S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Described in Leviticus 23, The Feast of Weeks is the second of the three "solemn feasts" that all Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem to attend (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:22-23; Deuteronomy...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Nils Jansma Supporter Missionary in San Diego California

What is the Feast of Weeks? This question has already been answered to a large extent. Nevertheless, there are two aspects of the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) that are of interest to those who marvel at the consistency of Scripture that goes beyond human understanding. 

First, the Mosaic Law is believed to have been given to the Israelites on the day of Pentecost counting 50 days from the morning after Passover (Nisan 15). Though there is some debate about this based upon the wording at Exodus 19:1, Jewish tradition, St. Augustine, and many commentators support this view. The Scripture reads, “In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt--on the very day--they came to the Desert of Sinai.” With the interpretation that the phrase “on the very day” means the first day of the 3rd month, this was exactly 45 days after leaving Egypt. (Passover happened in the first month on Nisan 14. The Israelites left Egypt on the morning of the 15th. They traveled 15 + 30 days and arrived at Mt. Sinai 45 days after leaving Egypt.)

On day 46, Moses went up into the mountain, (Exodus 19:3) where God gave Moses the offer for a covenant with the people of Israel. On day 47, Moses went back up the Mountain with Israel’s consent to the proposed covenant (Exodus 19:8). At that time, God said in three days (Day 50) He would appear on Mt. Sanai and deliver the Law to the people with Moses as an intermediary. (Exodus 19:16; 20:1-26) Look at the symmetry. The Law of the Flesh was given on Pentecost some 1500 years before the Law of Grace was given, likewise on Pentecost, through the formation of the Church.

The second aspect, indirectly involves the Baptism of the 3000 on the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:41) It turns out that the Law symbolized by Stone Tablets, was given twice. The first time the Law was based upon a legal contract. However, the second time it was based upon God’s Grace. You know the story of the Golden Calf when the first stone tablets were broken just as the people had broken the Law. (Exodus 32:1-19) The Grace part comes when Moses offers his life for the people if God would not forgive them for their idolatrous sin. (Exodus 32:32) 

What you may not have noticed is that during the interim between the issuance of the two sets of The Law, 3000 rebels were slain. (Exodus 32:28) Is it a coincidence that on the Fulfillment of Pentecost in Christ, 3000 were saved? I don’t think so.

November 18 2017 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

What is the Feast of Weeks?

This was the second of the obligatory festivals of ancient Israel, the festival of weeks. Why was it called so? For the reason that the Israelites were to count seven weeks from Nisan 16, the day that their high priest presented to Jehovah the sheaf of newly ripened grain as the firstfruits from the barley harvest. This count of time would run for 49 days, and on the 50th day, they were to celebrate the festival of weeks. In the Greek language into which a group of Jews translated their Bible, the word for 50th (day) is pentecostēʹ. Hence, the Greek-speaking Jews called the festival of weeks Pentecost. 

Leviticus 23:15-21 says: Then shall ye keep count to yourselves from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day ye brought in the wave sheaf,—seven sabbaths complete shall there be: 16 until on the morrow of the seventh sabbath ye count fifty days,—then shall ye bring near a new meal-offering unto Yahweh. 17 Out of your dwellings shall ye bring in two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah, of fine meal shall they be, with leaven shall they be baked,—firstfruits unto Yahweh. 18 Then shall ye bring near with the bread seven he-lambs without defect of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams,—they shall be an ascending-sacrifice unto Yahweh, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, an altar-flame of satisfying odour unto Yahweh. 19 Then shall ye offer one he-goat as a sin-bearer,—and two he-lambs of the first year as a peace-offering. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the firstfruits' bread, as a wave-offering before Yahweh, with the two he-lambs,—holy shall they be unto Yahweh for the priest. 21 And ye shall proclaim on this self-same day—a holy convocation, shall it be unto you; no laborious work shall ye do,—an age-abiding statute in all your dwellings unto your generations. --Rotherham Bible

Interestingly, this prophetic festival of weeks, or Pentecost, was fulfilled upon the congregation of Jesus' disciples at Jerusalem on the 50th day counted from his resurrection from the dead. So the antitypical festival of weeks, or Pentecost, began to go into effect on the sixth day of the third lunar month, that is, on Sivan 6, of the year 33 C.E. At that time the glorified Jesus Christ was in the Most Holy of Gods great spiritual temple, namely, in the personal presence of Jehovah in heaven, to which he had ascended on the 40th day from his resurrection. While the Jews were celebrating the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost, at Herod's temple in Jerusalem, about 120 disciples of the spiritual High Priest, Jesus Christ, were meeting together in an upper room in that city. Then, before the third hour of the day (9 a.m.), the Lord Jesus Christ poured down the holy spirit from the Most Holy of God's spiritual temple. This resulted in their being spiritually begotten by their heavenly Father, Jehovah, and in their being anointed with the Holy Spirit by means of their High Priest, Jesus Christ. (Acts 2:1-36) 

Conclusion:

The Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, is a Jewish holiday that marks both the wheat harvest in ancient Israel and the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. Celebrated seven weeks after Passover, it is also known as Pentecost in the Greek tradition and commemorates the completion of the seven-week Omer count. Key observances include eating dairy foods, studying the Torah, and decorating with greenery. 

It also commemorates the anniversary of God giving the Torah (including the Ten Commandments) to the Israelite people at Mount Sinai, 49 days after their Exodus from Egypt. This event is seen as the spiritual liberation that followed the physical liberation of Passover, marking the Israelites' transition into a nation committed to a covenant with God.

The Feast of Weeks is also related to the Christian holiday of Pentecost (from the Greek word for "fiftieth"), which occurs 50 days after Easter and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.

5 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Myron Robertson Supporter Seeking God's heart

There are two more matters that must be added to the answers above to properly understand this feast. First, in the numbering systems in use in the Middle East before sometime very AD there is no zero. The concept simply did not exist anywhere in the world initially. I do not know just when the people of the Indian subcontinent began using it, but it was not brought west until the Arabs brought it long after the time of Christ. I have not looked it up for this writing, but if memory serves it was not used by the Arabs before the rise of Islam in 605 AD.

Why is this important? No one started counting on day 0. The count for the Day of Wheat Harvest, or the Feast of Weeks began on the day after the Sabbath in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If we say, then, that the count is started on Sunday with day 1, not day 0, the 50th day is a Sunday exactly seven weeks, or 49 days later. This also sets the pattern for the year of Jubilee, which is the 50th year of a Jubilee cycle, but that 50th year is also the first year of the following Jubilee cycle, and the cycle is 49 years, not 50 years as is normally taught. This is important for a large number of reasons that go beyond the scope of this post, but which must be mentioned because of the importance of the pattern set here.

Secondly, the statute says the counting of the omer is to start the day after the Sabbath in the Feast of Unleavened bread, but most years there are TWO Sabbaths in that feast. The day of Passover is the first day of that week and is declared to be a Sabbath, no matter what day of the week on which it falls. 

Here again we run into difficulties of understanding because of differences between the biblical timing and the timing we use today. The new day started at sunset (evening) of the day in question.This is established at creation (the evening and the morning define the day, evening first.) The day we normally call Passover is the day of preparation for the Passover. The lamb was to be killed and cooked between the evenings (noon and sunset) on that day and its blood smeared on the lintel and door posts, and by sunset everyone was to be inside their house with no one leaving it before sunrise. The angel of death came during the hours of darkness, thus the day of Passover is the day after we normally consider it to occur. This is the first day of Unleavened Bread and is a Sabbath, but it is the 15th day of the month, NOT the seventh day of the week, Thus, most years have two Sabbaths that week, something that always caused confusion, and can cause timing issues in prophecies based on this cycle.

There were two minds among the priests throughout the history of Israel and Judah as to which of these "day after the Sabbath" was to be used to start the count to Pentecost. Depending on whose timing you use this may or may not be important for determining the date on which the tongues of fire and outpouring of the spirit occurred. The standard timing for the Edict of Jerusalem places this time on a year on which these two Sabbaths fall on different days in the year of Jesus' crucifixion. However, a more precise timing was discovered by Stephen E. Jones in the late 1980s early 90's. There is the possibility of him manipulating the results for the desired outcome. That can be seen in many such studies, but after careful study of my own before I was introduced to his work, I am satisfied of his accuracy, though there are problems that leave the matter difficult to determine.

If Dr. Jones treatment is accurate, in the year Jesus died the Sabbath of the first day of Unleavened Bread and the weekly Sabbath fell on the same day, a matter which removes the ambiguity of counting the days to Pentecost in most years.

January 09 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Robert Gilbert Supporter

Simply, the festival of weeks are 15 specific weeks when moving away from the "ceremony and tradition". We can easily pick out two of these weeks, which are the Genesis Week and the Passion Week. There are 15 of these weeks in all. These weeks need to be fulfilled. 

The 15 weeks in order are: 1. Genesis Week, 2. Joseph and slavery Week, 3. Simeon and famine Week, 4. Ark of the Covenant Week, 5. Levi and wilderness Week, 6. Temple Week, 7. Judah and Babylon Week, 8. Immanuel Week, 9. Issachar and 70 AD Jerusalem Week, 10. Passion Week, 11. Pentecost Week, 12. Zebulun and Holocaust Week, 13. 1st Resurrection Week, 14. 2nd Pentecost Week, and 15. Benjamin and the death of Rachel's children Week.

There remains only 3 weeks to be fulfilled: 1, Genesis Week, 13. 1st Resurrection Week and 14. 2nd Pentecost Week. All of these weeks are active at this very moment.

November 01 2023 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report