The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future! Paperback – September 2, 2014

I admit, I'm a skeptical person by nature and I started this book wondering how the author would deal with the subject of the Shemitah. For those who might be a little hesitant as well, I hope to offer you some reassurances regarding the Biblical basis for the Shemitah, but first a brief summary of the book.

The Mystery of the Shemitah is basically a book about the Biblical Sabbath and Jubilee cycles and how they relate to socio-economic cycles in the context of a Biblical message of repentance. The author, Jonathan Cahn makes a pretty detailed case for his theory that financial and economic events of today may be influenced by these two ancient Biblical cycles. Like ripples in a pond or echoes in a canyon, one can't help but wonder if the 7 year Sabbath cycle and the 50 year Jubilee cycle still effect history today. Another way of looking at it is the famous quote by Mark Twain: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme".

Admittedly the author sticks to a more secular aspect of the Biblical cycles as they relate to America and world financial markets, but let me tell you why I think his underlying premise has some merit. Using 7 year Sabbath cycles as Mr. Cahn describes, and going back in Biblical time the Sabbath cycles do indeed mark important events:

*Yeshua (Jesus) was born on a Sabbath year
*Nehemiah and Ezra read the law in a Sabbath year
*Ezra when up to Jerusalem in a Sabbath year
*The 2nd Temple foundation was laid in a Sabbath year
*The 70 years captivity spoken about by Jeremiah ended in a Sabbath year
*The 1st Temple was destroyed in a Sabbath year
*Kind David died in a Sabbath year
*The Exodus took place in a Sabbath year

If you extend the same Sabbath cycles even further back in time (to Adam) using a reasonable rendering of the Old Testament chronology you find that:

*Joseph's 7 years of plenty & 7 years of famine fell during the Sabbath cycles
*Yahweh's covenant with Abram fell on a Sabbath year
*Enoch's birth and the year he was taken to "heaven" both fell on a Sabbath year

In my opinion the facts above show that Mr. Cahn's underlying premise has merit. Now, since this is intended to be a balanced book review I would like to give a few points where I find myself in respectful disagreement or in some way felt the book was lacking.

1. Mr. Cahn did not provide a Scriptural basis for his Sabbath and Jubilee cycles calculations. I think a premise so central to the book should be explained so that the reader can come to a reasonable understanding of the author's perspective. For instance his Sabbath year is one year different than my understanding of the chronology. It would be helpful to see how he arrived at his chronological basis so I could correct my own understanding if the facts make that necessary.
2. In my opinion Mr. Cahn misses a great opportunity to connect the Sabbath and Jubilee cycles to Yeshua, the true "spirit of prophecy".

On a more positive note I really appreciated Mr. Cahn explaining how the Jubilee and Sabbath cycles are synchronized. Using his explanation of a synchronized Jubilee and Sabbath cycle brings new understanding to the chronology of the Scripture.

Matthew 1 shows that Yeshua was the 41st generation from Abraham. Using Mr. Cahn's premise regarding the cycles being synchronized we find there are 41 Jubilee cycles between Abraham and Yeshua. Going even further back in time we find there were 41 Jubilee cycles from Adam to Abraham. Those of us alive today just happen to be living in the 41st Jubilee cycle from Yeshua. (41+41+41)

Mr. Cahn talked about the 70 years the land of Israel enjoyed it's Sabbath's during the 2nd temple captivity period. Amazingly those 70 years began in the 70th Jubilee.

As a final example of the beautiful symbolism inherent in such a premise we find a comparison in the Bible about the Messiah's return and "birth pangs". The typical human pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. Yeshua was seen of his disciples for 40 days before his ascension. Jerusalem was destroyed 40 years later. Today we are living in the 40th Jubilee cycle from the destruction of Jerusalem. (40 days > 40 yrs. > 40 Jubilees)

In summary, I think Mr. Cahn's book brings much needed attention to the wonderful subject of the Biblical Sabbath and Jubilee cycles. Even though I don't agree with all of his conclusions, I wholeheartedly agree with his message of repentance.

The Ninevites were given 40 days to repent and they repented from the king on down. Israel, during Yeshua's day, was given the "sign of Jonah" as a warning to repent. When they did not Jerusalem was destroyed 40 years later. Since that destruction it has been 40 Jubilees. Which example will todays generation follow?

(TITLE OF REVIEW) The Mystery of the Shemitah - What You Need To Know

The Mystery of the Shemitah, Jonathan Cahn’s second book, following his massive bestseller, The Harbinger, is so unique and its claims and revelations so radical that it’s hard to know where to begin. I was among a few hundred people given an advance look at the book and so have sought to put together the most important facts for a reader to know.

The first thing to note, for those who have already read The Harbinger, is that the format is different. The Harbinger brings forth non-fiction revelations through a narrative. But in The Mystery of the Shemitah, Jonathan Cahn brings forth the revelations straight out in a non-fiction format.

The second thing is the title. The word Shemitah refers to Sabbath year observed in ancient Israel, when all working of the land ceased, the land rested. This took place every seventh year. On the last day of that year, all debts were wiped away, all credit was nullified, the financial accounts of the nation were, in effect, wiped clean.

Later on, in Israel’s history, as the nation turned away from God, the Shemitah became a sign and manifestation of judgment, the kingdom’s destruction in 586 B.C. and its exile in Babylon were timed to the years of the Shemitah.

Most people had never heard of the “shemitah” before The Harbinger came out. One of its fourteen mysteries was that of the Shemitah. That was the beginning of the mystery. If you have not read The Harbinger, it’s essential to read to understanding where we are and where we’re headed. And yet even this will not quite prepare you for what is in the new book. As the overwhelming amount of information is entirely new, and by new, I mean it has never appeared anywhere before.

The book’s subtitle is “The 3000 Year Old Mystery That Holds The Secret of America’s Future, The World’s Future… And Your Future.” This begs the question – What possibly could an observance or law from ancient Israel have anything to do with America, the world, or the reader? This is where the claims take on stunning proportions. In a section entitled The Key of Cataclysms, the author, Jonathan Cahn, puts forth the proposition that this ancient mystery actually lies behind the rise and fall of the stock market, the booms and collapses of the American and world economy, and the greatest collapses and crashes in Wall Street and world history.

The proposition would sound outrageous except that Cahn demonstrates the reality of it by going through the greatest financial and economic collapses of modern times. The correspondence of these collapses to the year of the Shemitah is stunning. The number of crashes which match up with this ancient phenomenon is quite amazing. Even the connection to the specific time of the year when, according to the ancient mystery, financial accounts were wiped clean shows up eerily in the history of Wall Street collapses. In fact, financial analysts have long been mystified by the clustering of collapses and crashes in autumn, specifically the month of October. It turns out, this is the very time, ordained in the Bible for financial nullification and collapse. Whether one has money invested in the stock market or not, the ramifications of this phenomenon are colossal.

But it gets even more eerie and stunning as Cahn takes the reader into the post-9/11 world. In the week following 9/11, and caused by it, came the greatest stock market point crash in Wall Street history. When did it take place? On the exact precise Day of Nullification ordained in the law of the Shemitah. That would mean that even 9/11 had to be part of the ancient mystery as well.

Years later came the Great Recession which peaked in the greatest stock market point collapse in world history, surpassing the crash of 2001. When did that crash take place? On the same exact Hebrew day, the day ordained from ancient times to wipe away the financial accounts of a nation, the Day of Nullification.

According to the ancient mystery, this phenomenon takes place at seven year intervals. These two greatest crashes in Wall Street history, up to their days, not only each took place on the same biblical day, but each took place, according to the mystery, seven years apart, seven years down to the day, the hours, even the second. I will hold off on the ramifications that this holds for the future, even concerning the upcoming Shemitah. But these too are dealt with in the book.

But the mystery doesn’t stop there, but gets progressively bigger. In a section entitled The Mystery of the Towers, Cahn opens up another mystery that links the rise of powers, nations, to the rising of towers – Even the fall of nations to the fall of towers. I won’t fill in the dots or spoil it, except to say that part of the mystery converges on 9/11. And this too is linked to the Shemitah as Cahn reveals that in Hebrew, the word can also mean, ‘the shaking,’ ‘the fall,’ and ‘the collapse.’

And the mystery doesn't stop there as well, but continues to increase in size and scope. In a section called The Rise and Fall of Nations, Cahn opens up the connection between the ancient mystery and some of the most pivotal events of modern times – how the ancient Shemitah pinpoints the rise of America as a superpower, the fall of empires, two world wars, the rise of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union, the Cold War, the fall of Vietnam, to the day America was attacked on its own shores. etc. The scale and scope of the mystery goes far beyond the economic or financial realms, and even determines the political realm, the military realm – even ushering in the atomic age. The mystery also reveals a warning concerning the fall of America, and the end of the American age.

One cannot read the book without wondering about what the future holds, in view of the coming Shemitah, and the time beyond that. To address this is a section called That Which Lies Ahead. In it, Cahn deals with what the phenomenon means for the future of the economic and financial realms, America, and the world. He points to several factors converging into what one can only take as a strong warning of a coming calamity, to affect America and the world. At the end of this section the mystery is taken to its ultimate level.

This section includes specific dates concerning the future. At the same time, Cahn is cautious in the area of date-setting. In contrast to the observance of the Shemitah, the phenomenon of the Shemitah is not a routine calendar event that must show up on a regular schedule. Rather, given the right circumstances, its mystery manifests and often does so in epic and world-changing proportions. Given this caution, Cahn presents several specific scenarios as to what could happen and then a prophetic warning concerning what he believes will happen regardless of the time table.

And yet this is still not the end. As if there was too much to put into one book, the Epilogue contains two more mysteries. Both focus entirely on the future. One, called Black Suns and Red Moons takes a very different turn with regard to the ancient mystery and what would seem to be unrelated phenomena – and yet the connections are striking and intriguing with regard to what may be coming in future days.

The other, entitled, The Mystery of the Seventh Shemitah reveals a mystery unlike any of the others contained in the book, focused on events in the Middle East, spanning thousands of years, and which may also bear heaven ramifications concerning the future.

As stated at the outset, The Mystery of the Shemitah is so unique and its revelations and claims so radical that it’s hard to know where to begin. But ending is a different matter. If the claims and revelations are radical, the evidence confirming those claims and revelations are just as stunning. Quite frankly, I found what was revealed in this book to be incredibly stunning, mind-blowing, staggering in magnitude, and, at times, awesome to the point where at times I had (and have) no words to describe it.

From the very first reviews, from those who have received advanced copies, The Mystery of the Shemitah has already been called “stunning,” one of the “most important books of our lifetime,” and “the most amazing thing I have ever read.” I have to agree, and with one other comment made concerning it – it truly is “one book you can’t afford NOT to read.

Jonathan Cahn has once again put together a publication that will not disappoint. Building off of his previous book, “The Harbinger” he now takes it to a more pressing conclusion. In my opinion, he shows that God not only works in our lives in a day to day basis, but also adheres to a hepatic, 7 year pattern that He set forth in the Torah when it comes to national blessings and judgments.

It was interesting to see how so many history changing events took place around the Shemitah in the last 100 years. My only concern with his analysis is that he uses statistics to show God’s hand at work – and I always pay special attention when authors do this because it means that data can be manipulated to prove a conclusion that might not necessarily be there. However, I came to my own conclusion that his analysis is sound, noting that his comparisons were very similar and the percentages overwhelming.

The areas I was glad to see him cover were:

His analysis of previous Shemitahs and their consequences …
The meaning of towers in a nations standing with God and their implications …
The rising of the One World Trade Center …
The Isaiah 9:10 quotation in the Septuagint …
The Blood Moon Tetrad phenomenon …
The year of Jubilee and the history of Israel …
That he mentions the upcoming Shemitah (and possibly year of Jubilee ) is not a calamity set in stone, but needs close attention paid to it …

In conclusion, I would highly recommend reading this book. If we truly want to adhere to the command Jesus gave us during the Olivet Discourse in Luke 21:36 to “Watch ye therefore and pray always . . .”, this is certainly one way to accomplish it.