#29 — Parshat Behar-Bechukotai
Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Overview
Our double portion this week opens with a focus on laws related to entrance into the land of promise. Israel was called to be a nation set apart from all other nations.
One implication of this is seen in how the people of Israel were to steward the land that was to be given to them. As Israel was to take a weekly Sabbath, so too must the land lay fallow every seventh year. For six years Israel would sow the fields, prune the vineyards, and gather their fruit. But in the seventh year there was to be “a sabbath of solemn rest to the L-rd.” (25:4)
Not only would this be a practice demonstrating trust in the L-rd who is provider of all good things, but would also prove beneficial to the land while allowing provision for the poor among them.
Along similar lines, Israel was to count seven series of seven years, forty-nine years. The fiftieth year was to be a special year of Jubilee (Yovel), a time of “declaring liberty throughout all the land” (vs.10). All debts were to be pardoned, land was to be returned to the original possessors, and bondservants were to be released from duty. All of this served to promote equity and justice, while providing a vivid reminder that ultimately all the land is the L-rd’s.
If the nation was to take heed, great blessings would follow. Prosperity in the land would bring harvests in abundance and peace from Israel’s enemies (25:18, 26:3-13).
However, if G-d’s chosen nation were to fail to keep His commands and not honor Him as L-rd in giving credence to His sabbaths, great trouble would come upon the land. Rather than blessing, a series of curses would follow. These stern warnings should leave the reader with a sense of foreboding of what is to follow.
Ultimately, Israel would of course fail in their allegiance to the L-rd. Ironically it would be in the midst of their very judgment and consequent exile that the land would find its rest.
The Jubilee Release Proclamation
A closer look at the Jubilee (Yovel)
At the core of Leviticus – with its focus on the sacrifices of the temple, laws pertaining to purity, and instructions regarding the feasts – is G-d’s desire to bring restoration and renewal of those things which have been lost. Chief among them is the desired restoration of intimate communion with Him and with one another.
In Parshat Bahar/Bechukotai these themes of restoration and renewal reach their climax in the command to keep the Jubilee (Yovel). The Jubilee was to be a Sabbath of Sabbaths (Sabaton) and a Feast of Feasts. It would be the ultimate holiday lasting not just a day or week, but for an entire year.
Like other Sabbaths and festivals, the Jubilee would be a time to look back on G-d’s past faithfulness, as well as to celebrate Him in the present. Yet perhaps most significantly, as each of the great feasts point to a final fulfillment in the future, so too Yovel speaks of a greater future rest to come for the land and for the people.
The nation of Israel was commanded to count seven sabbaths: seven series of seven years (49 years). In the fiftieth year the Jubilee was to be ushered in by the blowing of a ram’s horn, hence the origin for the name Yovel (Jubilee) translating as “horn.”
Fittingly, the trumpet was to be blown on the day of Yom Kippur – the very Day of Atonement when restoration and forgiveness were given in G-d’s provision of covering of sin for the nation. This is the day on which we see restoration and renewal was to come upon the land as well.
As the trumpet was blown, the release of bondservants and a return of land to its original owner was proclaimed. This served as a vivid reminder as well as a corrective: Israel too had been enslaved and G-d freed them. How could they then enslave each other? The Jewish people in Egypt were without a true home, but the L-rd delivered them and gave them a home of their own. How could they then treat that very land given to them in such a selfish way?
Thus the Jubilee was a safeguard for Israel: G-d’s way of preventing excess and injustice in Israeli society. Families who had been separated were to be reunited; lost land was to be returned. Food would be abundant and plentiful, and in general things would be returned to the way G-d intended them to be. In a certain sense, the “restart button” was being pushed: all would have a chance for a new beginning.
Yet it is telling that history seems to suggest that the Jubilee might not have ever been kept. Even if it was initially maintained, we know Israel in the long run did not restore the land, release the slave, and provide for the poor. The Tanakh records they often did the opposite. Rather than being G-d’s intended light to the nations (or l’olam), Scripture records Israel becoming a people characterized more by injustice as their hearts turned from the L-rd.
Sadly, we find Israel could not resist the desire to be like the nations around them. Rather than being the holy nation set apart as G-d desired, Israel would conform to the sinful ways of the nations around her.
As our portion this week forewarns, the byproduct of disobedience would be that rather than finding prosperity and abundant harvest in the land G-d had promised, Israel would reap the fruits of their disbelief: an abundance of curses (26:14-39).
With a sense of irony, the final consequence of Israel’s disobedience is directly tied to the land. Israel in the end would be cast from the land of promise and placed into exile, a tragic consequence of the failure heed G-d’s voice (26:31-34).
A future rest – and a reason to hope
For Israel to be cast into exile would seem to lead only to despair. Yet all is not lost. We yet have reason to hope.
Though Israel was unable to save herself, we see all throughout scripture a promise of one who would be able: a coming Messiah who would have the power to not only push the reset button but once and for all to put an end to injustice – forever.
In speaking of this coming Messiah, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed:
The Spirit of the L-rd is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden; to proclaim the favorable year of the L-rd.
Fast-forward to the first century. We find Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) in the synagogue on Shabbat, reading before all in attendance these very words from Isaiah 61:1-2. Upon closing the book, boldly and with authority He proclaimed before all “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18).
Yeshua in the synagogue – following hundreds of years of failure to keep this Jubilee rest for the land – quotes Isaiah from a section specifically speaking of the coming Servant Messiah. One of Messiah’s missions would be to bring about true Jubilee rest for the nation and the land.
One of the keys to how this would be accomplished is tied to the day the Jubilee was to take place; again, none other than the day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
As the prophets proclaimed, the Messiah would bring restoration and renewal only through taking all of Israel’s transgressions, every ounce of injustice, onto Himself. Earlier in the book Isaiah prophesied, “The L-rd was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10).
The Jewish prophets testify that the Messiah would prove to be Messiah only by providing Himself to be the ultimate atonement; i.e., the greater Yom Kippur sacrifice. This Messiah would bring access like never before to a renewed land, where justice flows like the river. No matter what the nation had done, no matter where they had gone, G-d would receive a repentant Israel back to Himself.
Are you longing for restoration of relationship with a holy G-d? Messiah Yeshua says to us, “Come to Me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).