What is the Shemitah Year and Why Should We Care?

You may or may not be hearing the buzz being circulated on various media sources warning about the time of the "Shemitah year" and how it could be forecasting another great economic collapse.  As a watchman, I've been doing my best to follow our Creator God's calendar and to pay attention to the times, signs and seasons that are faithfully and consistently happening in connection with His calendar.

Simply put, the Shemitah year is the seventh year in God's seven-year cycles.  I'm sure you know that seven is His favorite number, as it appears 735 times in the Bible. It is the foundation of God's word and is tied to completion, perfection, rest and redemption. The command regarding the Shemitah is found in Levitius 25:2-5: “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord.  For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.  But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.  Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.

Every seventh year in God's seven-year cycles is a Shemitah year, a year set aside for Him.  Whether or not a nation was in keeping with God's will and commands often determined how God would deal with that nation. This principle goes back a very long way, apparently all the way back to 586 BC and the destruction of Jerusalem; and as we shall see, it continues all throughout history as our Great and Righteous Judge acts in the Shemitah year to call nations to return to Him.

This year from sundown September 24 to sundown September 25 will be the passing from the Hebrew year 5782 to 5783.  It will be Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. And so that you will not think I am just fear-mongering or sensationalizing this time of year, I will list below the facts regarding past economic collapses occuring on or near the Feast of Trumpets. Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever and His patterns and cycles do not change!

• 1901-1902 Year of Shemitah – Stock market drops almost 50%.
• 1916-1917 Year of Shemitah  – Stock market drops 40%. United States enters WWI. Germany, Russia, Austria, Turkey and Great Britain suffer economic collapse.
• 1930-1931 Year of Shemitah – The Great Depression. The worst financial crisis in modern history.
• 1937-1938 Year of Shemitah – Half of the stock market collapses sparking a global recession.
• 1944-1945 Year of Shemitah – End of German Reich and Britain’s hold on territories. Establishment of America as the world’s superpower. Bretton Woods Conference giving the U.S. Dollar Global Reserve Currency status; and diminishing of gold’s influence.
  
• 1965-1966 Year of Shemitah  – US Stock market drops almost 25%
• 1972-1973 Year of Shemitah – US Stock market crashes almost 46%. Global recession; US oil crisis.
• 1979-1980 Year of Shemitah – Global recession.
• 1986-1987 Year of Shemitah – “Black Tuesday”;  US stock market crashes by 33%.The biggest Wall Street crash of 1987
• 1993-1994 Year of Shemitah – Bond market crash.
• 2000-2001 Year of Shemitah – The 911 terror attack happened a day after Shemitah in 2001, September 17; stock market falls 700 points. 37% US Stock Market Crash and Global Recession. Dot Com Bust. Indian Market also carshed.
• 2007-2008 Year of Shemitah – On the last day of The Shemitah Year, September 29, the stock market drops a record 777 points. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. 50% of US Stock Market Indian Stock Market Crashed.
• 2014-2015 Year of Shemitah – Chinense Market crash by 50% Monday, Aug. 24, 2015 The S&P 500 opened at 1965.15 and within minutes fell to a low of 1867.01, a 5% decline.India Market crashed 6% in Single trading session. Greek/EU bailout

Again, it is not my desire to overwhelm anyone or cause anyone to be in fear.  Only fear the LORD for the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom! And I do believe it is wisdom to pay attention to His moedim (appointed times) for these are the times He has appointed to gather and to meet with His people, to display His signs in the heavens, and to mete out His judgments upon nations. The only thing given to us in Scripture about Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets) is this: "The LORD said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire." In my own heart and mind I cannot imagine any other reason for this day - the blowing of trumpets - unless it is fulfilled by that Great and Glorious Day of the return of our Messiah Yeshua! 
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--  in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

Surely that earth-shattering final blast of the last trumpet will fulfill the mystery of the Shemitah when all the people of God will enter the Great Seven-Thousandth Year Millennial Reign, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, and gathered from the four corners of the earth! Then we will no longer be concerned about the earth's economies or who is king of England or what happened to the stock market! But now - in this hour - I do still care about the Shemitah, so that I can use Godly wisdom to be ready for whatever may come - as in the words of Luke: But stay alert at all times, praying that you will have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”.. (Luke 21:36).

Proverbs 4:7:  The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Proverbs 111:10:  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.