Friend, Shemini Atzeret and the Jubilee -- the great release of the eighth!

Revelation 21:3-4  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.   4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." 

In God’s divine calendar, everything moves in rhythms of seven — seven days, seven weeks, seven years, and seven cycles of years. Yet when a cycle of sevens reaches its completion, something extraordinary happens: a new beginning emerges — the eighth.

Just as Shemini Atzeret follows the seven days of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) as a sacred “eighth day,” standing apart yet completing the feast, so the Jubilee follows seven cycles of Shemitah — seven sabbatical years of release. The word Shemitah (שְׁמִטָּה) comes from the Hebrew root שָׁמַט (shamat), meaning to release or let go. It refers to the Sabbatical Year, when God commanded Israel to let the land rest, cancel debts, and free servants (Leviticus 25; Deuteronomy 15). It was God’s rhythm of mercy and trust — a time to release control, reset the heart, and rest in His faithfulness.

After seven sets of seven years--forty-nine years of labor, rest, and release--came the fiftieth year, the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-10). It was not merely another Shemitah, but something far greater: a divine reset, a holy interruption, a year set apart from all others. After seven full Shemitah cycles, this single and separate year stood as the eighth--distinct yet connected--just as Shemini Atzeret follows the seven days of Sukkot. The Jubilee was the super-cycle of release, the pattern of patterns, pointing beyond the boundaries of time itself to the eternal Jubilee, when every chain will break, every tear will cease, and God's people will dwell forever in His rest.

In every Jubilee cycle, inheritances were restored, debts forgiven, and captives set free. It was, in essence, the ultimate eighth—the fullness and completion of a fifty-year rhythm—pointing to the same divine pattern revealed in Shemini Atzeret, Jubilee is the sacred “eighth” of years.

Prophetically, this points to the Great Jubilee still to come — the day when Yeshua (Jesus) will return to proclaim liberty to all creation. As He once read from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18–21). After closing the scroll, He declared, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In that moment, Yeshua revealed Himself as the very embodiment of the principle of Jubilee — the living fulfillment of God’s promise of release, restoration, and redemption.

And yet, we still look forward to the final Jubilee — the moment outside of time, the ultimate release and restoration when all creation will be made new.

Shemini Atzeret is the yearly prophetic picture of that eternal Jubilee — the day beyond the seven, the feast beyond the feasts, the pause that opens eternity.

Every Shemini Atzeret, every Shemitah, every Jubilee, every season of release, and every act of redemption points toward that climactic fulfillment — when the King will dwell with His people, and every debt, sorrow, and bondage will be no more.

Friend, we are standing at the edge of God’s great release. Let every season of waiting and every moment of surrender prepare you for the freedom of the eighth. What has been lost, He will restore; what has been bound, He will set free.  The King is calling, “Stay with Me just a little while longer … soon I am making all things new.”

Shabbat Shalom -- have a great weekend -- we'll see you bright and early on Monday morning!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George & Baht Rivka (Jerusalem, Israel)

Editor's Note: As we continue this deep dive into Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day—the climactic culmination of all the feasts—if it feels a bit “meaty,” go back through the earlier devotions. Each one builds line upon line, revealing the profound truth of this day: the ultimate fulfillment when God will tabernacle with us for eternity!

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