First of all, happy Shavuot! Today we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the fulfillment of God's law that had been written on stone to the Israelites in the wilderness; now written on our hearts.
Last week, I posted a Shavuot/Pentecost greeting on Facebook, because all my Messianic/Jewish roots friends were celebrating. And so were my Orthodox Jewish friends. It didn't occur to me that it wasn't actually the biblical Shavuot until a Christian friend replied, "Isn't Pentecost next Sunday?"
My whole point in that post was to point out that for much of Christendom, the holiday passes with nary a mention (even though Christianity claims that day as the "birth of the church"). But my friend's response was a good reminder for me to go back to the Word of God and do the math myself.
Leviticus 23 is the one place where all seven of the LORD's appointed times are listed together. Let's look at that passage and do the math.
Verses 9 through 14 explain the feast of Firstfruits, which celebrates the barley harvest in Israel - the first harvest of the agricultural year. The spiritual fulfillment of this feast occurred when Yeshua rose from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:20 tells us, But in fact Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (that means died). He is the spiritual fulfillment of the first harvest of the year in Israel - barley.
Leviticus 23:15-16 continues into the next appointed time: You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to YHVH.
These 50 days are known as "counting the omer" (which means sheaf in Hebrew). To count, you had to look back to the starting day, which is the Feast of Firstfruits, aka the resurrection of Yeshua. He rose from the dead on the day after the regular weekly Sabbath that fell during the Passover/Unleavened Bread week.
The confusion arises due to different counting methods. Sometime between the resurrection of Yeshua and the destruction of the temple, the Pharisees began counting the omer from the day after the special Sabbath that occurs on the first day of Unleavened Bread - the day which follows the one-day commemoration of Passover - instead of starting the counting from the day after the regular weekly Sabbath.
This special Sabbath is explained in Leviticus 23:6-7: And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.
Understanding the biblical feasts is key here.
Passover is one day long, and then Unleavened Bread is seven days long, creating a total 8-day celebration. The first day of the Unleavened Bread (the day after Passover) is the special Sabbath. John 19:31 mentions this special Sabbath - Yeshua's body could not remain on the cross for that special Sabbath, which was to begin at sundown... Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
Are you confused yet? I had to study this for a long time before I feel like I had a handle on all these dates.
The Jewish reckoning of Shavuot continues to this day by beginning their omer-counting on the day after the special Sabbath. But this method disregards the context of the counting in Leviticus 23. The context is seven regular Sabbaths!
I understand why the Jews who did not believe that Yeshua was the Messiah wanted to separate Shavuot from the Feast of Firstfruits, which so clearly points to Yeshua. But I don't understand why Messianic Jews do it, too.
So this year (2021), Jews celebrated Shavuot on Sunday, May 16. However, Passover this year began on the evening of Saturday, March 27 after sunset and lasted all day Sunday, March 28. The special Sabbath of Unleavened Bread began after sundown Sunday and lasted all day Monday, March 29. The day after that special Sabbath began Monday night and lasted all day Tuesday, March 30, which would have been their reckoning of the Feast of Firstfruits. If you count 7 weeks and a day (50 days) from that day, Shavuot lands on Wednesday, May 19 (beginning at sundown the night before). I'm not sure why the Orthodox and Messianic Jews moved it back three days this year.
(Are you totally confused yet? I totally understand!)
The church calendar, however, got it right this year. Counting back 50 days to the Feast of Firstfruits (Resurrection Sunday) brings us to Sunday, May 23 - the day of this post.
And I am delighted to report that my pastor spoke of Pentecost/Shavuot today.
Shavuot (pronounced sha -vu OTE) is the celebration of the next harvest in the land of Israel - the wheat harvest. Yeshua was the firstfruits of the barley harvest, and when Peter preached at the temple on that day in Acts 2, the new believers, 3000 of them, fulfilled the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.
Back to Leviticus to see what I'm talking about.
Chapter 23:17 says, You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to YHVH.
Two loaves? With leaven? Messiah was a representation of Unleavened Bread. He was without sin. (Leaven often represents sin in scripture).
So here we are, at the next harvest, with those two loaves full of leaven. Who do those loaves represent? Jew and Gentile, sinful people full of leaven, yet redeemed by our sinless Messiah, who began to pour out His Holy Spirit on believers that day.
It is interesting to note that the Jewish people read the book of Ruth during Shavuot, even though the story takes place during the barley harvest - thus connecting the two celebrations. The relationship of Ruth the Moabite and Boaz the Israelite is such a beautiful picture of the bride of Messiah! And Jew and Gentile together, no less!
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