Lesson 32

Parashah 32: Behar (On Mount) 25:1-26:2
(In regular read with Parashah 33 – 25:1-27:34, in leap years read separately)

Shanah ha Shimittah (sabbatical year); year of release; Shavatah la Eretz (Sabbatical ceasing for land) and Shnat (year) ha Yovel or Seven Year land Shabbat (Shemittah) – (cf Devarim 15:1-11)

VayeDaver YEHOVAH el- Mosheh behar Sinay lemor:
25:1 (RY:i; LY:i)

1
And YEHOVAH spoke to Mosheh in the Mount Sinai, saying:
25:2 Daber el-benai Yisrael ve amarta aleihem:
Ki tavou el-haeretz asher Ani noten lakhem veshavta ha eretz shabat laYEHOVAH:
When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall have a Shabat to YEHOVAH (יהוה).

25:3 Six shanim (years) you shall sow your field, and six shanim (years) you shall prune your kerem (vineyard), and gather in the fruit thereof;

25:4 But in the Shanah ha shevi’it (7th yr) shall be a Shabbat Shabaton to the land, a Shabbat for YEHOVAH (יהוה):

You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your kerem (vineyard).

25:5 That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your vine unpruned; for it is a Shanat Shabbaton (year of rest) to the land.

25:6 And the Shabbat of the land shall be oklah (food) for you; for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your sakhir, and for toshavkha ha gerim (your stranger who sojourns) with you,

25:7
and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: 4all its yield shall be for oklah (food).

The year of Yovel (Jubilee)
Lev 25:8-55; 27:17-24; Ezekiel 46:17
25:8 And you shall count seven Shabbatot of shanim (years) for yourself, seven times seven shanim (years); and the time of the seven Shabbatot of shanim (years) shall be to you forty and nine shanim (years).

Meaning Yovel – Blast, Ram sounding
25:9 Then you shall cause the Shofar of the teruah to sound the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in Yom ha Kippurim you shall make the Shofar sound throughout all your land.

25:10And you shall kadosh (set apart) the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants: it shall be a yovel for you; and you shall return every man to his possession, and you shall return every man to his mishpochah (family).

25:11 A yovel (Jubilee) shall that fiftieth year be to you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of your vine uncultivated.

25:12 For it [is] the yovel; it shall be kodesh to you: you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

Basic guidelines for Business

25:13 In the year of this yovel you shall return every man to his possession.(holding)

25:14 (LY:ii)

Jubilee:- Proclaim liberty for all

And if you sell ought to your neighbour, or buyest [ought] of your neighbour’s hand, you shall not to exploit one another:

25:15 According to the number of shanim (years) after the yovel you shall buy of your neighbour, [and] according to the number of shanim (years) of the fruits he shall sell to thee:

25:16 According to the multitude of shanim (years) you shall increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of shanim you shall diminish the price of it: for [according] to the number [of the years] of the fruits does he sell to you.

25:17 You shall not to take advantage of one another; but you shall fear Eloheicha: for ANI YEHOVAH (יהוה) Eloheichem.

25:18 Wherefore you shall do My chukkot (statutes), and shomer My mishpatim, and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

25:19 (RY:ii, LY:iii)

Dwelling Securely:- Those who keep shemittah will prosper in the land.

And the land shall yield her fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

Trust Hashem’s provision
25:20 And if you shall say:

What shall we eat the Shanah HaShevi’it (7th yr)?

Hinnei, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

25:21 Then I will command My berkah(blessing) upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for shalosh (3) shanim (years).

25:22 And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat [yet] of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in you shall eat [of] the old [store].

Redemption of Ancestral Land 23-55
25:23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land [is] mine; for you [are] gerim (strangers) and toshavim (sojourners) with Me.

25:24 And in all the eretz your possession you shall grant a geulah (redemption) for the land.

25:25 (LY:iv)

Redeeming the Land

If your brother be waxen poor, and has sold away [some] of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.

25:26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it;

25:27 Then let him chishav (count) the shenei (years) of the mimka (sale) thereof, and ha shiv (refund) ha adaf (surplus) to the man to whom he makhar (sold) it; that he may shav (return) to his achuzato (possession).

25:28 But if he be not able to restore [it] to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it until the Shnat (year) ha Yovel : and in the yovel it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession.

25:29 (RY:iii, LY:v)

bullet06_greenfire.gif And if a man sell a Beit Moshav (dwelling-house) in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; [within] a full year may he redeem it.

25:30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the bayit that [is] in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the yovel.

25:31bullet06_greenfire.gif But the batim haChatzer (village houses) which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the yovel.

Levite Cities The Levites’ Ancestral Heritage

25:32 Notwithstanding the cities of the Leviim, [and] the batim (houses) of the cities of their possession, may the Leviim redeem at any time.

25:33bullet06_greenfire.gif And if a man purchase of the Leviim, then the bayit that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in [the year of] yovel: for the Batim (houses) of the cities of the Leviim [are] their possession among the benai Yisrael.

25:34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it [is] their perpetual possession.

Preventing Poverty Those Who Have Means Are to Extend Charity to Those In Need

25:35 And if your brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then you shall relieve him: [yea, though he be] a ger, or a toshav (temporary resident); that he may live with you.

25:36 Take you no usury of him, or increase: but fear Eloheicha; that your brother may live with you.

25:37 You shall not give him your money upon usury, nor lend him your victuals for increase.

25:38 ANI YEHOVAH (יהוה) Eloheichem, which brought you forth out of ha eretz Mitzrayim, to give you ha eretz Kenaan, [and] to be Eloheichem.

25:39 (RY:iv, LY:vi) Acts 2:42-47

Redeeming the unhoused : Do not degrade those who lose their houses

And if your brother [that dwelleth] by you be waxen poor, and be sold to thee; you shall not compel him to serve as a avodat eved:

25:40 [But] as an sakhir (employee, hired servant), [and] as a sojourner, he shall be with you, [and] shall serve you to the Shnat (year) ha Yovel :

25:41 And [then] shall he depart from you, [both] he and his children with him, and shall return to his own mishpochah (family), and to the possession of his avot shall he return.

25:42 For they [are] My avadim, which I brought forth out of the eretz Mitzrayim: they shall not be sold as bondmen.

25:43 You shall not rule over him with rigour; but shall fear Eloheicha.

25:44 Both your bondmen, and your bondmaids, which you shall have, [shall be] of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall you buy bondmen and bondmaids.

25:45 Moreover of the benai ha toshavim (strangers) that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that [are] with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.

25:46 And you shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit [them for] a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the benai Yisrael, you shall not rule one over another with rigour.

25:47 (LY:vii)

Redeeming all Yisrael:- Torah prohibits enslaving its citizens forever

And if a stranger or toshav (sojourner) wax rich by you, and your brother [that dwelleth] by him wax poor, and sell himself to the stranger [or] sojourner by you, or to the stock of the stranger’s mishpochah (family):

25:48 After that he is sold he may be ge’ulah (redeemed) again; one of his brethren may redeem him:

25:49 Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or [any] that is nigh of kin to him of his mishpochah (family) may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.

ve khishav im-kone hu mi’shnat hi’makhro lo ad shenat ha Yovel ve hayah kesef mimkaro be’mispar shanim b’yom sakhir ve hayah imo:

25:50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him to the shenat (year) ha Yovel : and the kesef (price) of his sale shall be according to the number of shanim (years), according to the b’yom (day) sakhir (employee, hired servant) shall it be with him.

25:51 If [there be] yet many shanim [behind], he shall refund part of his purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption.

25:52 And if there remain but few shanim to the Shnat (year) ha Yovel , then he shall count with him, [and] according to his shanim shall he give him again the price of his redemption.

25:53 [And] as a yearly sakhir (employee, hired servant) shall he be with him: [and the other] shall not rule with rigour over him in your sight.

25:54 And if he be not redeemed in these [years], then he shall go out in the Shnat (year) ha Yovel , [both] he, and his children with him.

25:55 (LY:Maftir) Exodus 23;10,11; Lev 25:1-7

For to Me benai Yisrael [are] avadim; they [are] My avadim whom I brought forth out of the eretz Mitzrayim:

ANI YEHOVAH (יהוה) Eloheichem.

Yom Shabbat – Exodus 20:8-11;31:12-7; Lev 23:3 Deut 5:12-15 Every seventh day was a solemn rest from all work.

Rosh Hodesh – Num 28:11-15; Psa 81:3 – The first day of each month was a day of rest special sacrifices, and blowing of Silver Trumpet and Shofar

The Feast of Purim – Esther 9:18-32 This feast was celebrated on the 14th and 15th days of 12th Adar

Key Person:- Mosheh

The Scene is the Mishkan, in the wilderness of Sinai

Shmita (Exodus 23:10,11; Lev 25:1-7) (Hebrew: שמיטה, literally “release”), also called the Shabbatical Year, is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel. While shavtah la Eretz meaning Shabbatical ceasing for the land.
Each Shemittah we remember that Hashem is the ownership of the land, Master of the land, giver of the land and provider crops yielding thus the land not us, we are just stewards, it is a parallel significant understand between shemittah and shabbat is that a double portion of manna fell to feed us through Shabbat, just as the sixth year will yield enough produce to see us through Shemittah.

Yovel – Jubilee – Literally means ram or ram’s horn (Yehhoshua 6:5, During this year the Yisraelites experienced freedom and liberty; Slaves were freed; debts were canceled, the land was left uncultivated, family property was redeem 25:10-17. he must remember that his freedom is a gift from Elohim, and thus that freedom should be utilized to serve Adonay. The fact that Yeshua quoted Yeshayahu 61:1,2 during his earthly ministry was the Year of Yovel (Loukas 4:18,19). We also see in Mattityahu 12 and also Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5 Yeshua and Talmidim on the second shabbat went on the corn field to pluck ears of corn to eat was accuse of violating the Shabbat.

The Torah calls Shemittah a form of Shabbat Shemittah is mentioned several times in the Tenakh:

Sefer Shemot: “You may plant your land for six years and gather its crops. But during the seventh year, you must leave it alone and withdraw from it. The needy among you will then be able to eat just as you do, and whatever is left over can be eaten by wild animals. This also applies to your vineyard and your olive grove.” (Shemot 23:10-11)
Sefer Vayikra: “Elohim spoke to Mosheh at Mount Sinai, telling him to speak to the Yisraelites and say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land must be given a rest period, a Shabbat to Elohim. For six years you may plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and harvest your crops, but the seventh year is a Shabbat of Shabbaton for the land. It is Elohim’s Shabbat during which you do not plant your fields, nor prune your vineyards. Do not harvest crops that grow on their own and do not gather the grapes on your unpruned vines, since it is a year of rest for the land. [What grows while] the land is resting may be eaten by you, by your male and female slaves, and by the employees and resident hands who live with you. All the crops shall be eaten by the domestic and wild animals that are in your land.” (Vayikra 25:1-7) “And if you shall say: ‘What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase’; then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for the three years. And you shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the produce, the old store; until the ninth year, until her produce come in, you shall eat the old store.” (Vayikra 25:20-22)
Sefer Devarim: “At the end of every seven years, you shall celebrate the remission year. The idea of the remission year is that every creditor shall remit any debt owed by his neighbor and brother when Elohim’s remission year comes around. You may collect from the alien, but if you have any claim against your brother for a debt, you must relinquish it…” (Devarim 15:1-6) and “Mosheh then gave them the following commandment: ‘At the end of each seven years, at a fixed time on the festival of Sukkoth, after the year of release, when all Yisra’el comes to present themselves before Elohim your Adonay, in the place that He will choose, you must read this Torah before all Yisra’el, so that they will be able to hear it. ‘You must gather together the people, the men, women, children and proselytes from your settlements, and let them hear it. They will thus learn to be in awe of Elohim your Adonay, carefully keeping all the words of this Torah. Their children, who do not know, will listen and learn to be in awe of Elohim your Adonay, as long as you live in the land which you are crossing the Yarden to occupy’.” (Devarim 31:10-13)
Sefer Yirmeyahu: Thus saith YEHOVAH, the Elohim of Yisra’el: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: “At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from thee”; but your fathers listened not to Me, neither inclined their ear.” {Yirmeyahu 34:13-14)
Sefer Nechemyah: “and if the peoples of the land bring ware or any victuals on the Shabbat day to sell, that we would not buy of them on the Shabbat, or on a Yom ha Kodesh; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.” (Nechemyah 10:32)
Seferim ha Divrei Ha Yamin: “…And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; to fulfil the word of the Adonay by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had been paid her shabbatot; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Shabbat, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (2 Chronicles 36:20-21)
Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:

It can only be consumed or used (in its ordinary use) for personal enjoyment
It cannot be bought, sold, or thrown out.
It must be used in its “best” manner so as to ensure fullest enjoyment (For example, fruits that are normally eaten whole cannot be juiced).
It can only be stored so long as naturally-growing plants of the given species can be eaten by animals in the fields. Once a particular species is no longer available in the field, one must rid ones house of it through a process known as biur.
Ger toshav vs 35 (pl. geirei toshavim, Hebrew: גר תושב), according to Judaism and the Torah, is a Gentile who is a “resident alien,”
Aftergrowth -plaants that spring up on their own without deliberate sowing. Let nature take its place. Let Hashem take care of the nature.although you did not sow it, but it grew by itself from seeds that [inadvertently] had dropped on [the ground] at the time of harvesting. This is called סְפִיחַ.

Sow and Plough the Land

Every 7th Shanah shemittah the Land Rest

First Sabbatical

Second Sabbatical

Third Sabbatical

Fourth Sabbatical

Fifth Sabbatical

Sixth Sabbatical

Seventh Sabbatical 49th Year

50th year Yovel

25:11 A yovel shall that 50th year be to you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it of your vine uncultivated. Shofar of the yovel to sound a broken blast on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in Yom ha Kippurim
Elohim provides all needs during the year of Yovel. As a result, in the Year of Yovel Elohim’s people do not need to strive and struggle to provide, we rest and are satisfied. “I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of Elohim is with men, and HE will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and Elohim Himself shall be with them, and be their Elohim. And Elohim shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev 21:3-4

KINSMAN REDEMPTION = IS A DUTY

Current holder of the land must accept a proper redemption
Redeemer is almost always “family” (kinsman)
Vs. 25 gives example of person who fell on bad times and lost his land
Closest relative who has the means (money) MUST redeem the land for the family member who lost it
PRINCIPLE: Redeemer pays the price, but the debtor gets the benefit (receives the land back)
REDEMPTION AND RELEASE

Vayikra 25:35 Switches from property to people
Bondservants and Slaves
1st example: a kinsman becomes poor
This kinsman does NOT hold any land
Like a “resident alien” in the sense of not holding any land
Non-land owning Hebrews and “resident aliens” generally worked for wages…employees
3 TYPES OF KINSMAN-REDEEMERS
• Go’el = the type who redeems the land or the person of a family member
• Go’el haDam = the type who avenges the death of a family member
• Go’el = the type who marries a son-less widow
• Kinsman several Hebrew terms
• Ach a sibling, a close relative, a brother-like relationship
• Karov means “near”, a near relative
• Moda intimate friend, as close as brother

Redeemer pays the price, family member gets the benefit. It was a LEGALLY REQUIRED act of self-sacrifice. Longest time of forced (bound) employment is until debt is paid off (by labor) or until Shanat haYovel. No Israelite can own a Hebrew slave permanently.

Redemption is deliverance from some sort of bondage. The redeemer was to be the nearest blood relative so that the inheritance could return to the family / tribe. One must always remember even though man is free and enjoys the right to own land and 75 determine his own destiny (free will);

The fundamental Truth is that no Yisraelite would permanently lose his inheritance. Similarly concept, redemption is a gift of the covenant we have in Yeshua the Messiah. This is a common theme throughout the Tenakh

Sefer Vayikra: 25:39–26:46 For each of these attestations of the goel, the actions of the redeemer are listed. In sefer Vayikra (Vayikra / Leviticus 25:39-55) the גאל plays the role of the redemption of a slave. The גאל is freeing his kinsman from servitude through economic redemption.
Sefer Bamidbar (Bamidbar 35:9-34) the גאל 55 takes a different role as an avenger seeking to avenge the death of his kinsman. The Cities of refuge was establish to Protect those who had killed someone from a Kinsman-Redeemer who was duty bound to kill them!
There is no explicit mention of a kinsman redeemer in the Ketuvei Shelachim (Apostolic Writings). The primary source texts in the Tanach which deal with this principle are found in Vayikra 25 , Bamidbar 35, Devarim 19, and Rut 4.resemble the Messiah’s role as redeemer and deliverer. an excellent example of this concept in the sefer Iyov gives us an interesting insight into the role of the redeemer at the end of days. Job gave witness to the messiah predicting Him as the coming redeemer. Iyov 19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.

Mashiach Yeshua is the ultimate fulfillment of the TYPE (kinsman redeemer). It should be noted that our redemption, similar to the redemption of Yisrael from Mitzrayim (Egypt), is the subject of prophecy and the work of the Messiah on our behalf was foreordained (Kefa Alef 1:18-20). Yeshua fulfills these requirements for him to act as our kinsman redeemer.

Mashiach Yeshua became our “kinsman” according to the flesh through the incarnation (a living embodiment of the Dvar Elohim). Thus, the incarnation provided the necessary blood relationship with mankind. (Yochanan 1:1-14; Romaios 8:3; Philippesios 2:7; and Ivrim 2:17 and 4:15).
Mashiach Yeshua was willing to pay the ransom price that was demanded in order to free those that are in bondage in sin. The ransom price (payment made for redemption) is blood and death for sin. The ransom price Yeshua made was in His own blood which secures our redemption and establishes Mashiach Yeshua as our redeemer – Goel. (Mattityahu 20:28; Maaseh Shlukhim 20:28; Romaios 3:23; and 24; Korintos Alef 6:19-20; Galates 3:13 and 4:4-5; Ephesios 1:7; Kolose 1:14;Timotheos Alef 2:6; Titos 2:14; and Kefa Alef 1:18-19).
Mashiach Yeshua was able to pay the required price since He Himself was not able to sin or its penalty of death. Yeshua resided outside the slave market of sin in which we find ourselves today. ( Romaios 8:3; Korintos Alef 7:23; Korintos Bet 5:21; and Revelation 5:9).
Mashiach Yeshua’s work has qualified Him to execute Elohim’s Mitzvah for the redeemer and restore the property rights to planet earth and our relationship with Elohim that our ancestor Adam forfeited. This is dramatically spoken of in Revelation chapter 5 when it was asked: “Who is worthy?” Mashiach Yeshua is worthy! ( Revelation 11:15-17 and Mattityahu 5:5)
Mashiach Yeshua is our nearest kinsman that set us free from the debt of sin that all men face (Romaios 3:9 and 11:32; Galates 3:22; Yochanan 8:46; Maaseh Shlukim 3:14; Hebrews 4:15 and 7:26; Kefa Alef 2:22; and 1 Yochanan 3:5). He has not only acted on our behalf to restore our freedom and inheritance that Elohim created for all of mankind,
Mashiach Yeshua will in future events act as the blood avenger (goel hadam) during Daniel’s 70th week (Revelation 6:10, 16:6, and 19:2).
25:23-28 The Land could be sold, but not permanently, because Hashem is the Owner. There were three ways in which land could be “redeemed” (revert to its original Jewish owner):

The nearest relative could buy it back for the seller (v. 25);

The seller (original owner), if he regained financial solvency, could redeem it, paying the purchaser for the years remaining until the Year of Jubilee (vv. 26, 27);

otherwise, the land automatically reverted to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee (v. 28).

How does HaShem’s ownership of the Land (Vayikra 25:23; Ex. 15:17; Yeshayahu 14:2, 25; Jer. 2:7; Ez 36:5; 38:16; Hos. 9:3; Ps. 10:15(16), 85:1(2), transform your understanding of the parable of the wicked vinedressers (Matt 21:33-46)

Read Romaios 11:25-27. Notice that HaShem sent Moshiach only after Yisra’el had descended into spiritual bondage to an idolatrous empire. What does Moshiach do, as kinsman redeemer, when he comes to take away Yisra’el’s sins?

Study Acts 2:42-47. Explain how the redeemed believers first treated those in their midst who were indebted or homeless.

Explain how the Ruach rewarded kinsmen redeemers for setting free the impoverished brethren.