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B’Har
(“On the Mountain”) - Rest and Redemption
The
Torah portion for this Shabbat is called B’Har,
meaning “On the mountain”. I would
probably call it “R & R” - rest
and redemption. God gave Israel the command to
rest on the seventh day, the seventh year and
after seven sevens of years, to rest on the fiftieth
year. There’s nothing like a little R &
R, but I believe the commandment here prefigures
something far greater to come.
First,
Adonai commanded that when we entered Eretz Canaan,
the land was to enjoy its own Sabbatical Year
(25:1-7). We were not to sow our fields or prune
our vines or trees in the seventh year. Instead,
we would simply eat what grew on its own for our
food that year. The skeptic might argue that there’s
no way enough food would grow on its own without
our intervention. But God promised that we would
have more than enough, saying, “But
if you say, ‘What are we going to eat on
the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in
our crops?’ then I will so order My blessing
for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth
the crop for three years. When you are sowing
the eighth year, you can still eat old things
from the crop...” (vs. 20-22a). The
same God who gave us this commandment had previously
warned us not to keep any manna overnight or it
would become foul (and it did!), yet when we collected
two days’ worth on Friday, the extra did
not become foul on Shabbat. Our obedience or lack
of it shows whether we believe in the ability
of the all-powerful God of Israel to provide our
needs.
Not only
was the land to enjoy its sabbatical years, but
so were our servants, our hired hands, the sojourners
among us, and even our animals! So let me ask
you a question: If you knew that you would be
amply provided for, who wouldn’t want
a sabbatical year??? What would you do with
a whole year to relax and pursue your “outside”
interests? I’d love to spend a year in Israel
exploring the land and maybe joining an archaeological
dig or two and write. For that matter, I’d
love to travel throughout the Southwestern United
States and take photos and write.
God would
have provided so abundantly for our people! Sadly,
we did not obey His command. The writer of 2 Chronicles
sums up his narrative of the Babylonian invasion
of Jerusalem and Judea, and the subsequent 70
years of captivity with these words: Then
they burned down the house of God, and broke down
the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its fortified
buildings with fire, and destroyed all its valuable
articles. And those who had escaped from the sword
he (Nebuchadnezzar) carried away to Babylon...
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
36:19-21). Seventy years worth of Sabbaths the
Israelites had failed to give their land. That’s
490 years of non-observance! How tragic!
Next God
commanded that at the end of every seventh sabbatical
year, at the end of 49 years, on the Yom Kippur
of the new year, the 50th year, we were to declare
a release throughout the land. It was to be called
Shanat Yovel - The Jubilee Year, and
it was to be heralded with the blowing of the
shofar. Anyone who had once forfeited their property
due to financial hardship could now return to
that land. In fact God declared that we were never
to sell any of His land permanently (25:3). Only
the most dire circumstances would ever had caused
a man to part with his ancestral land. But on
the Jubilee Year all debts were to be cancelled.
There was a beautiful lesson in economic renewal
in the Jubilee Year, if we would but take it to
heart. On a personal level, the forgiveness of
debts and a fresh start can transform a man’s
life. On a societal scale, the periodic elimination
of debts can clear the way for tremendous economic
growth. But beyond this, the 50th year release
and forgiveness of debts was a magnificent portrait
of God’s gracious dealings with mankind.
Yet this
commandment also held the potential for problems.
Suppose someone was in debt and wanted to sell
you their field, but there’s only a year
or two until the Jubilee, and you know it will
revert right back to them. A hard-hearted Israeli
would refuse to lend to that man, since they would
never see sufficient profit to make such an arrangement
worthwhile. A situation like that might make a
person reluctant to help a brother in need, but
God commanded that we were not to harden our hearts
that way (cf. Deut. 15:7-10). Sadly, I must report
to you that there is no record anywhere in the
Scriptures of Israel having observed even one
Jubilee Year. That is grievous! It evidences thanklessness
to the God who saved us from Egypt. May we not
follow that example.
But beyond
all the particulars of the Sabbatical and Jubilee
Years as prescribed in Leviticus, we have a lovely
portrait here of rest and redemption, of the forgiveness
of debts and fresh starts. It is in every respect
a foretaste of the greater Rest and Redemption
accomplished on our behalf through Messiah Yeshua.
Has not God, through Messiah Yeshua, forgiven
us our debts, our sins, our rebellion, our unbelief?
In Yeshua do we not enter into the greater Sabbath
rest promised to the faithful throughout the ages?
This
is what the writer of the letter to the Messianic
Jews had in mind when he wrote, Since therefore
it remains for some to enter it (speaking
of God’s rest), and those who formerly
had good news preached to them failed to enter
because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain
day, “Today,” saying through David
after so long a time just as has been said before,
“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden
your hearts.”... There remains therefore
a Sabbath rest for the people of God... Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest
anyone fall through following the same example
of disobedience (Hebrews 4:6-8, 9, 11). May
God enable us to walk in obedience and with hearts
of thankfulness, and enter His rest.
Shalom,
Rabbi Glenn
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