Aphesis

So I have posted for a while. I still have a lot to say, and worry I will never say it. Alas.

The Greek word Aphesis (Αφεσισ) is translated as liberation or loosing. It is used throughout both the Old and New Testament, and is most often seen in relation to the concept of Jubilee.

In the Old Testament God demanded every seventh year to be a special year, a sabath year. Every fiftieth year, after seven sevens (forty-nine) was to be a year of Jubilee. On that year all slaves would be freed, debts forgiven, and land returned to those who originally owned it.

After some time Israel forget these practices and that is why, according to Jeremiah, they were sent into exile in Babylon.


In the New Testament, Jubilee is not explicitly mentioned, but the concept is revealed in the actions Jesus takes. He sets man free from their sins, forgives their sins, and returns health to those who lost it. In many of these cases, the word uses is Aphesis, which is the same word used in the Septuagint.

These theme of liberation makes it way through out both Testaments, and is one of the major underlying themes of the Bible. It continues on into the epistles, where St. Paul says "It is for freedom Christ set you free" and " Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." The dichotomy of slave and free is a major issue to most of the Biblical authors, as it is to Isaac Basheva Singer, whom we all know by now (one would assume). I may later interconnect those two, but as for now, I am finished.