Are Feasts of Trumpets and New Wine Observed this Year? Is a Jubilee 49 or 50 years?
When seeking to understand Prophecy many things are specified in terms of Jubilee periods. There are two ways a jubilee is interpreted, one as a period of 49 years, with the 50th year, the jubilee year, overlapping with the 1st year of the next jubilee period and another where the 1st year follows the 50th year. How you interpret this has a major impact on how you view prophecy.
Based upon the study of the Jubilee, I will also make a case for why the Rapture will not occur on First Fruits of Barley, Wheat, Wine, nor Oil in 2024 or 2025.
This video does a great job of showing evidence from scripture as well as the dispute going back over 1000 years. All of that said, it ends up relying upon the Book of Jubilees as its primary source of evidence for the overlap of year 50 and year 1. We must look for additional witnesses, because Ken Johnson from BibleFacts.org claims that there are different versions of the Book of Jubilees that use both methods.
There are some major implications for prophecy counted in terms of Jubilee. For example, my interpretation of 70 Jubilees from the Jordan River Crossing aligns with Fall 2024 being the 7th year of the last Shemitah cycle where next year is proclaimed to be a Jubilee. 1406 BC + 70 x 49 takes you to the end of 2024 (spring 2025). But if the Jubilee were 50 years, then it would take you to 2095.
Many people believe that Ezekiel 40 is identifying a Jubilee year because the “head of the year” is delayed until the 10th day of the 7th month.
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. — Ezekiel 40
We know that year is the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar; therefore, we know that it occurred exactly on the consecration of the 17th Jubilee from the 1406 BC Jordan river crossing. If the 1st year followed the 50th year, then it would be off about 17 years.
According to my interpretation of Daniel 9:25, a decree to rebuild Jerusalem would go out on the 60th Jubilee. And that is exactly what happened if you with 49 year jubilee periods, rather than 50. If two Jubilees were 100 years instead of 98 then that decree would be 60 years too early.
Ken Johnson has done extensive study on the Dead Sea scrolls and recently did a video on Scroll 11Q13 which he claims points to the Messiah’s death in 32 AD. I believe Ken has made a slight error in his interpretation when he claims 32 AD as the year of the cross, because the text only specifies the week (26–32AD) and not the exact year.
At the 27:22 mark He shows the following quote from the scroll:
“YHUH will cast their lot amid the portions of Melchizedek, who will make them return (repent) and will proclaim freedom to them, to free them from the debt of all their iniquities (the cross). This event will take place in the first week of the Jubilee that occurs after the 9th Jubilee [32 AD]. Now the Day of Atonement is the end of the 10th Jubilee [75 AD]”
The first thing to note is that this scroll is an interpretation of scripture, likely Daniel 9:25, that maps the timeline onto their understanding of Jubilees. The dead sea scrolls document that the debate of 50 vs 49 years goes back a long time.
So if they added 490 years to the Ezra decree, then mapped it to their understanding of the calendar, then they would indeed conclude the 1st week of the 10th Jubilee of the 500 year period. This isn’t a new prophecy, it is likely an interpretation. No different than if we interpreted Ezra and then wrote down that we expected Messiah to come somewhere in the 5th week AD ( 27–33 AD).
There is abundant evidence that points to 31 AD being the actual year, which is compatible with the above text. Consider that Yah does all of his work in 6 days (years) and rests on the 7th. That is exactly what this timeline would suggest.
There is a major problem with this Jubilee reckoning because it would have to place the Jordan River crossing around 1426 BC, a date that is inconsistent with the reign of Pharaoh’s compatible with the Exodus account and with the abundant evidence pointing to 1406 BC for the crossing.
Ken uses the dates in the table to map the dead sea scrolls to modern years. According to his interpretation, the 50th year is does not overlap with the 1st year of each Jubilee; therefore, the year 75AD, 1075, and 2075 are considered to be Jubilees. That would also make 2025 a Jubilee, which, by “coincidence” happens to align with the 49 year count starting from the Jordan River crossing in 1406 BC, and oddly enough, it puts the 8th day of Tabernacles in 2024 on October 9th. So in spite of all the things I believe he has wrong, his Jubilee and Feast Day count happens to align perfectly with the Day of YHUH.
We know that Yashua declared the year of release and debt forgiveness, which is done on the day of Atonement in the 7th year of the Shemitah cycle. If Ken’s interpretation of the Dead Sea Scroll calendar is correct, this would have to occur in Fall of 32 AD, after Jesus was supposedly killed. In fact, it is impossible for Yashua to declare that fulfilled in our hearing any year between 25 and 32 AD on the Dead Sea Scroll calendar if you assume his Shemitah cycle is correct.
At the end of every seven years — during the last of the seven, that is, the sabbatical year. — Deuteronomy 15:1, Exodus 21:2, 23:11, Lev 25:4, Jeremiah 34:14
Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. — Jeremiah 34:14
You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year. — Lev 25:4
Since day of Atonement is after Passover, this is a clear issue for Ken’s interpretation and calendar.
Is the Jubilee the 49th Year?
Some people have contended that the 49th and not the 1st year is the Jubilee year; however, that is easily disproven.
But in the 7th year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land — a Sabbath to the LORD.
You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. You are not to reap the after growth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines.
The 50th year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its after growth or harvest the untended vines.
You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.
Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the 7th year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’ But I will send My blessing upon you in the 6th year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for 3 years. While you are sowing in the 8th year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the 9th year’s harvest comes in. — Lev 25
Clearly on Jubilee years there are 2 years without planting or harvesting, which means the 49th year cannot overlap with the “50th” year, the year of Jubilee.
Implications for the Rapture & Pentecost
Many people are looking for the Rapture on the First Fruits of Barley (Passover), Wheat (Shavout), Wine (Pentecost), or Oil (Feast of Trumpets). However, on the 49th and 50th year there is no planting and harvesting; therefore, there cannot be any first fruits offered on those years.
This is further evidence that Ken’s calendar is incorrect, because the disciples were accused of being drunk on New Wine at Pentecost, but New Wine is not possible in a 7th year of a Shemitah or the 50th year of a Jubilee.
Could this be the origin of “Feast of Trumpets” moving to “Day of Atonement” on the 7th year?
Conclusion
Ken Johnson with his “Dead Sea Scroll Calendar” and 50 year Jubilee cycle are fundamentally incompatible with scripture. Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than Passover at the Cross.
People have made the Dead Sea Scrolls into an Idol and worship the Essenes because they appear understood much about the coming Messiah that the Pharisees and Sadducees missed. The Essenes understood little that cannot be found in the Cannon.
