Tag: shmittah – release or remission – Strong’s 8059

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Atonement Discussions Jubilee Prophets and Writings Sabbatical Year Torah

Cancel debts, free slaves: Radical teachings of Jubilee and Sabbatical Year for modern life (Leviticus 25; Isaiah 58; Matthew 6 and 18)

"Cancel debts, free slaves: Radical teachings of Jubilee and Sabbatical Year for modern life (Leviticus 25; Isaiah 58; Matthew 6 and 18). Adobe Firefly AI artwork of a hand reaching up toward a sunset-toned cloudy sky while a chain extends from each side of the scene and wraps around the wrist.

The Torah reading בְּהַר Behar (“on mount [Sinai],” Leviticus 25:1–26:2) teaches that debts are released after seven-year cycles (Shemitah, sabbatical year) and 49-year cycles (Yobel/Jubilee) to memorialize God’s forgiveness. This pattern is seen in Messiah Yeshua’s (Christ Jesus) teachings on forgiveness in Matthew 18 and manifest in his role as suffering servant who takes our debts (Isaiah 53). By forgiving others as we’ve been forgiven (Matthew 6:12), we reflect the Heavenly economy of releasing debts, underscored via receiving God’s mercy on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement; Leviticus 16; Isaiah 58:1–12).

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Discussions Jubilee Prophets and Writings Sabbatical Year

What happens when we take Heaven’s mercy for granted (Jeremiah 16–17)

What happens when we take Heaven's mercy for granted (Jeremiah 16-17)

“It’s good to be king!” Except when invaders are about to conquer your kingdom because of your predecessors forgot Who put the crown on their heads and Who gave them the Land they ruled. The closing chapters of the Bible book of Vayiqra (Leviticus) foretell of Israel’s dystopian future, but it didn’t have to be that way. The companion passage to the Torah reading בְּהַר Behar / בְּחֻקֹּתַי Bechukotai (“on the mountain” / “in My statutes,” Leviticus 25–27), shows a moment just before that horror arrived when a king tried to reverse centuries of oppression in the Promised Land, Heaven’s mercy for Israel and the world.

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Discussions Jubilee Pentecost/Shavuot Tabernacles Tithe & Finances Torah

How to be a dependable part of Heaven’s rescue mission to Earth (Leviticus 25)

How to be a dependable part of Heaven's rescue mission to Earth (Leviticus 25). Shown is a mountain climber helping another climber to get to the top.

The Torah reading בְּהַר Behar (“on mount” [Sinai]; Leviticus 25) teaches us how to be a kinsman-redeemer. It’s a beautiful ancient role for a family member with the character to step up and bail out a relative who has fallen on hard times.

The Bible book of Ruth provides an example of such a redeemer in action, and the Messiah is foretold to be the ultimate one for the world.

In the greater family of God on Earth, the lessons of the annual festivals of Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles) plus the multiyear cycles of Shemitah (sabbatical year) and Yobel (Jubilee) instruct us in how to be of service to the less fortunate within our sphere of influence.

A successful kinsman-redeemer helps others with the blessing of means that God has provided. We are not called to go into debt to help others, we are not compelled by God to drown ourselves to save someone else. 

From these cyclical memorials of God in action past, present and future, we also can learn how God is building up His Kingdom. It starts with the call of individuals then nations into His Kingdom to live as citizens in His presence.

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Discussions Torah

Leviticus 25: Golden Rule behind sabbatical years and Jubilee

Photo Credit: Fallow field near Campos Castilla, Spain by Freeimages.com/Juan Carlos Rodríguez.

The lessons of rest and release in the biblical sabbatical year (shemitah) and Yobel (Jubilee) teach us how we are to be good masters and how good of a Master our Messiah Yeshua is. Embedded in the lessons of the Torah reading Behar (“on the mountain,” Leviticus 25) is we are to treat each other with the kindness Yeshua gives us — the Golden Rule.

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Appointments With God Discussions Jubilee Sabbatical Year Torah

Leviticus 25: Shemitah (sabbatical year) and Yobel (Jubilee)

Richard Agee

The shabbats (sabbaths) of the land and the Yobel (Jubilee) are not about the U.S. or other countries, but about the land of Israel. Yet even in the diaspora (outside the land), there are lessons we can learn about how we should trust in God, how far God can take care of His people and how we are to take care of our families and each other.

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Atonement Discussions Jubilee Sabbatical Year

John 13:34-35: How new is Yeshua’s ‘new command’?

Is Yeshua’s “new commandment” in John 13:34-35 really new? An answer is taught through God’s appointed times of Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement), Shmittah (sabbatical year) and Yobel (Jubilee year).

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Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 15: Shmitah teaches mercy and freedom

Studies in Torah

Instructions on the shvi’it (“seventh”), the year of shmitah (“release”) or sabbatical year, are part of a larger teaching in Deuteronomy 14–16 on the Fourth Commandment, to guard the seventh day of the week as a holy memorial. But these instructions on care for the poor and releasing debts during the shmitah show us how the various Shabbat memorials remind us of all God has released us from through Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ).