Shabbat - Shmita - Yovel
Sabbath Day - Sabbath Year - Jubilee

Bible believers have always placed special significance and importance on the number seven as used in Scripture. Certainly the number seven does have much importance, mainly because it is the number of G-d, the number of perfection, the number of completion, the number of rest.

Right now we are in the process of Sefirat HaOmer (the counting of the Omer), numbering the days and weeks between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost). HaShem has commanded us to number seven weeks or forty-nine days, that is seven times seven, until the fiftieth day which is Shavuot. It was on Shavuot, our sages say, that Yisrael (Israel) received the Torah, and it was on this fiftieth day approximately fifteen hundred years later that the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) began to be poured out upon all flesh. This week in Parsha Behar we once again encounter the significant number seven, and that is what I would like to discuss.

Vayikra {25:3} Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruits of it; {25:4} but in the seventh year shall be a Shabbat (Sabbath) of solemn rest for the land, a Shabbat to HaShem: you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard.

Now this mitzvah (commandment) is significant in itself, because it contains the number seven and is referenced to be a Shabbat, a full year of rest, tied of course to the weekly Shabbat rest. However, this Shmita (Shabbat year) becomes even more significant when you understand it as part of the next mitzvah included in Parsha Behar.

Vayikra {25:8} You shall number seven Sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. {25:9} Then shall you send abroad the loud shofar on the tenth day of the seventh month; in Yom HaKippurim (the Day of Atonement) shall you send abroad the shofar throughout all your land. {25:10} You shall make the fiftieth year kadosh (separate), and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants of it: it shall be a Yovel (Jubilee year) to you; and you shall return every ish (man) to his possession, and you shall return every ish to his family.

When we view the Sefirat HaOmer and Shavuot together with the Shmita and Yovel we find an interesting picture being given to us here by HaShem.

The Sefirat HaOmer is counted for forty-nine days, seven times seven. The Yovel is counted for forty-nine years, also seven times seven. Sefirat HaOmer concludes with Shavuot on the fiftieth day. The counting of the Shmita years concludes with the Yovel on the fiftieth year. Both Sefirat HaOmer and Shmita years therefore contain the number seven and conclude on the number eight. Now let us take an even closer look at this.

We all are aware, that is if you have been following my teachings, that the number eight in Scripture is the number of new beginnings. Rebbetzin also wrote about the number eight in our newsletter this month. The number eight in Scripture points us to the end of the millennial age, to new Yerushalayim (Yerushalayim shel ma'ala or the Heavenly Jerusalem) and to the coming of the new heaven and the new earth, just like the sacrificial system pointed ancient Yisrael to the Mashiach (Messiah).

HaHitgalut (Revelation) {21:1} And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. {21:2} And I Yochanan (John) saw the holy city, new Yerushalyim, coming down from HaShem out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Well then, is it by accident that the two events, which I have mentioned above, both involve the counting of seven times seven and both end with an eighth period which contains a significant symbolic event? Let us now look at each event and what it represents.

Sefirat HaOmer leads us into Shavuot. Shavuot, as stated above, is the day the Torah was given to the world. Yeshua is the living Torah, the Memra (Word [see my previous teaching on the Memra]) that became flesh. The Torah, contrary to popular teaching is not a legalistic document written for the Jewish people only, rather it is a liberating covenant which if adhered to brings life, new life, and in fact Torah is life.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) {4:7} For what nation is there so great, who has HaShem so near unto them, as HaShem our G-d is in all things that we call upon Him for? {4:8} And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Torah, which I set before you this day?

Devarim {30:19} I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live:

This event of the giving of the Torah was a new beginning for Yisrael. It also inaugurated the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), HaShem's dwelling place among His people. Therefore, and more importantly, Shavuot and the giving of the Torah point to the time in the future as described in HaHitgalut:

HaHitgalut {21:3}And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Mishkan of HaShem is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and HaShem Himself shall be with them, and be their G-d. {21:4} And HaShem 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. {21:5} And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new..

Now let us look at the other significant event which occurred on Shavuot; the beginning of the infilling of all flesh with the Ruach HaKodesh. This was not the fulfillment of Yoel (Joel) 2:28 but the beginning of its fulfillment. This event too was a new beginning. The Ruach HaKodesh filled every person from that day forward who called upon HaShem in the Name of the Mashiach (Messiah) Yeshua in faith. What significance does this event have? It is this second event, which took place fifteen hundred years after the first event, that makes the fulfillment of the first event possible. Without the empowerment of those who believed by faith, the Besorah HaTovah (Good News) would never have been spread, and Mashiach would have no one to come back to, and the new heaven and new earth would not be necessary!

How about the Shmita years which culminate with the Yovel? Well, the Yovel is also a new beginning. Every Yisraelite who was sold into slavery is set free in the Yovel year. All property bought and sold previous to Yovel is returned to its original owner and all debts are cancelled. In other words everything returns to its original state, to the way it was supposed to be. All things are made new at the Yovel year and the cycle begins again. The Yovel year therefore, also points us to the time in the future as described in HaHitgalut 21:1-3.

Everything about Sefirat HaOmer and Shavuot, Shmita and Yovel point us to the eighth day, to new beginnings. What significance does it have? It is HaShem telling us, warning us to be ready to understand what He is doing and how it is all going to work out in the end.

Do you want to be part of the coming new beginning? During no other time in history have the signs so pointed to the imminent return of Mashiach Yeshua. Will you invite Mashiach into your heart right now so that you too can be a part of the Olam haBa (world to come)? Please repeat this simple prayer and enter into a life filled with new beginnings.

Avinu Malkeinu (our Father and King), forgive me. I need you. I admit that I have sinned and have been less than holy as you are holy. Thank you for letting Your Servant Yeshua HaMashiach take my sins upon Himself and paying the price of death for my sin. By Mashiach's death and resurrection I may now know You in a real and personal way. I now put my faith in Mashiach Yeshua alone as my L-rd and Saviour and I invite Him into my heart and into my life. Change me and make me into your special treasure. Amen

Maran Ata Adoneinu Yeshua!
(Even so come quickly L-rd Yeshua!)

Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada.

Copyright 2005