² "Speak to the sons of Yisrael and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to Yahuwah.

³ For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.

⁴ But in the seventh year the land is to have a shabbat shabbaton, a sabbath to Yahuwah. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.

⁵ Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.

⁶ Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you-- for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,

⁷ as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

Just as Yahuwah set apart the seventh day in creation for mankind to be a day of rest, he also has set aside the seventh year to be a rest for the land.  Verse four calls this year a shabbat shabbaton, which means a complete rest for the land.  No sowing (planting), nor pruning, nor reaping, nor gathering at all is to be done during this year of rest for the land.  The soil is not to be worked at all.

However, whatever grows by itself, including crops in the field, fruit on the trees, and any other foods which grow on their own may be eaten.  You may not gather this food, but it may be taken and eaten on an as needed basis.  Anyone, not just the land owner, is allowed to pick the food from the fields and eat it.  Even the animals are to feed off the food that grows of itself.

The reason for the land rest seems to be at least two-fold.  First, there is the very practical aspect of the land actually needing time to replenish its soil content.  Land that is used continuously without a break is known to "burn out."  Farmers know that they need to give the soil time to refurbish and reconstitute.  So, when the soil is not given opportunities to rebuild, it becomes far less effective in bringing nutrients to the plants.

The second reason for the land rest is to test our faith and obedience.  Yahuwah gives us his commands for a reason.  They have practical value in following them, but they also serve to find out our allegiance.  Do we love Yahuwah or do we think we are smarter than he?  Do we trust him to give us instructions for our good, or do we want to do things our own way, based upon our limited and defective understanding of things.

The ignoring of the land rest commandment was specifically cited by the prophets as proof that the Israelites did not put their faith in the Almighty, and it was on account of their disobedience that Yahuwah brought them difficulties - including famines and pestilences.  In the next parashah, where the blessings and curses are displayed, the condition of the land and the crops was to be a direct result of Israel's obedience or disobedience:

"'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." (Vayiqra 26:3-4)

"'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant....   I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.  Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. (Vayiqra 26:14-15, 19-20)

In his sense of justice, Yahuwah punished Yehudah with seventy years of captivity in Babylon, one year for each of the years that Yehudah did not obey the law of the seventh year.  They refused to rest the land for those seventy times, so Yahuwah took those seventy years back and cast them out of the land so that the land could have its rest.

Shemittah - The Year of Remissions

But there is more to the seventh year - the year of the land rest - than just ceasing from working the land.  The seventh year is also the time for remitting debts and for releasing slaves.  The term shemittah (hJ'miv.) occurs four times in the parallel passage discussing the seventh year land rest - and that is in Devarim 15:1-18, which is broken down into three paragraphs:

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts (shemittah).  This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan (shemittah) he has made to his fellow Yisraelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Yisraelite or brother, because Yahuwah's time for canceling debts (shemittah) has been proclaimed.  You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.  However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land Yahuwah your Elohim is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey Yahuwah your Elohim and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.  For Yahuwah your Elohim will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.  If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that Yahuwah your Elohim is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. 

This paragraph describes the year of remission as that seventh year when all debts owed by your brother are to be remitted (cancelled or forgiven).  Every brother Israelite is to be forgiven all his debts in the seventh year.  Yahuwah promises to bless all Yisrael when this is done, especially the one to whom the debt was owed.  By following this commandment, Yisrael would not come under the burden of becoming a debtor nation.  Everyone was to have the freedom of being debt free.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Next, our passage describes what might be an inclination in an evil heart who sees the year of cancelation coming:

Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts (shemittah), is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to Yahuwah against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.  Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this Yahuwah your Elohim will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.  There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Because everyone was obligated to forgive all debt in the year of remission, it might be tempting to be stingy and not lend to a needy brother as the year of remission was approaching.  This is evil in Yahuwah's eyes.  He wants us to always be generous to our needy and poor brother so that no one should need to become a slave for lack of income.

Yet, in those circumstances where a brother cannot survive his poor circumstances, he may become a temporary slave to a brother Israelite:

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free.  And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.  Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as Yahuwah your Elohim has blessed you.  Remember that you were slaves in Mitzrayim and Yahuwah your Elohim redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.  But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.  Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And Yahuwah your Elohim will bless you in everything you do.

The year of remission requires a release of all brothers who have been forced to enter into slavery to a brother.  Yahuwah wants his people to be generous as the slave is set free in the shemittah, so that this brother does not land again in the desperate straights that forced him into servant hood.  Thus, we are to give generously so that this, our brother, may move on to be successful and self-sufficient.

26:1 "'Do not make idols or set up an image or a set apart stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am Yahuwah your Elohim.

² "'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am Yahuwah.

Yeremiah said, "The word of Yahuwah came to me:  Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, 'Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.'  "Then, just as Yahuwah had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, 'Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.' "I knew that this was the word of Yahuwah; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.  I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales.  I took the deed of purchase-- the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy-- and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Yehudim sitting in the courtyard of the guard.  "In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 'This is what Yahuwah Almighty, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.  For this is what Yahuwah Almighty, the Elohim of Yisrael, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.'  "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahuwah: "Ah, Adonai Yahuwah, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.  You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful Elohim, whose name is Yahuwah Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.  You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Mitzrayim and have continued them to this day, both in Yisrael and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours.  You brought your people Yisrael out of Mitzrayim with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.  You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.  They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster upon them.  "See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see.  And though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Adonai Yahuwah, say to me, 'Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.'"  Then the word of Yahuwah came to Yeremiah: "I am Yahuwah, the Elohim of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?