Shemitah
2015: The Year of Release and
Coming
Judgment For America?
By
Rev. Paul J. Bern
Much
is being made currently regarding the timing of the four blood moons,
the Jewish Shemitah year, and the rise and fall of America's economy,
military, and federal government. The first blood moon occurred on
April 15th, 2014, the second on October 18th
of last year, and the third on April the 4th
of this year. The fourth and final one will occur this coming week on
Monday, September 28th.
This upcoming week, as the end of the Hebrew calendar draws to a
close at the end of September, speculation is practically running
wild as to what the near future will hold for the entire world,
particularly for the US, Israel, Russia, China and the entire Middle
East. First, let me say I doubt that a comet or a meteor will strike
the Earth anytime soon, so you all can stop worrying about that. The
fact of the matter is that if a real meteor or comet were about to
strike the planet, it would be visible to the naked eye since it
would be so (theoretically) close by now, well within the orbit of
Mars. So I'm only going to write about pertinent information
regarding End Times prophecy, and it all revolves around the
conjunction of the Jewish and Western calendars, combined with
current events in the Middle East.
The
Sabbatical year, or Shemitah in Hebrew, provides a year of rest for
the farmer and the land, since God commanded that no agricultural
activity occur during the seventh year: “Six
years you shall sow your land and gather its produce, but the seventh
year you shall let it rest and lie fallow.”
(Exodus
23:10-11) Rarely
have modern Israeli farmers observed the Shemitah, due to the loss of
income they would incur by leaving their fields uncultivated for one
year. In the period when Kings ruled in Israel, disobedience to the
Sabbatical laws brought Divine punishment. Israel’s 70 years in
Babylonian captivity were, in part, due to the failure of the Jews to
observe the Shemitah for 70 years. (2 Chronicles 36:20-23) An
additional feature of the law waives all outstanding or personal
debts between Jews (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) However, the Jewish Talmud
disallows loan amnesty related to the Shemitah, except when the
agricultural rules are also observed. But the Israeli government and
Jewish religious leaders are hoping to reverse that historical trend.
The Israeli government has reportedly set aside 29 million dollars
(US) to encourage local farmers to honor the Biblical mandate to let
their fields lie “fallow” for one out of seven years. The bulk of
the appropriated funds will be used to support farmers who will
suffer loss of income, but who nevertheless, choose to keep the
Shemitah, allowing their fields to lie fallow in obedience to God’s
law. Despite the government’s assistance , problems surrounding the
observance of the sabbatical year are complex, and involve Jewish
legal issues and opinions on how best to adhere to the command
without negatively affecting the income of farmers who follow the
Sabbatical law and to protect the fragile agricultural economy.
The
current Shemitah (meaning, to release) began September 25, 2014, on
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Another small portion of the
budget will be used for the special ceremony that marks the end of
the Shemitah: “At
the end of each seven years…on the festival of Sukkot, after the
year of release, in the place He (God) will choose, you must read
this Torah before all Israel, so that they will be able to hear it.”
(Deuteronomy 31:10)
That
ceremony will take place at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem, during
the Sukkot holiday on
September 27th (at sundown) until October 4th, and next year in 2016
from October
16th (at sundown) until the 23rd.
Many
non-Jews first learned about the significance of the Shemitah year
while reading the best-selling book,
“The Harbinger”, by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn. In “The
Harbinger”, Rabbi Cahn reveals that the two greatest financial
calamities in American history occurred on successive Shemitah years
following the 9/11 Islamist terror attacks on the US. September
17, 2001, six days after the 9/11 attacks, the stock market re-opened
and suffered the greatest point loss in its history, to that date.
The market dropped 700 points, or 7% in one day. In response, the
Federal Reserve slashed the nation’s interest rates, ushering in a
period of economic devastation for the US. Seven years later,
September 29, 2008, would prove to be even worse! The days leading up
to September 29 saw the government bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie
Mae, the two largest mortgage companies in the US, in a bid to
prevent the collapse of the two. Shortly thereafter Lehmann Brothers,
once considered the pinnacle of financial firms, reported losses of
45% and filed bankruptcy rather than accept a government bailout. The
Stock market dropped 777.7 points or 7%, wiping out all gains of the
past seven years. Thus making it the largest ever one day drop in the
US stock market history! What followed was an implosion of the US and
world economies, from which we have yet to recover.
Rabbi
Cahn did not speculate on what might transpire in the US economy at
the end of the Shemitah year ending this year. As of this writing,
nothing has occurred at all. But, God's ways are not our ways, and
His thoughts are not our thoughts. Meaning, God's timing doesn't
necessarily correspond with ours. While Rabbi Cahn acknowledges that
the US is not under the Mosaic Law, he asserts that the Shemitah can
still serve as a sign of judgment on a nation that has rejected God.
It is also of interest to note that the celebration of the end of
this Shemitah year will occur on Sukkot, September 28, 2015, at the
Western Wall in Jerusalem. On that same day (local time), the fourth
and final in the series of the 2014-2015 “Blood Moon” tetrad will
occur, according to NASA. Jewish history reveals an intriguing
correlation between the tetrad of total lunar eclipses and the Feast
Days. What does this convergence of events portend for the future?
The
answers remain to be seen, but we do well to “Be
on the watch!”
(Luke
21:36)
Watch and pray!
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