There has been a lot written in recent times about the shemittah. In Hebrew, the shemittah, means “to let go,” or “to withdraw.” It has been tied to judgment, and some have erroneously used it to falsely prophesy about financial disaster and other God-instilled accountability measures associated with America turning away from God. The scriptures, however, point to a much more profound meaning that was for Israel, true rest, abounding faith, and ultimate redemption of mankind. In a greater and deeper study of the shemittah, we can find our true shemittah, a greater understanding of God’s redemption plan and what it means for us as believers in Christ.
In Leviticus 25:2, The LORD told Moses, “Tell the people of Israel, When you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself is to observe a Shabbat rest for ADONAI.” Every seventh year the fields were to remain fallow for a year. The people could still eat what grew naturally without payment. Everything that grew during that year belonged to the LORD, so it was to be shared by all—even the animals! Observing the shemittah was a true test of faith, because the people had to have complete trust in the LORD’s provision. Another aspect of the shemittah was the right of redemption. After seven shemittahs, there is a Yovel, or Jubilee year, in which the land was restored to the original owner, the indentured would be freed, beginning with a blast of a shofar.
Leviticus 25:9,10 says, “You are to count seven times seven years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month on Yom Kippur, you are to sound a blast from the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land; and you are to consecrate the fiftieth year, proclaiming freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a yovel for you; you will return everyone to the land he owns, and everyone is to return to his family.” The people and the land are inextricably connected through God’s covenant. Our country has identified with Israel and Israel’s God from its birth. Part of this passage is engraved on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
The Israelites were redeemed from slavery in Egypt. Goel, in Hebrew means “to buy back.” In redeeming the Israelites, God became their goel, or Kinsman Redeemer, and in legal terms, their true owner. Scripture tells us that the Messiah will return to liberate His people, and restore them to the land as the true Redeemer. As Messianic believers, we know from 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with voice of the archangel, and with God’s shofar; and the dead in Christ rise first; then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.” This proclamation is, in essence, a year of Jubilee. Jesus is the embodiment of the shemittah, our true rest and redemption.
