When is the Sabbath Year?
The following chart gives the current Jubilee cycle with Sabbath Years Marked:
Year No. 1. begins: 1986 c.e. Ends: 1987 c.e. 1
Year No. 2. begins: 1987 c.e. Ends: 1988 c.e. 2
Year No. 3. begins: 1988 c.e. Ends: 1989 c.e. 3
Year No. 4. begins: 1989 c.e. Ends: 1990 c.e. 4
Year No. 5. begins: 1990 c.e. Ends: 1991 c.e. 5
Year No. 6. begins: 1991 c.e. Ends: 1992 c.e. 6
Year No. 7. begins: 1992 c.e. Ends: 1993 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 8. begins: 1993 c.e. Ends: 1994 c.e. 1
Year No. 9. begins: 1994 c.e. Ends: 1995 c.e. 2
Year No. 10. begins: 1995 c.e. Ends: 1996 c.e. 3
Year No. 11. begins: 1996 c.e. Ends: 1997 c.e. 4
Year No. 12. begins: 1997 c.e. Ends: 1998 c.e. 5
Year No. 13. begins: 1998 c.e. Ends: 1999 c.e. 6
Year No. 14. begins: 1999 c.e. Ends: 2000 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 15. begins: 2000 c.e. Ends: 2001 c.e. 1
Year No. 16. begins: 2001 c.e. Ends: 2002 c.e. 2
Year No. 17. begins: 2002 c.e. Ends: 2003 c.e. 3
Year No. 18. begins: 2003 c.e. Ends: 2004 c.e. 4Year No. 19. begins: 2004 c.e. Ends: 2005 c.e. 5
Year No. 20. begins: 2005 c.e. Ends: 2006 c.e. 6
Year No. 21. begins: 2006 c.e. Ends: 2007 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 22. begins: 2007 c.e. Ends: 2008 c.e. 1
Year No. 23. begins: 2008 c.e. Ends: 2009 c.e. 2
Year No. 24. begins: 2009 c.e. Ends: 2010 c.e. 3
Year No. 25. begins: 2010 c.e. Ends: 2011 c.e. 4
Year No. 26. begins: 2011 c.e. Ends: 2012 c.e. 5
Year No. 27. begins: 2012 c.e. Ends: 2013 c.e. 6
Year No. 28. begins: 2013 c.e. Ends: 2014 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 29. begins: 2014 c.e. Ends: 2015 c.e. 1
Year No. 30. begins: 2015 c.e. Ends: 2016 c.e. 2
Year No. 31. begins: 2016 c.e. Ends: 2017 c.e. 3
Year No. 32. begins: 2017 c.e. Ends: 2018 c.e. 4
Year No. 33. begins: 2018 c.e. Ends: 2019 c.e. 5
Year No. 34. begins: 2019 c.e. Ends: 2020 c.e. 6
Year No. 35. begins: 2020 c.e. Ends: 2021 c.e. 7 Sabbath YearYear No. 36. begins: 2021 c.e. Ends: 2022 c.e. 1
Year No. 37. begins: 2022 c.e. Ends: 2023 c.e. 2
Year No. 38. begins: 2023 c.e. Ends: 2024 c.e. 3
Year No. 39. begins: 2024 c.e. Ends: 2025 c.e. 4
Year No. 40. begins: 2025 c.e. Ends: 2026 c.e. 5
Year No. 41. begins: 2026 c.e. Ends: 2027 c.e. 6
Year No. 42. begins: 2027 c.e. Ends: 2028 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 43. begins: 2028 c.e. Ends: 2029 c.e. 1
Year No. 44. begins: 2029 c.e. Ends: 2030 c.e. 2
Year No. 45. begins: 2030 c.e. Ends: 2031 c.e. 3
Year No. 46. begins: 2031 c.e. Ends: 2032 c.e. 4
Year No. 47. begins: 2032 c.e. Ends: 2033 c.e. 5
Year No. 48. begins: 2033 c.e. Ends: 2034 c.e. 6
Year No. 49. begins: 2034 c.e. Ends: 2035 c.e. 7 Sabbath Year
Year No. 50. begins: 2035 c.e. Ends: 2036 c.e. 1 Jubilee Year
* The Jubilee Year begins on the Day of Atonement.
* The Day of Atonement is the 10th day of the 7th
* month.
Start with the Bible
The problem with most chronology is that it is very easy for an expert to lie to the ignorant. The web is a web of deceit when it comes to purported chronologies of the bible. Almost all of them are built on the shifting sands of assumption and secular corruptions or non-biblical sources. But this is not true of the chronology found here at www.torahtimes.org.
The fraudulent presentations of the Sabbatical year try to begin with non-biblical historical sources from 200 B.C. to A.D. 200. Without the guidance of the sabbatical years of Daniel 9 and in the Torah and Prophets, they are surely led astray by the errors in the corrupted secular chronologies they use. Without the guidance of the Scripture, it is hopeless to try to reverse engineer the truth out of the four Seleucid Era's of the book of Maccabees or to try to undo the various interpretations of Josephus or to try to comprehend the Wadi Murrabbat Papyri. With the guidance of the Scriptures, it is not hard to show how to correct these secular sources, so that they speak with as near one voice as possible. However, we cannot start with these sources in this presentation, because without the foundation of the Scriptures, none can understand their resolution.
The problem with Ben Zion Wacholder's argument is that it starts with secular history and ignores the Bible. Wacholder published in the Hebrew Union College Annual, the periodical of the Liberal Jewish Seminary given over to higher criticism of the Torah and Prophets, i.e. to the view that Moses did not write the Torah. Because of this background, it is clear why no authority is given to the Law and the Prophets in matters of chronology. This is abundantly clear in the papers of Julian Morgenstern in the same annual. And shows why Wacholder took the non-biblical approach he did. It also shows why Wacholder produced a novel and unprecedented sabbatical year system. It did not however, go without serious challenge from Donald Blosser in the same annual.
The sabbatical year system produced by Bennedict Zuckermann is the one that is considered 'traditional'. However, it too takes the same broken approach of using post biblical historical sources. His tables run from 535/534 B.C. to A.D. 2238/2239, which is entirely post exilic!
Biblical Chronology
The Sabbatical Year cannot be recovered without recovering all of biblical chronology at the same time with it. None of the foregoing systems have ever managed to produce a complete chronology of the bible that passes all the biblical tests. None of those trying to promote either Zuckermann's or Wacholder's systems have ever succeeded in showing how it works in the overall biblical chronology. So that is where we must start.
The necessary chronology of the Scripture is available on this website in the book. Here, I will not attempt to reproduce what is there, but to highlight the parts relevant to the Sabbatical year. First there are several impediments to realizing the truth here. They are:
(1) Equating Adam's year 1 with year 1 of the world. See here for a refutation of this mistake. This mistake destroys any possibility of correctly counting Sabbath years from creation, since Adam was not 1 year old in year 1 of the world. He was 1 year old in year 2 of the world, since we are enumerating the year of the world. See the link for a rigorous mathematical proof of the consequences of this mistake. Almost 100% of chronologies before the flood make this mistake and put the flood in anno 1656! The flood was in anno 1657.
(2) The Jewish Chronologies destroy themselves by supposing that Abraham was born when Terah was 70. For disproof and correction of this error see here. This error is caught by many chronologists. But the Jewish Chronology does not escape the trap. This mistake tosses the biblical clues about the sabbatical and jubilee out of synch.
(3) Many Chronologies destroy themselves by supposing that Israel was in Egypt 400 or 430 years. See here for the correction of this error. This also ruins the biblical clues on the seventh year.
(4) The Jewish chronology (Seder Olam) was correct in dating the 400 years from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus, and then ending up with 210 years in Egypt. However, Martin Antsey, David L. Cooper, and Floyd Nolen Jones all were incorrect in dating the 400 years from the assumed weaning of Isaac at age 5 instead of his birth. Also, by doing this, they implied that Abraham was called out of Haran. He was not called out of Haran. He was called out of Ur before he came to Haran. See the above link. This error pushes the chronology 5 years out of sychronization.
(5) Trying to date 480 years from the Exodus to the 4th year of Solomon is a mistake followed by many chronologists. It is refuted here and more completely in the book. The truth of this is that 1Kings 6:1 is referring to the 480th (enumerated) year of the Exodus celebration "going out of Egypt," which is not the sum of all years since they had no such celebration when their enemies prevailed over them during the oppressions and rebellions. The Passover was celebrated 480 times up to the 4th year of Solomon, but not in the 134 years of foreign rule. The total time was 613 years from the 1st Passover in 1632 B.C. to the 480th Passover in 1019 B.C. The internal chronology shows this and the numbers in Judges 11:26 and Acts 13:20 also confirm it.
(6) Most modern Chronologists fall into the trap laid by Edwin R. Thiele, who uncritically accepted secular archaeological results for Assyrian Chronology. Thiele was a huge step backward in the recovery of biblical chronology, throwing the whole of the 20th century into darkness and confusion. Why do I say this? Because Willis J. Beecher had the whole period of time back to Eli solved already (1181 B.C. for Eli is correct), in "The Dated Events of the Old Testament"; Beecher falls into traps [5] and [4] above, but the solution was already at hand in the first 25 years of the 20th century. Beecher was correct back to Eli. Martin Anstey was correct on the stretch from the Exodus to Eli, but off by only one year since he computes 299 years instead of 300 for Judges 11:26 and gives 13 years for the Elders instead of the correct 14. Unfortunately, the wheel of Beecher and the Axle of Anstey were not put together with the gear of the Jewish solution to the 400 year problem at this time or the realization of the anno 1657 date of the flood. The result of Thiele's error is to provide a false date for the Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem, which is fatal to any attempt to correctly synchronize the subsequent sabbatical and Jubilee year.
The Sabbatical Years in the Bible
Once these errors are corrected, and you can see the full diagrammatic presentation of the solution in the book, then it is possible to explain the biblical timing of the sabbatical year, which results I will outline below. I will not repeat the charting proof here. See the book charts for that. However, here is a brief html outline of the chronology mathematically demonstrated down to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.
(1) The Sabbatical Year and Jubilee system is retroactively synchronous with Creation, the fall of the first year of creation commencing the first year of the cycle, the 7th fall after creation commencing the first Sabbath year, and the 50th fall after creation beginning the first Jubilee. This astonishing result is simply the consequence of correcting errors 1-4 above. See the chart here.
(2) The seven years of plenty and seven years of famine in Egypt predicted by Joseph's dream fall exactly into the seven year cycle from Creation. Furthermore, after the 7th year of famine, came the Jubilee, when Joseph returned the land to the Egyptians in exchange for two tithes to the King. This is the result of correcting error 1 and 2 above. See the chart here, and here.
(3) The first fall after Israel's crossing of the Jordan and entry into the land of Israel begins a new cycle, in the fall of 1592 B.C. See the chart here.
(4) The Jubilee is alluded to in 1Sam. 13:1-3 in Saul's Second year. The internal data exactly match the cycle. See the chart here.
(5) King David brought the Ark to Jerusalem in the Jubilee. See the chart here.
(6) The 3rd year of Jehoshaphat, the King sent the Levites to teach the Torah per Deut. 31:10. This was the first year of the cycle. See chart.
(7) The 15th and 16th years of Hezekiah were a sabbatical and Jubilee year after the siege of Sennacherib in his 14th year. 711/710, and 710/709 B.C. respectively. See chart, and discussion here.
(8) Nineveh was destroyed on the eve of the Jubilee in 612 B.C. See chart.
(9) Nebuchadnezzar's seven years madness falls exactly into a sabbatical cycle, and his restoration was in the Jubilee (at the end of days). See chart, and chart.
(10) The 70th year of the exile was a Sabbatical year, and Judah was settled in their cities at the end of this year. See chart.
(11) Ezra reads the Law at the end of the 7th year in Anno 444 B.C. See chart.
(12) Ezra completes the Temple reforms at the end of 49 years, no more than seven Sabbath years counting from the Sabbath year of 445/444 B.C. See chart.
Confirmation of the Biblical Sabbath Year and Jubilee
(1) In 12 separate rebellions of Israel, totaling 420 years (390 + 40 = 420) there are exactly 70 Sabbath years that Israel failed to observe. See discussion here. The result would not be exact if their was an error in the chronology.
(2) From the time Israel entered the land until king Saul was 490 years.
(3) From the time of the entry until the Jubilee of Hezekiah's 16th year was 18 Jubilees.
Sabbath Years from Secular Sources
(1) Alexander the Great remitted the tribute of the 7th year (Josephus Ant. 11:338, 343), and this was reaffirmed by Rome (Ant. 14:200, 202). The tax deduction for the Sabbath year was made every second year, i.e. in years 2, 4, and 6 of the Sabbath cycle, and not all at once. These references have been generally regarded as useless for dating. Alexander took Gaza in the spring of 332 B.C. according to Ussher (Annals, 3672c AM, 4382 JP, 332 B.C.). The Sabbatical year was fall 333 to fall 332, so it was during the sabbatical year that Alexander went up to Jerusalem.
(2) Siege of Beth-Zur. Judas takes Beth-Zur 150 A.S. (fall 164 B.C. using fall 313 A.S. inception), per. 1Mac. 6:20. The Greeks attack to recover 149 A.S. (spring 163 B.C., using spring 312 A.S. inception) Judas abandons the fight in the spring of 163 B.C. Food was short because of the preceding Sabbath year, fall 165 to fall 164. The secular chronologies in this period are confused by uncertainties in the Seleucid Eras. However, this is discussed here and charted here, where you can see the four ways of counting the Seleucid Era. (1 Maccabees 6:20, 49; 2 Maccabees 13:1). A shortage of food is blamed on the Sabbath year, but the timing is actually at the end of the Sabbath year. See links. Again, the uncertainties involved preclude this view as confirmation on any view. I am only showing how the uncertainties should probably be regarded given knowledge of the biblical timing of the Sabbath year. See also here.
(3) The death of Simon in relation to the Sabbath year. See chart here. Simon and two of his sons were murdered by his son-in-law Ptolemy in the eleventh month (Shevat, roughly our February) of the 177th year (1 Mac. 16:14-16. A third son, John Hyrcanus, besieged Ptolemy (Antiq., bk. 13, ch. 8, sect. 1). The murder took place in Feb. 136 (A.S. 177, fall 313 B.C. inception). However, the statement in Josephus (Ant. 13:234) that the sabbath year came round after Simon was murdered is in error. It was already underway when Simon was murdered. Schurer rightly questions this statement in Josephus, A History of the Jewish People in the Time Of Jesus Christ, pg. 42, div. 1., since the comment is only worthy of an errant Gentile source trying to give an excuse as to why John Hyrcanus lifted the siege of Ptolemy in Jericho. With these uncertainties mentioned by Schurer and the uncertain A.S., this episode does not really confirm any view of the Sabbath year.
(4) Herod conquered Jerusalem in the summer of 38 B.C. This is confirmed by Dio Cassius dating (49:22-23) in the consulship of Claudius and Norbanus. Further discussion. See charts. The evidence here tends to favor Dio Cassius, but it is too controverted to be called a confirmation of the biblical Sabbath year. More discussion.
(5) According to the Mishna Mishnah Sotah 7:8 Herod Agrippa was supposed to have recited the Torah in a post Sabbatical year. Caligula appointed Herod Agrippa I as king in 37 AD. He received additional territory in 39 AD, and became king of Judea in 41 AD. Herod did not have to be King of Judea to receive the honor of reading the Torah. The Herod's of other territories attended the feasts, even when Rome had not granted Judea to them (see Luke 23:7). The Herod's were in fact trying to impress the Judeans with their piety. One one sabbatical year in Herod Agrippa I's reign is A.D. 39/40. The incident in Mishnah Sotah took place in the fall of A.D. 40 at the feast of Tabernacles. The only reason we can date this is because we already know when the biblical Sabbath year is. This incident is therefore useless as a confirmation. See chart here.
(6) Caligula's statue is as nearest a refutation of the Zuckermann cycle as one could wish for. See comment and also here. The Sabbath year was A.D. 39/40, and the planting that the Jews were forced to forgo was in the fall of A.D. 40 (see Josephus Ant. 18:272-74). See chart here. This incident is of high negative confirmation against Zuckermann's cycle because Josephus had access to the primary evidence in his history. More discussion.
(7) TheWadi Murrabat 18 Papayri. All the argument over this about a folded note or antedating is nonsensical. The 2nd year mentioned is the second year of the cycle, fall 55/fall 56 (and of Nero, A.D. 56). This implies a Sabbath year in A.D. 53/54, and that five years remain till the year of release (the next Sabbath year). For full discussion see here. This document is actually of high value in confirming the biblical Sabbath cycle. All of the obfuscation here is simply because those studying it or commenting on it have not applied the biblical cycle to the question. More discussion.
(8) According to Seder Olam and Rabbi Yose Ben Halaphta, the 2nd Temple was supposed to have been destroyed in a post sabbatical year. Zuckermann scholars take the Roman A.D. 70 date of the destruction and suppose that 68/69 was the Sabbath year, and 69/70 the post Sabbatical year. That this reasoning was in error is perfectly evident when we consider that Rabbi Yose was constructing a scheme for Daniel 9, in which he claimed:
(a) The First Temple was destroyed in a post Sabbatical year (fiction)
(b) The Second Temple was destroyed in a post Sabbatical year (fiction)
(c) There were 490 years from one to the other. (fiction)
(d) Both were burned on Av 9 on a Sunday. (not likely)
(e) The Levites were singing the same song (Ta'anith, 29a). (not likely)
The scheme in question is clearly the Rabbis attempt to subvert the correct Messianic understanding of Daniel 9:24-27. We must approach this whole question from this point of view. Put yourselves in the shoes of the Rabbi. You know when the Sabbath year is, and your contemporaries know when it is, because you have been marking it every seven years. However, since it has been too many years after the destruction of the Temple, you contemporaries are not aware of the exact date of the destruction. So when you construct your scheme you mistakenly say that the destruction was in A.D. 69 because you know that the Sabbath year was in A.D. 67/68. You use your current knowledge of the Sabbath year and ignorance of the date of the destruction to choose a date of the destruction that fits your theory. Therefore, Rabbi Yose picked A.D. 69. This is exactly the date given in Seder Olam for the destruction of the Second Temple. Once we understand this, Rabbis Yose's attempt to subvert Daniel 9 backfires and actually gives a very highly reliable confirmation of the Sabbath year, A.D. 67/68. More discussion. If anyone complains that they should have known it was A.D. 70, I reply that they should have known that the 1st Temple was destroyed in 587 B.C., and not about 163 years later. If the knowledge of the Persian period can wane enough to trick people into Halaphta's scheme, then so can the date of the actual destruction of the 2nd Temple.
(9) The Bar Kochba revolt. See chart. See book discussion. J.T. Milik correctly places this Sabbath year in 130/131 (fall to fall). The Wadi Murabbat 24E Papyri directly confirms the Biblical Sabbatical Year.
(10) Sodom Tombstones. See discussion, and here also. Correcting the Hurban for inclusive counting from A.D. 70 (so it works with A.D. 69 also per Seder Olam), and using Avodah Zarah 9b (Add 1 to the year of the Hurban to obtain the year of the Sabbath cycle). A.D. 70 = year 1 of Hurban (destruction). Add 1+1=2. This is the 2nd year of the Sabbath cycle, A.D. 69/70. Likewise with the Sodom tombstones. The Jewish mistakes cancel each other out and directly confirm the Biblical Sabbatical year. The Avodah Zara 9b formula is therefore perfectly valid. Only one of the tombstone inscriptions is useful, the others being damaged too much.
Zuckermann, Wacholder and others have all been led astray by by relying too much on post biblical references to the Sabbatical year. They paid little or no attention to the biblical references save one, the reading of the Torah by Ezra Before Wacholder proposed his liberal view, there were in fact three theories among the Jews as to the Sabbath year. One was before the Biblical Sabbath year (one of Rashi's views), and the other (Zuckermann's) right after it. The biblical Sabbath year stands fixed in the chronology of the Torah and Prophets without the need of these historical extra-biblical references.