February 10, 2019 Bible Study — Giving People a Fresh Start

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 24-25.

I struggle with the Jubilee Year as described here.  It seems impractical.  The hard part would be keeping track of to whom ownership should revert when land was sold the year after the last Jubilee.  Forty nine years later, the person who sold the land has likely died.  To which of his children should the land be returned?  Having said that, I think that the idea of the Jubilee has merit.  The idea that we offer people an opportunity to “reset” from the bad decisions which they, or their parents, made has value.  Or, perhaps it was not the result of bad decisions.  Perhaps people were forced into economic hardship by circumstances beyond their control and now do not have the resources to recover.  The point of the Jubilee Year was to periodically give people an opportunity for a fresh start.  We should do what is within our own ability to help those in misfortune start over.