Torah Pearls #32 – Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2)

The restoration of all things is taking place now. Joseph F. Dumond’s 89+ Sabbatical year proofs show definitively that 2016, 2023, 2030, 2037 and 2044 are Shemitah years, with 2045 as the 120th Yobel and the beginning of the 7th millennium.

Thank You Sirs
But i have a question
How does the Hebrew week match the gentile week.
from
Chennai
Tamilnadu
S. INDIA.

Hi… I grew up in a ‘secular’ family in the US… no religious upbringing. I bought a home in my 60’s and planted my tiny veggie garden. YHVH was gracious to impress on me the importance of keeping His torah. Hearing that His land sabbath was 2014-15, I didn’t grow anything. Then the next year someone else announced it was the shmita year. After researching, as Nehemia said, lots of opinions, but no concensus on when.

The bottom line with me and others here is that Yah said it was good for His land to rest every 7th year, just like it is good for us to rest on shabbat. So we will continue letting it have her rests because when Messiah returns, He will restore everything, and we will not only understand its importance, but will have some limited experience in walking out His command.

It is the same with His mo’edim. Although there is no temple or priesthood and we can’t afford to go to Jerusalem, we can in our mock rehearsals, ‘feel connected’ to Him, His Calendar of Events and His people … until He comes. Shalom

Jubilee starts to be announced on Yom Kippur, six months before it starts (On Aviv) and last a complete year.

Question. So does the Jubilee start on Yom Kippur and end 6 months later based on your commentary on Amos 8:5 reflecting on Lev 25:6-9?

We know what a Jubilee year… We also may have 2 Witnesses in Time Stamps… Nehemia what happened in 1967-68 then 50 years later what happened in 2017-18? right…. do you see it. Those look like two Jubilee timestamps to me.

When Yeshua (Jesus) began with his mission at 27 AC, he decided to read it from Isaiah 61: 1 “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..” So maybe that was a year of a Jubilee

It seems to me that observing the Sabbatical Year might yield very practical benefits via the reduction of insect pests. The pest populations would build up for six years and then in the seventh year there would be very little in the way of cultivated crops for them to eat. So most of the crop-eating pests would probably starve that year. And any stray crops that came up in the seventh year would have to contend with a large number of very hungry pests. The would be a strong selective advantage for pest resistance, likely leading to the creation of new pest resistant varieties.

It seems possible that in an era before pesticides, the reduction of pest populations via Sabbatical cultivation practices might result in higher overall production than continuous cultivation. You would have no crops one year in seven, but in the other six years the higher yields due to reduced pest populations might very well make up for the lost year. And you would get a year’s vacation every seventh year to boot.

Of course, it would need to be done over a large area. If only a few farmers did it, pests from neighbor’s fields would invade their fields and they would not get any benefit from it.

It is a shame that Israel never tried this. Israel is isolated from its neighbors by sea on the west and desert in the east and south so it would actually be the perfect place to try out this practice.

Nice. Don’t you just love it when Father’s Way leads us into worship and joy?

You make a very compelling case, worth contemplating.

Just listened to this twice, and loved the whole discussion! But the one that made my heart overcome (!) with worship and love (while making cookies and chili : )), is the part on redemption, and the picture Yehovah has given to us in redeeming us through his Messiah, Yehoshua. This kitchen becomes a sanctuary of joy and worship just listening to these wonderful truths about Yehovah and what He has done for us!!!!

And I suspect that all these requirements that Yehovah has given to Israel in the Sabbatical years, is to show the nations that He is able to provide for the needs of His people even when they don’t do the expected sowing and harvesting.

These laws may not have been required of the whole world, yet we watch Israel, and when we see them obeying Yehovah without question we get a deeper knowledge of what the Lord Yehovah is like. Yehovah intended to reveal Himself to us through Israel if they would only be willing to walk with Yehovah in faith and obedience. What an honor for a special and chosen people. If they could only embrace that as a nation, yet I know it will come to pass because the prophets prophesied it. We truly look forward to that day!

As well, to all who claim that feasts were kept before entering the land, there is no biblical substantiation for this. The passover was slain in Egypt and a year later at Sinai. A month later, Israel set out for their wilderness journey. No feasts were kept at all. Feasts were commanded to be celebrated once they crossed over and not before. There was no feast of unleavened bread yet, There was no first fruits nor was there tabernacles. In fact, Joshua 5 admits that even the passover was not done for the the last 40 years of wandering. So unless we read the bible without adding things into it that are not there, we are simply answering questions with dishonest bias.

Feasts ceased when Israel was thrown out of the land the first time. This is irrefutable. Lamentations 1:4 confirms as well as the book of Ezra. Why? Besides the fact that YHVH said so……….He accomplished His word by removing Israel from the only place in which feasts can be kept. He is not a liar. He wasn’t then and He is certainly not now in this 2nd dispersion.

Pauline, what a beautiful and encouraging testimony!!! Thanks so much for sharing every detail. You have taught us something about Yehovah…or at least proven to us that if we are committed to following Him and doing His Will, he will make even our ‘enemies’ to be at peace with us, sooner or later. Just as He said. I am overcome by this wonderful story of what Yehovah did in honoring His Words even to someone who did not live in the land of Israel…Yehovah heard the cry of your heart for help to do His Will and answered! I think the heart of every true believer will always be or come to this point…”Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Even if I ‘die’ doing His Will, He is worthy of my full and complete obedience. Thanks so much for sharing!!! It has strengthened my faith, too!

About the verses in Amos 8 – did the people of Israel actually keep the land sabbath? It sounds from this passage like they did, but I thought they were put into exile 70 years (in part at least) so the land could keep her sabbaths which they had failed to keep

So please answer this question. When YHVH says He will stop all Feasts days, new moons and sabbaths, (Hosea 2:11), how in the world did He manage to do so and not be a liar? What does the context of Hosea tell us that confirms the original instructions for all of these laws?

You know my point, I think. Being thrown out of the land is the way YHVH stopped all these things. It is undeniable (Hosea 9). So why are people today declaring that YHVH is a liar and unable to stop them from doing the very things He said He stopped?

Please post this and not ignore it or delete it. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

Shalom Gentlemen, Wow what an interesting podcast! Thank you for sharing. There were so many interesting points that I’d like to comment on but I don’t think you’d have time to read a novel, so I’m going to only share with you a few highlights and a short story of the enormous blessing I received for my obedience to Yahuah during the last Shemitah/Land Rest, which my husband and I kept in Australia. The following is a copy of a letter I wrote to Joseph Dumond and gave him permission to publish. I also give you permission to share my story. I hope it is a blessing to you and encourages yourselves and others to continue seeking Yahuah’s blessings through obedience to His Torah.

On a side note, it is with humble respect for your combined plethora of years of study and research that I encourage you to dust off the books Joseph gave you personally and read them. Then you will know when 2 Kings 19:29 took place and will no longer need to rely on faulty information for your timeline anchor point. May I also kindly and so humbly point out that the ‘whole world’ is Yahuah’s and He is going to judge the ‘whole world’, not just Yahudah or Israel (all tribes).

I don’t think these following few scriptures or my story will convince you, but I do hope that you will see that this is an enormous subject that requires your further attention. You have just six years to study this out properly before the next land rest and plenty of time to teach it to those who listen to you.

Exo 19:5  ‘And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine’

Psa 98:9  For He shall come to judge the earth. He judges the world in righteousness, And the people in straightness.

Isa 66:1 Thus said יהוה, “The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is this house that you build for Me? And where is this place of My rest?

Exo 12:49  “There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”

Also, please notice that the Israelites were expected to keep all the feasts outside of the promised land. Firstly, it was given to them outside of the land at Mt Sinai. Secondly, they had to keep all the feasts before entering the land. They were at Mt Sinai for approximately 2 years, during which 7 Set-Apart appointments took place each year. As we know they didn’t obey Yahuah’s instructions and hence were punished. Just like we’re being.

Following is the short story of Yahuah’s blessing for my obedience.

Shalom,

Regarding: Deut 15:1 “At the end of every seven years you make a release of debts. 2  “And this is 
the word of the release: Every creditor is to release what he has loaned to his neighbour, he does not 
require it of his neighbour or his brother, because it is called the release of יהוה.

There has been so much bad news lately that I thought I’d share some good news with you. News of Yahuah’s, goodness, faithfulness and blessing upon a poor wretched sinner like me!

As you are aware, this year my husband and I have been keeping the Shemitah for the first time ever. We’ve also been doing the feasts of Yahuah for the first time and that includes the forgiveness of debts owed to us. This year we made a particular point of identifying any debts that were owed to us. There wasn’t much. In fact it was so little that we could have ignored it and mentally written the debt off, as it was owed by one of our (adult) children. The amount was so insignificant that, well, we had to question: was it worth turning the debt into ‘something’ just so we could be obedient? The child in question had forgotten about it and it was only $50 so, really, who cares, right? It’s too small to be concerned with. Right?

Well, we decided not to write it off and forget about it in the usual way. Instead I had a conversation with the child that the debt was with. To make a long story short, the small debt was forgiven and the page on which the debt had been recorded (in my little black book LOL) was torn out and ripped up. I sent a photo to the child to show him that the debt was gone. That happened shortly before Sukkoth 2016.

Now, let’s move on to what this story is really about. The goodness, faithfulness and blessings of being obedient in the small things.

Psa 32:5  I acknowledged my sin to You, And my crookedness I did not hide. I have said, “I confess my transgressions to יהוה,” And You forgave the crookedness of my sin. Selah.

I’ve never admitted this shame before so publicly and it’s difficult to do so, but will continue because there maybe a lesson from Yahuah for someone reading this; as I give Joseph permission to share my story. 

I’m ashamed to say that I have a substantial debt with the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department (IRD) because of a student loan (SL). When I left NZ in 2000 I also ran away from my SL debt. I have done everything wrong with regard to this debt and am due everything that the NZ IRD might want to throw at me. I, like the true sinner that I am, have a myriad of excuses and reasons as to why I have not met my student loan obligations. As of December 2016 my loan balance was in the ballpark of $100K. That amount was made up of the amount I’d borrowed plus fines and compounded interest. 

In recent years the overall situation of unpaid student loan debt with the IRD has become so great that the NZ government has, and is, taking drastic action against people like me. The IRD are now interconnected with the Australian Taxation Department and they have identified approximately 57,000 Kiwis living in Australia with unpaid SL obligations. There have been occasions this past year where ex-pats have travelled to NZ to visit family, or other, and have been arrested whilst on NZ soil, due to unpaid obligations. It is also now possible for a Kiwi to be arrested in Australia for unpaid NZ student loan obligations.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11649649 
http://www.studentloan.org.nz/blog 

Approximately 2 years ago (2014) I came before Yahuah holding the IRD letters/statements in my hand and, with my shame before me, I pleaded with Him to help me. 
Due to my plethora of excuses and having my head in the sand for years, I was now facing a situation for which I was out of my depth. It was time to take action. 
Whatever it was going to take, I was willing to be obedient and take my punishment from the IRD and follow their instructions. But please, Yahuah, see my repentance and obedience to Your Commandments and my willingness to learn the Ways of your Ancient Path! Please Yahuah, be merciful!

I began making payments as I was able.

After that prayer I was instructed by the IRD to make an application for hardship due to my being unemployed and I did so. After a long period of not hearing from them I made contact. They’d lost my application. I had to make another application and was given an extension of time because I was able to prove I’d sent the forms in on time, due to email date stamping. The second application was received and after a long wait I was instructed to make loan applications with two banks to cover the outstanding balance. I did so via internet banking but was unable to lodge an application due to not meeting the minimum criteria. I contacted the IRD by the due date and sent them the info from the banks. Weeks later I received a letter informing me my application for hardship relief was declined; because I hadn’t done what was required. On reading this I rang the IRD to find out what I hadn’t done, as I thought I’d done everything. 

At this point in time we are now 3 months after the forgiveness of debt according to the Shemitah as mentioned above (2016).

Early December 2016, I spoke with a woman at IRD who was very polite. She went away and read my case file and came back with further instructions on what to do. Despite my financial situation, I was to walk into two banks and make a loan application because I had to send them a scan of the actual decline letters. I was also given an extension until 21 December 2016, because I was at this stage, a full-time Uni student; due to complete on 11 December. I promised her I was no longer running from my obligation, that I’d made changes in my life and was going to do what she had asked. The lady said she’d set a reminder in her calendar to expect a call from me on 20 December or she’d contact me to see how things were going. 

12 December, my husband and I walked into two separate banks. We explained the situation and were kindly granted permission to make the loan applications even though the staff would be completely wasting their time. (Thank you Yahuah!) We were told they couldn’t print the decline letter out. They would be computer generated and posted to me via snail mail.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

19 December the first letter finally arrived! HalalluYahuah! 

Mail comes around 3pm, NZ is 3 hours ahead of Brisbane, IRD office closes at 4.30pm NZ time. No time left to wait for the next mail delivery.

20 December: I better call them! Which I did. 
She was happy to hear from me as she was waiting to see if I called her before she rang me. 21 December was to be her last day at work before the holidays. If the second bank letter arrives she’ll be able to talk to her supervisor about my application and will make a decision tomorrow.

Afternoon of 20 December, the second letter arrives. (Alright! Happy dance! Thank you Yahuah!!!!) I scanned it and emailed it to the IRD right away.

21 December I receive a phone call from IRD. They have received my email and need to ask me some further questions. This is when I find out that they have complete access to our bank accounts. I’m transparent.  We hang up. About 40 minutes later the IRD ring me. It’s the same lady, she’s out of the meeting and a decision has been made. 

They decided to approve my application! Not only that but…
They have decided to wipe ALL my arrears!!! 
ALL the fines! 
ALL the interest on the fines and ALL the compounded interest upon the other interest! 
From 2008 to 2016 – all gone! 
I can hardly breathe! Tears are welling up in my eyes as I write this. I’m speechless! Which is so unusual! They have also cancelled my 2017 obligation of $4,000. Payments under the new arrangement will begin 2018.

Yahuah wiped away approximately $45,000 dollars from my SL debt! Practically halving what I owe! I’m now back to a manageable loan amount. On top of that, Yahuah has given my husband and I employment and I now have a way to pay the SL obligation moving forward. And Yahuah has saved me from the threat of being arrested! What an enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders and off the shoulders of those that love me and also don’t want me to be arrested. 
Thank you יהוה!

OH MY יהוה! You are amazingly kind to this unworthy sinner! 

Crying with gratitude and so humbled. 

For anyone reading this and thinking to themselves how ‘lucky’ I am. Please know that there was NO luck about it at all! 
It was Yahuah!

Deu 30:19-20 “I have called the heavens and the earth as witnesses today against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore you shall choose life, so that you live, both you and your seed, to love יהוה your Elohim, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him – for He is your life and the length of your days…”

Epilogue…
Approximately two weeks later, the child who’s debt to us was forgiven, was also blessed. He received more hours at his work. In fact, his hours were more than doubled.

Shalom
Pauline

Why on the inside of your trousers? According to Num 15 you are is to wear them as a reminder to look upon them to see them…

Actually..

Sabbath rest Reflections
Jeshua said that the Sabbath was made for man and man wasn’t made for the Sabbath Mk 2:27

Yehovah said But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

I take this to mean that everybody and everything needs a rest.

Yehovah (For he rested on the seventh day) and also the people and the land he created..

Apparently and interestingly enough, plants get 80% of their nutrients from the air, so when a farm is left out for a year the vegetation that naturally grows wild …
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070710101514AAiAMj7

Shalom,

This is quite fascinating , in particular when considering a farmer’s aspects of letting the land rest

Most farmers would agree on rotating the crops, this has great benefits for the land and crops.

Yehovah commands the people to rest the land every six years. This begs the question of the type of soil which exists in Israel? Maybe it’s soil sets the land apart? Certain type’s of soil may benefit from a rest? Just a thought..I am no expert, just wondering.

In my view, when Yehovah says something there is always a good reason.

Re the comments on Martin Luther: Years ago, while I was working on my Ph.D. , my mentor sent me the first recording I ever heard of Nehemia — the one in which he was so tickled at the lady that asked him “what is a Karate Jew?” I later went to the Messianic congregation where he recorded that, and the speaker was introducing the congregation to the marvelous Martin Luther. When he finished he asked me if I had anything to add. I said I only thought he was going a bit easy on Martin Luther due to his antisemitism. The Rabbi of the group got really angry with me, and said I was “church bashing.” I later learned that he was upset because there were new visitors to the group that actually thought I meant Martin Luther King. You were right. It is difficult for some of us to imagine that there are many people who do not even know the most basic history of the church and the church fathers. I doubt that many of your listeners would fall into that category, but it is possible. Glad you explained it.

UNDERSTAND, ELOHIM, DOES “NOT” GO BY OUR PAGEN CALENDAR; HE NEVER HAS AND HE NEVER WILL. The Scriptures PLANLY tell us ELOHIM Calendar. Genesis 1:14 tells us ELOHIM Calendar. Day began at sundown, Exodus 12 The MONTH (in Yisrael) began with the FIRST Light of the NEW MOON, the YEAR, when the Barley is AVIV, AND ELOHIM SHABBAT’S, EXODUS 16, ELOHIM SHABBAT’s are on the 1, 8, 15 (full moon), 22, & 29. ACCORDING TO THE MOON. AMOS 8:5, Somewhere in Isaiah & Ezekiel (From New Moon to New Moon & From Shabbat to Shabbat), and then the 5th FEAST. LEVITICUS 23 TELLS US THAT THE SHABBATS ARE “SET, FIX, CAN’T BE MOVED”, The Sun, Moon & Stars, are SET, FIX, CAN’T BE MOVED”. ELOHIM gives us a NEW START Every Day, Month and Year. HIS Shabbat’s will fall on every PAGEN day, twice a year; Saturday & Sunday are PAGEN and HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ELOHIM, NEVER HAS, NEVER WILL. THIS IS HIS WAY, NOT OUR’s.

Hearing you preach with such passion on my favorite passage from Isaiah was truly inspiring! I think I’ll listen to it again before the day is over…..

praise Yahshua brother, firstly i type better and faster in upper case and don’t accidently type Yahshua’s name in lower case which i refuse to do. so please don’t go at me once again no one is shouting just typing. please show others the patience that you expect to receive. secondly i don’t agree with you on many things but i do credit you with the fact that you allow people the space to serve the creator. conclusion on that issue is we all need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and we have only one chance to do it and that is while we have breath to praise the almighty el elyon. the shemitah is something that must be practiced by all. my application is this, even though yisrael/the land practices the shemitah the best they can the punishment factor fornot keeping the shemitah has far reaching consequences and the consequences are right where everyone feels it and that is financialy. the stock market experts have even noticed it and call it the seven year cycle. if it only concerns yisrael then we should all be safe yet we are not every seven years there is a nice release of funds because we choose not to release debts. now we could say that it is because we do not release debts hence we loose money, but the land resting only concerns yisrael but that is not correct as that is selective application and that is out. the torah instruction on the shemitah starts with the land resting and then moves on to debt release so how can the consequences of disobedience effect one aspect and not the other. the timing of the shemitah is correct as the consequences. even yisrael’s time pattern agrees, the return to the land etc. there is a 1200 rabbi that prophesies on the occupation of yisrael according to jubilees and it is exactly correct. nothing is left to chance. the reason why the 29 elul time factor is applied i believe is a secondary consequence of attributing the the rosh ha shannah to that date. we are still in the shemitah and it will end on 1 aviv 2016 i stay on a type of moshav /small holding in this country and my land is resting until 1 aviv. in february my second harvest of almonds will be given away as i started my shemitah on the 29 elul 2014 and will end it on 1 aviv 2016 the extra bit of time is a offering to my elohim. the tsit tsit is a commandment, so stop making light of it just because you do not obey it and it is for all benei yisrael and yisrael is who ever chooses to serve elohim. the windinds point to torah through gramatia so iam quite comfortable with that. the blue cord is essential and must be applied no matter what as long as the dye is clean ie vegetable etc. i don’t believe a snail should be used it is unclean so it should not be used to represent torah. anyway please leave the posting on line and let elohim have his way. if you are right may he bless it, if what has been laid on my heart is right may elohim bless that. in closing most people where i stay did not and do not folow the shemitah and i stay in the wheat farming part of our country, well one of them anyway. this year 2015 you will pick the date up from the posting if it is displayed. speaking in the sense of time factors this posting is shabbat 7th november 2015. anyway our area is experiencing the worst drought in 45 years so i have been told, as i have only been here for four odd years i would not know. the quality of the wheat here is poor, yet two to three hundred kilometres from here they have had a bumper crop of the same crop. wheat. coincidence? i do not think so. jonathan cahn wrote about this shemitah and while many are critics on what he said, my question to those critics is, were you sleeping? people lost trillions during the unfolding of the year and are still loosing, china had problems, greece did, your friend warren buffet, your home grown money man who has invested a lot into yisrael lost hundreds of millions. earth quake esscalation etc. in short the shemitah has too many far reaching consequences to take it so lightly. in short, time to wake up. may Yahshua bless you and your family. shalom my brother. [all-caps removed by website editor]

Thank you! Todah Raba

Hello Bill, In your written note, you explained your understanding of the instructions to place tzitzit’s was for Judah and not for Dan. Yet, it was in Numbers which the instructions went out to Israel. And to ‘look upon it’ was the reminder, so In my own opinion, based on the written instructions, I would place them on the outside of your pants, and not hide them anymore. Just a thought. Don’t get offended that quick. Shalom

The use of that phrase in Deuteronomy references back to Dt 12:8 which says in the desert they were not fully following the Torah. They were living by grace until they entered the Land. He’s telling them in Deuteronomy when they enter the Land they won’t be able to continue to do “each man that which is right in his own eyes”, but will be required to obey commandments such as Deuteronomy 18 and others. The usage in Leviticus is different. It’s speaking about commandments dealing with the Land itself.

Deut 18:9-12
When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Here is a verse that is saying ‘come into the land’ but very obviously is not ‘land connected’ i.e. a command you don’t have to worry about if you are not in the land.

We are using the reading cycle of Israel. Some Jews in the Diaspora follow a different cycle, that is sometimes one week off. It’s all tradition of when to read what when.

I’m confused. We’re listening to a discussion on Behar, when I thought that the parshah was Emor. How has this happened?

I heard you guys laugh about Tzitzits as if it was a joke. I was very offended. One hour earlier I was at the dry cleaners getting them put on my last pair of shorts. I am not Jewish, I am from Dan, an Israelite. Yahweh gave not one but two commands on this subject and I gave the dry cleaner a copy of the two commandments. I wear them on the four corners inside of all my pants because I am not Judah and I am reminded of all of Yah’s commands when I put them on and take them off. If one is a physical Israelite it is not a joke, it is the instruction and desire of our Yah.

Re: This Torah Portion. WOW brother PREACH IT!