A case for Sabbath rest, for the land and for us! (Leviticus 25:1-27:34)

[BenAvraham]

PARASHA: “B’Har” (on the Mountain)


LEVITICUS 25:1-26:2……………..JEREMIAH 32:6-27…………………LUKE 7:1-8:56


…..This parasha deals with the giving the land a rest after six years of planting and harvesting, on the seventh year the land shall rest. This, agriculturally, is very sound and comes from the mouth of the creator of all the earth. The reason is quite simple to understand. Crops, such as corn, wheat, barley, vegetables, etc, when they grow in the soil, take in nutrients, quite like us, when we eat, we absorb nutrients from the food we eat. Imagine the land after 6 years of planting and harvesting, all those nutrients, minerals, chemicals from the soil, are being absorbed by the crops sown, if the land does not have a chance to rest and renew itself, it will soon become useless, quite void of nutrients…so… a year’s rest will give the soil enough time to replenish itself.
…..We can apply this commandment today, to allow the land to rest after six years of planting and harvesting, even families that have little vegetable gardens in the back of their houses. May they enjoy six years of vegetables and then in the seventh year, just dump compost in the soil, food that goes bad, moldy bread, etc., don’t put it in the garbage, bury it in the garden, do that in that seventh year, and then the next year, plant and harvest again.
…..We can look at ourselves in a similar way. How do we count our lives? By a 365-day year? Or by sabbaticals?
If we were to count our years by the day, we could say we have many days and years ahead of us! Really? Do we know tomorrow? (didn’t think so). However, if we were to count our years on earth by counting by sevens? How many “sabbaticals” have we lived? How many “might” be left? If I were to count my sabbaticals, I would have to count starting in 1954. 1954-1960 first seven years, 1961-67, the second sabbatical. I would have to ask myself, What have I done or accomplished in each of these periods of seven years? Anything of importance? Have I influenced other lives? If we count by sabbaticals, we will find that we really don’t have many sabbaticals to live.
…..What do we do in our “seventh year?” wouldn’t it be wonderful to “rest” a whole year? Or just dedicate that “seventh year” to full time ministry work? That would be quite hard to do for those of us that work for a living
Who depend on a salary. Don’t think the boss would be very happy to hear us say; “Boss, I want to take off for this year, it is my “sabbatical” I’ll come back next year at the same time!” (Yeah, u-huh, weeelll, you might not find your job waiting for you after a year) but we do have the summers to rest. If we could divide the year into seven parts, we would end up with more or less 1.7 months of time. Why not minister during 1.7 months? Share God’s Word, teach the WORD to others, for those who can take off a year without compromising their jobs, take every seventh year and just take that time to rest, travel, minister, hike, walk, leave behind gospel tracts, visit different churches and/or Messianic synagogues, and may ADONAI supply ALL of your needs.
26:2 “YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS! AND VENERATE MY SANCTUARY.


B’CHUKOTAI (in my statutes) LEVITICUS 26:3-27:34


….This double Parasha week brings the book of Leviticus to an end. When we read these final chapters, what YHVH is saying is; IF…you follow my torat (teachings, laws) and faithfully observe my mitzvoth (commandments) I WILL….. It is ALL CONDITIONAL, there is nothing without a condition. If we want Elohim’s blessings and good favor, we will follow HIS WORD, accept HIS LIVING WORD (Yeshua) into our life. Yeshua said; “If you love me, ye will obey my commandments” not only the commandments that he spoke about during his life on earth, but also, the ones which he gave to Moshe when HE was with the FATHER as part of ELOHIM.
…..Blessings and curses are a part of life. The world calls them as “good luck and bad luck” there is no such animal! All things that happen in our lives are a result of blessings, curses, and testing’s. Do we want to best of our Mashiach? Then, follow HIS Word, follow HIS mitzvoth, not to bring us salvation, that we already have, but as a RESULT OF our salvation (Yeshuah) And if you haven’t accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as your LORD and Savior, and Messiah, NOW is the perfect time, remember, we are NOT promised tomorrow, we are only one HEART BEAT away from eternity.


JEREMIAH 32:6-27; 16:19-17:14


….The prophet, before his people went into exile in Babylon, buys a piece of property, Why? Because Adonai has promised him that he will, to buy and sell again, build houses, plant vineyards, AFTER a period of 10 periods of 7 years each. Israel did not honor the sabbatical years, and now, the land will rest for 70 years. HOWEVER…The prophet was promised that Israel would return and repossess the land.
…..We see in reading this parasha that Adonai is a God of judgment, but at the same time, a God of forgiveness
Many times, we break HIS commandments, and many times, suffer the consequences for our actions, but there is forgiveness, after the time of suffering and tears, YHVH will never forget HIS PEOPLE. We might go under, but we will never be annihilated. ISRAEL is 4-ever. In chapters 16 to 17, the same thing is being said, YHVH sees all , “For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from my presence”
…..Who can hide from a Holy God? Yet the prophet says; “O YHVH, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a day of trouble” He continues to trust in Adonai, even though the rest of Israel goes into captivity. We might live in the midst of idolaters, lovers of the world, yet still we must trust HIM.


LUKE 7:1-8:56


…..We read about the miracles of Yeshua, Even the faith of a Roman Army officer whose servant was sick unto death, and the servant was healed. What is required of receiving a miracle? Faith! Not blind faith, but faith in the healing powers of Adonai, The Roman believed being far away, yet his servant was healed. He did not see Yeshua, yet he believed. Yeshua said, “blessed are those who do not see, yet believe.
…..Yochanan the Baptizer was recognized by Yeshua, as one of the best “talmidim” since he endured imprisonment, and even death, for the sake of the truth. Could we do that? Do we even dare to answer? Time will tell.


Shabbat Shalom…………rabbi Ben Avraham***

 

[OneFaith]

PARASHA: “B’Har” (on the Mountain)


LEVITICUS 25:1-26:2……………..JEREMIAH 32:6-27…………………LUKE 7:1-8:56


…..This parasha deals with the giving the land a rest after six years of planting and harvesting, on the seventh year the land shall rest. This, agriculturally, is very sound and comes from the mouth of the creator of all the earth. The reason is quite simple to understand. Crops, such as corn, wheat, barley, vegetables, etc, when they grow in the soil, take in nutrients, quite like us, when we eat, we absorb nutrients from the food we eat. Imagine the land after 6 years of planting and harvesting, all those nutrients, minerals, chemicals from the soil, are being absorbed by the crops sown, if the land does not have a chance to rest and renew itself, it will soon become useless, quite void of nutrients…so… a year’s rest will give the soil enough time to replenish itself.
…..We can apply this commandment today, to allow the land to rest after six years of planting and harvesting, even families that have little vegetable gardens in the back of their houses. May they enjoy six years of vegetables and then in the seventh year, just dump compost in the soil, food that goes bad, moldy bread, etc., don’t put it in the garbage, bury it in the garden, do that in that seventh year, and then the next year, plant and harvest again.
…..We can look at ourselves in a similar way. How do we count our lives? By a 365-day year? Or by sabbaticals?
If we were to count our years by the day, we could say we have many days and years ahead of us! Really? Do we know tomorrow? (didn’t think so). However, if we were to count our years on earth by counting by sevens? How many “sabbaticals” have we lived? How many “might” be left? If I were to count my sabbaticals, I would have to count starting in 1954. 1954-1960 first seven years, 1961-67, the second sabbatical. I would have to ask myself, What have I done or accomplished in each of these periods of seven years? Anything of importance? Have I influenced other lives? If we count by sabbaticals, we will find that we really don’t have many sabbaticals to live.
…..What do we do in our “seventh year?” wouldn’t it be wonderful to “rest” a whole year? Or just dedicate that “seventh year” to full time ministry work? That would be quite hard to do for those of us that work for a living
Who depend on a salary. Don’t think the boss would be very happy to hear us say; “Boss, I want to take off for this year, it is my “sabbatical” I’ll come back next year at the same time!” (Yeah, u-huh, weeelll, you might not find your job waiting for you after a year) but we do have the summers to rest. If we could divide the year into seven parts, we would end up with more or less 1.7 months of time. Why not minister during 1.7 months? Share God’s Word, teach the WORD to others, for those who can take off a year without compromising their jobs, take every seventh year and just take that time to rest, travel, minister, hike, walk, leave behind gospel tracts, visit different churches and/or Messianic synagogues, and may ADONAI supply ALL of your needs.
26:2 “YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS! AND VENERATE MY SANCTUARY.


B’CHUKOTAI (in my statutes) LEVITICUS 26:3-27:34


….This double Parasha week brings the book of Leviticus to an end. When we read these final chapters, what YHVH is saying is; IF…you follow my torat (teachings, laws) and faithfully observe my mitzvoth (commandments) I WILL….. It is ALL CONDITIONAL, there is nothing without a condition. If we want Elohim’s blessings and good favor, we will follow HIS WORD, accept HIS LIVING WORD (Yeshua) into our life. Yeshua said; “If you love me, ye will obey my commandments” not only the commandments that he spoke about during his life on earth, but also, the ones which he gave to Moshe when HE was with the FATHER as part of ELOHIM.
…..Blessings and curses are a part of life. The world calls them as “good luck and bad luck” there is no such animal! All things that happen in our lives are a result of blessings, curses, and testing’s. Do we want to best of our Mashiach? Then, follow HIS Word, follow HIS mitzvoth, not to bring us salvation, that we already have, but as a RESULT OF our salvation (Yeshuah) And if you haven’t accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as your LORD and Savior, and Messiah, NOW is the perfect time, remember, we are NOT promised tomorrow, we are only one HEART BEAT away from eternity.


JEREMIAH 32:6-27; 16:19-17:14


….The prophet, before his people went into exile in Babylon, buys a piece of property, Why? Because Adonai has promised him that he will, to buy and sell again, build houses, plant vineyards, AFTER a period of 10 periods of 7 years each. Israel did not honor the sabbatical years, and now, the land will rest for 70 years. HOWEVER…The prophet was promised that Israel would return and repossess the land.
…..We see in reading this parasha that Adonai is a God of judgment, but at the same time, a God of forgiveness
Many times, we break HIS commandments, and many times, suffer the consequences for our actions, but there is forgiveness, after the time of suffering and tears, YHVH will never forget HIS PEOPLE. We might go under, but we will never be annihilated. ISRAEL is 4-ever. In chapters 16 to 17, the same thing is being said, YHVH sees all , “For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden from my presence”
…..Who can hide from a Holy God? Yet the prophet says; “O YHVH, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a day of trouble” He continues to trust in Adonai, even though the rest of Israel goes into captivity. We might live in the midst of idolaters, lovers of the world, yet still we must trust HIM.


LUKE 7:1-8:56


…..We read about the miracles of Yeshua, Even the faith of a Roman Army officer whose servant was sick unto death, and the servant was healed. What is required of receiving a miracle? Faith! Not blind faith, but faith in the healing powers of Adonai, The Roman believed being far away, yet his servant was healed. He did not see Yeshua, yet he believed. Yeshua said, “blessed are those who do not see, yet believe.
…..Yochanan the Baptizer was recognized by Yeshua, as one of the best “talmidim” since he endured imprisonment, and even death, for the sake of the truth. Could we do that? Do we even dare to answer? Time will tell.


Shabbat Shalom…………rabbi Ben Avraham***

God's laws never change. However, the way we obey them has. In the Old Testament, under the authority of Moses, God's laws were obeyed physically- such as a physical rest on a physical day. In the New Testament, under the authority of Christ, God's laws are obeyed spiritually instead of physically. Our rest is "the peace that surpasses understanding." For example, when Paul was in prison, he sang. Why? It's hard for a worldly person to understand that. It's because no matter what he was going through, his soul was at rest, because he knew he would go to heaven. This rest is our spiritual sabbath.

The way of obeying God's law physically was not the real way/reality. It was only a shadow of the real way to be found in Christ (Colossians 2:17). Under Moses you could not commit murder physically. But under Christ, if you hate your brother, you are already guilty of murder spiritually.

Do you wonder why we no longer have a high priest to sacrifice a physically perfect lamb on behalf of our sins? Or do other physical things like taking someone out of the city and stoning them to death for certain sins? It's because those written laws/ordinances were nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Christ now has ALL authority- that leaves no authority for even Moses.

The old law (Old Testament) will always be with us. We need the Old physical laws in order to better understand the new spiritual laws, but we are no longer under the Old Covenant. (This is why Jesus told parables- compared physical things to spiritual things, to give us better understanding. God did the same with the Old and New Testaments). The Old never worked anyways. The blood of physically perfect animals never washed away sin. If it could God would not let His precious Son die a torturous death. But because of their obedience in doing so, their sins were postponed until the cross.

If we obeyed the laws of Moses and the laws of Christ at the same time- that would be commiting spiritual adultery. Because Christ is our only 'husband', the church is the bride of Christ. The laws of Moses have died (been nailed to the cross) so we are free to 'marry another' (obey Christ's rules instead of Moses's rules), as explained in Romans 7:1-4.

 

[BenAvraham]

God's laws never change. However, the way we obey them has. In the Old Testament, under the authority of Moses, God's laws were obeyed physically- such as a physical rest on a physical day. In the New Testament, under the authority of Christ, God's laws are obeyed spiritually instead of physically. Our rest is "the peace that surpasses understanding." For example, when Paul was in prison, he sang. Why? It's hard for a worldly person to understand that. It's because no matter what he was going through, his soul was at rest, because he knew he would go to heaven. This rest is our spiritual sabbath.

The way of obeying God's law physically was not the real way/reality. It was only a shadow of the real way to be found in Christ (Colossians 2:17). Under Moses you could not commit murder physically. But under Christ, if you hate your brother, you are already guilty of murder spiritually.

Do you wonder why we no longer have a high priest to sacrifice a physically perfect lamb on behalf of our sins? Or do other physical things like taking someone out of the city and stoning them to death for certain sins? It's because those written laws/ordinances were nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14). Christ now has ALL authority- that leaves no authority for even Moses.

The old law (Old Testament) will always be with us. We need the Old physical laws in order to better understand the new spiritual laws, but we are no longer under the Old Covenant. (This is why Jesus told parables- compared physical things to spiritual things, to give us better understanding. God did the same with the Old and New Testaments). The Old never worked anyways. The blood of physically perfect animals never washed away sin. If it could God would not let His precious Son die a torturous death. But because of their obedience in doing so, their sins were postponed until the cross.

If we obeyed the laws of Moses and the laws of Christ at the same time- that would be commiting spiritual adultery. Because Christ is our only 'husband', the church is the bride of Christ. The laws of Moses have died (been nailed to the cross) so we are free to 'marry another' (obey Christ's rules instead of Moses's rules), as explained in Romans 7:1-4.

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That is true what you say, we can take the commandment of rest both physically and spiritually. We have spiritual rest through our relationship with Messiah Yeshua, yet we can also honor that rest and take one day a week (or two) and honor HIM by being in communion with others at church and synagogue. Thanks for your comment