The Jubilee provided a socio-economic solution to keep the family together even when faced with economic disaster.
From the social perspective, the family household was both the smallest unit of Israel’s kinship structure and the most common. A household’s status and livelihood was always fragile so that any law that strengthened it was seen as strengthening wider society. A typical Jewish household would have included three to four generations all responsible for each other and their servants as mentioned in Psalm 90:16-17.
Let your work be shown to your servants,
Psalm 90:16-17
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
The Jubilee provided a socio-economic solution to keep the family together even when faced with economic disaster. Family debt was a constant reality then as it is today, and with the same negative effects including exclusion from the religious and social life of the community.
The Jubilee year tried to mitigate these negative social consequences by limiting the duration of debt so that future generations would not have to inherit and bear the burden of their ancestors.
The Pentateuch playa a major role both among the Israelites and in the emerging Christian church in the New Testament.
This Jubilee Year reminds us that our policies and practises can be challenged.
Jesus identified himself and his ministry with the eschatological implications of the Jubilee year.
