Hebrew Voices #71 – When is Shemitah (Sabbatical Year) [Rebroadcast]

I was interested in the line “Jewish sources date the destruction of the Temple to 68 CE” – could you elaborate please and perhaps mention who these Jewish sources might be, as I am researching this particular matter at the moment

I think you are right Kitty. Although we cannot be dogmatic about this, I also think Yovel (the Jubilee year) was both the 50th year of the old shemitah cycle and at the same time the first year of the new shemitah/sabbatical cycle. Nowhere else in Tanahk are cycles of seven EVER DISRUPTED. Daniel 9:24 would seem to lend support for this interpretation.

Isnt it as simple as dividing the jewish year by 7 ?

Yes my understanding of scripture is Yovel times have to deal with Jerusalem/Israel. If it doesnt affect Jerusalem/Israel then it isnt part of Yovel. We see these two witnesses are affecting Jerusalem and show us when it all is. Yehovah would not leave us in darkness in these times. He loves us.

I’ve always thought the cycle works the same as the week and Shavuot, where every 49th year is a Sabbath year, the 50th is Jubilee as well as the 1st year in the next cycle. I think the temple was destroyed towards the end of a Sabbath year and 69ce was the jubilee. I look forward to knowing the truth from the Messiah.

don’t believe JC ever existed.

isn’t this the time President Trump insisted that Jerusalem was the capital Israel??

Two time stamp witnesses according to all things in the universe. We have two Yovel time stamps. One in 1967-68 and the other in 2017-18 Yovel is the first year in Shemitah. We all know what happens in Yovel and we know what happened in those years. A country with out its capitol, is just a territory. We have those two witnesses. Shalom

stock market has nothing to do with Israel or Shemitah.
Two time stamp witnesses according to all things in the universe. We have two Yovel time stamps. One in 1967-68 and the other in 2017-18 Yovel is the first year in Shemitah. We all know what happens in Yovel and we know what happened in those years. A country with out its capitol, is just a territory. We have those two witnesses. Shalom

Yes… that totally lines up with Yovel being the 1st year of Shemitah.
Two time stamp witnesses according to all things in the universe. We have two Yovel time stamps. One in 1967-68 and the other in 2017-18 Yovel is the first year in Shemitah. We all know what happens in Yovel and we know what happened in those years. A country with out its capitol, is just a territory. We have those two witnesses. Shalom

Dear Just, I also have observed just how arbitrary multiple generations of translators can be. Jeremiah 31:33 is another example where nearly all change the “giving of torah” from past to future. So wonderful to know even a little hebrew to help catch such irregularities.

Sorry GI, but the arbitrary and innacurate designation of the “zero” point in our calendar hurts your “6 & 9” numerology. Someone estimated yahshua’s birth year as our “year 1”, when it was more likely 3 or 4 years earlier.

Two time stamp witnesses according to all things in the universe. We have two Yovel time stamps. One in 1967-68 and the other in 2017-18 Yovel is the first year in Shemitah. We all know what happens in Yovel and we know what happened in those years. A country with out its capitol, is just a territory. We have those two witnesses. Shalom

Shalom, Margalitah!
The cycle of seven is never broken, so that the 50th year jubilee is also the first year in the next sabbatical cycle (just like the 50th day Feast of Weeks is on the 1st day of the week.) Joseph Dumond currently has 89 proofs for sabbatical and jubilee years. The Bar Kochba revolt years confirm the 50th year jubilee is the same as the 1st year. For more information, please go to sightedmoon.com and read the newsletter titled “Is the Shmita Year 5782? Really?”

Hi Anon, an anyone else reading this, have you seen in The Tanakh if the Shmitah cycle is 50 years or 49 years? I am looking for answers on this. Thanks in advance!

Thank you for sharing Gregg!

2 Kings 19:29 records the Sabbatical year of -701 B.C. next to the Jubilee year of -700 B.C., followed by the next year of -699 B.C. Sabbatical years are also recorded in 1 Mac., Jos. Ant. & Jos. Wars. There is archaeological evidence of Shemitah coins from numerous Sabbatical years. The tombs of Zoar are also evidence of several Sabbatical years. The next Shemitah year is Aviv 2023 through Aviv 2024. The Sabbatical cycle is very important to know because we’re commanded to share the tithe in the 3rd and 6th years (Deu 14:22-29); stock up on food in the 6th year (Lev 25:20-21); and not to plant, prune, reap or harvest in the 7th year (Lev 25:3-7), forgive any debts by Sukkot (Deu 15:1-3), and read the Torah aloud at Sukkot (Deu 31:10-13). Yehovah has restored His calendar through Joseph Dumond, just like He restored His Name through Nehemia Gordon.

Thank you Nehemia for this study. I have read it a lot of times and I think I never gave it so much importance. since theres nothing I can do. But am I wrong to say that this 2020-2021 is a shmitah? Not that now I have a new revelation but is just interesting whatever God is doing with us.

Hello Mr. Whitaker, please explain “the year of creation as year one.” As far as I know time only truly starts with Man.

Thanks. As old age increases the need for fresh home grown produce, after 40+ years of attempted compliance, am re-considering.

The wonderful reality created by Nehemiah’s, “ we just don’t know”, is that it puts all of us on a level playing field. It’s in that field where we should learn to love each other and keep Torah with very precious few, prejudices.

I have bad news for you Nehemia! The Bible Answer Man joined the Eastern Orthodox Church and since he wouldn’t preach Pre-Tribulation Rapture they banned him from the Christian Media Networks. I used to listen to him on AM radio way back during his Catholic Bashing days. They made him knock it off! What ever happened to ole Hank Hannigram? So, was the Temple Destroyed in 68 or 70 AD? I say 69AD and why? Because 9 is the # for judgment & wrath. 6 is the # for man. Look at Ezekiel 9;6 / coincidence? I don’t think so! Now among the old tymer farmers who want to observe the Shemita…. Wouldn’t God Bless their crops with 3 times as much in the 6th year, as God has said? It might be worthwhile to check with some of those old withered hands. Whatchu think? ??? I think it could be a grape way to figure out what the truth is! Just some food for thought. Who knows, you might find an old ? Jew out there some where as well! Sand Man’s calling, Chow!

Good point! And if one is right with God I suppose he would reveal it to you in that way. But, who would believe the truth? Especially if it didn’t agree with the Rabbis!

Surely knowing the sabbatical year is easily known because Yehovah proclaims it by giving 3 times the harvest on the 6th year to cover the 7th year of rest.

Chris, while your logic is understandable, and it is GREAT ghat you are studying.contemplating, the World Trade Center, stock market crashes,oil prices dropping, really are more to do with the U.S.A. The Word of Yehovah tends to FOCUS heavily on the land of Israel and God’s people. Other nations are only mentioned as they came in contact with HIS PEOPLE.

Market crashes, oil prices, destruction of trade centers, thse are HUMAN, possibly controllable events. Look up tetrad of blood moons (4 during spring & fall Holy Days I believe) in Israel. I think 2014 & 2015. Destructive weather occurrences, or earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts, famines, etc.. Those are God events.

Though I am confident that we are all expected to OBEY Him, prophecies and occurrences, signs in the heavens, etc…, are generally in reference to the Holy Land and the present day Jews, the chosen people of God.

I AM NOT saying you are WRONG in your calculations, as I DO NOT KNOW myself. I once tried to calculate using common sense and knowledge, by three different methods the approximate YEAR Messiah would come. I kept coming up with +/- 2029-2033, NUT, no man KNOWS.

I would like to know if the sabbatical year as it is now understood is accurate. Are we to suppose the JUBILEE is around 2027 to 2028

Josephus writes in the “Antiquties of the Jews” in Book 14 , Chapter 16:2 that when Herod conquered Jerusalem with Roman help in the autumn ( third month “kislev” ) in the year that Marcus Agrippa and Caninus Gallus were Roman consuls in the 185:olympiad, , which was year -37. That this was a sabbatical year. So that is one reference point.

On September 11 2001 the World Trade Centre was destroyed causing a stock market crash. Seven years later in 2008 the sub-prime mortgage market caused another stock market crash. In 2015 the Oil prices dropped and another crash causing many oil producing countries to become insolvent. Is this gust a coincidence or should we consider this to be the Shemitah.

Our biggest problem is we are not using God’s calendar starting the year in the spring with the first month 14 days before the Passover. So why is the effect of the Shemitah in the middle of the year instead of the beginning or end of it? To understand the reason one has to know the true chronology of the Bible and therefore the real history of the world.

According to the chronological research I have done Yeshua (Jesus) was crucified in 27AD, a Shemitah year and the same year the millennium changed from the forth to the fifth, making the end of the sixth in 2027. 2027 also is the sixtieths anniversary of the six day war that saw the Jews regain Jerusalem. Noah’s Flood occurred in the year 1656 counting the year of creation as year 1. Now do the math Passover 27AD would be the creation year 4001 – 1656 = 2345 / 7 = 335. The year of the Flood was a Shemitah year when God eliminated everyone’s debts and All the Land (Earth) rested. As the Flood occurred in the middle of the millennium the Day of Release would be in the middle of the year.

The next Shemitah will be in 2022, 4.5 years before the Passover in 2027.

Gregg,
Excellent perspective.

Shalom..

Thanks for this information. I like the way you put it that we just “work things out in fear and trembling” as best we can – based on how we understand things. I also agree with the idea that the Shemitah is for “when you come in to the Land”. Unfortunately, I’ve known several people who look at the whole Torah as only applying “in the Land”. They use verses which imply that, but I/we try to keep the Torah as best as we can (even though we are outside the land). That’s not an argument for keeping the Shemitah, but like the feast days, it would be good to observe it – if possible where you live.

Now, a few years ago, I kept the Shemitah year with my backyard garden. It was the year that Jonathan Cahn was calling the Shemitah – Sept. 2014 thru Sept. 2015. By then I had been observing the Biblical Calendar based on the Aviv barley and the sighted new moon. I considered Sept. 2014 as the time to “announce” that the Shemitah would begin with the 1st month in the Spring. I did not plant, and did not reap – just doing nothing to the garden and watching. I continued until the 1st month of 2016 (Aviv).

Call it an experiment, but it was interesting to do, and fun in a way. I saw that things still grew in the garden without any work from me. Potatoes and other vegetables that I had not harvested, either re-seeded themselves, or sprouted on their own in the Spring. I learned some interesting things. It also helped me to see in a small way, how YHVH could cause crops to grow in year with no planting. Of course, I know now that was NOT the Shemitah year, but I had a taste of what it might be like in the Lord’s kingdom. It was actually kind of nice not having to do anything with the garden for the whole year!

Just thought I’d share that tidbit. Shalom.

Thanks Nehemia for the information concerning 2 Chronicles 15. Unfortunately, my beloved “exact” German translation of the Masoretic Text (by Leopold Zunz) also uses the past tense, not the present. Of course, this leaves me wondering as to what extent I can “trust” this translation since the meaning is heavily altered in this case.

Do you have any idea why this passage often was translated in the past tense? Like is there any “scribal tradition” to it or so?

Thanks again for this great pearl 🙂

Greetings

Nehemia, could you tell us about the manner of prophesying? What did the prophets and high priest(s) use to do this?