Promise of Living Off the Land

Modern Israeli Harvest

If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my regulations. Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. But you might ask, 'What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?' Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year. Leviticus 25:18-22

Everything needs a rest—even the land. God had a plan. He followed it Himself—which is a good example to us.

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. Exodus 20:8-11

That decree that God gave the Israelites to let the land rest is what got them into trouble later and sent them into captivity in Babylon. They didn’t observe God’s command to have the Jubilee year.

In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years, adding up to forty-nine years in all. Then on the Day of Atonement in the fiftieth year, blow the ram's horn loud and long throughout the land. Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. This fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own, and don't gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own. Leviticus 25:8-12.

To me a Jubilee sounds like a great time to have a party—a big celebration. Just the sound of that word…Jubilee…is a joyous sound. I think that is what God wanted. He wanted His people to give Him thanks and rejoice for all that He had provided for them in the past 49 years. Then they were to rely on Him for free provisions for the coming year. How scary is that? Could you imagine doing that today? Could you have saved up enough to pay your mortgage for a year…and not work? Could you have had a productive garden and canned or purchased enough food to last you for a year?

God promised…I will. He just wants His children to trust Him to provide for them. Can you trust Him today?

Prayer ~ Lord God, when do I start counting my years to have a Jubilee with You? I’m not on the farm anymore, but I can trust You to provide.

Daily Bible Reading: February 22 – Leviticus 26-27

© 2017 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. www.blueletterbible.org/dailyreading