people and obedience imputed holiness to them.  While I suspect that avoiding the shaving and marring were more cultural, not touching the dead may have represented not
touching sin – death is the result of sin.  Virgins are associated with purity as well so it makes sense that the priests had to “join” with a pure woman.  File these restrictions in the back of your mind ... they'll come up again later.

On the surface, the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee may seem odd to us.  Our economy and our culture don’t function anything like that. In the Sabbatical year, the land was allowed to rest for a year, with nothing planted on it.   In the Year of Jubilee, the Israelites were freed from their debts and restored to their original lands.  It was a year spent in rest, without the typical farming activities.  And why was it important?   There are several thoughts involved here.  First, the year of rest (both in the Sabbatical Year and the Year of Jubilee) was good for the land as well as the man.  I’m not sure that the Israelites practiced rotation of crops .. so having a year of rest for the land was very important in restoring nutrients to the soil.  And in the arid regions of the Middle East, a year without cultivation allowed the land to be replenished with ground water and soil moisture.  Besides this practical aspect, God had promised that He would provide enough extra in the sixth year to carry them through a year of no crop production – something they had to take on faith, trusting in God’s provision.  The Year of Jubilee added an extra measure of these things, but it did more.  If we recall, each of the tribes of Israel were given specific lands.  By returning the lands to their original owners during the Jubilee, the distinction of each tribe was maintained.  The genealogies were preserved for each family – and the bloodline of Christ could be accurately tracked.  Also, this plan prevented any one family from becoming too wealthy (and thus too powerful, taking away from the power of God or becoming oppresive) or too poor (condemned to perpetual poverty).  There was great safety for all under this arrangement.