Welcome to CROSSFIRE USA - Connecting you in head and heart with faith, news and scholarly evidence!

By Dr. Mark David Hall 

The Liberty Bell is one of the most prominent symbols of American freedom. It is inscribed with the words “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof,” which are taken from Leviticus 25:10. In Did America Have a Christian Founding?, I contend that the connection between the Bible and liberty is no accident. America’s founders drew from their Christian convictions, and ideas developed within the Christian tradition of political reflection, when they created a constitutional order committed to protecting and expanding freedom.....

The Liberty Bell has been used as the logo of the Providence Foundation since near the time of our official founding in 1984. A verse from the Bible, Leviticus 25:10, is engraved on the top of the bell: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. Lev. XXV, X”

The context of this Scripture is the jubilee year of liberty, which according to God’s instruction was to occur every 50 years and was marked by forgiveness of debts, the return of all lands to the original owners, and freedom to enslaved Israelites. Appropriately, this good fruit partially represents the outcome of our mission to spread Christian liberty throughout all the nations. As we teach Biblical principles for all spheres of life, the result will be men and nations who are liberated, blessed, and advancing. Or as Jesus taught, we disciple nations by teaching men to observe all He commanded (Matthew 28:18-20)....

How does Jubilee relate to justice? What does it mean for Christians and our call to serve the poor and oppressed?

I’ve read several books by evangelical authors concerned with wealth, poverty, and social justice. Nearly every one of these books mentions the concept of Jubilee. The assumptions made about this biblical practice, found in Leviticus 25, are that it involves forgiveness of debt and redistribution of land.

Jubilee was even offered as a solution to the 2008 economic recession. Forbes asked,

Could a debt jubilee help kick-start the economy?

Reuters profiled economists who were seriously considering Jubilee as a tool for ending the recession, and the Huffington Post linked the practice to the demands of Occupy Wall Street.

In an age of crushing federal and consumer debt, a practice that forgives financial burdens is naturally becoming quite popular!...

According to legend, the Liberty Bell was first struck on July 8, 1776, as a call to the citizens of Philadelphia to the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Legends also tell us that the bell was rung in 1774 to announce the meeting of the First Continental Congress, as well as in 1775 after the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Although it is disputed as to whether or not the bell was rung at each and every one of these events, it is clear that the Liberty Bell started out as a simple courthouse tower bell brought to the city by William Penn, the city’s founder.

The first courthouse bell was a simple bell that hung from a tree located behind the Pennsylvania State House. Through the years, the bell’s importance has grown, and it is now known worldwide as a symbol of freedom and liberty....

The Pennsylvania Assembly ordered it to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Quaker leader William Penn founding the Colony in 1701 and writing the Charter of Privileges.

Quakers were the first and strongest voices to end slavery.

In 1751, Pennsylvania's Assembly declared a "Year of Jubilee" and commissioned the bell to be put in the Philadelphia State House.

Speaker Isaac Norris read the Leviticus chapter 25 verse 10:
"And ye shall make hallow the fiftieth year, and PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee."

"Jubilee" in the Israelite calendar was, after seven cycles of seven years - 49 years, there would be a sabbath year of release.

Slaves would be freed, debts were to be forgiven, and lands were to be returned to the original families who owned them, to demonstrate the mercies of God.

Inscribed on The Liberty Bell is:
"PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE THE INHABITANTS THEREOF."

The Liberty Bell, weighing over 2,000 pounds, was cast in England in August of 1752....

Leviticus 25:39–46 describes a two-tier model of slavery that distinguishes Israelites from foreign slaves. It requires that Israelites be indentured only temporarily while foreigners can be enslaved as chattel (permanent property). This model resembles the distinction between White indentured slaves and Black chattel slaves in the American colonies. However, the biblical influence on these early modern practices has been obscured by the rarity of citations of Lev. 25:39–46 in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources about slavery. This article reviews the history of slavery from ancient Middle Eastern antiquity through the seventeenth century to show the unique degree to which early modern institutions resembled the biblical model. It then exposes widespread knowledge of Leviticus 25 in early modern political and economic debates. Demonstrating this awareness shows with high probability that colonial cultures presupposed the two-tier model of slavery in Leviticus 25:39–46 to naturalize and justify their different treatment of White indentured slaves and Black chattel slaves....