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BEHAR - BECHUKOTAI
16 May 2009
On the Mountain/In My statutes
Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Jeremiah 32:6-27
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
Luke 4:16-21
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Once again we have a double portion and we have reached the
end of the book of Leviticus.
This Torah portion begins with G-d speaking with Moshe on
the mountain of Sinai (thus it is called behar, on the mountain).
G-d communicated the laws regarding the sabbatical year, Sh’mittah. Every
seventh year, all work on the land should cease, and its produce becomes
free for the taking for all, man and beast.
Seven sabbatical cycles are followed by a fiftieth year,
the jubilee year, on which work on the land ceases. All indentured
servants are set free, and all ancestral estates in the Holy Land that
have been sold revert to their original owners.
Behar also contains additional laws governing the sale of
lands and the prohibitions against fraud and usury.
In Bechukotai the main theme is the covenant that was given
to Israel and the word given of the blessing and curse if they followed
G-d or not. These laws were to remind His people of their special status
and responsibilities in their relationship with the G-d of their fathers.
If they obeyed the covenant they would remain in the Land and enjoy the
blessings that go along with obedience.
Every Shabbat we are freed from the cares of the material
world, and we pursue the spiritual things. Our soul becomes free and truly
then should we seek the kingdom of G-d and not what the world gives.
As we see the overriding purpose of the laws, especially
the laws of Sh’mittah ( Sabbatical year ), are to remind G-d’s people that
the land was G-d’s and Israel had to trust G-d for everything. Just as the
Sabbitical Year directs the nation of Israel to spiritual pursuits, it
also tells us as individuals to pursue G-d’s ways as well.
In Luke 4: 16-21 Yeshua used the Year of Jubilee to picture
rest and freedom to all who trust Him. God, who never breaks His word,
tells us that the Year of Jubilee will bring freedom not only for the land
but freedom to all from sin and rebellion. In preparation for Shavuot, we
are to repent. Shavuot will soon be upon us and represents the receiving
of the Word of G-d which has set us free for all time.
Associated Scriptures are:
Jeremiah 25:11,12
Seventy years are decreed for the first exile.
Jeremiah 29:10
After seventy years finished, then G-d will bring back the
exiles.
Daniel 9:2
He recognizers that seventy years are finished and it is
time for G-d’s people to return.
Luke 12:15
We need to beware of selfishness, for man’s life does not
consist in his abundance (possessions).
John 10:10
The thief (Satan) comes to steal, kill and destroy: But I
come that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly.
Zechariah 3:8-10 AND John 15:1
The branch (David’s offspring-Yeshua) will bring an end to
iniquity from the land and all neighbors will sit under His vine and under
His fig tree.
Be filled with faith and trust in G-d. These are
intertwined. If we believe that G-d created everything, we must believe
that He rules over everything, including our own lives. Do not fear, for
G-d is with us always.
“Chazak! Chazak! Venisxhazeik! ( Be strong! Be strong! And
may we be strengthened )”
Shavua Tov
Rabbi Z
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