Torah: Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Prophets: Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
Gospel: Luke 13:1-33/John 10:22-42/Luke 14:1-15:32
Portion Outline:
Torah
Leviticus 25:1 | The Sabbatical Year
Leviticus 25:8 | The Year of Jubilee
Leviticus 26:1 | Rewards for Obedience
Leviticus 26:14 | Penalties for Disobedience
Leviticus 27:1 | Votive Offerings
Prophets
Jer 16:14 | God Will Restore Israel
Jer 17:1 | Judah’s Sin and Punishment
Jer 17:14 | Jeremiah Prays for Vindication
Jer 17:19 | Hallow the Sabbath Day
Portion Summary:
Behar
The thirty-second reading from the Torah and second-to-last reading from the book of Leviticus is called Behar (בהר), which means “On the Mountain.” The name comes from the first words of the first verse of the reading, which could be literally translated to read, “The LORD then spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 25:1). This portion from the Torah introduces the laws of the sabbatical years, the jubilee and laws concerning redemption. In most years, synagogues read Behar together with the following portion, Bechukotai.
Bechukotai
The last reading from the book of Leviticus is called Bechukotai (בחקותי), which means “In My Statutes.” The name comes from the first verse of the reading, which begins with the words “If you walk in My statutes …” (Leviticus 26:3). This last reading from Leviticus promises blessings and rewards for Israel if they will keep the Torah, but punishment and curses if they break the commandments of the Torah. The last chapter discusses laws pertaining to vows, valuations and tithes. In most years, synagogues read Bechukotai together with the preceding portion, Behar.
Portion Commentary:
Behar Portion
The Jubilee Year
Thought for the Week:
The sabbatical year and Jubilee law reminds us that, ultimately, everything belongs to God. We do not really own anything. Instead, “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains” (Psalm 24:1). In Western society it is easy to get caught in the trap of materialism. We unconsciously measure our quality of life based on the value of our possessions. A person cannot truly own things. We are just short-term borrowers.
Commentary:
You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years. (Leviticus 25:8)
The sabbatical year occurred once every seven years. God commanded the children of Israel to count off seven full sabbatical cycles. Seven cycles of seven years multiplies out to forty-nine years. The fiftieth year was called the yoveil year. Yoveil is transliterated into English Bibles as “jubilee.”
The jubilee year is supposed to be declared ten days after it begins by a sounding of trumpets on the Day of Atonement. During the jubilee year, agriculture is to be left fallow, just like a sabbatical year. When the jubilee comes, debts are forgiven, loans are cancelled, slaves are released and property holdings return to their original tribal/family owners. Jubilee years have not been practiced in Israel since the tribes went into exile, but imagine what it must have been like when the jubilee was kept. Suppose all your debts were cancelled and you were given an expensive tract of land that had belonged to your great-grandfather generations ago. Suppose you were a slave because you owed a large sum of money. When the trumpet of the jubilee year sounded, your debts were forgiven and you were set free. How could you keep from dancing?
This is what it is like to be saved. The Bible tells us that before knowing Yeshua, we are all debtors. Our sins collect like a great financial burden that we have no hope of ever repaying. Worse, we are slaves to the adversary. Without Messiah, we are spiritually hopeless, in bondage and without inheritance.
Yeshua is our jubilee year. He told the people in the synagogue in Nazareth that He had come to “proclaim release to the captives … to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:18-19). The favorable year of the LORD is the jubilee year. Yeshua is a spiritual jubilee. His death pays the debt of sin that we cannot repay. In Yeshua, sins are forgiven and wiped away forever. He sets us free from bondage to the adversary, and, to our utter astonishment, He gives us the rich ancestral inheritance of a place in Israel. We are transformed from misery to spiritual riches. That’s what salvation in Yeshua is all about.
Perhaps this explains why the jubilee year is proclaimed on the Day of Atonement. More than any other festival on the biblical calendar, the Day of Atonement teaches about Messiah’s atoning sacrifice and the forgiveness of sins. What an auspicious day to declare the remission of debt and freedom from bondage!
Read complete commentary at First Fruits of Zion.
