Reflections: Matthew 28 & Numbers 1-5

Matthew Chapter 28:

Matthew 28 features the narrative of Christ’s resurrection. Each of the gospel narratives about the resurrection tell the same story, but each one emphasizes different details.

After Jesus had died on Good Friday, he was buried under the guidance of Joseph of Arimathea (Matt. 27:57-60). According to John chapter 9, verses 38-40, Nicodemus, the Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin who had met Jesus by night (and where Jesus had explained the concept of needing to be “born again” in John chapter 3) also participated in preparing the body of Jesus for burial. According to Mattew 27:61, the group of women who were following Jesus observed the entombment of Jesus, so they knew exactly where the grave was.

Chapter 28 verse 1 tells us that these woman returned to the tomb “after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week.” According to the way the Jewish people kept time then, Sunday began at sundown on Saturday. The women would have been able to purchase the spices needed to anoint Christ’s body after sunset on Saturday (as there would have been no mercantile activity on Saturday, the Sabbath) and were ready to set out early in the morning. When they started out, it was dark (see Jn 20:1), and by the time they arrived at the tomb, it was still early in the morning (see Mk 16:2).

Matt 28:2-4 give us details not present in the other gospels – first, there was a “violent earthquake.” While not mentioned in any contemporary resources (most notably, no Roman historical documents connect an earthquake in or around Jerusalem at this time), there was a study published in 2011 analyzing Dead Sea sediment which identified a major earthquake occurring in the region between 26 AD and 36 AD. While this doesn’t pinpoint any exact date, it does prove that there was significant seismic activity during the reign of Pontius Pilate and at the time of the crucifixion.

The earthquake is connected to “an angel of the Lord” coming down from heaven, going to the tomb, and rolling back the stone that sealed the tomb, and then sat on top of it! The angel’s “appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow,” which terrified the guards so that they fainted away. The angel then announces the Jesus has risen from the dead and instructs the women to spread the news to the apostles. On their way, v. 8 has them meeting up with the risen Jesus, who also commands them to tell the disciples, and to go to Galilee, where he will meet them.

One of the great criticisms of the gospels are the apparent contradictions between the facts presented in each version of the resurrection narrative.

For example, there is no earthquake except in Matthew, and also no demonstration of the super-hero level of power when the angel rolls the stone away in the other three gospels. But the Greek phrase in the NIV translated as “there was” before the explanation of the earthquake and the angel descending, as well as the presentation in the other 3 gospels, indicates all this took place BEFORE the women arrived at the tomb. As for the earthquake, Matthew’s gospel also mentions an earthquake that occurs at the moment of Christ’s death (see “the earth shook, the rocks split, and the tombs broke open” in Matt. 27:51) which is not tracked in the other 3 gospels. Perhaps Matthew was more interested in geology than the others. Plus, we always need to understand that the gospels, while narratives of actual historical events, were not meant to be read as if they were newspaper accounts of what was happening. Each of them was tailored to emphasize different concepts to different intended audiences. The fact that the earthquake is not mentioned in the other gospels does not negate the fact that it occurred.

There seem to be a different number of women in each of the 4 narratives. Here in Matthew, we have Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the Zebedee brothers. Mark has three women, adding Salome. Luke adds a fourth, Joanna. John seems to go backwards, only mentioning Mary Magdalene. While presenting these 4 narratives as evidence at a modern trial would result in any good attorney using these differences to impeach the credibility of person presenting it, the standards of “reporting” these events in the ancient world would not have found this to be a contradiction. In the ancient world, independent testimony that was slightly different than the other witness was expected. Different but complimentary details tended to strengthen the reliability of a witness, because it proved each of them was reporting from their own memory. The emphasis instead was on the core message – that Jesus rose from the dead.

Also, some of the other differences can be logically harmonized by using this principle. Mathew and Mark report only one angel, Luke and John say there were two. The fact that there is a report of “one” angel does not necessarily exclude the presence of the other. The timing of the visit (or visits) by the women to the tomb can harmonize the story. John shows Mary visiting the tomb first alone. She could have come back later with the other women. Matthew seems to focus on encounters between the risen Christ and his disciples in Galilee, Luke and John focus on Jerusalem. The fact that there are two concepts described doesn’t make them mutually exclusive. The narratives depict Jesus appearing in both locations over a period of time.

Verses 11-15 (as well as 28:4 and 27:62-66) show Matthew as also being the only Gospel that mentions the assignment of guards to watch over Christ’s tomb. Matthew’s intended audience for his Gospel were the Jewish converts to Christianity at that time, so his emphasis is on Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. His gospel has more references to the fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecy than the others, including his tracing of Jesus’ earthly genealogy from King David to Jesus’s earthly father, Joseph. Unlike Mark, Matthew doesn’t offer details explaining Jewish customs (assuming his readers are familiar with them). He also uses more distinctively Jewish terminology (e.g., “kingdom of heaven” rather than “kingdom of God,” because of the reluctance of practicing Jews to use the name of God; and the emphasis on Jesus being the “Son of David”). The story of the guards, which involved an alleged plot by Christ’s followers to steal his body in order to make it appear as if the prophecy of the “sign of Jonah” (that he would rise from the dead in three days) was fulfilled, needed an explanation. Here, he offers a straightforward explanation of bribery that kept the “fake news” in circulation.

Matthew leaves out many of the details of what happened between Jesus and his disciples after he rose from the dead and goes straight to the “Great Commission” regarding the mission of taking the gospel everywhere in the world. Christ’s ascension into heaven is not mentioned here, but this purportedly takes place right before that happens.  The form of these words is unique to Matthew’s gospel, but we have something like them in the other three:

·         Mark 16:15-19: He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

·         Luke 24:45-51: Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.

·         Acts 1:8-9 (not officially a gospel, but a continuation of the message written by Luke): He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

·         John 20:21: Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Reflections on the Book of Numbers:

INTRODUCTION

Numbers—along with First Chronicles—is one of those biblical books many people quietly avoid, because both of those books appear to only be filled with lists – genealogies, statistics, and other information that seems pretty useless at first blush and certainly doesn’t seem very interesting. The book of Numbers opens with long lists of names and headcounts: the descendants of Jacob’s sons, organized by tribe, all carefully counted as in a census. For many readers, the eyes glaze over pretty quickly, and it’s fair to wonder why this material is even here.

But of course, it is here for a reason.

Part of the problem may be the title. In English, we call the book Numbers, which isn’t wrong—but it’s a bit misleading. That name comes from the Greek Septuagint, the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament, where the translators highlighted the census lists found in the opening chapters and again in chapter 26. The Hebrew title is Bemidbar, meaning “In the Wilderness,” and that captures the essence of the book far better. Numbers tells the story of Israel’s forty years in the desert after God established His covenant with them at Mount Sinai.

Traditionally, Moses has been identified as the author. That view rests on both explicit statements in the Pentateuch (that is, the first 5 books of the Old Testament) and the long-standing belief that the first five books of the Bible form a unified work. Modern scholars are more cautious. Deuteronomy ends with an account of Moses’ death, and Numbers 12:3 famously describes Moses as “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”—not the sort of thing most people write about themselves. Still, Numbers is one of the best-preserved books of the Old Testament, and most scholars agree that its core material goes back to Moses, even if it was later edited and shaped by priestly scribes. In any case, the book was firmly established in its present form by the early days of Israel’s monarchy.

Once we move past the detailed lists, the larger message becomes clear—and familiar. God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt and inextricably bound Himself to them in covenant. Yet instead of responding with trust, gratitude, and obedience, the people repeatedly choose fear, complaint, and rebellion. That pattern reaches its breaking point in Numbers, chapter 14, when Israel refuses to enter and take the land God has promised. The result is sobering: the generation that left Egypt ends up being left to die in the wilderness. God prohibited them from entering the promised land – even banning Moses from entering. Only their children were able to inherit the promise.

Numbers, then, is not just a record of people being counted—it is a story of faith tested, squandered, and ultimately preserved for the next generation.

Chapter 1:

Chapter 1 starts off with the census. The numbers of men in each of the tribes of Israel are gathered together, counted, and equipped for war.

Verse 1 sets up what’s happening. It starts with “The Lord spoke to Moses.” This is emphasized throughout the book of Numbers; it is the norm for the Lord to speak to Moses, and then through Moses, God speaks to the nation. A form of this concept is repeated 150 times in twenty different variations. In chapter 12:6-8, it describes how close the Lord is to Moses – a special sanctified relationship.

Verse 1 then lays out the “where” and the “when” – the “where” is the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, the center for worship – the “when” is established as a firm date in history, because when you calculate what the description here is saying along with other timelines in the Bible, this is 13 months – a little over a year – since the Exodus out of Egypt. Israel has spent a year in the area around Mt. Sinai receiving the law and designing/building the tabernacle.

Now, it was time for the next step – verses 2 and 3 instruct Moses to list every eligible male who are at least 20 years old in order to establish an army that will move into the promised land and take over. Specifically, Moses and Aaron are called to work together -- second born and  third born siblings – in my family, that would have been a recipe for distraction – perhaps God foresaw that, because he commanded that one established leader from each tribe would be appointed to assist them in the counting process. Verses 5 though 16 identify each of these men according to their tribe.

Verses 17-19 then describe how each of these tribal leaders were deputized to do the “grunt work” of registering all the eligible males in a written list, one for each tribe. There, in the midst of the desert, the census for each tribe’s men is established and listed in verses 22-46.

Verses 47-53 explains the exception for the tribe of Levi. The Levites were put in charge of the tabernacle and of Israel’s worship function. Here it explains how they would be taking the tabernacle and its tent down and reassembling it wherever the nation moved. In essence, the Levites were history’s first group of officially men who were officially and professionally exempt from military service. Also, one of the tricky things that puzzled me as a boy was how there could still be 12 tribes listed in the census when the Levites were excluded? That was because Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh were listed as separate tribes.

The actual count of the men who would serve in the army has proven to be a puzzling issue for modern scholars. The numbers of men who were counted to be part of the army seemed to demand a total population in excess of 2 million people. This would appear to be exceedingly large for that time in history, for the region, and for a group of people wandering in the wilderness. Some scholars interpret the Hebrew word translated as “thousand” as representing two numbers, the first figure representing the number of commanders, the remainder being the number of the rest of the men. (For example, the total number from Simeon is 59,300, meaning 59 commanders and 3000 men – but to me, that’s an even less believable concept, not only from the drastically smaller numbers, but why would you need 59 officers for 3000 enlisted men?). Some scholars see the word for “thousand” as not describing a literal 1,000 men but serving as a technical term for a company of men in a “platoon” or “regiment.” But this would be at odds with the way numbers are added up in other places in the Old Testament. In the end, we can take note of how the Bible portrays a remarkable increase in the number of Jacob's descendants during the 400 years that the Israelites were in Egypt. Plus, despite all of Israel’s  difficulties and shortcomings, these large population numbers would also point to the blessings and miracles of God as he provided for his people during their time of wandering.

Chapter 2:

Now that Moses had the census lists, God spoke to Moses and Aaron again, giving them instructions as to the arrangement of how the tribes would set up camp as they were on the move. In chapter 1, God gathers the nation, and the blood line relationships in each tribe and family are established. In chapter 2, the marching orders and camp arrangements are laid out. The same names identified in Chapter 1 are repeated here, but in a new pattern. The exact placement of each tribe around the tabernacle is laid out, forming a square with three tribes on each side, and the Levites in the center with the tent of meeting.

In vv. 3-7, we have an interesting twist. Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon are camped on the east side of the tabernacle square and are given the first-place position when going into battle. But these three are the 4th, 5th, and 6th sons of Jacob. Levi, the third born, is not factored in because of the worship exemption. But Reuben the first born and Simeon the second born have slipped to the second wave in the line of battle. This is because the three eldest sons of Jacob had failed in their responsibilities, so Judah is granted pride of first place in the military line. Of course, Judah eventually produced the royal line starting with David and from which the Messiah came.

Chapter 3:

Chapter 3 explains the placement of the Levites (which included Moses and Aaron) around the tent of meeting. First, Aaron is anointed as high priest, with his sons also anointed to serve as priests. The rest of the men in the tribe of Levi are given assignments to serve in the tent of meeting, performing the tasks required to maintain the tabernacle. These men and their families are counted, identified and given specific jobs, like taking care of the tent and the curtains, another the inner workings of the sanctuary, another the tent frame.

Chapter 3 also explains the concept of how the first born of every family were supposed to be dedicated to the service of the Lord, but that the Levites would serve to take the place of the firstborns from the other tribes. But it turned out there were more first-born children then there were Levites, so God provided for the excess to be able to pay “redemption money” as an offering.

Thus, the Levites were set apart as a professional class of workers covering the duties of what we would call “church,” leaving the grind and danger of the army to the rest of the twelve tribes.

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4 takes us down another subset into the inner workings of the tabernacle, highlighting each clan within the Levite tribe.

Back in 3:27-32, the Kohathite clans were identified. Here in chapter 4, the Kohathites, are counted and assigned detailed instructions as to how the inner workings of the central piece of worship in the tabernacle – “the most holy things” – are to be handled. One specific bit of instruction involves the shared duties between Aaron’s family as the high priests, and the rest of the Kohathites. In order to “preserve” the Kohathites so they’ll be able to continue to do their jobs from generation to generation, Eleazar son of Aaron had charge of these most sacred things. There was a warning that for anyone other than a descendant of Aaron to even look at these sacred items would mean death. So, Moses made sure that the Aaron and his sons took care of these things, so as not to accidentally cause the death of a regular-type Kohathite who might happen to look into the holy of holies at the wrong time!

Starting in 4:21, the Gershonite clan is counted, and their duties are described. These are the Levites who will carry the curtains of the tabernacle when it’s on the move, in essence, the actual tent material. Starting in v. 29, the Merarite clan is counted and assigned their work, which involved the tent frame.

Finally, the total number of the Levites is established – a seemingly manageable total of 8,580.

Chapter 5:

Now, Moses shifts away from the census and the establishment of the where, who and how the move into the promised land will be accomplished. Chapter 5 through 10 establishes the commands God has for the purification of the people. Much of this has a connection to similar themes explored in the previous book, the Book of Leviticus. The concepts presented in the history of Israel starting with Moses and the Exodus seem to build on top of the previous concept. In the book of Exodus, after the Israelites are delivered from slavery, they camp out at Mount Sinai, where God gives Moses the 10 commandments. The next step was establishing the concept of a relationship between God and his people – it started there at the foot of Mt. Sinai, in the Book of Exodus, where God gave the instructions for building the tabernacle, the place where God “would live” on earth. Then, in Leviticus, God established the laws and regulations for worship in the tabernacle/tent of meeting, including the instructions for ceremonial cleanliness, morality, holy days, the sabbath and the sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee. All of that took place in the thirteen-month window demarcated at the beginning of the book of Numbers. Numbers, therefore, begins the preparation for and the history of the move from the camp at Sinai into Canaan and the promised land.

It would appear that prior to this massive move, that is, the command to assemble and corporately begin the journey towards the promised land, the practical application of the laws laid out in Leviticus had not yet been tried out. Perhaps, also, as the law was being applied to the problems the Israelites faced as they began to move out, there needed to be a further refinement.

For example, in chapter 5, verses 1-4, we see the practical application of Leviticus chapters 13 through 15. The theme throughout this part of Leviticus is the distinction between the clean and the unclean, and, therefore, between the sacred and the profane. Leviticus 13 defines and regulates all kinds of defiling skin disorders and for the similar problem of mold growing in someone’s tent or their clothing. Leviticus 14 provides the remedies for cleansing these diseases and molds. Leviticus 15 details the problems with bodily discharges that cause uncleanness. Numbers 5:1-4 provides the practical enforcement – those who were in violation of these regulations had to be removed so as not to pollute everyone and everything else.

There is a New Testament parallel in the book of Hebrews, particularly in Chapter 29, where believers are encouraged to “live in peace with everyone and be holy,” (Heb. 29:1), and a comparison is drawn between the stark, judgmental reality of the burning fire and dark storm clouds that came from the top of Mt. Sinai and the brightness of Mt. Zion and the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” (Heb. 29:22). There is a warning here regarding that which is worldly – or unclean – in our lives, that God will shake both the earth and the heavens to remove “what can be shaken” to that “what cannot be shaken may remain,” (Heb. 29:27), which is “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” (v. 28). We are warned that “our God is a consuming fire.” We must be right with God through the cleansing of the sacrifice of Jesus.

Numbers 5:5-10 then deals with the concept of restitution via the guilt offering. Back in Leviticus 6:1-7, the regulations surrounding restitution for fraud and theft were laid out. The practical application revealed here in Numbers 5 shows that sometimes the wronged person did not have a family or close friend to receive the restitution. The restitution was to be given anyway, as an offering to the Levitical priesthood.

As we continue on through this section of the book, we will see how the book of Leviticus provided for the legal framework for living the holy, sanctified, sacrificial life that God seemed to expect from the Israelites, and the book of Numbers serves as the implementation of those laws to keep the campsite clean, organized, and properly prepared to move out on a moment’s notice.

The next section, however (Numbers 5:11-31) doesn’t fit into this formula very well, at least not to my understanding. Here, we are presented with what appears to be the equivalent of an ancient “ordeal,” which was when the evidence of a wrong could not be deduced by objective evidence, the guilt or innocence of an accused person was determined by subjecting them to a painful, unpleasant, or dangerous experience. Examples from other ancient practices include the “ordeal of fire,” where guilt or innocence was determined by walking over hot coals or holding a red-hot iron. The “ordeal of water” was used in medieval witch trials, where the accused was thrown into a lake, and if she sank, she was innocent, but if she floated, she was guilty. (Some will recall the humorous scene depicting this in the film, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”). Another medieval practice was the “ordeal of ingestion,” where the accused was either given dry bread blessed by a priest, or later the bread blessed in the Catholic mass for communion (and therefore, the “body of Christ”). If the defendant choked on the bread, he was guilty.

The practice described in Numbers 5:11-31 resembles this last practice. A husband who suspected his wife of adultery could submit his wife to the Levites, who prepare a concoction of hot water mixed with dust from the tabernacle floor. The accused wife would be compelled to drink this, with the priest announcing that the “bitter water” would bring a curse upon the wife if she was guilty. Verse 27 states emphatically that water will “bring a curse” upon the woman if she is guilty, causing “bitter suffering,” specifically, “her abdomen will swell, and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.” Verse 31 leaves us with the concept that after this ritual is carried out, regardless of the outcome, the “husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the soman will bear the consequences of her sin.”

This strikes me as wholly bizarre. In this instance as well as the story of the woman caught in adultery presented in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, only the woman is accused of committing adultery. Last time I looked at the elements of this offense, there needs to be two people involved. Where are the accusations against the male offender? Plus, what husband who cares for his wife, even if he is suspicious of her, would put her through this ordeal?

Some commentators see all of chapter 5 as a progression. The issue of ritual purity between the people and God, and the people with each other, starts with physical marking – something that is easily seen, like the skin diseases in verses 1-4. Less obvious but just as intrusive are the concepts that interfere with and fracture close, personal relationships as described in verses 5-10. Finally, when matters of impurity impinge upon the most intimate of relationships, that of a man and wife (verses 11-31), the test for fidelity is far more difficult to prove than determining if a person is a leper or cheated his neighbor out of money or merchandise. The issue of purity extends to every area of life.

But there is a logical connection between the violation and the resolution in the other two examples. I’m sorry, but this seems to allow any husband to capriciously accuse his wife of infidelity and should the “bitter water” cause her to have a physical reaction, lead to her being put to death.

But other commentators point out that the basis for starting the ritual (verse 14’s “feelings of jealousy” by the husband) had to be more than just suspicion. Plus, it required the husband to precisely follow a very detailed ritual. It appeared that God would not allow for a petty or malevolent husband to use this ritual to badger an innocent woman.

While this ritual is very hard to understand to the modern mind, we have to consider the cultural framework from which it arose. The scriptural context of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy sometimes seem to be a view from 25,000 feet, rather than ground level. Despite the overall detail, the fundamental concept was a shift in the basic way people needed to think about God and think about themselves. Why? Well, just consider the ten commandments. Almost all of them are parsed in the negative – “Thou shalt not!” Do not take the Lord’s name in vain. Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Why did God have to lay all this out? Because the people of the ancient world in which the Israelites lived behaved this way on a regular basis. The cultures of the nation groups in Canaan the Israelites were instructed to drive out practiced these things as part of their approved cultural norms. Why did God have to tell the Israelites not to sleep with their father’s wife, or their sisters, or their daughters? Because the cultures around them were doing these kinds of things ALL THE TIME and approved of it as good. God’s demand for purity from his people was an ancient anomaly.

This could explain why there was a need for this ritual. In the ancient world, woman had no rights. Woman were treated as the property of their husbands. While the elements of this ritual seem severe and harsh, the consequences would have been much worse for a woman charged with adultery by an angry husband if there was no provision for her guilt or innocence to be demonstrated. The requirement that the accused wife be presented to and handed over to the priest was, in effect, an act of mercy. The gravity, discomfort, and shame for the accused wife indicates that the law regarded marital infidelity with the utmost seriousness. By having the ritual played out in a public or semi-public manner elevated the problem beyond that of a jealous husband. The entire community, even the nation, was interconnected with the alleged breach of faith. Arguably, the judgement was in the context of the entire community.

Some commentators interpret the negative manifestations of the test as being the equivalent of an induced abortion, or the exposure of the symptoms of venereal disease. I don’t see that. That would cast a horrible pall upon the accused woman. I tend to align more with the argument raised in the last paragraph – that this practice served to protect innocent women from violence.

But I also think the expansiveness, even the seeming ridiculousness of the ritual may have been its redeeming quality. This is because there is no independent evidence showing that this ritual was ever practiced. While the Mishnah and Talmud (the collections of the oral traditions of Judaism from after the return of the exile until the time of the Roman Empire) indicates that priests and rabbis had laid out specific procedures for the “Bitter waters” ceremony during the century before Jesus was born (such as the location of the ritual being at the East Gate of the Temple, and instructions for priest as to how to scrape/wash the ink from the written curse into the water), and writers who were contemporaries of the apostles like Josephus and Philo refer to it as a known practice (the Mishnah has a specific reference to a Levitical decree by Rabbi Zakkai in the decades before the temple was destroyed in 70 AD that the practice was discontinued because the number of accused adulterers had become too numerous), there is absolutely NO archeological evidence that the ritual was EVER practiced. Excavations at the temple mount, Qumran and Murabbi have discovered no “bitter water” bottles, and while there have been inkwells discovered that would have been used by the ancient priesthood, none were found in proximity to areas where temple rituals were conducted.

Therefore, perhaps the mere existence of the ritual served as a deterrent against adultery, or as the means of protecting a falsely accused woman from a husband’s violence. (There are other examples of the law of Moses never coming to fruition or ever being practiced. For instance, there is no evidence that the “year of Jubilee,” that is, the cancelation of debts every 50 years, ever took place. These matters seem to be presented as an “ideal standard, rather than a practical program. Indeed, the Mishnah indicates the reason why the Jubilee never occurred was the Israelites never practiced the first step --  the law required that farmland had to be given a “sabbath” every seven years, that is, you could cultivate a particular plot of ground for 6 years, but had to leave it fallow for the seventh. There is no evidence this ever took place, and some of the rabbinical scholars of the time between the Old and New Testament felt this failure meant the other aspects of the Jubilee – the release of debts and the restoration of property to the original owner – would not be allowed by God to take place).

John Russell