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.

3. Other Difficulties Not Addressed by Lev 25

        In addition to the failure to deal with the significance of the exile vis-à-vis land claims, there are other issues not addressed in the text that would have confronted returning exiles, such as the destruction of property records and the disturbance of boundary stones. Indeed, since we have textual evidence that many families’ genealogical records had been lost or destroyed (Ezra 2,62), it is a small leap to suppose that property records were in a similar state. Moreover, since most of those who were adults at the time of deportation would have died in exile, the vast majority of those who returned would have been at best children when deported. More commonly, they would have been born and raised in exile, never having seen their ancestral land, and therefore not knowing its location or boundaries. Again, Lev 25 would have been no help in this regard. The right to return to one’s property does little good if one does not know where one’s property is or what its boundaries are⁵⁹.

IV. A Comparison with Ezekiel

        To get a proper perspective on the true nature of the legislation of Lev 25, it is useful to compare it with a vision of land reform for which we have firmer evidence to believe was written in the exile, by a priest or priestly circle closely associated with the Holiness School, with the intent of providing regulations for the restoration: Ezek 45–48⁶⁰.

        Ezekiel⁶¹ realized that the confusion over land title caused by