The Mystery of the Shemitah (9 page)

Added to this is America’s place among the nations. In modern times America has occupied the center stage of world history as the greatest economic, financial, military, political, and cultural power on earth. That alone would give it a central place in the mystery.

On the other hand, though America is central to the mystery, it is not alone in the mystery. The issue of judgment and the specific judgments revealed in this book concern all nations and peoples—for several reasons:

•
  First, because of its centrality, what happens to America affects the rest of the world.

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  Second, the sins and immoralities that echo the sins of ancient Israel are shared by many nations beyond American shores.

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  Third, the overall setting for Israel’s judgment—a civilization that had once known the ways of God but now is in defiance of God and His ways—is shared by other nations other than America.

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  Fourth, though the Shemitah may focus on specific nations, its effects are far-reaching and transcend geography and the borders of nations.

We now have the stage. The mystery will touch America, but its effect will not be confined to America. Its consequences and repercussions will touch the entire world. Having located the place of the mystery, one last clue is needed to reveal the time.

Chapter 8
FIFTH KEY: The TISHRI CONNECTION

The Most Holy of Months

T
HE HOLIEST MONTH
on the biblical Hebrew calendar is that of
Tishri
. On the Western calendar Tishri falls in the period between September and October. It is so sacred a month that ten of its days are known as “the High Holy Days.” Every Hebrew month begins with the day or night of the new moon. But the month of Tishri is so sacred that the day on which it begins, its new moon is itself a high holy day. Most Hebrew months contain none of the sacred appointed holy days given at Sinai. But Tishri contains ten of them, not including at least nine other days also deemed as holy.

Hebrew Month of Tishri

Seventh Month of the Sacred Calendar—

First Month of the Civil Calendar

Thus there is no month in the biblical year like Tishri. What are its themes, its meaning, and its message?

The Time of Judgment

The rabbis saw Tishri and the high holy days of autumn as focusing on the kingship of God, His rule, His power, His sovereignty, and His dominion. The sounding of the shofars during the Feast of Trumpets was, among other things, the proclaiming of the Lord as King and Sovereign over the world, over the nation, and over the lives of His people.

The month of Tishri is also known as the time of judgment. Its opening day, the Feast of Trumpets, is also known as
Yom Ha Din
, or “the Day of Judgment.” During the Feast of Trumpets the shofars are sounded. The sound of the shofar is not only that of a solemn gathering but is the sound of alarm and warning, the harbinger of approaching danger, the warning of impending judgment. Tishri is the month of reckoning, when the nation stands before God and when sin is dealt with.

The Time of Teshuvah

In view of the judgment associated with its coming, Tishri has become the month of repentance. The “Ten Days of Awe” with which the month begins are also called “The Days of Teshuvah.”
Teshuvah
is the Hebrew word for repentance. It comes from the root word
shuv
, which means “to turn.” The Days of Awe were given for the purpose of turning the course of one’s life, forgiving and being forgiven, repenting of one’s sins, withdrawing from worldly pursuits, and doing whatever was needed to get right with man and God.

The Shemitah-Tishri Connection

The themes of Tishri match the themes of the Shemitah. Both speak of God’s sovereignty. Both are linked to judgment. Both call the nation to return to God. Both are linked to nullification, cancellation, and release—one concerning sin and the other concerning debt. The Shemitah is the seventh year. Tishri is the seventh month.

The Beginning and the End

Ancient Israel reckoned time by two different calendars: the sacred calendar and the civil calendar. The sacred calendar began in the springtime, in the month of Nisan. In the sacred calendar Tishri is the seventh month. But in the civil calendar Tishri is the first month, the beginning of the New Year. Why is this significant?

Elul and Tishri

Elul—Sixth Month of Sacred Year

The Shemitah was based on the civil calendar. Thus the Shemitah year always began with the month of Tishri—specifically, it always began with Tishri’s first day, which was also the Feast of Trumpets. One year later the Shemitah would end—at sunset on the twenty-ninth day of Elul. But the same sunset that ended Elul 29 would also begin the month of Tishri at the same moment. So the Shemitah year ends the same moment Tishri begins.

Thus Tishri is the Shemitah’s key and pivotal month. The Shemitah begins with Tishri at the end of the sixth year and concludes with Tishri at the end of the seventh year. Tishri is the beginning and end of the Shemitah.

The Tishri Key (and Elul)

The Shemitah’s greatest impact is manifested at two points—its opening and its closing. Each point coincides with the month of Tishri.

The Shemitah’s first point of impact falls on the first day of Tishri at the start of the seventh year. The Shemitah’s second point of impact falls at the end of the seventh year when all debts and credits are wiped out. But the exact end of the seventh year comes at nightfall of Elul 29. Thus the moment the sun sets, all debts and credits are reckoned as gone, wiped away—the month of Elul is over and Tishri begins.

So the month of Elul builds up to the Shemitah’s two critical points of impact and contains the Shemitah’s climatic day. But the month of Tishri, coming immediately after these two critical points of change, most clearly manifests the Shemitah’s economic and financial repercussions.

First Impact:

Tishri and the Shemitah’s Opening

The beginning of the Shemitah is less dramatic than its end as the initial change is simply that of ceasing. The people stop working the land and the fields are abandoned. The effect of this on the land would be less noticeable at the beginning, but increasingly noticeable as the year progressed—and when no harvest appears in the fields.

In pure economic terms this would translate to the beginning of a downturn in a nation’s economy—the diminishing of production, consumption, labor, employment, trade, and commerce. The month of Tishri at the beginning of the Shemitah year would be the first to reflect this change and manifest its repercussions. The downward turn in the nation’s economic realm would then become more evident in time.

Last Impact:

Tishri and the Shemitah’s Climactic End

When the sun goes down on Elul 29, all the nation’s debts are wiped away as its financial accounts are wiped clean. The same moment marks the start of Tishri. Thus this particular month of Tishri that comes at the end of the Shemitah year most clearly manifests the financial repercussions of that year and of that day.

The Shemitah’s Wake: The Season of Repercussions

The repercussions triggered by the Day of Remission would be most dramatically seen in the ensuing days of Tishri but would not be confined to them. The repercussions would continue into the subsequent month of Heshvan and onward. The entire autumn period at the end of the seventh year is the Shemitah’s wake—when these repercussions would be most intensely felt.