Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce/2

Nature of the Pre-Shemittah Blessing of the Produce

Exegetical Approaches

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Increased Production

Hashem blessed the land so that it brought forth more grain than usual, enough to sustain the people for thee years.

Sources:Standard interpretation

Nature of blessing – According to this approach, unlike many other blessings in Tanakh, the blessing of increased produce serves not as a reward for observance, but as a facilitator to ensure it.¹ 

Parallel to manna – In this aspect, the double portion of grain is similar to the double portion of manna that fell before Shabbat. In both cases, a blessing is given before, rather than after, observance.

"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? According to this position, it is difficult to say that the nation living in Israel would question, "what shall we eat", considering that in the sixth year they would have already seen that their crops had multiplied and that they had enough to sustain them.  As such, this position must posit that Hashem is preempting a question to be asked by the Generation of the Wilderness upon hearing the laws of Shemittah.

"מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – This position could explain the in several ways:

• It might say, like the Minchat Yehuda, that the people are questioning not what they will eat the entire year, but what they will eat in the second half of the seventh year, by which point they would normally be harvesting the food grown the season before.

Produce Goes Further

The amount harvested in the sixth year was no different than in any other year. However, Hashem made a miracle that the same amount of grains would nourish the people for three years instead of the usual one.

Sources:Keli YekarVayikra 25:2Vayikra 25:20About R. Shelomo Ephraim Luntschitz

A test of faith – According to this approach, observing Shemittah is an extremely demanding test of faith, as the nation does not receive and see a double portion beforehand, but must totally trust that Hashem will make the regular produce of the sixth year go further. See Purpose of Shemittah for other ways in which the commandment leads to recognition of and belief in Hashem.

Parallel to manna – The Keli Yekar compares the mitzvah of Shemittah to the test of the manna in which the Children of Israel could not save for the long term, but needed to have faith daily that Hashem would continue to provide for them.

"וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ" – Who will ask? The Keli Yekar assumes that Hashem is anticipating the anxieties of those living in Israel when the Shemittah year approached.  Since the sixth year's harvest was not noticeably different than previous years, the people would naturally be concerned how they would survive in subsequent years.

"מַה נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת" – The Keli Yekar offers two ways to understand why the people question the lack of food in the seventh rather than eighth year:²

• He brings Ramban who suggests to understand the verse as if its order was rearranged (מקרא מסורס) so that it reads: "And if you will say in the seventh year: 'What shall we eat [in subsequent years]'."  Since the sixth year's harvest was not noticeably different than previous years, when the seventh year came, the people  would fear that they would have nothing to eat the following year.
• Alternatively, already in the sixth year, the people would be concerned about the seventh year.  Knowing that they could not plant and would have nothing saved for the next year would make it difficult to be satisfied even when they had food (אינו דומה מי שיש לו פת בסלו למי שאין לו). 

Nature of blessings

Dependent on Faith

The blessing differed in line with the amount of faith held by the people.  When they did not doubt Hashem, He ensured that a regular sized harvest would be of such quality that it could nourish the nation for three years.  However, when the people questioned Hashem, He increased the quantity of the harvest so they could see with their own eyes how it would suffice.

Sources:SefornoVayikra 25:19-21About R. Ovadyah Seforno

¹ Contrast this with the blessings in Vayikra 26 and Devarim 28 which are all contingent on keeping Hashem's commandments.  For several or many more examples, see also Shemot 23:25, Devarim 11:27 or Malakhi 3:10.

² Since the food from the sixth year should have sufficed for the seventh, as it did every year, the people should have only been concerned about the lack of food in the year following Shemittah.