According to the Jews, the Sabbatical Year began this year in September and will end next September.
But this is incorrect.
The Sabbatical Year actually begins in the month of Abib!
In Leviticus 25:20-22, Yahuah said, "And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for THREE years. And YE SHALL SOW THE EIGHTH YEAR, and eat yet of old fruit until the NINTH year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store."
So according to the word of God, the land will produce food for three years. The sixth year, the seventh year and the eighth year. And in the NINTH year the land will produce its first harvest after the Sabbatical Year.
But the way the Jews keep the Sabbatical Year from September to September or Yom Teruah to Yom Teruah, they end up reaping their first harvest in the eighth year, rather than the ninth year.
[Here is how they keep it.]
Their eighth year begins in September. About two to three months later, in November or December, they plant their seeds. In three to four months the seeds grow up and are ready to be harvested. By this time, it is the month is Abib. But according to their "agricultural" calendar, by which they keep the Sabbatical Year, it is still the eighth year! Remember, their agricultural calendar is from September to September.
So they sow and reap in the eighth year and this isn't what God said. He said we will sow in the eighth year and reap in the ninth. And the only way this can happen is if we begin the Sabbatical Year in the month of Abib.
[Here is how we are to keep it.]
The eighth year begins in the month of Abib. However, it is too late for us to sow. That should've been done four months prior, but since it was Shmitah, we couldn't sow our seeds. So we have to wait until the ending of the year, until the next November/December to plant our seeds. By the time they've grown up and the first harvest is ready, it is the month of Abib and the ninth year has begun!
This is how Yahuah intends for us to keep HIS Sabbatical Year. According to HIS calendar, which is already an agricultural calendar. There's no need for a second one.
Now, some people might ask, if Shmitah begins in the month of Abib, why did Yahuah command us to announce the Year of Jubilee by blowing the shofar on the tenth day of the seventh month?
"And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."- Leviticus 25:8-10
Obviously, the Year of Jubilee is special and it is something many experience once or twice in a lifetime, considering it is celebrated every fifty years. And it is meant to be celebrated as a nation.
The official announcement of the Year of Jubilee was placed in the hands of Israel's leaders, most likely the Levites, who would keep track of the Sabbatical Years and the Jubilee. Because, let's be honest, the Year of Jubilee is not something that the general population would be good at keeping track of, especially back then.
So, the Levites were responsible for officially announcing the Year of Jubilee. But now ask yourselves, when would be the best time to announce that the coming Abib would commence the Year of Jubilee?
Would it not be during the Fall Feasts, the last Feasts of the year, when all Israel are gathered together in Jerusalem to keep Yom Hakippurim and Sukkot?
Would that not be the best time for the Levites to officially announce that the Year of Jubilee will be commencing in Abib and make the neccessary proclamations to the people? Many of whom will be celebrating it for the first time.
The Fall Feasts are the last feasts where the Levites will be able to speak to all Israel before the Year of Jubilee begins in the month of Abib. So the announcement is made then and everyone celebrates the joyous news.
Afterwards, they return to their lands and make the neccessary arrangements to actually observe Jubilee in the next few months.