Feast of Weeks

Like Passover Pentecost, also known as Feast of Weeks, is celebrated during the springtime as described in Leviticus 23:15-21. This holiday does not fall on a particular date instead it is celebrated 50 days (see Counting of the Omer) after Passover.  Which is around the sixth or seventh day of the Hebrew month of Sivan.  It commemorates when God gave the Israelite's the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.

However before I explain about Shavuot, I need to preface it with a bit of understanding from Leviticus 23 first.

Like the farmer who has a yearly cycle of sowing and reaping, the same is true with the feasts.  In Leviticus 23 it clearly lays out for us the 7 feasts, with the Passover being one of them that the Lord wants us to continually celebrate.  According to this chapter the Lord mentions in several verses that all the feasts are to be kept throughout all generations.  This was a reiteration of what He mentioned in Exodus 12:24 before the 613 instructions were put into place.  Not only does he tell us to keep it ongoing, but He also tells us when He wants us to celebrate it. 

The three main words that the Lord uses when talking about the feasts are (Leviticus 23:4):  

Appointed (Moe-ahd)

Convocations or gatherings (Mik-rah)

Feast or festival (Chag)

Moe-ahd: an appointment or a meeting at a set time.  Its root meaning is to repeat.  In other words, it is a meeting that is to be repeated every time that appointment comes up at a set time.

Mik-rah: a calling together for a meeting as an assembly.  The root meaning is to call together for an event or a reading such as from a scroll.  The KJV describes it as a dress rehearsal. 

Chag: an outside gathering together for a festival.  This is usually in the form of a circle for dancing and feasting.  It can also mean that the feast is to celebrate in a circular or yearly fashion.

Putting these three words together in context with the scriptures reveals to us that God wants us to come together and meet at the same time every year at a specific day and time.  We are to have lots of feasting, rejoicing and dancing.  So when He returns we will then celebrate the Passover in heaven with Yeshua (that’s Hebrew for Jesus) in a very festive way, and it will not be something new to us.

 

What is Shavuot?
The Hebrew word Shavuot means Feast of weeks, whereas, in the Greek it is called Pentecost. Since these two words appear to be different, we see that they really are the same. The word pente is the Greek word for fifty, henceforth, we celebrate Shavuot fifty days or seven weeks after Passover. Thus proving that both words do truly mean the same thing.

Shavuot is also known by three other names:

1. The time of giving of our Torah
2. The holiday of reaping
3. The holiday of the first fruits

When celebrating Shavuot, Jewish people all over the world generally will stay up all night and read the bible, or have biblethons just to see who can read the most. The book of Ruth is generally read in synagogues on this holiday because it tells of something special that happened during harvest to a non-Jewish person.

My wife and I, along with others, would celebrate it with all night prayer and fasting. Then end it in the morning with a wonderful homemade breakfast (which is where the word was derived from break-fast).

It is also customary to see branches, flowers or fresh fruits hanging in a home or synagogue. This is in remembrance of the flowers that blossomed on Mt. Sinai the day the ten commandments were given. According to Exodus 34:22 this holiday is known for a time of reaping the first fruits of wheat harvest, which were brought into the temple as an expression of thanksgiving. This is why it is also know as the holiday of reaping or first fruits.

Some events that either happened or were believed to have happened on Shavuot:

• The receiving of the Ten Commandments fifty days after Passover
• King David was born and also died on Shavuot (according to the Talmud)
• The Holy Spirit fell
• The Western Wall was opened to visitors in 1967 after the six-day war.

Eating
One of the big things on this holiday that is customary is to have dairy products especially cheese. The sages liken this to the verse in Song of Solomon 4:11, Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue….

Whenever I read something in the scriptures about honey it makes me think about a story from the Middle Ages. When the male child was five years old he was old enough to go to school and study the Torah (the first five books). On his first day of school the rabbi would come to his house and pick him up whisking him away on his shoulders. Girls were not allowed to go to school in those days so  they would have to stay at home with mom and learn from her instead.

Once the boy arrived at the school the rabbi would sit him down at a desk with a piece of slate that had the Hebrew letters written on it in honey. He would then lick off each letter as he would recite its name. I believe that this would instill into him that the Hebrew language was sweet. This reminds me of the Psalm that David spoke in Psalms 119:103 of how His Words are sweeter than honey.

The Omer
During the seven weeks from Passover to Shavuot, Jewish people would do what is called the counting of the omer. Which was used for helping them to determine when it was exactly 50 days after Passover.

An omer is a measure of grain, which was brought into the temple on the second day of Passover as an offering. Then it was to be counted for seven weeks. On the 50th day, they would bring in the offering of the first fruit into the temple. They would use the grain as a way of measuring the seven weeks until Shavuot. For them it was a joyous time because they were looking forward to what was up and coming. Think of this in the same manner as a child does before their birthday.

At some unknown point in history a man by the name of Rabbi Akiva and 24,000 off his students all died of a terrible plague during the time of the omer. Since then, the omer is not celebrated anymore, but observed more as a time of mourning rather than a time of happiness and celebration. Please know that this is more of a religious holiday only and is known as Lag b’omer, or the the 33^rd day of the omer.

During the counting of the omer there were also some other events that took place at another time within history. After the death of Yeshua (hebrew for Jesus) we the see the following:

·       Day one of the omer: Yeshua was seen by Mary Magdalene and some of the other disciples (John 20:1-20).

·       Day eight of the omer: Yeshua appeared to Thomas and the disciples again (John 20:26).

·       Day forty of the omer: Yeshua had appeared to disciples during these forty days and then ascended into heaven (Acts 1:1-9).

·       Day fifty of the omer: the Holy Spirit fell on 120 people as tongues of fire in the upper room (Acts 1:15-2:4).

The Wave Offering
The first offering during the counting of the omer was of the barley, whereas, the second offering in Leviticus 23:15-22 refers to the wheat. Please keep in mind that these two offerings are done 50 days apart.

In Alfred Edersheim’s book The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, he explains how the wave offering was performed by the priests. He also gives what he had determined the weight and dimensions of the bread according to the Mishnah (book of oral laws or traditions). He believes that each loaf weighed approximately 5.25 lbs, was approximately 28" long (7 handbreadths), 16" wide (4 handbreadths), and 4" thick.

Contrary to the common rule of the Sanctuary, these loaves were leavened, which, as the Mishnah, informs us (Men. v. 1), was the case in all thank-offerings. The common explanation--that the wave-loaves were leavened because they represented the ordinary food of the people--only partially accounts for this. No doubt these wave-loaves expressed the Old Testament acknowledgment of the truth which our Lord embodied in the prayer, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' But this is not all. Let it be remembered that these two loaves, with the two lambs that formed part of the same wave-offering, were the only public peace and thank-offerings of Israel; that they were accompanied by burnt and sin-offerings; and that, unlike ordinary peace-offerings, they were considered as 'most holy.' Hence they were leavened, because Israel's public thank-offerings, even the most holy, are leavened by imperfectness and sin, and they need a sin-offering. This idea of a public thank-offering was further borne out by all the services of the day. First, the two lambs were 'waved' while yet alive; that is, before being made ready for use. Then, after their sacrifice, the breast and shoulder, or principal parts of each, were laid beside the two loaves, and 'waved' (generally towards the east) first forwards and back wards, and then up and down.

In Closing
Years ago Tommy Tenney coined the phrase: Presence Evangelism. Just think for a minute of what that really means, then think about what happened when the Holy Spirit showed up in Acts 2. We need to be a people of His presence to the point that it will cause people to repent and change their ways when they come into a room where He is. We should be so soaked and saturated with Him that we take His presence to others without ever saying a word.

Until next time.. Shalom!