The Mystery of the Lost Jubilee: Part XXVII – Was 5777 a Jubilee Year?

October 26, 2017

5 min read

In the past twenty-six articles and our book Jubilee Now, we have looked at the Jubilee year from both Jewish and Christian perspectives to examine whether God might be restoring to the world, an identification of the Jubilee calendar as described in Leviticus Chapter 25. The idea was basically that 1967 was such a pivotal year that we needed carefully watch 2016 and 2017 for signs of Jubilee.

We started this journey with you two years ago in November 2015, near the beginning of the year 5776 on the Hebrew Calendar.  During 5776 (from September 2015 thru October 2016) we wrote 25 articles explaining the background of the Jubilee and looking for evidence that might help us discover whether year 5776 (which mostly falls in 2016) might be a Jubilee year.

Then one year ago, article 26 suggested that the Jubilee might have been “finally found” as evidenced by three clear sequences of “Jubilee-like events” starting in Israel, then moving to Great Britain, and finally to America.

(1) In April 2016 (year 5776). Netanyahu declared that the Golan Heights will never be negotiated away under any circumstances and that it is now officially and eternally a part of Israel. The return of land to its original owners is the key “Jubilee-like” element we were looking for, and such an event has not happened in Israel since 1967, 49 years earlier.

(2) In June of 2016 (also year 5776), the UK voted to exit the European Union, giving it a chance once again to chart its own destiny. Granting freedom to the oppressed is another key “Jubilee-like” element that we were looking for, and this surprise was the biggest news of its kind in decades.

(3) In November 2016 (actually in 5777), the USA voted to bring in an outsider President Trump with no previous political experience, who ran on a platform of restoring freedom to the people who were oppressed and diminished by their own government. It was the biggest surprise event in more than fifty years of American political history. The stock market soared to new heights and many felt like a grand restart was at hand, which is another key “Jubilee-like” element.

These three elements (spread into late 5776 and early 5777) caused us to suggest that maybe we should not stress so much over the exact boundaries of these years, but just declare that we were in a “Jubilee season” and that we needed to keep on watching.

This need to “keep watching” is indeed the subject of this article.  Because now it is almost 12 months since our last article and we HAVE kept watching.

5777 in Review

So what HAS happened in the last year of 5777, and how does it affect our thinking on the Jubilee?

First, with 5777 now completed, we would point out that another year has gone by without a major war being launched against the nation of Israel. We mention this because so many people were looking for great calamity to befall Israel after the Shemitah and the Four Blood Moons ended in Fall of 2015. Even the Gog/Magog war was mentioned frequently. (We went against that mainstream flow and proposed just the opposite — that Israel was more likely going to be entering a great period of prosperity and growth. For the benefit of Israel we are pleased that this prediction has been the better one, so far.)

Second, the economic progress worldwide during 5777 was remarkable. Investor confidence has returned with a vengeance, and most economies are growing again. A Jubilee year is a year of rest, but the year following is one of new growth.

But still, the year 5777 was EXACTLY 50 years after the great events surrounding The Six Day War and Reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 (year 5727). So could 5777 be itself a Jubilee year?   The reasons we also wanted to watch 5776 were explained earlier in this series and in the book.

What were the main “Jubilee-like” elements found in 5777?  The USA election in November 2016 was already mentioned above, but besides that, the year was fairly quiet in terms of Jubilee-like elements — especially in Israel. That is, except for one notable development.

The tragic killing of two Druze police officers on the Temple Mount by Palestinian terrorists, followed by the Muslim boycott of their own visits to the Temple Mount, sparked a new resolve and zeal in the Jewish people to begin visiting the Temple Mount once again. The number of Jews who ascended to the Temple Mount during this summer Month of Av this year was 4,369 according to the Yeraeh organization, more than double the previous record of any month in Israel’s modern history. This trend has continued for now three months straight and is “Jubilee-like” in the sense of Jews deciding to “return” to the land once owned.

Gidon Ariel recorded his own visit here, which we previously covered on Root Source News.

Look Up and Look Out!

Additionally, toward the end of 5777, occurred two notable astronomical events that had people talking.

The total solar eclipse on August 21 across the United States had many proposing great calamity to befall the USA.  We suggested a different approach to understanding eclipses.  Indeed the news on that particular day was good rather than bad, with the biggest news of the day being the location and arrest of the prime suspect in the Barcelona terrorist attacks.

August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse as Viewed from Wyoming (Photo: Bob O’Dell)

Then there was the planetary alignment around the constellation Virgo on September 23rd. Again, calamity or a great step in the End Times sequences was often proposed.  We tried to offer a more balanced view.  The days closely surrounding that event did not deliver much. Overall, it was a much quieter year than many expected.

Virgo on September 23, 2017. (Photo: Stellarium Software)

Hold that Thought

So what can we take from all this regarding the Jubilee and when it might have, or will occur?

In our book Jubilee Now we suggested that the period of watching the Jubilee should last until December 31, 2017, rather than strictly on the Hebrew Calendar year.  See the beginning of this series, or the book for an explanation why.

So we are going to wait until January 2018, and then assess everything one more time from that vantage point, as we promised to do from the very beginning.

See you in three months!

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