https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-announces-terrorism-charges-against-senior-leaders-hamas<\/a>). The Hamas defendants are held directly responsible for the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in southern Israel which resulted in the massacre of more than a thousand innocent civilians, including 40 American citizens. A hostage-prisoner exchange deal which includes a temporary 6-week ceasefire continues to be pushed by the Americans, but remains pending as Hamas wants to have more prisoners released in exchange for the Israeli hostages.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAll the remaining 101 hostages (more than 30 already dead) are still held somewhere in Gaza where they have been in captivity for 11 months. Let us continue to pray for the release of all the remaining hostages and for a just end to the wars against the Jewish nation. Let us continue to stand with Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-9). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leviticus chapter 23 specified the appointed festivals of the LORD that would be observed perpetually by all Israelite generations in the permanent place of their dwellings; in the land promised to them by the LORD. We continue to clearly see the deep link between the land promised and the various statutes and instructions of the LORD regarding several aspects of the expected (new) life of the Israelites when they settle in Canaan. The next chapter (24) briefly gives more details about the requirement of God regarding the practice of holiness among his people and reverence toward the LORD. Chapter 24 ended with the stoning of a blasphemer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leviticus 25 has the LORD expounding on the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee. Leviticus 25:1-7 right away mentions God\u2019s instructions that deal with the caring for the land promised. In the first verse, the LORD speaks to Moses on Mount Sinai and every verse thereafter mentions something about the land. The first occurrence of an instruction with the land mentioned is found in Leviticus 25:2. The Hebrew verse of Leviticus 25:2 is given below (read right to left, top down) with the LORD instructing the Israelites about the observance of a Sabbath rest of the land:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05d1\u05b5\u05bc\u059e\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05be\u05d1\u05b0\u05bc\u05e0\u05b5\u05a4\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05b0\u05c2\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05dc\u0599 \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b8\u05de\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05a3 \u05d0\u05b2\u05dc\u05b5\u05d4\u05b6\u0594\u05dd \u05db\u05b4\u05bc\u05a4\u05d9 \u05ea\u05b8\u05d1\u05b9\u0599\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u0599 \u05d0\u05b6\u05dc\u05be\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u0594\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5<\/mark> \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05a5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u0596\u05d9 \u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b5\u05a3\u05df \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u0591\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d1\u05b0\u05ea\u05b8\u05a3<\/mark>\u05d4 \u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u0594\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5<\/mark> \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u0596\u05ea<\/mark> \u05dc\u05b7\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05c3<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe English Standard Version (ESV) translation is given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2<\/sup><\/strong>\u201cSpeak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land<\/mark> that I give you, the land<\/mark> shall keep<\/mark> a Sabbath to the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe LORD tells his people that they land they are being given will literally rest; observe a Sabbath rest to the LORD when no work would be done upon it. The word rendered \u201ckeep<\/mark>\u201d by the ESV translation actually is \u05e9\u05b8\u05c1\u05d1\u05b7\u05ea<\/mark> \u201cshabath\u201d meaning to cease, desist, rest. It is followed by the now familiar Hebrew noun \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u201cerets\u201d with a prefixed definite article (\u201cthe land<\/mark>\u201d). This word is used twice in the verse. Then the word \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea<\/mark> \u201cshabbath\u201d (Sabbath with a double\u201db\u201d) follows. Both the Israelites and the land are to rest; it is a Sabbath to the LORD. The concept of the land itself being treated in such a way that it will have rest is quite interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe next verse, Leviticus 25:3 mentions \u201cyour field\u201d being sown for 6 years. This is exactly the same Hebrew noun \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d3\u05b6\u05d4 \u201csadeh\u201d with an attached possessive (pronominal) suffix we saw earlier in Leviticus 23:22. As said before, this Hebrew noun can be rendered as \u201cland\u201d but field itself is part of the land or its synonym. This is shown in the following verse 4 where a \u05e9\u05b7\u05c1\u05d1\u05b8\u05bc\u05ea<\/mark> \u201cshabbath\u201d (Sabbath) of solemn rest is stipulated for the land on the 7th<\/sup> year. Leviticus 25:4 reiterates that this is a Sabbath to the LORD. This certainly harks back to the Genesis 2:1-3 creation narrative of the 7th<\/sup> day being a day of rest. It also is part of the Decalogue given to Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 20:8-11. Verse 4 further stipulates that \u201cyour field\u201d shall not be sown nor the vineyards pruned on that same 7th<\/sup> year<\/p>\n\n\n\nLeviticus 25:5 further instructs that not only the reaping of prepared or planted land was prohibited on the Sabbath of the land, but also those fruits and produce that were an aftergrowth (not by deliberate sowing). The 7th<\/sup> year is designated by the LORD as a solemn year of rest for the \u05d0\u05b6\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u201cerets,\u201d meaning the entire land.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPerhaps to address the unspoken concerns of Moses and the Israelites, God assured them in Leviticus 25:6 that the Sabbath of the land will provide for them even if they let the land remain fallow for the 7th<\/sup> year, the Sabbath Year of the land. Normal reaping and harvesting was not allowed but the produce that can be gathered would be sufficient. Again, this looks back to the analogy of the week\u2019s Sabbath where what the Israelites gathered on the day before would be enough. But here, we are clearly reading the LORD\u2019s instructions about a year-long Sabbath, not just for the week. Not only that, but the produce only gathered on the Sabbath Year would be able to feed not only the native Israelites, but the sojourners, strangers and all their household servants as well. Then finally, in Leviticus 25:7 even the cattle and wild animals that are in \u201cyour land\u201d would have enough to graze\/feed on. The Hebrew word for land (also field; and its definite article and\/or pronouns) keeps repeating, perhaps to really emphasize the richness of the land (\u201cflowing with milk and honey\u201d) and the goodness of the LORD. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe IVP Bible Background Commentary<\/em> states that the sabbatical rest for the land is originally mentioned in Exodus 23:10-11. It further states that the benefit of letting the land lie fallow on the 7th<\/sup> year is \u201cto retard the rate of salinization (sodium content in the soil) caused by irrigation.\u201d Apparently, large areas in Mesopotamia got its soil so poor because of this salinization phenomena that they then had to be left abandoned. The Commentary also mentions that ancient Ugaritic texts also feature 7-year agricultural cycles but is not clear on the practice of letting the land rest for an entire year.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLeviticus 25:1-7 teaches the people to depend on the goodness of the LORD. The Sabbath Year recognizes that all produce belongs to God and in his goodness, freely gives it to his people. And it also teaches how to care for and properly steward the resource of land promised and given to his people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will continue after we return from a short visit with our new (2nd<\/sup>) Filipino-Canadian grandson in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGod bless us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Ptr. Art Calaguas Shalom. The US Department of Justice announced last September 3 the \u201cunsealing of terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion charges against senior leaders of Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization\u201d (https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-announces-terrorism-charges-against-senior-leaders-hamas). The Hamas defendants are held directly responsible for the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in southern Israel which resulted in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6,7,18,9,8,5],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ptr-art-calaguas","tag-church-of-the-risen-lord","tag-crl","tag-jesus","tag-spiritual-refreshment-of-the-day","tag-upcemi","tag-upcrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":480,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions\/480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}