Chapter 17 Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 17: The Mystery of the Shemitah, Nouriel tries to figure out the mystery of the seal after the prophet leaves, but all he can determine is that it represents six of one kind and a seventh of another kind. Several weeks later, he drives through the country, past fields of grain where he finds the prophet who explains that the stalks of wheat represent six years of labor followed by a seventh year of rest when there is no harvest, and this seventh year is called Shemitah.

During Shemitah, the ancient Israelites did not labor, and debts were canceled at the end of the year, and it was meant as a blessing until Israel ruled God out of their lives, causing the blessing to become a curse so that Shemitah came as judgment instead of by choice. Shemitah is given...