Mar-25-0084-The Sabbath year – living in faith
84_The Sabbath year - living in faith Exodus 23:10-13 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. 12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed. 13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. Imagine a farmer, standing in his fields at sunset, watching scattered heads of grain growing among plumes of wild grasses. For six years, he has toiled—plowing, planting, watering, and harvesting. Moving in the rhythm of the seasons, his diligence, and the fruitfulness of the land, have brought him profit. Now, in the seventh year, he has put down his tools. The land is at rest. He neither sows nor reaps. He neither prunes his vines nor stores up grain in his barns. He simply trusts. The idea of a hardworking farmer leaving a field fallow for a whole year seems impractical, even reckless. Yet it was part of God’s law for Israel. As an agrarian society, Israel relied entirely on the land for survival. The weekly Sabbath reminded them of God’s provision. He gave them strength to labor and made the earth yield fruit. He provided manna in the wilderness. Daily they received their share, but twice the portion on the sixth day to honour the sabbath rest of the seventh. On any other day the stored manna would rot, but not on the sixth day. Yet, some went out looking for manna on the sabbath, and were rebuked for their unbelief and disobedience. Exodus 23:10-13 introduces the concept of the sabbath year, or "shmita," the year of release. The land was to be allowed to rejuvenate itself, free from cultivation. Whatever grew of itself - the volunteer grain - was available for everyone, rich or poor, without cost. Even the animals benefited from this unrestricted provision. The land, for that year, belonged to no one and to everyone. This radical command defied human logic. How could an entire nation survive a whole year without sowing and reaping? God anticipated this question. In Leviticus 25:20-22, He promised, "If you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?' I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years." Those who trusted God would never be left wanting. The sixth-year harvest would more than sustain them well into the eighth year, when the next crop was ready. Deuteronomy 15 expands the sabbath year to include the forgiveness of debts and the release of Hebrew servants. Every