Torah Portion, B’Har Leviticus 25.1-26.2, Haftarah, Jeremiah 32.6-27
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord.” Leviticus 25.2-4 NKJV
We have long understood the prophetic significance of Biblical days such as Passover, Pentecost (Shavuot) and Trumpets, but what about the significance of Biblical years or sets of years? The Lord instructed Israel to sanctify not only the seventh day, but also the seventh year as a “sabbatical year” of rest for the land. In Hebrew it is called the shemitah.
The Final Shemitah and the Return of the King from Rock of Revelation, Jerusalem and Evengilion.org.
Could this seven-year cycle correspond to the prophetic 70 weeks of years in Daniel 9.24-27? The final seven-year cycle in Daniel, the 70th week, in certain Jewish tradition marks a great tribulation and the coming of Messiah, the Son of David.
“Rava said: Since there is a tradition that the Jewish people are destined to be redeemed in the seventh year of the Sabbatical cycle…In the sixth year of the Sabbatical cycle in the days of the arrival of the Messiah, heavenly sounds (kolot rumors of war) will be heard; in the seventh year there will be wars; and upon the conclusion of the seventh year, in the eighth year, the son of David, the Messiah, will come? Bab. T. Megillah 17b Soncino Translation
On September 7th, 2021, Israel will again observe the Shemitah, the Seventh Year Sabatical rest, and in September 2022 will begin a new seven-year cycle. But this coming seven-year cycle has Biblical significance. It will conclude exactly two-thousand years since the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry, a period which began in 27/28 C.E, a Shemitah year, and will conclude in 2027/28 a Shemitah year. Where we are on the prophetic clock?
I. The Seventh Year of Rest
“But in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord.” Leviticus 25.4 NKJV
Just as there is a seventh-day rest each week, there is a seventh-year rest for the land of Israel. The upcoming Jewish year, 5781, from Sept. 7, 2021–Sept. 26, 2022 will be a seventh year of “solemn rest”, a Shemitah, for the land of Israel. Those who observe the command will allow their fields to rest fallow, until the cycle begins again.
How do we know that the seven-year cycle we observe today is correct?
Several historic documents give insight into the observance of the Shemitah during the time of the Second Temple. The Shemitah cycle continued to be observed even after the Temple’s destruction. One historical event that can be dated is the reading of the Torah scroll by King Agrippa I, immediately following a Shemitah year. This was a scriptural command to read the Torah to the people once every seven years following the Shemitah. (Deut. 31.10-11) Because of the narrow window of Agrippa’s rule over Judea, it must have been around 42 C.E.[1] Secondly, deeds and letters discovered in the caves of Wadi Murabba’at near Bethlehem dated to around 55/56 C.E. are reckoned by the Shemitah year. And most significantly, the destruction of the Temple itself in 70 C.E. is understood to have occurred during the latter part of a Shemittah cycle.
“Rabbi Huna, the son of Rabbi Joshua: If one does not know the current year of a Sabbatical cycle, let him add one year (to the era of the Hurban) (destruction of the Temple). He may then compute Jubilees by dividing the date into large numbers (50 years), and Shemitot into small numbers of 7…” [2] Abodah Zarah 9b
Admittedly there is some debate, within a year, for the dating of the Shemitah. The bigger question however is whether the close of the seven-year cycle has end times, eschatological significance? Was there significance for the Sabbatical year of release at the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry?
Luke gives important clues to the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry and the timing in relation to the Shemitah seven-year cycle. He tells us that John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. (Luke 3.1) These precisely date his ministry to the years 27/28 of the First Century. According to the calculations of Ben Zion Wacholder, this coincided with the Shemitah seventh year.[3]
Even more amazing, using the decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.E to rebuild Jerusalem, a Sabbatical year, as Daniels prophetic start of the 70 weeks, we have exactly 69 Sabbatical cycles bringing us to the sabbatical year of 27/28 C.E., also the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry.[4] Yeshua ministered during some part of a Sabbatical year of release and cancelling of debt. This brings a new layer of significance to Yeshua’s ministry text in Luke 4.17 proclaiming the “acceptable year of the Lord”.
“And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4.17-19 NKJV
This young Rabbi, Yeshua from Nazareth, entered His hometown synagogue, and opened the scroll of Isaiah to read words which applied specifically to the Sabbatical year of release and the Jubilee – the year of the Lord’s favor!
Yeshua however, stopped short in His reading. He did not include the vengeance of God, Isaiah 61.2. He focused on the rest, redemption, and release of the oppressed. The rest and release Yeshua declared fulfilled in their hearing was supernatural. While an earthly king could return ancestral lands and release debtors, only one sent from God could open the eyes of the blind and set spiritual captives free. Here Messiah was declared the “acceptable year of the LORD”!
II. The Seventh Year of Release
“And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him.” Lev. 25.54 NKJV
Jewish literature understood the 70 weeks of Daniel in relation to the seven-year Shemitah cycle. In other words, they follow the Biblical calendar, and conclude with the coming of the Messiah.
“The ancient Jewish exegesis of Dan. 9:24-27 differs from modern scholarship in two significant ways. With a few exceptions, all medieval and recent commentators translate the key-word shavu’a (as a “week”, seven years). The ancient exegetes, it will be shown, understood shavu’a to refer to the seven-year cycle, the last year of which was ‘the year of the Lord” (Lev.25.2). the equivalent of the year of Shemittah or release (Deut.15.1-2., when debts were canceled and land lay fallow.”[5] Wacholder, 203
Birth Pangs of Redemption
Daniel’s 70th week, the last seven-year Shemitah cycle, will be marked by increasing tribulation – birth pains to the redemption.[6] Daniel speaks of that final as one of tribulation, a broken covenant, and the abomination of desolation in the holy place. Daniel 9.24-27) Jewish writings describe the labored birth pains of that week.
“The Sages taught in a Baraita: In the week (the Sabbatical cycle), in which the Son of David comes, during the first year, this verse will be fulfilled: “And I will cause to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city” (Amos 4:7). In the second year of that period, arrows of famine will be shot. During the third year there will be a great famine and men, women, children, the pious and men of action will die. The Torah is forgotten by those who study it. During the fourth year there will be plenty and not plenty. In the fifth-year great plenty, eating and drinking, rejoicing and the Torah will return to those who study it. During the sixth year, voices (rumors of war). In the Sabbatical Year – war. At the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year, the Son of David comes.” Bab. Talmud, San. 97a (Author’s Translation)
Will Messiah Return at the Conclusion of the 70th week?
Yeshua in Matthew 24 connected Daniel’s 70th week as a period of intense tribulation before the coming of the Son of Man.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Matthew 24.1-16 NKJV
That final seven years will be marked by false messiahs and tribulation such as the world has never seen. Immediately following that tribulation, the sun and moon will be darkened, and the heavens shaken. That tribulation will conclude with the coming of the Son of Man – the King Messiah!
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24.29-30 NKJV
III. The Eighth Year of the King
“At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you (Leader or King) shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing” Deuteronomy 31.10-11 NKJV
The seven-year cycle is indeed a beautiful prophetic picture. But the following eighth year has been seen as a type of the King Messiah’s return and regathering of Israel. Immediately following the seventh Sabbatical year, during Tabernacles, all of Israel gathered before the King of Israel that he might teach them to fear the Lord.
If the Sabbatical year at the end of the Daniel’s 70th week corresponds to the final seven-year’s tribulation, then its conclusion will bring not only redemption, but a regathering, and return of the King.
Every seven years, at the conclusion of the Sabbatical year, the leader, initially Joshua and later the King, gathered all the people, including the children to read to them the Word of the Lord, the Torah. This in effect was a seven-year dress rehearsal for the conclusion of the final seven-year Shemitah cycle when King Messiah, the Son of David will gather all of Israel together to teach them God’s Law.
The Bemah of the King
This “eighth year” was the “year of the gathering”, when even the “stranger within the gates” was commanded to come to the House of God and to the King. The sages taught that the king sat on a wooden “bemah” or high structure before the people to read the Torah.[7] Why? Because the King was responsible to bring the Torah, the teaching, to instruct the people to fear the Lord God.
Following the Sabbatical year of 70th week of Daniel, the king will be Messiah Himself. He will unify and instruct Israel. There will be no dissension about differing schools of thought, points of theology, or “halacha”. In that time, all will follow the teaching of the Messiah, as He instructs Israel in the fear of the Lord!
Are We Entering Daniel’s 70th Week?
Yeshua began his ministry during a Shemitah year of 27/28 C.E., exactly 69 weeks of years (490 years) from the decree of Artaxerxes! And since Messiah’s appearing, being cut off as Daniel predicted, and resurrection, we have enjoyed almost two thousand years of the “days of Messiah”. For almost two-thousand years the Good News and “Acceptable Year of the Lord” have been proclaimed. However, the coming Shemitah cycle of seven-years will conclude exactly two-thousand years since the beginning of Yeshua’s ministry – the year 27/28 – 2027/28.
The time between Daniel’s 69th week, followed by Messiah being cut off, and the 70th week have been paused. Yeshua spoke of the 70th week as a future event. (Matthew 24.15) Will the next seven-year cycle, beginning in September 2022 begin Daniel’s seventieth week? I cannot say for sure, but it will exactly conclude two-thousand years since Yeshua’s ministry!
Daniel and Yeshua both gave signs that we might know the beginning and middle point of that final seven-year cycle. It will commence with a peace agreement, and in the middle of that seven years, the “leader” or prince will violate the Sanctuary with an abomination of desolation.
“Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9.28 NKJV
IV. The Final Seventh – A Millennium Rest
“תנא דבי אליהו ששת אלפים שנה הוי עלמא שני אלפים תוהו שני אלפים תורה שני אלפים ימות המשיח” סנהדרין צ”ז א
The school of Eliyahu taught: For six thousand years will be the world. Two-thousand years of chaos (without Torah), two-thousand years of Torah, two-thousand years of the days of Messiah.” Sanhedrin 97a (Author’s translation)
We have seen that the seven-year Shemitah cycle is the template for Daniel’s 70 weeks. However, Jewish tradition also sees in the Shemitah cycle, a picture of a six-thousand-year history of the world culminating in a Sabbath millennium where the Messiah rule brings rest and restoration to the earth. Might the next Shemitah cycle, Sept. 7, 2021–Sept. 26, 2022, be significant in that completion?
Messianic expectation was great during the first century precisely because of Daniel’s prophecy. Daniel template of seven-year cycles provided a starting point which could be calculated. Even though Cyrus made a decree around 537 B.C.E, and by Darius in 518 B.C.E., regarding the rebuilding, the actual building of Jerusalem occurred in the third decree of Artaxerxes in 457 B.C.E. No matter which date one chooses however, the Messiah was expected to come during the time of the Second Temple. For this reason, the tradition quoted above from Sanhedrin 97a spoke of two-thousand years of the “days of Messiah” before the Sabbath Millennium. Christian writers, in early Second Century, also understood the history of the world in terms of the creation week.
“Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end… Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end. And He rested on the seventh day. this He meaneth; when His Son shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.” Epistle of Barnabas, 15.4-5
Conclusion
The next Shemitah cycle, Sept. 7, 2021–Sept. 26, 2022, forms an unbroken chain of observances from Biblical times. Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks of years are not a random counting of sevens but should be understood as following the seven-year Shemitah cycle. But this coming Sabbatical year cycle will be significant. It’s conclusion on Sept. 26, 2022 will begin the last seven years to complete two-thousand years from the start of Yeshua’s ministry in the Shemitah year 27/28 C.E. In that year of release, He proclaimed the year of healing, recovery of sight, release, and the acceptable year of the Lord! (Isaiah 61.1-2a)
Jewish exegesis understood Daniel’s 70th week or final seven-year cycle as a picture of the final redemption. It would be marked by increasing tribulation, rumors of war and finally war. The end of that seventh year however will see the redeemer of Israel, the Son of David come. Yeshua Himself spoke of the coming of the Son of Man at the end of that tribulation week saying.
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24.30 NKJV
Finally, we must note that the Jewish and early Christian tradition understood the six days of creation followed by a Sabbath rest as a picture of a great Shemitah cycle of six thousand years followed by a Millennial Sabbath. One in particular, quoted in our study, understood that there would be two-thousand years of the “days of Messiah” (ימות המשיח), which will conclude the six thousand years. While the Jewish authors of this tradition perhaps did not accept Yeshua as Messiah, they never-the-less noted that He should have come during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
We are entering the final seven year cycle that will complete two-thousand years since the start of Yeshua’s ministry. Might we also be entering the most significant seven-year cycle before the return of the Son of Man? We will only know by the signs that both Daniel and Yeshua gave, the peace agreement by the man of perdition and his breaking of that agreement in the middle of the seven years by setting up an abomination of desolation in the Holy place.
Shavua Tov from Zion
[1] WACHOLDER, BEN ZION. “THE CALENDAR OF SABBATICAL CYCLES DURING THE SECOND TEMPLE AND THE EARLY RABBINIC PERIOD.” Hebrew Union College Annual 44 (1973): 169. Accessed May 13, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23506817.
[2] Ibid, 175 Maimonides expounds on this as well dating the Shemittah to around 69/70 C.E.
[3] WACHOLDER, BEN ZION. “CHRONOMESSIANISM: THE TIMING OF MESSIANIC MOVEMENTS AND THE CALENDAR OF SABBATICAL CYCLES.” Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975): 214. Accessed May 14, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23506873.
[4] Table of Sabbatical Years (pickle-publishing.com)
[5] WACHOLDER, BEN ZION. “CHRONOMESSIANISM: THE TIMING OF MESSIANIC MOVEMENTS AND THE CALENDAR OF SABBATICAL CYCLES.” Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975): 201-18. Accessed May 14, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23506873.
[6] Ibid
[7] See Mishnah, Nashim, Sotah 6.8[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
