Thanksgiving in the United States of America – Part 2
Good Day to each of you reading this article on Thanksgiving and the tradition of the stress of this holiday. Have you turned the TV only to find that most stores open by 5:00 (EST) on Thanksgiving Day for business? Before long, stores will turn Thanksgiving into Black Thursday and open up in the morning so folks can get in their shopping earlier and snatch up those buys.
Don’t you see that this the perfect way to destroy the family tradition of gathering together to have an actual Thanksgiving Day. Let’s put retail first, stores first, shopping first and get a jump on Christmas—is this the level that we have taken our society to in these times?
I recently picked up a book by Johnathan Cahn named “The Harbinger” and have found the book of great interest. First, one needs to know what a harbinger is-
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of harbinger is: something that foreshadows a future event : something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come or : one that initiates a major change : a person or thing that originates or helps open up a new activity, method, or technology : PIONEER and in verb form to give a warning or prediction of : to be a harbinger (see HARBINGER ENTRY 1).
It is so interesting how Mr. Cahn ties in harbingers to farmers and their means of growing crops. Return to Leviticus 25 to review and you will see the correlation of how God has placed restrictions on the seventh year from the previous six years.
Let us “dig” a bit further into numbers—According to Numbers in Scripture by E.W. Bullinger—the number six (6) is the number of man and the number stamped on all that is connected with human labor—Man, in this case, has six years to produce, cultivate and harvest and store his crops along with having his measures stamped in his labor and the time during which he labors .
Now let’s go to seven—in the Creation, we have six days and the seven. The six of labor and the seventh of rest. God rested on the seventh day so why shouldn’t we do the same and for that matter let the land and animals rest also.
Turn with me to Exodus 23: 10-13 (FF) “For six years you shall sow the earth, and gather its produce, but in the seventh you shall manure it, and spread it out, and the destitute of your people shall eat, and the rest of the animals of the field shall eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves. Six days you shall do all your business, but the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your ass may take comfort, and your servants and foreigners refresh themselves.
“And all that I say to you, you shall regard; for you shall not remember a name of other Gods, and it shall not be heard from your mouth.
Most families in the U.S.A. are blessed with a gathering of a harvest or bounty of food at Thanksgiving. And, yes, we wish to thank our farmers, livestock producers, and food producers with supplying this harvest. But with these blessings comes the reality that one day those who produced this great bounty can have this great bounty taken away because our people have not honored God’s laws. We do reap what we sow and laws of God that were instituted when this country was formed has been tossed to the wayside along with having our land destroyed by man.
When reading The Harbinger, Mr. Cahn brings up the word Shemitah—what does this word mean—According to Wikipedia:
Shmita – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The sabbath year (shmita Hebrew: שמיטה, literally “release”) also called the sabbatical year or shǝvi’it (שביעית, literally “seventh”) is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the Land of Israel,[1] and still observed in contemporary Judaism.
During shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural activity, including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting, is forbidden by halakha (Jewish law). Other cultivation techniques (such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming and mowing) may be performed as a preventive measure only, not to improve the growth of trees or other plants. Additionally, any fruits or herbs which grow of their own accord and where no watch is kept over them are deemed hefker (ownerless) and may be picked by anyone.[2] A variety of laws also apply to the sale, consumption and disposal of shmita produce. All debts, except those of foreigners, were to be remitted.[3]
Chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus promises bountiful harvests to those who observe the shmita, and describes its observance as a test of religious faith. There is little notice of the observance of this year in biblical history and it appears to have been much neglected.[4]
Upon reading the above explanation for the word Shmita or Shemitah, the land was to lie fallow according to Jewish law, but this law was given to all including Christians, Israelites and Jews to abide, follow and execute.
Folks, I will my explanation for the difference between an Israelite and a Jew from my knowledge and the Biblical references in both the Old and New Testament in a future lesson.
Back to the lesson, if our food producers would follow the laws of God, we would be assured of the necessary rain to grow, pestilence of crops would not happen, the use of herbicides would never be used, people’s health would be superb, food would always be plentiful each year, no one would go hungry in our country and on the one year of rest, our storehouses would be bursting.
Where does it say this in the Bible—Turn to Malachi 5: 6-12 (NIV) “I the Lord do not change, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we return?’
“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, “says the Lord Almighty. “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Here is your proof from the Lord Almighty—Simply put, rest your land, your pastures and animals every seven years and the rewards will be bountiful.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday and do hope that the center of the Holiday was the giver of all—Each day, let us Give God Thanks and make each day a day of Thanksgiving to God, the giver of eternal life.
Until next time,
Jeff
