Schmitah 5775
By: Code Searcher
Is there something to the Bible Code research? What does it say about the upcoming year.
By: Debbie Smith
The Sabbatical year, or Shemittah in Hebrew, provides a year of rest for the farmer and the land, since God commanded that no agricultural activity occur during the seventh year:
“Six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow.” (Exodus 23:10-11)
Rarely have modern Israeli farmers observed the Shemittah, due to the loss of income they would incur by leaving their fields uncultivated for one year. But the Israeli government and Jewish religious leaders are hoping to reverse that historical trend.
The Israeli government has reportedly set aside 29 million dollars (US) to encourage local farmers to honor the Biblical mandate to let their fields lie “fallow” for one out of seven years.
The next Shemittah (meaning to release) will begin September 25, 2014, on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The new Shemittah budget will go to the Religious Affairs Ministry, which intends to use a portion of the funds for promotional materials, and educational assistance for farmers wishing to honor the commandment.
Another small portion of the budget will be used for the special ceremony that marks the end of the Shemittah:
“At the end of each seven years…on the festival of Sukkoth, after the year of release, in the place He (God) will choose, you must read this Torah before all Israel, so that they will be able to hear it.” (Deuteronomy 31:10)
That ceremony will take place at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem, during the Sukkoth holiday in 2015.
The bulk of the appropriated funds will be used to support farmers who will suffer loss of income, but who nevertheless, choose to keep the Shemittah, allowing their fields to lie fallow in obedience to God’s law.
Despite the government’s assistance , problems surrounding the observance of the sabbatical year are complex, and involve Jewish legal issues and opinions on how best to adhere to the command without negatively affecting the income of farmers who follow the Sabbatical law and to protect the fragile agricultural economy.
Additionally, observant Israeli’s will need guidance on how best to purchase foods that have not been grown on Israel’s soil during the year long observance.
In the period when Kings ruled in Israel, disobedience to the Sabbatical laws brought Divine punishment. Israel’s 70 years in Babylonian captivity were, in part, due to the failure of the Jews to observe the Shemittah for 70 years. (2 Chronicles 36:20-23)
An additional feature of the law, waives all outstanding, personal debts between Jews (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) However, the Jewish Talmud disallows loan amnesty related to the Shemittah, except when the agricultural rules are also observed.
Many non-Jews first learned about the significance of the Shemittah year while reading the best-selling book,” The Harbinger”, by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn.
In” The Harbinger”, Rabbi Cahn, reveals that the two greatest financial calamities in American history occurred on successive Shemittah years following the 9/11 Islamist terror attacks on the US.
September 17, 2001, six days after the 9/11 attacks, the stock market re-opened and suffered the greatest point loss in its history, to that date. The market dropped 700 points, or 7% in one day. In response, the Federal Reserve slashed the nation’s interest rates, ushering in a period of economic devastation for the US.
Seven years later, September 29, 2008, would prove to be even worse! The days leading up to September 29 saw the government bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two largest mortgage companies in the US, in a bid to prevent the collapse of the two.
Shortly thereafter, Lehmann Brothers once considered the pinnacle of financial firms, reported losses of 45% and filled bankruptcy rather than accept government bailout. The Stock market dropped 777.7 points or 7%, wiping out all gains of the past seven years. Thus making it the largest ever one day drop in the US stock market history!
What followed was an implosion of the US and world economies, from which we have yet to recover.
Rabbi Cahn does not speculate on what might transpire in the US economy during the Shemittah year ending on September 13, 2015, however, he does believe that it warrants close observation to see if the pattern begun after 9/11 continues.
While he acknowledges that the US is not under the Mosaic Law, he asserts that the Shemittah can serve as a sign of judgment on a nation that has rejected God.
It is also of interest to note that the celebration of the end of this Shemittah year will occur on Sukkoth, September 28, 2015, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. On that same evening, the fourth and final in the series of the 2014-2015 “Blood Moon” tetrad will occur, according to NASA.
The “Blood Moon” tetrad and it’s relation to the Feast Days of Israel was first discovered by Pastor Mark Blitz of el Shaddai Ministries. His DVD on the subject is available from Prophecy News Watch here.
The first of the Blood Moons occurred on April 15, 2014. Jewish history reveals an intriguing correlation between the tetrad of total lunar eclipses and the Feast Days.
What does this convergence of events portend for the future?
The answers remain to be seen, but we do well to “Be on the watch!” (Luke 21:36)
