[94] Only two in any one law; Lev. xviii. 21, xix. 26, 31, xx. 6, 27.
[95] Lehrbuch der Alt-Testamentlichen Religion's Geschichte, pp. 169 ff.
[96] Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah, p. 150.
[97] Cf. Numb. xxvi. 53-55 from P and Josh. xvii. 14 ff. from JE.
[98] The questions connected with the jubilee year are numerous and intricate, and it may be for ever impossible, from lack of data, to decide at what period in Israelite history it originated, or whether it was ever actually observed; but it undoubtedly expressed the spirit of the Israelite legislation and customary law at all times. It is the natural culmination of tendencies and ideas which were always present. That it is not mentioned in Deuteronomy at all is surprising, if it had been previously to Manasseh's day embodied either in custom or in law; yet, on the other hand, there are references in Ezekiel and other exilic books which are almost unintelligible except on the supposition that the jubilee year was a perfectly well-known institution (cf. Jer. xxxiv. 8 ff.; Ezek. vii. 12 f.; Ezek. xlvi. 16 ff.; Isa. lxi. 1 ff.). It is referred to in a merely allusive way, which implies that every hearer or reader of the prophetic warnings would know at once the full scope and meaning of the reference. Now, had the jubilee year been unknown before the Exile, had it been introduced by the author of Lev. xxv. just before Ezekiel, no such assumption could have been made. It would, therefore, seem necessary to suppose that the ordinance for a jubilee year must have existed in pre-exilic time; for, strange as Deuteronomy's silence in regard to it is, the argumentum e silentio cannot weigh against indications of a positive kind, were they even fainter than those we have in regard to this matter.
[99] Cf. Kübel, Die sociale und wirthschaftliche Gesetzgebung des Alten Testaments p. 47.
[100] Prophets of Israel, p. 88.
[101] Cf. Jer. xxxiv. 8 ff.
[102] Cf. Amos ii. 6 ff.
[103] Neh. v. 1 seq.