Socialism and racism are big topics of today’s society. Does the Bible have anything to say about these issues? Torah reading ראה Re’eh (“see,” Deut. 11:26–16:17) gives us Heaven’s insights into these two important matters.

In this study

How do we end poverty? Can we ever end it? (Deuteronomy 15)Racism, genocide and the renewing of the worldAre eating pork and blasphemy connected?2nd Commandment: Do we resemble our Maker or our captor? (Deuteronomy 12)3rd Commandment: Ferreting out false prophets (Deut. 12:32–13:17)False prophet: Inciter to apostasy, promoter to infidelityTest No. 1 of a prophetTest No. 2 of a prophet4th Commandment: God wants us to know the ‘rest’ of His story“Rest” = Israel’s shalom home = Presence of GodRest also means to Cease from your labor, and visit the LORD (Deuteronomy 16:1–17)Sabbath year aka Shemitah (Deuteronomy 15:1–23)Feast of Passover (Deuteronomy 16:1–8)Feast of Weeks (Deuteronomy 16:9–12)Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 16:13–17)

How do we end poverty? Can we ever end it? (Deuteronomy 15)

Torah reading ראה Re’eh (“see,” Deut. 11:26–16:17) gives us Heaven’s insights into two important issues of our time: socialism and racism.

This passage discusses serious issues regarding property rights, commerce and micro-economics. The Torah discussed these issues 3,000-plus years ago and we are still discussing these same issues today, using different terms such as socialism v. capitalism, command economy v. free market economy. Where do our property rights come from and how are they, or how should they be enforced?

The Scriptures seem to contradict themselves when on one hand we are instructed “there will be no poor among you” (Deut. 15:4) to “open your hand to the poor” (Deut. 15:7–11), yet we also are warned that “the poor will never cease to be in the land” (Deut. 15:11). But here we see Heaven’s design for economics: God blesses, those blessed then bless others.

We see that concern for one another continued in the Apostolic Era after Yeshua returned to Heaven:

“all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” Acts 2:44–45 NASB; compare Acts 4:32, 37; 5:2

But the “spiritual gravity” of sloth and pride eventually turned that mutual benevolence into entitlement.

In this study

Stand in the place where you live (Deuteronomy 7)Look at how holy I am! (Deuteronomy 8–9)Humility of MosheTough love: ‘Deliver him to Satan’What does God ask of you? (Deuteronomy 10)Something worse than persecution and death (Deuteronomy 11)A city is people, not buildings (Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3)

When we read the Torah in English, rather than Hebrew, remember that modern English does not do a good job at differentiating between the plural you vs the singular you.

In general, the instructions and responsibilities of the Torah are addressed to the plural you, meaning the nation, congregation or family, but the blessings that result from the community’s obedience are singular. When the community follows their responsibilities to walk in Torah, the people are blessed individually but if the community doesn’t act on their Torah duties, then the people suffer on an individual level.

In other words, you may be following God’s commandments to the best of your ability with humility and love for God, but if your neighbors, your community, state and even nation are not, doing well, then you will not see the blessings of God described here in your personal life.

“But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.” Deuteronomy 11:11–12 NASB

God does not change. The western U.S., particularly the West Coast has a climate and weather pattern not dissimilar from that experienced in the Holy Land. The western U.S. gets most of its water from rain, not from large rivers, like the Nile in Egypt.

The drought that we are currently experiencing in the western U.S. is a warning from God telling us although there are faithful believers in these states, the people as a whole in these states are not faithful to God.

We are supposed to pay attention to and be an active participant in our communities. That is how we can be a blessing to our city, county, state, or nation. It’s not a virtue to be ignorant of the world around us.

Jeremiah told the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab (Jeremiah 35) that they were righteous for following the instructions of their forefather to “dwell in tents” and to live a nomadic life in the land but they were also doing the right thing to flee into the cities when they noticed the approaching marauding army of Nebuchadnezzar. God made a profound promise to the descendants of Jonadab the son of Rechab.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.” Jer. 35:19 KJV

Stand in the place where you live (Deuteronomy 7)

Pray for the land you live in because if it has peace, you have peace. Pay attention what’s going on about, you can’t be living your lives in a bubble.

We are not to fear our enemies but we are to respect their strength. The only one we are to fear and give our allegiance and obedience is God.

In this study

How can a God who ordered the deaths of young and old be good and just?Don’t fall for giants of persuasionA well of insight into the TorahWhy are the historical accounts in Deuteronomy and Numbers slightly different in details?Are we free, or are we in chains?Tisha b’Av (9th of Av): Memorials of the ‘abomination of desolation’Move forward, rather than going in circles

How can a God who ordered the deaths of young and old be good and just?

“We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city. “But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.” Deuteronomy 3:6–7 NASB

This verse at the beginning of the Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) is one of those tough texts in the Bible to explain to non-believers. How is it a good thing to kill the men, women and children and only allow the animals to survive?

One point is that for God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, death is not the end for a human being. If you believe in God, you believe in resurrection and we have the Bible as a record of God’s reassurance that all the humans on earth will be resurrected and brought back to life. For Him the death of a person is not permanent.

We are taught that children are malleable and that regardless of how they are indoctrinated to evil, that they can be deprogrammed, but sadly that is not always the case.

God had removed the children of Israel from an oppressive culture, a culture that did not treat human life as sacred and He did not intent to insert them a culture that was even more repulsive and oppressive than Egypt.

We know from sad experience that child soldiers, for example, are often more vicious and bloodthirsty than the adults who trained them. We have seen this in the past with groups Hitler Youth. And in our current times, the Taliban and ISIS create child soldiers who are more bloodthirsty and lacking in empathy for human life than the adults. They have a very difficult time returning to civilian life after being trained to indiscriminately taking life.

All cultures are not equal. A culture as depraved and bloodthirsty as the Amorites could not be allowed to perpetuated their evil to future generations. God wanted a clean slate for His people to inhabit. He did not want His people exposed to such abominations like human sacrifice and sexual violence masquerading as divine worship. Their culture was rotten from the top to the bottom.

God had told Abraham that there would be a time when the sins of the Amorite tribes would be so egregious that the land would vomit them out. Now, in Deuteronomy, we see that this is the time when the land is ready to vomit the Amorites out.

Don’t fall for giants of persuasion

When we read about the giants, it’s an important lesson for us today. We instinctually gravitate to leaders who are taller than average people, who are naturally assertive and who have a loud...

In this study

Vengeance against Midian for luring Israel into false worshipWhen your spiritual well runs dry

Vows and oaths are not identical or synonymous in Torah. There are two kinds of vows, either of prohibition or of obligation. For example, you can take a vow to prohibit yourself from eating apples. That’s a vow of prohibition. An example of a vow of obligation would be if you dedicate your entire apple harvest give to the church. In both cases, you have elevated a particular thing as separated and holy to God.

If a man violates his vow, there are consequences as though you had broken a law of the written Torah. If a woman violates a vow, there are some extenuation circumstances. If an unmarried woman makes a vow and her father hears of it, he can veto it and she doesn’t bear any punishment. If, on the other hand, the father hears of the vow and he doesn’t speak up, then she is obligated to it and the father would get in trouble if he later reneges on it.

It’s similar to the vows of married women, only it’s their husband, not their father who can over rule or affirm her vow.

In the late first century A.D., Rabbi Akiva loosened the rules regarding vows. 

In the late first century AD, Rabbi Akiva used a powerful story from his own personal life, that was later recorded in the Talmud in Tractate Kesuvos 63a on how rash vows can be annulled. The story goes that Akiva attracted the attention of a beautiful, wealthy young girl and they wanted to marry but her father made a vow that he would utterly disown her if they married. Well, they got married and shortly thereafter, Akiva went away to study Torah and his wife stayed behind to work to make money to send to him so he could study full time.

Once the father heard that his daughter had married Akiva against his wishes, he threw her out of his house, cut her out of his will and gave her no money or financial support.

Akiva excelled in his rabbinic studies and became a renown sage and rabbi in his own right. After 20+ years, Akiva’s father in law began to regret his rash vow and decided he needed to find a distinguished rabbi to help him out of his vow so he could reunite with his daughter.

The father meets with Rabbi Akiva when he came to his town. The father in law did not recognise Akiva after all these years and he pour out his heart to Akiva, explaining the vow he had made against his daughter.

Akiva asked the man if when he was angry at his daughter for marrying that guy he thought was a good for nothing, if he had known that his son in law would redeem himself and become a respectable person, would he still have disavowed her then from his family? The father said no, if he had known that his son in law would work hard and become a valuable member of the community, he would not have disowned his daughter for marrying him. This is how Akiva annulled his father in law’s vow.

You can say he had a conflict of interest in annulling his father in laws’ vow, as his wife had suffered 20+ years of great financial hardship and distress over her exile from her family, but Rabbi Akiva is teaching a deep lesson about forgiveness and reconciliation.

If after reading this, you follow our Messiah Yeshua’s advice — to let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matt. 5:33–37) — this is very good.

Vengeance against Midian for luring Israel into false worship

In this study

Pinchas: Murderer or judge?Daughters of destiny: When women became heirsThey didn’t open Rebellion & SonsDifferences between Moshe and Yehoshua as shepherds of Israel Jeremiah 1:1–2:3: Warning for the shepherds of Israel

Pinchas: Murderer or judge?

Phineas did not kill Zimri and Cozbi in the context of a judicial decision, yet God did not command Phineas to be executed as a murderer. Why? The answer is in Numbers 25:11.

““Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”” Numbers 25:11–13 NASB

God states that Phineas saved the lives of many people by killing these two people. Not only does God not have Phineas tried and executed as a cold, blooded murderer, but he and his family line is granted the high priesthood not only in his generation but in future generations. The “avenger of blood” who would normally have had a right to present a case against Phineas was silenced.

It was a difficult thing for Phineas to kill someone who you did not have any prior relationship or interaction with, who, strictly speaking, did nothing against him personally. Yet Phineas did something very difficult because it was the right thing to do. He did it to save more lives.

After this last plague, God calls for Moses and Eliezer to do another census to confirm whether all of the prior generation were dead. This was not merely a ½ shekel census, they also had to verify that the people being counted were not a part of the original census 40 years earlier.

Daughters of destiny: When women became heirs

After the census was completed, the daughters of Zelophehad, came to Moses and asked for an inheritance in the land, as their father did not have sons. Moses presented the issue to God and God made a rule for their situation. He gave them the right to inherit the land of their father, but he also gave them a responsibility along with that right. There are no rights without responsibilities.

Their responsibility was that they had to marry a man within their own tribe. They could not marry outside of their tribe “because I love him.” If they wanted to inherit their father’s property, they had to marry a husband within their family tribe.

They didn’t open Rebellion & Sons

“The sons of Eliab: Nemuel and Dathan and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram who were called by the congregation, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up along with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, so that they became a warning. The sons of Korah, however, did not die.” Numbers 26:9–11 NASB

The children of Dathan and Abiram did not stand up against their father’s rebellion against God and they died with their fathers,

The children of Israel have been touring through the land of Midian for the past 40 years and now the children of Israel are preparing to emigrate to the Promised Land. Edom (which located in the southern region of the modern country of Jordan) has no interest in engaging with Israel in any way because they were scared of them.

The children of Israel would have preferred to have permission from the Edomite and the Moabites to go through their territories, as they could traverse in comfortable valleys, but since they said no, the children of Israel traveled through the Great Rift Valley, skirting the territories of Edom, Moab, Ammon, through mountains.

Once they reached the border between the country of Moab and the land of the Amorites, they weren’t able to skirt about anymore because at this point, they would have had to continue on by boat through the Dead Sea and that was not an option. They had no choice but to go through the territory of the Amorite king Sihon.

God instructed the children of Israel to respect the territorial borders of Edom and Moab, but when the Amorite kings Sihon and Og threatened to kill the children of Israel, God gave the children of Israel permission to defend themselves in war and wipe them out, because the Amorites were under God’s ban. They were not under God’s protection as Edom, Moab and Ammon were.

The Moabites had no idea that God respected their territorial boundaries. The Moabites worshipped pagan gods by this point and had no idea that God had given that land to them and was not going to allow the children of Israel to take their land war. The Moabites were scared to lose their territory to the Israelites so you can understand why they were so defensive.

When the Israelites utterly wiped out the kings Sihon and Og, this scared the nation of Moab even more as they recalled how this rag-tag group of escapes from Egypt, were able to defeat the Amorite kings Sihon and Og in battle where they had failed.

This is why Balak, the king of Moab went looking for a spiritual way to defeat the Israelites as he knew he could not beat them militarily. He sought out the most famous prophet he could find, who was Balaam, the son of Beor.

Balak sent emissaries to Balaam to hire him, but Balaam declined with a half truth. He told them that God said no, but Balaam didn’t say why God said no, which was that God had already said that He will not allow Balaam to cruse Israel. If Balaam had disclosed to the emissaries from the beginning that God would not curse Israel, that would have been the end of the conversation. But by only giving the emissaries half of the reason, Balaam was dragging them along because he wanted something from them. He was scheming on how to get his cake and eat it too. 

God is not dumb, He knows who Balaam is and what Balaam wanted. Balaam’s job was to bless and curse people for money. He knows that Balaam withheld information from the emissaries of Moab, because He knew that Balaam coveted money, fame and fortune. Balaam’s refusal to be forthright with anyone was his downfall. 

God told Balaam not to go, but then later permits him to continue his trip. Why is God appearing to be inconsistent? Because He knows that Balaam wants to curse Israel because he wants the generous payout from Moab for the job.

God also knew that Balaam will have to pay a lot of his own money up front to travel all the way from Aram to Moab, because Balak will not pay him until he successfully curses Israel but Balaam already knows that God has prohibited him from cursing Israel. Balaam knows that if he doesn’t curse, he won’t get paid, but he has deceived himself and decided to go to Moab anywa...

In this study

Spiritual antiveninNumbers 20: Rock of My salvation? Edom sees redNumbers 21: Snakes! Why does it have to be snakes?

Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, because the people of ancient Israel continued to rebel God’s leadership and His appointed leaders (see the Korah rebellion). The grumblers were bitten by the snakes had to acquiesce and obey Moses’ advise and look at it if they wanted to survive the snake bite. They had to comply with his leadership command or they would die.

This rebellion, rather than resulting in a golden age of peace, resulted in more death, until the people finally were willing to trust in and accept God’s leadership.

Some people get excited about the Kingdom of Death because they see in it the ability to exercise power and dominance. They see it as a tool to destroy, to take things down, to blow things up, both literally and figuratively. They seek power to ignite chaos, because out of the ashes of chaos, revolution is sparked and after the revolution, comes reformation.

So today, it’s very much the same sort of battle between the kingdom of death and the kingdom of life as it has always been from the garden, which amazingly, had a snake in it. And we’re talking about a snake here today.

Yosef (Joseph) and Daniel served as prime ministers to “snakes” in the sense that the kings they served were not believers in HaShem. Joseph’s Pharaoh trusted him so much that he gave over the entire government to him. Daniel also served tyrants Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, who history has shown were real snakes, yet Daniel served them with distinction.

Spiritual antivenin

George Washington is apocryphally quoted as saying government is fire, but you can say that it’s a fiery serpent that needs to be kept under strict control. This is why we have to be aware of those who covet that power and who we entrust to wield it.

We see in Chukat that God will protect us from snakes — the ideas, powers and people who slither their way into our lives and cause us to doubt and turn against the ways that lead to an abundant life. If He holds them back, they are restrained, but if He allows the snakes to run loose, they will wreak havoc.

The Kingdom of Death tells us that we have no sin, that we don’t have any thing to regret. The Kingdom of Death tells us that that we don’t have to repent of our errant ways.

Commandments, statutes and judgments are not synonyms, just as sins, transgressions and iniquities are not synonyms. (Illustration by Hallel Fellowship)

There are parallels between the ceremony of the red heifer sacrifice with Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement). One significant paralell is that both ceremonies bring those who contacted death (sins, transgressions and iniquities) to life.Hebrews 9 also connects both the Red Heifer and Yom Kippur to Yeshua the messiah.

The red heifer was to be “unblemished,” which some say means that it should be completely red,

In this study

Coveting the cohenimHumility: Sign of a selfless leaderWhy did the rebels’ families have to suffer their judgment?What did Yeshua do with haters?Revisionist revolutionary falls into the pride trapInterceding for those around us who dabble with ‘strange fire’

Coveting the cohenim

Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.Numbers 16:1–2 NASB

Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dathan and Abriram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben. They confronted Moses together with two hundred fifty men from the children of Israel, chieftains of the congregation, representative of the assembly, the men of repute. Numbers 16:1–2 The Judaica Press English Translation

God Himself separated and distinguished the tribe of Levi from the other tribes, but they were to be mingled among all the tribes. The Levites were to be separate, yet equal. However, this was not Korach’s worldview. To Korach, all the people of all the tribes were equal, which reads well on paper but rarely translates into the real world.

In the real world, what happens when you combine people into teams and claim they are equal. Inevitably, only one or two people do all the work but the entire team takes credit and reaps the benefits.

The more work you are given by your boss, your parents, your teammates, etc., the more you are expected to do and then you’re given more to do. It’s like the hamster wheel and the result is burn out when it goes too far.

Humility: Sign of a selfless leader

Unlike Korach, Moses was the reluctant leader. He told God that the job was beyond his ability. He told God that He was asking to much of him. Moses told God to ask someone else. God was adamant that He chose the right man and Moses accepted God’s call to leadership and God gave him Aaron to assist him.

Moses repeatedly told the children of Israel that whatever miracles he was performing were actually the power of God. Moses never took credit for himself. Yet Korach didn’t understand that. To Korach and those who supported his rebellion, all the miracles they witnessed were by the hand of Moses and Moses alone. Korach’s word choice was to pin all the problems the children of Israel were going though on Moses, as though Moses was making sloppy mistakes because he had overextended himself by exercising power over the people.

Korach had an ulterior motive, just as Dathan and Abiram had ulterior motives. All of them believed that they could succeed in leadership where Moses and Aaron had “failed.”

It’s certainly true that Moses had lots of power, did he ever abuse it? Moses is called “the most humble man who ever lived” (Num. 12:3) and the reason he had that title is that he didn’t use his power to build up himself.

Why did the rebels’ families have to suffer their...

In this study

Ezekiel 8: Israel’s love affair with foreign gods should have been hair-brainedEzekiel 5: Hair today, exiled tomorrowYes, look now, they’re blooming amazing!I spy with my wayward eyeDon’t ‘follow your heart’; follow GodHealing in His tzititotBillboards of hope for the Day of the LORD

Bringing your old life with you as you try to walk in a new way of life is a recipe for disaster. This is why there was so much grumbling and complaining after the children of Israel left Egypt. The wilderness was like a post-prison half-way house between Egypt and the Promised Land. A half-way house can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you see it as an opportunity for growth and renewal or an opportunity to long to return to your prior life.

This study focuses on Numbers 15, the seventh aliyah (Scripture portion) of the Torah reading שלח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15). This section focuses on the commandment of wearing tzitzitot (fringes) on four-cornered garments. A lot of ink has flowed for over 3,000 years discussing the what and the how of tzitzitot — colors, numbers of threads, who can wear them, to what they’re attached. This study will focus on the lessons of them.

Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue [wool] on the fringe of each corner.This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.So that you shall remember and perform all My commandments and you shall be holy to your God.I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord, your God. Numbers 15:37-41, Judaica Press

The tzitzitot were given to us by HaShem so that when looking at them — either our own or those on other people’s garments — we remember “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and refrain from following the temptations of the heart.

We see in the Bible stories of how people would grab on the tzitzitot of another person as a demonstration of trust or faith.

The Hebrew word that is translated as “tassels” or “fringes” is צִיצִתות tzitzitot (H6734) in Hebrew or κράσπεδον kráspedon (G2899) in Greek.

Ezekiel 8: Israel’s love affair with foreign gods should have been hair-brained

The respected medieval Jewish commentator Rashi had two ideas regarding the meaning of the tzitzit:

* Resemble a lock or strand of hair, based on Ezek. 8:3.* Attract the gaze, based on a similarly spelled Hebrew word.

You see in Numbers 15 that Moses was prophesying that the children of Israel would go astray, and Ezekiel lived through a time of great apostasy and soon-coming exile of Israel to a foreign land. God revealed to Ezekiel in a vision (Ezekiel 8:1–18) how the priests and the people had their backs to the Temple and were facing east to pray to the rising sun.

In a monarchy,

In this study

Seven degrees of separation: Shabbat, Shavuot, Shmitah, YobelSteps toward return: Shmitah and Yobel in historyStep 1: It takes two to tangoStep 2: Three years of graceStep 3: Realize Whose property we manageLessons from Shabbat, Shmitah and YobelLeviticus 26: Not all atonement is bought with blood

There are some Torah rules that absolutely can’t be performed because there is no Temple. There are also some Torah rules that can only be performed in the Holy Land, but there are many that can be performed anywhere in the world without the Temple.

All the instructions in this reading are in the context of the Shmitah and Yobel. Don’t take them out of context. They have nothing to do with penalties that one might incur for failing to keep the Shabbat or for breaking one of the Ten Commandments.

Seven degrees of separation: Shabbat, Shavuot, Shmitah, Yobel

Here are some similarities between the Shabbat, Omer, Shmitah and Yobel:

* Shabbat (Sabbath) = 7 days* Shmitah (sabbatical year) = 7th year* Omer (bushel of grain) = 7 weeks + 1 day (between Passover and Shavuot/Pentecost)* Yobel (Jubilee) = 7 shmitahs + 1 year

These festivals are all designed to be discussed and understood in parallel with each other. The Shabbat day of rest should be thought of the same way as the sabbatical year (Shmitah).

The counting of the Omer should be thought of the same way as the counting of the Yobel. There are consequences for ignoring these rules. The consequences for ignoring the Shabbath and Shmitah are the same. The consequences for ignoring the Omer and the Yobel are the same.

The holy day cycle and the Shabbat are applicable regardless of where you live. They are eternal, and not limited to a particular place or a particular era. The Shabbat is on Saturday whether we believe it or not. It is inextricably tied to the creation week, a point in history. It’s counted regardless of whether it’s observed or not.

The same is true with Shavuot. Shavuot is inextricably linked to a time in history, which is the giving of the 10 commandments. It’s counted regardless of whether it’s observed or not.

The Shmitah is also counted by God, whether the people declare it or not, whether the people obey it or not. It’s true regardless and we are to be responsible for it regardless. It’s counted regardless of whether it’s observed or not.

“Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete.”2Chronicles 36:20–21 NASB

Steps toward return: Shmitah and Yobel in history

We have evidence that the Sanhedrin declared the Jubilee in A.D. 67, but the next Jubilee wasn’t declared until 1867, which was declared by the Jewish leadership in London. It was also affirmed by Queen Victoria and Charles Warren,