Following on from Nick Thompson’s article, ‘The Broad Road’, I would like to look further at the implications of the Sabbath year. The opening verses of Leviticus 25 read as follows:
And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I am giving you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. [For] six years you shall sow your field and [for] six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of [solemn] rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. You shall not reap [to sell] whatever grows of its own accord of your harvest, nor shall you gather [for profit] the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. But the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you – for you, for your male and female servants, for your hired man and for the stranger who abides with you, for your livestock and the animals that are on your land. All its produce shall be for food.’”
The crops that grew wild during the Sabbath year were not to be commercially harvested by the landowner, but they could be gathered for food by anyone – especially the poor people. “In the seventh year you shall let [the land] rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard and your olive grove” (Exodus 23:11). The crops that grew during the Sabbath year were called ‘hefker’, meaning ‘without an owner’, and the landowners were expected to leave their land accessible to everyone, so that the poor could forage for food.
The crops that grew during the Sabbath year were called ‘hefker’, meaning ‘without an owner’, and the landowners were expected to leave their land accessible to everyone, so that the poor could forage for food.
Since the crops that grew wild during the Sabbath year would be much less than the normal commercial harvest, God promised the people that he would bless them abundantly in the sixth year. “If you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall neither sow nor gather in our produce?’, then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth enough produce for three years” (Leviticus 25:20-21).
Faith in God versus Love of Worldly Riches
Of course, it was all a matter of faith. If the people were faithful to God, if they kept his commandments, if they ensured that the land was always granted its Sabbath year of rest, then God would ensure that their needs were always met. That same general principle applies to us. Whilst this specific law, that the land should have a Sabbath year of rest, is only applicable in the land of Israel (“the land which I am giving you” – Leviticus 25:2), there are nevertheless many ways in which God requires us to trust him. For example, Jesus affirmed the principle of tithing (Luke 11:42), and sometimes we might feel that we have insufficient funds to meet our own needs after we have given the first tenth to God, but in my experience the Lord always ensures that we have enough.
I believe that the observance of the Sabbath year was also instituted by God as a key signal act of faith which shows what or whom people love the most.
I believe that the observance of the Sabbath year was also instituted by God as a key signal act of faith which shows what or whom people love the most. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Those children of Israel who loved God would also obey God (just as Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” – John 14:15), but those with a greater love of worldly wealth would eventually find excuses for failing to observe the Sabbath year – since they wanted to squeeze an extra year of income from the land. The lovers of mammon would be unwilling to let go of their profits for just one year in seven.
A Year of the Lord’s Release
The Sabbath year is also called a Shemitah year. The Hebrew word ‘shemitah’ means letting go, release or remission. In the Sabbath year, the land is released from having to provide a full harvest. However, the concept of ‘release’ goes further than just the land. It also refers to a remission of all debts.
In Deuteronomy 15:1-2, we can read: “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release [of debts]. And this is the form of the release: every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbour shall release it – he shall not require it of his neighbour or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release.”
This was God’s way of stopping the poor people from getting poorer whilst the rich people got even richer. It was resetting the economy. No wonder the rich people didn’t like it!
Just imagine that! At the end of every Shemitah year, on the last day of the month of Elul, all our credit card debts are wiped clean and all our loan repayments are cancelled. The banks would probably go out of business quite quickly. But what a leveller! This was God’s way of stopping the poor people from getting poorer whilst the rich people got even richer. It was resetting the economy. No wonder the rich people didn’t like it!
The Consequences of Disobedience to God
I guess God always knew that the rich and powerful would find ways of avoiding a proper observance of the Shemitah. So, God made it clear that there would be harsh penalties if the people did not observe the Shemitah. In Leviticus 26, we can read that God warned the children of Israel that if they broke the sacred covenant made at Sinai, including the requirement to allow the land to have a Shemitah or Sabbath year, and if they walked contrary to him, then there would be severe consequences. In his own words, God said: “I will bring the land to desolation … after which the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as the land lies desolate it shall rest – for all the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it.” (Leviticus 26: 32, 34-35).
It is a sad fact that the people of Israel failed to observe the Shemitah over a long period of time, in spite of repeated warnings from God. Of course, their failure to observe the Shemitah was just one indicator of their rebellion against God and against God’s laws in general, and the consequences are recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21. “Those who escaped from the sword he [Nebuchadnezzar] carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she [the land] lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.” Thus, the seventy-year duration of the exile in Babylon was determined by the number of Shemitah years that had been denied to the land of Israel.
The Shemitah in the Land of Israel Today
We might wonder if Shemitah years are being observed in the land of Israel today. Of course, the Israeli economy today is much more focused on things like technology rather than the agrarian economy of Bible times. However, crops are still grown, and some religious farmers do indeed observe the Shemitah.
The modern state of Israel was established in 1948, the first Shemitah year after that was in 1951-52, and a small number of religious farmers were determined to observe that Shemitah. There is a lovely testimony by Dov Weiss1 concerning this first Shemitah year in modern Israel, in which God truly blessed those who honoured his commandment to observe the Shemitah, in a seemingly miraculous way. As the Lord has said, “Those who honour me, I will honour” (1 Samuel 2:30).
The current Shemitah year, 2021-22, is now seventy years on from that initial Shemitah year in 1951-52. Since seventy is a number associated both with ‘completion’ and with ‘judgment’, I have to wonder if the current Shemitah year will be particularly significant in any way.
Gateway to a Year of Jubilee
There is just one more key point that I would like to mention. The Shemitah year is like a gateway to a year of Jubilee. Before the temples were destroyed, the Jews were to count seven Sabbaths of years (49 years), and then, when the seventh Shemitah year was over, on Yom Kippur the High Priest was to institute a year of Jubilee (see Leviticus 25:8-10). When the Romans destroyed the second temple and killed the priests in 70 AD, the cycle of years of Jubilee was broken.
When Jesus returns, Scripture (e.g., Ezekiel 37:21) tells us that the Jews in the Diaspora will be restored to their land. Isaiah 11:11-12 states: “It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again a second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left … He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four extremities of the earth.”
God’s appointed mechanism for restoring the people of Israel to their land is a year of Jubilee – see for example, Leviticus 25:10 and also Leviticus 25:23-28. Thus, many scholars expect Jesus to declare a year of Jubilee upon his return, restarting the ordained cycle of Jubilees. Since Jesus adheres to the law, which he promised to fulfil and not to abolish (Matthew 5:17), then Jesus can only declare a year of Jubilee on Yom Kippur at the end of a Shemitah year. It is a one-day opportunity every seven years. If Jesus returns this autumn, then he could declare a year of Jubilee on 5th October, the Day of Atonement, but otherwise we may have to wait for at least another seven years.
Thus, many scholars expect Jesus to declare a year of Jubilee upon his return, restarting the ordained cycle of Jubilees.
If you believe that the return of the Lord Jesus is really close, then there must be a very good probability that Jesus could return at the end of this current Shemitah year. Whether or not he returns this year, it makes good sense to be ready!
In whatever year Jesus eventually returns, there will be a great battle for Jerusalem. And on Yom Kippur the Lord will fight against the nations attacking Jerusalem, and he will stand on the Mount of Olives which will then split in two (Zechariah 14:3-4). The foreshadowing of this End-of-the-Age war between Israel and many hostile nations, in which God intervenes supernaturally, was the Yom Kippur war of 1973, in which God also intervened supernaturally. We might note that the Yom Kippur war of 1973 also occurred at the end of a Shemitah year. Furthermore, I find it interesting that the Yom Kippur war of 1973 was exactly seven Sabbaths of years ago, the ordained countdown to a Jubilee year. Yet again, I have to wonder if this current Shemitah year will prove to be significant. Just a thought …
Notes
1See https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2746/jewish/The-Seventh-Year.htm