1.Leviticus 25 begins with instructions for keeping Shabbat and the Shmitah year. What are the similarities in the Shabbat and the Shmitah year and what is different about them? What is the difference in faith and trust? Can you see how the Shabbat and the Shmitah year are good examples of the difference in faith and trust?
Similarities
Shabbat and Shmitah both have the same Hebrew root which is Shevit or rest, be still. At its core this word means rest. We all know the weekly Shabbat is a day of rest for us. Shmitah is a time every seven years when each farmer was to allow his fields and orchards to lie fallow and rest. So the Shmitah year is a year of solemn rest for the land.
Faith and Trust
Before we continue what is the difference in faith and trust? I have a short story that clearly shows the difference. There was a world famous tightrope walker who visited a town to perform. People came from everywhere to see his act. As he makes his way up a tree to begin his dangerous act you could have heard a pin drop. Just before he starts across the wire he calls out, “Who here believes I can make it across this wire to the other side?” The crowd roars their faith in his ability to do this.
He reaches behind him and pulls out a wheelbarrow and asks, “Who is willing to get in this wheelbarrow and ride to the other side with me!” His question is met with silence. Faith is like the initial roaring response of the crowd but trust is being willing to climb inside the wheelbarrow and trust the tight rope walker to get you to the other side safely.
Differences
One difference in the Shabbat and Shmitah is the length of time – the Sabbath is a day of rest and the Shmitah is a year of rest for the land. Which would take more faith? Take a day to rest or not working your fields for a year and depending on G-d to supply your needs and the needs of your family.
On Shabbat we honor G-d as Creator. We rest on that day and worship our Creator.
During the Shmitah we learn to trust Him to provide.. So the Shmitah teaches us that our lives are in G-d’s hands and we can trust Him in all our ways. G-d is our security and in Him we trust. Our relationship with G-d must go deeper than faith. We must learn to trust Him in everything.
How do we learn to trust G-d in everything? Did you ever have something you were worried about, anxious about? So you decided to go to the Father and pray about it but as soon as you finished you picked it up again and continued to worry about finding a solution on your own? You did not leave the problem in G-d’s hands. This is not trust.
Our faith has to be based on our knowledge and understanding of who G-d is, how He acts, and what He expects from us. As we walk in our faith our trust in Him begins to grow. Trust does not happen overnight. We must develop our trust in the Father by studying His word, allowing Him control over our lives and following His leading even when it is out of our comfort zone. Leviticus 26:3, “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands…” is where we start to develop our faith and trust in Him.
2.In Leviticus 26:3-13 we see a list of blessings for obedience and Leviticus 26:14-39 we see a much longer list of curses for disobedience. The curses are very dramatic and terrible. Why do you think there is a much longer list of curses? Is G-d a hateful vengeful G-d who likes to punish? How can we understand these verses when there are so many other verses that tell us we serve a loving G-d.
This long list of curses might seem to contradict a basic principle that G-d is a loving G-d whose generosity to those who are faithful to Him vastly exceeds His punishment of those who are not.
Exodus 34:6, “The L-rd, the L-rd, the compassionate and gracious G-d, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,”
There is a hint to why there are so many curses listed when we read through these verses. Verse 14 begins, “But if you will not listen…”. Verse 18 begins with, “If after all this you will not listen to me…” Verse 21 begins with, “‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen… verse 23 says, “If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction…and verse 27 begins with, “If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me…”
What do these statements tell us? It shows us a people who, despite correction over and over continues to walk in rebellion to G-d. If they continue down this path of disobedience G-d will continue to punish. G-d never punishes for the sake of making our lives miserable. When He punishes us it is to get our attention. To show us we need to confess our sin, repent and come back to the Father who loves us.
G-d loves and forgives but only when we acknowledge the fact that we have sinned and repent. G-d does not forgive the unrepentant sinner. Leviticus 26:40-46 tells us G-d will remember His covenant with them. We have that same assurance.
Leviticus 26:44-45 says, “Yet in spite of this” G-d will remember His covenant with them and with their forefathers when He brought them out of Egypt. Here scripture is telling us there is hope. G-d may punish and even hide His face but He will not break His covenant. He will remember His people and restore them.
A good example of this is the book of Jonah. G-d told Jonah the Prophet to go to Nineveh and warn the people, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” Jonah went. The people took him seriously. They repented. G-d then relented from His threat to destroy the city. There was repentance so G-d did not continue with the punishment. If they had not repented He would have destroyed the city.
Our G-d is a G-d of love and forgiveness but He is also a G-d of justice
3.Leviticus 26:3 says, “If you walk in my statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out” Isn’t that statement a bit redundant? What is the difference between 1. walking in My statutes and 2. keeping the commandments and 3. carrying them out?
Also in this same chapter a Hebrew word is used 7 times and nowhere else in the Bible. It is keri. It is used in verses 21, 23, 24, 27,28, and 41. It can be translated as contrary, rebellious, indifferent and hard heartedness. Verse 21 says, “if you walk contrary to me.” How do we walk “keri” or contrary or indifferent to G-d in our own personal walk? Verses 24 and 28 G-d warns if we continue He will walk “Keri” to us. What does that mean?
Sometimes we can get caught up in studying scripture simply for the sake of head knowledge.. We don’t get around to putting in to action what the Bible tells us to do. We often hear the Word of G-d but do not apply it personally. Scripture is more than something to study and memorize, or a way to satisfy ourselves that we have done our duty. G-d desires it to affect how we live and how we relate to other people. Everything about us should be touched by our faith.
This is especially true of the commandments found in the Torah but it also applies to how we might not internalize the words of Yeshua. We might hear about the spiritual meanings but not much about how these commandments are to be lived each day. We forget that when we study, memorize or even quote scripture we are also to use the wisdom we have to do and to live those words out each day in our lives.
Now to the word Keri.
As I said it is used 7 times in these verses and nowhere else in scripture. G‑d warned the Jewish people that, “If you … behave towards me with keri, I will behave towards you with a fury of keri.” We’re being given an important message, not to act with keri.
A keri relationship with G‑d is superficial and erratic. It lacks commitment. We assume our achievements are the sole result of our own efforts. The money we’ve earned, the house we bought is all from our own ability. When we live our lives indifferent to G-d’s involvement and presence we are acting with keri. If we act with keri we rarely think of G-d, talk to Him except when we need something.
If at some point G-d decides to act with keri toward us Divine protection would be removed. Failure to recognize G-d in our lives would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. G-d would be distant. We would at some point realize we could no longer hear G-d’s voice.
So a purely mechanical approach to our faith, lacking any real connection to our Heavenly Father would be acting in Keri.
It Starts With Each of Us
Although the Torah clearly explains that keri refers to the Jewish nation as a whole, we must be mindful of the effect our individual actions have. To avoid keri, we shouldn’t take the details of our lives for granted. We can choose to develop our sensitivity to G‑d’s presence in our daily lives.