Behar

BEHAR

Leviticus 25:1 -26:1

Please Pray this

Prayer

First before reading.

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah, (Jesus Christ)

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parashas

Behar, is the thirty-second reading of the Torah Portion. It is usually read together with Bechukotai. The word Behar, which means “on the mountain,” is used at the very beginning of the teaching “The Creator said to Moses on Mt. Sinai….” This Torah Portion describe the Laws of bechukotai means “In My statues” and appears in the first verse of the reading, which generally promise good things if the Torah is followed and negativity things if spiritual principle are not followed.

In this Torah Portion of Behar, we read about shmittah, a time when all the Land remain fallow, or unworked, for an entire year. Shimittah occurs every seven years in the Land of Yisrael. The Torah say that the CREATOR instruct Moses to speak to the Yisraelites at Mt Sinai and tell them, “Six years shall you sow you field and  six year shall you prune your vineyard and gather in the produce of the land. But on the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to YAHVEH, you shall neither sow or prune your field.”

One of the gift of Sabbath Behar is certainty, that even when circumstances does not make sense, we can acquire the gift of centainty. On this day we consider the certainty require of people to sit and do no farming for a whole year, while the farm is overrun with weed. Shmittah and Torah Portion Behar is about setting aside logic for faith in Messiyah and ABBA YAHVEH. When we do this, then we are tamim, im YAHVEH HaElokecha, simple, and with the CREATOR.

The Shemittah/Sabbatical year has a very special relationship to Mount Sinai. It was at Mount Sinai, יהוה Shechinah was manifested. It was clear to all that the whole purpose of our existence was to be transformed by the Shechinah into a Holy People.

The concept of the Land rested, is a prophetic indicator of the purpose of יהוה for His people. The Children of Yisrael was suppose to become a nation of Moses, a royal priesthood, and Holy Nation, a people who were fully into יהוה rest.

In this chapter יהוה is again trying to drive home the message of Creation, this time using the yearly cycle. As one day also represent one year, one Torah Cycle; so does a tree in the natural goes through four seasons, so does the believer when he goes trough a Torah Cycle.

The Land rested in the seventh year, too, teaches that the primary reason for the Creation of the universe is to bring us into יהוה rest. By leaving our field untended and undeveloped for one year, the Hebrew people demonstrate that this world is but a corridor leading to the ultimate world, that true life comes when we come into our Shimittah or Sabbatical year. When believers will stop struggling against the flesh, strive striving for material gain, for the spiritual gain of the sixth year will be a blessing for the Shimittah year.

The Shimittah year is only one in seven years; that is why the Torah states clearly that man must sow and harvest for six year, just as it took EL YAHVEH six days to Create a perfect Adam, He is still trying to Create more perfect sons today.

Lev 25:1 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh on Mount Sinai, saying,  - 39 times in this book it says that EL YAHVEH spoke to Moses, this is the 38 time in this chapter that Torah describe the occasion, when He, יהוה spoke to Moses.

On Mount Sinai, what is the spiritual connection between Shemittah and Mount Sinai? This reference teaches that not only was the Foundation, the Summary of Torah was given at Mount Sinai, so was the principle of Shemittah, as the forth commandment alluded to.

This command teaches us that not only EL YAHVEH is the Author of Torah, but also everything is design according to Torah. The year before the Shemittah year, the field will produce a crop large enough to last for three years, until the next crop become available.

From a spiritual point of view, what is יהוה purpose for us? Is it obvious that He want to bring us to a form of holiness where He can talk to us?

   

Lev 25:2 “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath to יהוה. - This is the instruction for those who come to maturity, those who posses the promise land, you will be require to keep the Sabbath.

As there is a seventh day, there is a seventh year and there is also a seventh millennium. It is those who keep the seventh day that will fulfilled the seven year, that will be able to rule and reign with El Yahushua.

Lev 25:3 ‘Six years you sow your field, and six years you prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit, - These people who come to maturity, you may sow the Torah into the hearts of the people for six years, the six days or the six years of Creation. During that time you can prune the vineyard, those who are under your spiritual care, and help them to produce the fruits of the Spirit as you help them to build their personal Menorah.

Lev 25:4 but in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to יהוה. Do not sow your field and do not prune your vineyard. יהוה   - Whatever happens in the natural has a spiritual counterpart. Just as we are required to rest our land every seventh year, so it is in the spiritual realm. The seventh year is a sign of the Believers coming into their spiritual rest, or spiritual perfection. Heb 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering into His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the Good News was brought to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not having been mixed with belief in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest, as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest...” And yet His works have come into being from the foundation of the world. 4 For somewhere He has said thus about the seventh day, “And Elohim rested on the seventh day from all His works, We cannot find a more compelling scripture that elucidate the very essence of Sabbath than this one. This is the verse that the Holy Spirit uses to change my mind from Sunday to Sabbath worship. This Scripture is riveted in my mind forever. That is what the spirit of understanding does to believers.

Lev 25:5 ‘Do not reap what grows of its own of your harvest, and do not gather the grapes of your unpruned vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. – Do not reap the produce of the seeds that were not planted intentionally, but that fell onto the soil during the harvest of the sixth year crop.

The fruit of the spirit of those who came to justification, initial salvation, should not be included in the harvest of those who have completed their sixth year. That is why we are told not to harvest the fruit of a tree for the first three years, and even on the forth year it is to be Holy unto EL YAHVEH.  

Lev 25:6 ‘And the Sabbath of the land shall be to you for food, for you and your servant, and for your female servant and your hired servant, and for the stranger who sojourns with you, - Those of us who reach our sixth day of Creation, will become a Pot of Manna, spiritual food for others. They can now be used to teach your servants both male and female and any new comers among the community.

This speaks volume to those who have called themselves Pastors. Have you completed your sixth day of Creation, have you become the Pot of Manna, have your made it into the Holy of Holies. Then you have no right to be called a minister, or a Kohanim.  

The obvious questions to be considered in the Shmittah year is how the believers are going to fee themselves if they cannot grow food on their land for one year. The Torah goes on to address this predicament, “Then I will command My blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth produce for three years. And you shall sow on the eight year, and still eat the produce of the sixth year, until the ninth year.”

Lev 25:7 and for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land. All its crops are for food. -  This Shemitteh does not seem to apply to livestock and beast. From a spiritual point of view, livestock are those who are in the flesh, and the beasts are those who are not save.

Verse 8 – 22 describes the Yovel/Jubilee Year. The Jubilee laws drives home the to the believers that the purpose of Creation is a Divine gift and that those who take hold of it, are those who believe in El Yahushua and keep His Commandments. By counting the years as we count the Omer, we are living in expectation of the fulfillment of the Shekinah Glory, which came upon Mount Sinai forty-nine days after they leave Egypt.

The Light of the Creator flows continuously for eternity, and if we never had any doubt about it, the Light would flow to us forever. But every time we manifest doubt, we shut off the flow of the Light from the CREATOR.

The gift we received on the Sabbath of Behar is an opening to receive thekind of faith, that even when everything around us seems illogical, we will have the certainty Abraham.

Lev 25:8 ‘And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. – The command to count for the jubilee is for everyone, as it is for the counting of the Omer. I see the counting of the days, the counting of the years, how about the counting of the thousands? Maybe the counting of the Thousand will be in the Kingdom to Come. Fifty Thousand years is a little above the life span of humans, but not for gods.

 

Lev 25:9 ‘You shall then sound a broken blast on the shofar on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement cause a ram’s horn to pass through all your land. – This broken blast must be followed be preceded and followed by a long, clear shofar blast Tekiah, so that the shofar ceremony of the Jubilee is identical to that of Rosh Hashanah. This must be done in all the land, in every believer’s house. 

Lev 25:10 ‘And you shall set the fiftieth year apart, and proclaim release throughout all the land to all its inhabitants, it is a Jubilee for you. And each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you return to his clan. – The fiftieth year is a year of release; all slaves must be set free to return to their tribes, their homes.

All Hebrew slaves must be freed even if they have not worked the usual minimum of six years, or if they have elected to remain with their master after the six years are up.

We must remember that when Torah speaks of slave, it is not slavery in the natural sense. Slavery in the Hebrew context means that that person is under authority of a Hebrew master who must treat him or her as if they were his own sons, and teach them Torah also.

After the individual who was under authority, reaches Maturity, he may choose to remain with his master or it is still his choice to go free. In the Hebrew community, been a slave is a blessed position, you will have both physical and spiritual food, and you will not be taken advantage.

During this time a servant have the right to move to another master if they wish. This could also mean that in the kingdom to come, we might have the opportunity, to move between masters after every fifty years. For example, if you were under authority to Moses, you could have the opportunity to move under the authority of David, or who ever you choose.

Lev 25:11 ‘The fiftieth year is a Jubilee to you. Do not sow, nor reap what grows of its own, nor gather from its unpruned vine. - The term Jubilee, comes from the root word yovel means ram. Thus the name of the year alludes to the blowing of the ram’s horn. 2007 was Shemittah 5768.
  

Lev 25:12 ‘It is a Jubilee, it is set-apart to you. Eat from the field its crops. – The produce of the year of jubilee may be eaten, but it cannot be harvested or sold. As long as there are food available in the field for the ownerless beasts may we keep food at home for our own animals. But if there is no food left in the field, you must remove food from our homes and make it available to everyone.

From the spiritual point of view, on the year of Jubilee we must make sure that we send people who have reach spiritual maturity “Crop of the field” out into the world, that they may be food for the unsaved. These people are what we would call today Evangelist, to Evangelize the world. El Yahushua said in Matthew 28:19  “Yahushua name and talked with them. He said, "All authority in Heavens and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, 20  and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age." This was most certain a year of Jubilee that El Yahushua gave this Great Commission to His Disciples, for Yahushua had to fulfilled all Commandments.

Lev 25:13 ‘In the Year of this Jubilee let each one of you return to his ancestral heritage. – This ancient position is the whole purpose of creation, to produce or create perfect sons for the Kingdom. The Restoration of all things. The Kingdom of Heavens need to be restore to the original Gory it had before the rebellion of Lucifer.

Verse 14 – 55 describes a sequence of random command. But the progression of these commandments, the Torah is implying that if anyone allows greed to keep him from observing the Shemittah and Jubilee prohibitions, he will be force to forfeit his inheritance. This was the cause of Lucifer down fall. If after six years of spiritual development, or the six years of trying to create a perfect man, and these tendencies are still with us, then we have a problem.

Lev 25:14 ‘And when you sell whatever to your neighbour or buy from the hand of your neighbour, do not exploit one another. – At this stage of our spiritual development, we should not have the tendencies to cheat anyone of your neighbor in business.

This command is an extension of the general principle that one should seek to help his brethren in any way possible. The highest form of Charity is to enable someone to make a living in a honorable way, without being require to seek charity, so that the best way to help a needy Hebrew is to do business with him.

Lev 25:15 ‘According to the number of years after the Jubilee you buy from your neighbour, and according to the number of years of crops he sells to you. – This verse speaks of two different things here. The price we pay our neighbor for his service to us. And the other is the price one pay for the use of the time they will have access to the land.

El Yahushua gave a very remarkable illustration of this command in Matthew chapter 20 when He paid the workers the same wages regardless of when they start working.

However according to the number of years the field will revert to their original owners in the jubilee year, the buyer of the field has actually purchased the number of crops it will produce until the jubilee.

Consequently, if the buyer will remain in possession permanently, he is in violation of the previous verse’s admonition not to defraud.

Lev 25:16 ‘According to the greater number of years you increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you diminish its price, because he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. – This verse stipulates the righteous method used to justify, the calculation of the rental agreement.

Lev 25:17 ‘And do not oppress one another, but you shall fear your Elohim. For I am יהוה your Elohim. – In verse 4 we see a similar expression refers to business conduct with each other. In this verse however, we see it means not to hurt each other with words.

It is forbidden to remind other believers of their earlier sins of an embarrassing aspects of their past, or to give advice that one knows to be bad. Lest one think that he can easily do so and no one will know that his intentions were malicious, the verse conclude, that we must fear יהוה for יהוה knows what is truly in a man’s heart.

It is worst to hurt someone personally than financially, because money can be replace but shame and a person reputation cannot be replace, who ever does these things will not emerge from Gehinnom.

Lev 25:18 ‘And you shall do My laws and guard My right-rulings, and shall do them. And you shall dwell in the land in safety, - This verse teaches the importance of keeping יהוה decrees, My Ordinances. The Torah exhorts those who make it into the land, who reach maturity, to remember to keep, to observe the above laws of Shemittah and Yovel.

By observing the agricultural laws are referred to as decrees that is not predicated upon human logic, and the laws of fraud and return of slaves and ancestral land are ordinances that can be understood easily.

The right to dwell securely on the land is link to the obedience of this command. Failure to observe the laws of Shemitteh and Yovel was a cause for the exile of the Children of Yisrael from the land years later. If we do not learn to practice here on earth, we will not know how to practice it when we get to Heavens. This will determine how long we will dwell safely in Heavens.

Lev 25:19 ‘and the land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat to satisfaction, and shall dwell there in safety. – This is a repetition of the identical phrase in the preceding verse. Above, the phrase assured Yisrael that in return for observing the Shemittah, they would not be exiled. Now, יהוה offers assurance that those who let their land rest will not suffer famine and be force to travel abroad to purchase food.

Lev 25:20 ‘And since you might say, “What do we eat in the seventh year, since we do not sow nor gather in our crops?” – The previous verse promises that whatever food you have will suffice, thanks to יהוה blessings; but if you lack the faith to rely on this, and ask how, only one crop can be enough for such a long time, יהוה promise to ordain His Blessings for us to such an extent that the prosperity will be plain enough to set your mind at ease.