Leviticus 26 | Paul the Poke

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Sabbatical Year/Shemitah, Part 4

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Prophecy with tags 2 Chronicles 36, 70, Exodus 23, farmer, God, Harvest, Israel, judgment, Leviticus 26, Moses, Mount Sinai, Sabbatical year, Shemitah on October 10, 2021 by paulthepoke

Exodus 23:10-11 You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

So what is the big deal? Does God really care if this law is followed? After all, farmers have to make money. We all have to eat. How can we survive during the seventh year if food is not grown? Is God being unreasonable? Is this practical? Does God know what He is doing?

Are there consequences for Israel not keeping the Sabbatical or Shemitah year? God’s response is straight forward. He told Moses and nation Israel at Mount Sinai. If you do not keep the commandments, I will kick you out of the land and disperse you. There will be pain and suffering. See Leviticus 26:14-39 for Israel’s complete consequences of disobedience. Specifically, these are the issues related to the disobedience of the Sabbatical or Shemitah year.

Leviticus 26:34-35 Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.

Leviticus 26:43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.

2 Chronicles 36:21 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.

And when 70 years were completed, a decree went from Cyrus. Israel went back to their land (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

This is what happened to Israel historically. The Jews were kicked out of the land again in 70 AD and scattered throughout the globe… Israel became a nation again in 1948.

For whatever reason, there is an element of the Jewish people who are interested in giving the land its rest this Sabbatical year ending 5782 or 2022 in a western Gregorian calendar.

The Shemitah started in the late Summer or early Fall of 2021 and ends in late September 2022 on the Gregorian calendar. To the Jew, this will be their civil New Year, Rosh Hashanah, 5783.

Gabriel’s 70 Weeks: Why 70 Weeks? Part 2

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels, Prophecy with tags 70, 70 weeks, Babylon, Daniel 9, Gabriel, God, Israel, Jeremiah 25, jerusalem, Judah, Leviticus 26, Nebuchadnezzar, Sabbath rest on November 15, 2020 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city…

God knew from the beginning of Israel being a nation, ultimately they would not let the land rest. Israel was commanded to let the land rest in Leviticus 25:1-5.

God let Israel know. If the land is not allowed to rest from your activity, then God would make sure the land would rest. The consequence of disobedience was prophetic.

Leviticus 26:34-35 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it.

Later, the concept is stated again.

Leviticus 26:43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.

God communicated His Law to Moses around 1446 BC as estimated by Biblical scholars.

By historical accounts, the practice of ignoring the land’s Sabbath rest began around the time of Samuel the prophet and judge around 1100 BC. Israel continued to farm for economic purposes and development. It did not make economic sense to let the land rest.

Fast forward to the prophet Jeremiah circa 627-580 BC.

In Jeremiah 25, the prophet is warning Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Because of your disobedience, 70 years of captivity are coming.

Jeremiah 25:11-12 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the LORD, making the land an everlasting waste.

Keep in mind, Daniel was already in Babylon in 605 BC under King Nebuchadnezzar’s first captivity of Jerusalem. Daniel was protected by God who knew the future of Jerusalem. Daniel was acutely aware of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

In 586 BC, Jeremiah’s prophetic words would come to pass. Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar would capture and utterly destroy Jerusalem. Historians and commentators indicate the actual date was on the 9th of Av. A day which has become a national day of mourning for Israel.

2 Chronicles 36:20-21 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment 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 that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

Now, there is the matter of Leviticus 26 and God’s consistent statement, I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

70 x 7 = 490

Israel’s punishment is not complete.

To be continued…

Gabriel’s 70 Weeks: Why 70 Weeks? Part 1

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Angels, Prophecy with tags disobedience, Gabriel, Genesis 2, Leviticus 25, Leviticus 26, obedience on November 1, 2020 by paulthepoke

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city…

Why were 70 sets of 7 or 70 weeks set aside for Israel and Jerusalem? On the surface, this seems rather arbitrary. Don’t kid yourself, God has a purpose and a reason. And He sent the angel Gabriel to tell Daniel.

The issue is Israel’s response to God’s Law. Moses recorded the following.

Leviticus 25:1-5 Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops. But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

The concept is straight forward. The land can be worked and farmed for six consecutive years. But, the land is to rest on the seventh year. That means no tilling, sowing, working, planting or pruning. Let the land rest.

This pattern of rest was initiated in God’s creation week. On the seventh day, God Himself rested.

Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

God is beyond fair and an effective communicator. He gives the good news first. If Israel followed His directions, there would be significant benefit for the nation. God’s blessings for obedience are written in Leviticus 26:1-13. These national blessings have yet to be realized by Israel but will come to fruition during the Millennial Kingdom and into eternity under the leadership of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

On the flip side, there are negative consequences for disobedience. Israel’s prophetic rebellious history is laid out with God’s response in Leviticus 26:14-39.

Multiple times God warns of the consequences of the nation’s disobedience.

Leviticus 26:14-16a But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you:

Look at the verbs in the initial statement by God in reference to Israel’s conditional attitude and actions.

Do not obey
do not carry out
reject
abhors
not carry out
break

Leviticus 26:18 ‘If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Leviticus 26:21 If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.

Leviticus 26:23-24 And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.

Leviticus 26:27-28 Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.

Above are 10 different examples of prophetic disobedience in the text.

10 X 7 for your sins = 70.

God is telling Israel, if you disobey and act with hostility… not only is this your consequence, this is your course of history.

To be continued…

Sabbatical Year/Shemitah, Part 4

Posted in Prophecy with tags 2 Chronicles 36, 70, Exodus 23, farmer, God, Harvest, Israel, judgment, Leviticus 26, Moses, Mount Sinai, Sabbatical year, Shemitah on November 2, 2014 by paulthepoke

Eventually, Israel disobeyed God and His commandments. God counted 70 Sabbatical or Shemitah years Israel had not kept. Judgment came via the Babylonians. Jews of all ages were slaughtered. The temple was raided. The articles for worship and service were stolen and taken to Babylon. The temple was burned. The walls of the city were destroyed. Buildings and resources were plundered. Those who survived were taken into captivity in Babylon. And why did these events take place? 2 Chronicles 36:21 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. And when 70 years were completed, a decree went from Cyrus. Israel went back to their land (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

This is what happened to Israel historically. The Jews were kicked out of the land again in 70 AD and scattered throughout the globe…Israel became a nation again in 1948. For whatever reason, there is an element of the Jewish people who are interested in giving the land its rest this Sabbatical year. The Shemitah started in the Fall of 2014 and ends September 15, 2015 on the Gregorian calendar.