Duration of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/2
Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce
Exegetical Approaches
Three Full Years
Hashem promises that the produce from the sixth year will last the nation for three full years. This position subdivides regarding the situation spoken of in the verses:
Shemittah Followed by Yovel
The verses speak of the Jubilee Year. In such a case, there are two consecutive years in which sowing is prohibited, and so Hashem promises that the food planted in the sixth year will sustain the people for the second half of the sixth year, the seventh and eighth years, and the first part of the ninth year.
Every Shemittah
The Shemittah year begins in Nissan, during the harvest season. As such, during every Shemittah cycle, no food is sown already in the second half of the sixth year, requiring the fifth year to make enough food to last for the entire sixth, seventh and eighth years.
Parts of Three Years
Hashem blesses the nation that the crops planted in the beginning of the sixth year will suffice to nourish them across three years of the shemittah cycle: during the second half of the sixth year, the entire seventh year, and the first half of the eighth year.
Two Plus One
Hashem promises that the produce from the sixth year will provide food for two years and material to sow for the third year.
