Jubilee years were counted by cycles of 49, years from Tishri the 10th, and not cycles of 50. The next year after the 49th year would be hallowed the 50th year, even though it was the first year of the next 49-year cycle:
Leviticus 25:8-10 says: “And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”
How we should determine the Sabbatical or Jubilee years is based on the book of Ezekiel. Chapter 1:1-2 says: “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity.”
We know the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s captivity is based on the history of Nebuchadnezzar’s first year. Nebuchadnezzar’s first year began in 605 BCE. 2 Kings 24:12 says: “And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.”
We know this ‘eighth year’ is referring to Nebuchadnezzar because Jehoiachin only reigned 3 months. 597 BCE would have been Nebuchadnezzar’s 8th year. The phrase “…in the thirtieth year…” is key for understanding Jubilee years. Ezekiel is saying thirty years have passed since a Jubilee year could have been observed (The Jews were negligent in their Jubilee observance.) Jehoiachin’s 5th year was in 592 BCE So, in twenty more years, which would be 572 BCE, it would’ve been a Jubilee year. Ezek.40:1 says, “In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me and brought me thither.” The first year of their captivity was in 597 BCE 597 minus 25 years equals 572 BCE He also says it was 14 years after the city was smitten: 572 plus 14 years equals 586 BCE the same year Jerusalem was destroyed.
-Anthony Booker
The GATHERING Place 