Yehuveh’s “Acceptable Year”
“The Spirit of Yehuveh Elohim is upon me;
because Yehuveh hath anointed me to . . .
proclaim the acceptable year of Yehuveh . . . ”
Isaiah 61:1-2.
Dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a lot of envelopes and papers spread around and a checkbook in his left hand. I was watching with an intensity far beyond my four years. I had no
Still I didn’t ask any questions. Somehow this all seems very important, almost solemn. Dad continued to write numbers on various papers and write checks which he tore out of the checkbook and laid beside various papers. Then sometimes he would address an envelope and lay it on top of the check. I just watched.
“Want to help me?” he finally asked. I shrugged. What could I possibly do?
“Go into my office, to my desk, and look in the drawer in the middle. There’s a small metal cup on the far right. Please bring the postage stamps that are in that little cup. There’s a roll of stamps with a rubber band around it.”
I listened carefully as he instructed me. I understood “office,” “desk,” and “middle drawer” just fine. But I had never been allowed to open it or take anything from it. This would be pretty special.
“Please don’t touch anything else,” Dad added. “Can you do that?” I nodded.
I hurried to the office, around the desk, and pulled open the center drawer. The cup was right where Dad had described it, and the stamps were bound with a rubber band. I looked at the other things in the drawer, a collection of pens and pencils and markers, of paper clips and push-pins and scraps of paper. Toward the back were a few envelopes, post cards, and the box holding extra checks. I didn’t touch anything but the stamps. Carefully I pushed the drawer closed and carried the roll of stamps to the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Dad said. “Would you like to climb up on that chair and put one stamp on each of my envelopes?”
Wow! I’d never gotten to help like this before! Way cool! I climbed up on the chair and looked over the array of papers and envelopes.
“Here’s what you do,” Dad showed me, taking the rubber band off the roll of stamps. “First you pick up just one of the envelopes; then you take one stamp and put it in this corner so the face is right-side-up and the numbers are at the bottom. Then be sure you put the envelope back with the same papers it was with before. Can you do that?” I nodded.
Years passed and I learned about kindergarten, primary school, middle school, junior high and high school, and finally college. One day in my second year of college Dad called. “Do you remember the day you first helped me put stamps on all the envelopes to pay bills?” he asked.
“Absolutely! You made me feel so grown up letting me help you!”
“Do you remember me telling you that ‘When you are in college we will make the last payment on this house.’?”
“Sure do, Dad! I had no idea what you were saying, but it sounded so important!”
“Well, I just wrote the last check! This house is ours now! I just thought you’d like to know!” I love the echo of triumph in my Dad’s quiet voice. For common working folks, this was a notable achievement! I felt so happy for him!
Gael Bataman
Originally Written: 21 August 2005
Latest Update: 26 February 2010
Complete Study Guide to Article 5
Mileposts and Completion Dates “The Acceptable Year” Credit, Debt, and Usury
Debt or Sale? Identifying the Debt List of Wrongs Judah Also Sold Themselves
Identifying the Time Frame Calculation of Debt Period “Midst of the Week”
Delineation of the Seven Years When the Debt is Paid Assurances of Restoration
Return to Zadok Home Continue Article 5 . . . Go to Section 6: Prophecy
Go to Historical Calendar Go to Daniel 11-12 Go to Revelation Go to Years of Returning (Darius)