THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF THE SHEMITAH

 

Exodus 23:10-11 - The Law of Sabbaths

“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

Deuteronomy 15:1-2 - Debts Canceled Every Seven Years

“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 neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release.

The Shemitah was the law of the land in ancient Israel. It was a new beginning and a time of rest. The land was to rest every seventh year--no planting of seeds. Anyone in debt to his neighbor was to have that debt released by the creditor. At the end of six full years, at the beginning of the seventh year this release was to take place. The entire seventh year the land would rest and those who had been in debt were given a fresh start.

In the Torah, which is God’s Royal Law, we are to assist the poor of the land. This release of debt was a way of giving a poor person a second chance. If they were true to God and His ways they would begin fresh and not find themselves in this position again.

God had given each of the twelve tribes a land inheritance. This law of the Shemitah was to ensure that each family of each tribe would not lose their inheritance in the land. It would also prevent a person from becoming the owner of large tracts of land which they would use to build an empire. God desired His people trust in Him and share in the inheritance He had given them.

The rest for the land in the seventh year would also result in the nation depending upon God for their needs. They would have to be good stewards of the land for six years and plan for the loss of crops in the Shemita year. This would cause them to rely on God, allow the land to rest and renew, and realize that they to live righteously and were to be dependant on God.

It is an amazing system that is totally counterintuitive to the way we would normally think. It teaches us that we are God stewards and that all we possess is from His blessing. It also humbles us and is intended to make us less prideful about our accomplishments. It is a system of fairness that requires the debtor to work off their debt for six years but be released from the debt in the seventh year. There should be no poor people if everyone abides by the spirit of this law!

The Shemitah was the law of the land in ancient Israel. Sadly, the nation refused to abide by this law and was punished by God by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was totally rejected and dispersed throughout the world never to return to the land. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon but was allowed to return after seventy years of captivity.

The seventy years of captivity were required because Judah refused to keep the Shemitah for seventy cycles--a year of captivity for each Shemitah they ignored:


In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom--in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. Daniel 9.1-2
When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:10-11. Ref: 2 Chronicles 36:19-21


In his book “The Mystery of the Shemitah” Mr. Cahn explains how the Shemitah cycle is still in operation in our time. He relates the cycle specifically to America, but it also applies to all of mankind. Using the principle of the Shemitah, rest for the land and release of debt, Mr. Cahn shows how God is warning America in the same way He warned ancient Israel. Why America?

America was founded by individuals from Europe who were fleeing religious persecution. They came to the new world to establish a place where freedom to worship God was what society would be based on. A man’s character would determine how far he got--not his religion. The United States was a nation created by God fearing individuals who wanted to start a society based on Judeo-Christian ethics.

These people, and those who followed them, were by no means perfect--but they had an idea about just and Godly government and how it should work. That’s what made America different from all modern nations. That was why as a nation she was so blessed and became the world’s superpower.

Now as America turns her back on God and those original ideals God is warning her to turn back to Him. Next post we will explore some remarkable events which are tied into the seven year Shemitah which took place on American soil.

　

　

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mystery-Shemitah-000-Year-Old-Americas/dp/1629981931