Behar (On the Mount)

Leviticus 25:1-26:2
Jeremiah 16:19–17:14

“The Faithful Jubilee”

POSTED 16 MAY, 2008

by Mark Huey
mhuey@outreachisrael.net

“The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, “When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard”’” (Leviticus 25:1-4).

In this short portion, Moses communicates certain commandments about the Sabbatical years, the jubilee, and further illumination about how Israel should treat its neighbors or fellow countrymen. As you read, meditate, and reflect upon these verses, you can readily conclude that God is very serious about molding a faithful people who would depend upon Him for His provision. After all, the weekly commandment to take one day in seven as a time of rest to observe and remember Shabbat is now mirrored from a weekly to an annual cycle. In other words, every seventh year all of the arable land is to have a rest from crop production. Then to stretch one’s faith, after seven sets of seven weeks of years (or forty-nine years), the fiftieth year of jubilee is celebrated. The Biblical mandate to trust in the Lord for provision for one whole year, and then the growing cycle of a second year, is expanded.

Now on the fiftieth or year of jubilee, the land is again to remain fallow and have its rest from crop production. This means that during the season of jubilee it would be almost three years before a crop could be harvested (years 49, 50, and the growing season for 51). These commandments are designed by the Father to develop a faithful people who trust and depend upon Him for their nutritional provision:

“You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field” (Leviticus 25:11-12).

After watching the Most High provide for His people for seven consecutive Sabbath years, the year of jubilee was to be proclaimed. But beyond simply letting the land remain fallow on this year, the entire economic system under the theocratic model for governance goes through a significant adjustment. Once every fifty years, the restoration of Israel to its original tribal boundaries, coupled with the annulment of labor contracts, were commanded. The Scripture describes some of the additional redemptions that are required:

“You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family” (Leviticus 25:10).

The Creator obviously knew the propensity of His creatures to take advantage of weaker or less-gifted brethren, and every fifty years it was His intention to restore the land and the people of Israel to their optimal order. By restoring property to original families, and releasing people from debt or indentured servitude, the proper relationships are restored between the land and the people of Israel. This would in essence, level the playing field for successive generations of Israelites. The human tendency to want to control and accumulate power by possession would be minimized, if not periodically eliminated.

The Lord instituted these commandments because He knew, that in their own flesh, the opposite of what He requires for a nation of priests would be prevailing. He knew that man’s fallen predisposition is to “wrong his neighbor” rather than “love his neighbor.” The humanist would conclude that mankind has a tendency to gravitate toward a “survival of the fittest” mentality. However, in God’s mercy to Israel, these cyclical mandates were commanded to return the nation of priests to normalcy every fifty years and during each future generation. To further insure the proper relationships among the Israelites and their neighbors, the Lord instructed His people to avoid wrongdoing.

Do No Wrong

Two times in this portion, the admonition against wrongdoing is strongly asserted. The Hebrew verb yanah (hny), which means “to oppress, to treat violently” (AMG),[1] suggests that this was a part of the reasons that the jubilee year was instituted:

“If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another. Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops. In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 25:14-17).

It is interesting to note that yanah is also used in the Torah to rerfer to the treatment that was not to be done to the sojourner, stranger, or slave in the midst of Israel:

“You shall not wrong [yanah] a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21).

“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong [yanah]” (Leviticus 19:33).

“He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your towns where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat [yanah] him” (Deuteronomy 23:16).

As you read a little further in this portion, you will detect that the Israelites are not only to do no wrong, but they are also commanded to help or assist their brothers who are less fortunate. In other words, instead of wronging their neighbors, they were to love their neighbors:

“If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold…Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain…You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God” (Leviticus 25:25,35-37,43).

The legal principles of kinsmen redeemer, setting aside contracts for time periods, redemption rights, forgoing interest on loans or debts, bankruptcy laws, and a variety of other business activities in modern times can trace their roots to some of these very Scriptures. In some respects, you can see links between these verses and the creation of a welfare state in some modern societies. In fact, when you study the history of the Jewish people and the Jewish tendency to be “liberal” on many social issues, you will discover that many of those positions are rooted in this very Torah portion.

Lack of Faith

In spite of all these links from modern-day legal and economic systems, one thing is quite unique: Ancient Israel had a difficult time, if ever, of obeying the basic tenets of the Sabbatical year and the year of jubilee. What you discover when you study the history of Israel is that it was heavily influenced by the societies that surrounded it, or who were absorbed into it. For whatever reasons, the ability to abide fully by these Sabbatical and jubilee commandments is not recorded in the Scriptures. Something is misunderstood in the hearts of Israel. Somehow, the faith required to let the land remain fallow for a Sabbatical year is missing.

Maybe the Ancient Israelites overlooked one fundamental premise that must be conceded from the beginning in order to comprehend just who God truly is. If you simply look at the following verses, you will discover a very profound principle about land and its ownership:

“The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land” (Leviticus 25:23-24).

According to the Word of God, He owns the land and simply allows people to occupy it in order to produce crops or tend livestock. If this verse were understood and complied with, then many of the problems about owning and controlling land we see in Scripture would be minimized, if not eliminated. The problem is that the Ancient Israelites did not have the faith to follow the basic precepts that have been articulated in this week’s Torah portion. And it is not that the people do not understand the principle. The challenge was always the faith to follow these commandments.

We need to remember that the God of Israel desires a people to exhibit faith in Him and Him alone. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all men of faith who modeled the walk of faith that pleased the Lord. And, we know that without faith, it is impossible to please Him:

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

For those who are mindful that they are simply, like Abraham, sojourners on the way to a celestial city, the walk of faith has already been established:

“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:8-16).

The Faithful Jubilee to Come

As you ponder Behar, you can think about how our spiritual forefathers seemed to lack the faith to keep these commands. You can be reminded that it was because of this disobedience that Jeremiah’s warning about the required punishment for not obeying the Sabbatical year was fulfilled by the Babylonian exile of the Southern Kingdom for seventy years:

“Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete” (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).

You can also consider the fact that a future jubilee, or “favorable year of the Lord” will indeed be a reality. There will be a future jubilee, when all the debts will be paid in full. It is interesting to note that the announcement of the year of jubilee comes on Yom Kippur, rather than on Yom Teruah when the traditional sabbatical years were to be proclaimed. This would symbolize that all debts to the Lord and one’s fellow man are fully released:

“You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family” (Leviticus 25:8-10).

The Prophet Isaiah pointed to the future jubilee, when the Messiah would come and make His own declarations, redeeming all Israel:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:1-4).

Of course, we remember that when Yeshua stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and quoted from this text, He made His first affirmative declaration that He was indeed the Messiah of Israel:

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:16-21).

We know that Yeshua stopped His quotation of Isaiah at the point when He declared that He was here “to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (NIV). This He did at the point of His crucifixion at Golgotha (Calvary). The next line in Isaiah’s prophecy deals with “the day of vengeance of our God.” We know that day is still to come. Interestingly, you can conclude that it will come on the final Day of Atonement, when many believe the wrath of God is poured out upon the sin of the world. After that time, mankind will enter the Millennial Rest for a thousand years, once again repeating the Sabbatical pattern of six time periods of work with one in rest.

Many questions arise as we meditate on Behar. The key to understanding these questions is whether we have greater faith than those who preceded us. Would we have honored the Sabbatical years and the jubilee? Are we willing to faithfully declare that the jubilee setting us free from the penalty of sin has already come? Can we revel in our release from captivity to the bondage of sin? Do we rejoice in the fact that we have the eyes to see and ears to hear the truth about our Messiah Yeshua? Are we committed to preparing people to avoid the day of the vengeance of our God? What about wrongdoing to our brethren? Can we improve in our love to our neighbors?

Of course, a proper answer to these questions requires that we have faith in the accomplished work of the Messiah. We must remember that the Lord is preparing a faithful people for His return. If your faith is real, then your personal jubilee has been secured by the atoning death of the Messiah. Your thankfulness can be exemplified by leading others to their own personal faithful Jubilee!

Mark Huey (B.A., Vanderbilt University in History and Graduate Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University) is the Director of Outreach Israel Ministries (www.outreachisrael.net). He is the author of several books, including: TorahScope, Volumes I & II, and Counting the Omer: A Daily Devotional Toward Shavuot. He is also co-author of Hebraic Roots: An Introductory Study.

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