Sabbatical and Jubilee Years 

lack of rainfall. The rainy season in Israel is the winter time, from November through March. October and 

April generally have a little precipitation. The remainder of the year, especially the summertime, has 

practically no appreciable rainfall.

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5.  If the Sabbatical year began in the autumn, the fields would not have been sown with any grain seed, 

because planting occurs in late autumn. Some grain would still grow, since some seed from the previous years 

plantings would not germinate until a year or two had passed. Seeds from wild plants commonly germinate in 

different years; some seed will germinate in the first year and some in subsequent years. Modern domesticated 

grains, such as wheat and barley, mostly tend to germinate soon after planting, since the seed is taken from 

plants that germinated soon after planting. The genes which allow for delayed germination have been mostly 

removed from the gene pool of modern domesticated grains by this process of selection. But this effect would 

have been less pronounced in Biblical times. So there still would be some grain growing in the fields from grain 

seed of previous years' plantings, but the harvest would be significantly less. 

    Sacred Scripture says that the sixth year will produce a harvest with enough abundance to last the 6th, 7th, 

and 8th years until the crop sown in the 8th year is harvested at the start of the 9th year. This could mean 

that the  crop of the 6th year would produce triple the usual harvest. Or, it could mean that the crop sown in 

the 6th year would continue to provide during the 7th and 8th years by growing again, on its own, each year. 

And this exact result would naturally occur, if the Sabbatical years were counted by the sacred calendar, 

beginning in spring with the month of Nisan. 

    If the Sabbatical year began in the spring, the previous year's planting (from late in the 6th year) would still 

be in the field. It could not be harvested, but the grain would be plentiful in the field and the people could eat 

from the field at the start of the Sabbatical year (7th year). Then, because the grain stood in the field 

unharvested, it would self sow. Many grains of the wheat or barley would naturally drop to the ground and, 

during the rains of the following winter, would germinate and produce another abundant crop. Then in the 

spring, at the start of the 8th year, when the Sabbatical year had ended, this self sown crop could be harvested. 

    Here we see that, with the Sabbatical years counted from Nisan, the fields would consistently produce 

sufficient grain for the Israelites. The Sabbatical and Jubilee years were not intended by God to be years of 

privation and famine. Rather, these are years when God provides for the people so that they can turn their 

hearts and minds to God. Sabbatical years often were years of food shortages or outright famine, because the 

Israelites changed the start of the Sabbatical years from the spring to the autumn. 

6.  The Sabbatical years were meant to be counted from Nisan in the spring. But the Jubilee year was clearly 

meant to be counted from Tishri in the autumn. Sacred Scripture plainly states that the start of the Jubilee year 

is in the seventh month, the month containing the Day of Atonement (Lev 25:9). The preceding verse 

describes the counting of 49 years (7 sets of Sabbatical years). Thus the Jubilee year begins in the seventh 

month, Tishri, during the 49th year. The Jubilee year is not the same year as the 49th year, nor is it a separate 

50th year. The Jubilee year overlaps the 49th and 50th years, with the 50th year being also the first year of the 

next cycle of 49 years. The Jubilee year sanctifies both the end of one cycle of 7 weeks of years and the start of 

the next cycle of 7 weeks of years. Jubilee years therefore occur every 49 years. 

    Since the Jubilee year overlaps with the 49th year, at such times there would be a period of about 1  year 

when the Israelites could neither reap nor sow. The Sabbatical year would begin in the spring (7th year), the 

Jubilee year would begin in the autumn of that same year. Though the Sabbatical year would end in spring 

with the start of the 8th year, the Jubilee year would not end until the autumn of the 8th year. After month of 

Tishri in the 8th year, crops could again be planted. Those crops would then come in and be harvested in the 

spring of the 9th year. This situation is specifically described in Sacred Scripture (Lev 25:22). The 8th year is 

the first year of the next cycle of 49 years; the 9th year is the second year of the next cycle of 49 years. 

7.  What caused this change in practice concerning the count of the Sabbatical years and when did this change 

occur? 

    Josephus describes the siege and capture of Jerusalem by Herod during the latter half of the first century 

B.C.

First he describes the siege, during the summer before Jerusalem fell. He plainly states that the Jews at that 

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