John Sietze Bergsma, «The Jubilee: A Post-Exilic Priestly Attempt to Reclaim Lands?», Vol. 84 (2003) 225-246

The article examines the hypothesis that the jubilee legislation of Lev 25 was a post-exilic attempt on the part of returning Judean exiles — particularly the priests — to provide legal justification for the reclamation of their former lands. This hypothesis is found to be dubious because (1) the jubilee did not serve the interests of the socio-economic classes that were exiled, and (2) Lev 25 does not show signs of having been redacted with the post-exilic situation in mind. A comparison with Ezekiel’s vision of restoration points out the differences between Lev 25 and actual priestly land legislation for the post-exilic period.

        North also adds that "a flourishing commercial orientation [is] quite different from the petty-agriculture focus with which most of the jubilee chapter deals"²³. Similar views on the focus and beneficiaries of the legislation are expressed by Habel²⁴, Gottwald²⁵, Albertz²⁶, and Milgrom²⁷.

        If the beneficiaries of the jubilee are the "independent" or "peasant" farmers, what socio-economic classes were exiled? According to the deuteronomistic historian, the classes taken into exile at the first deportation were the royal court, the "notables" (Cr)h ylw)), the military, craftsmen, and smiths — about 10,000 in all (2 Kgs 24,13-17). At the second deportation, the "remnant of the population" of Jerusalem was taken (2 Kgs 25,11), including "what remained of the craftsmen" (Jer 52,15). In both deportations, "the poorest people in the land" were left "to be vinedressers and field hands" (2 Kgs 24,14; 25,12; Jer 52,15-16).

        Thus, according to the deuteronomistic historian(s), the exiles were the urban elite, not the rural farming class whom the jubilee legislation was designed to protect. The first deportation, in 597 BCE, was certainly the most significant in quantity and "quality" of people. In the second, the "urban elite" was considerably smaller (cf. Jer 52,28-30). The non-exiled "poorest people of the land" almost certainly would have included the "small independent farmers" who would benefit from the jubilee legislation²⁸.