Leviticus 25:10. 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.
The Year of Jubilee was ushered in by the sound of trumpets through the land, every fiftieth year, on the Great Day of Atonement. Like the Sabbatical Year, it was a year of rest to the soil (Lev. 25:11). Thus two idle years came together every fifty years, and God promised by special providence to give such a plentiful harvest during the sixth year that there should be enough until the harvest of the ninth year could be gathered (Lev. 25:20-22). See also 2 Kings 19:29; Isaiah 37:30. A similar providence no doubt watched over the productions of the season before the Sabbatical Year, in addition to the spontaneous growth of that year. All their transfers of real estate were made in reference to the Year of Jubilee, and the poor and unfortunate were specially favored (Lev. 25).