When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he instituted the weekly cycle of years, ending with the sabbath year (Leviticus 25:1-7). The land was to be worked for six years and allowed to rest on the seventh.
After introducing the weeks of years, the Lord told Moses how they were to be used to mark off another, larger, cycle:
Consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The 50th year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields" (Leviticus 25:8-12).
The cycle began on a "Sunday" year--the first year of the week, and it contained seven full weeks of years, plus the additional year of jubilee. It started with a "Sunday" year, and it ended with a "Sunday" year.
What happens with the next cycle? Does it begin on a "Monday" year, since that's the year following the jubilee year? No. The Lord's command specified that seven full weeks, for a total of 49 years, were to be counted. If the next cycle began with the "Monday" year following the jubilee year, there would be only 48 years to the seventh sabbath--not the 49 specified by the Lord.
The only way to get seven full weeks is to begin counting with a "Sunday" year--the same "Sunday" year that was also the jubilee year. Here's how two consecutive cycles line up:
The weekly cycles, then, provide the structure for the jubilee cycles. There are seven years to a week, and there are seven weeks to the jubilee cycle. The jubilee cycle is 50 years long and begins every 49 years, so that the 50th, or jubilee, year of one cycle is also the first year of the next cycle.
Within the framework that the Lord gave for these cycles, the land got a total of eight sabbaths every 49 years: the seven regular sabbaths and the jubilee sabbath, which was always on the first year of the week. This meant that there were two consecutive sabbaths for the land every 49 years: the 49th year of the cycle, which was a regular seventh-year sabbath, and the 50th year, which was the jubilee sabbath.
The Lord introduced the structure of seven full weeks, followed by a day of rest, when he commanded Moses concerning the Firstfruits and the Feast of Weeks.
Day 1
SundayDay 2
MondayDay 3
TuesdayDay 4
WednesdayDay 5
ThursdayDay 6
FridayDay 7
Sabbath
Year 1
"Sunday"Year 2
"Monday"Year 3
"Tuesday"Year 4
"Wednesday"Year 5
"Thursday"Year 6
"Friday"Year 7
Sabbath
"Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of 49 years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the 10th day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.
Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--for a total of 49 years. That's simple enough, isn't it?
Year 1
"Sunday"Year 2
"Monday"Year 3
"Tuesday"Year 4
"Wednesday"Year 5
"Thursday"Year 6
"Friday"Year 7
Sabbath
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
(land rests)
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
(land rests)
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
(land rests)
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
(land rests)
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
(land rests)
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
(land rests)
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
(land rests)
50/1
(land rests)2
3
4
5
6
7
(land rests)
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
(land rests)
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
(land rests)
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
(land rests)
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
(land rests)
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
(land rests)
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
(land rests)
50
(land rests)
