The Moedim – Shavuot Feast of Weeks

This week we come to Pentecost, which is called in Scripture the Feast of Firstfruits, or Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:15-22; Num. 28:26-31; Deut. 16:9-12) because they marked off 7 Sabbaths from the waving of the Firstfruits to celebrate the completion of the wheat harvest on the 50^th day, hence the ‘modern’ name of Pentecost.

This is the second one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Ex. 23:17; 34:23; Deut. 16:16) and tends to be a rather minor festival in Judaism. For one thing, it is only one day and no celebratory meals or rituals other than the specified sacrifices. With the destruction of the Temple, the Jewish sages sought to give it some significance and related it to the giving of the Law at Sinai.

It is, of course, of vital importance to Christians as it marks the coming of the Holy Spirit – the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4,8) and the birth of the Church as an ekklesia of those indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

What was to happen? Lev. 23:15-22

1. They were to mark off 50 days starting with the day they brought the Firstfruits, the day after the Sabbath, until the day after the 7^th Sabbath, and then bring the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
2. They were to bring two leavened loaves as a wave offering (not burnt as they contain leaven Lev. 2:11), 7 lambs, one bullock, and two rams, plus their grain and drink offerings, for a burnt offering
3. Also, they were to bring one goat for a sin offering and two lambs for a peace offering.
4. The day was to be marked as a mikra qodesh (a Yom Tov in modern Hebrew) – a statue for ever
5. And note the instructions regarding not gleaning the harvest, but leaving some for the poor and for the outsider (hint of the inclusion of Gentiles?)

So the whole period from the day of waving the barley sheaf is actually the period of Firstfruits, marked by waving of a sheaf on day 1, and the waving of two loaves of leavened bread on day 50 (Lev. 23:20 – they could not be burnt as they had leaven in Lev. 2:11-12), but were part of the peace offering aspect of that day’s sacrifices (Lev. 7:13; 23:19)

As we noted last week, https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/days-of-the-omer remarks that this was a commandment “to count forty-nine days beginning from the day on which the Omer, a sacrifice containing an omer-measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover (the 16th of Nisan) for Rabbinic Jews, and after the weekly Shabbat during Passover for Karaite Jews, and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the ‘fiftieth day.’”

According to the Masoretic text, and as followed by the Karaite Jews, it works out like this every year:

Day 1	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Day 50
F/fruits								Shavuot
Sunday								Sunday

Which is what happened in the year that Jesus was crucified – Day 1 First day of the week during Passover, Jesus’ resurrection as the Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.)

Day 50 also a first day of the week, the coming of the Holy Spirit to birth the church – latter Firstfruits (Jas. 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.)

Meaning for New Covenant Believers

The book of Ruth is read at Shavuot in the Synagogue due to its connection with the barley and wheat harvests – Ruth gleaned Boaz’ fields from the barley harvest to the end of the wheat harvest (Ruth 2:23). This may throw some light on the two leavened loaves – Jew (Naomi) and Gentile (Ruth) united by their relationship to Boaz (Christ). Naomi (the Jews) naturally related to Boaz; Ruth (the Gentiles) united to him in marriage.

How does Ruth/Boaz marriage relate to the Church? Pentecost was the coming of the Holy Spirit who is the ‘earnest’ or guarantee of the coming marriage/inheritance Eph. 1:13-14. We are ‘marked out’ or sealed as a pure virgin engaged to be married (2 Cor. 11:2) but our wedding has not yet taken place – that is at the Second Coming of our Bridegroom!

Boaz and Ruth were married straightaway, but that shows that the Church was a mystery hidden in God in Old Testament times (Eph. 3:9). The Church age is passed over in the type and the story skips on to prefigure the joint inheritance of the Church and Israel (Eph. 3:6; Rom. 11:25-26)

Other regulations for The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)

Num. 28:26-31

v.26 to be a Miqra qodesh (holy convocation) – a Yom Tov (day of rejoicing)

v.27-28 Note the offerings	compared to Lev. 23:17-19
	2 loaves of leavened bread for a wave offering v.17
– a burnt offering v.27 consisting of	a burnt offering v.18 consisting of
2 young bulls,	7 lambs,
1 ram,	1 young bull,
7 lambs	2 rams,
and a grain offering totalling 1.5 ephahs (33 litres) of fine flour mixed with oil (no quantity given) v.28-29	plus their grain and drink offerings
1 goat to make atonement v. 30	1 goat for a sin offering v.19
	and two lambs for a peace offering
as well as the regular burnt offering of a lamb morning and evening, plus their requisite grain and drink offerings v.31

2 loaves and 24 specified animals in total = 26 additional offerings – the gematria (sum of the numerical values of the letters) of Yod-He-Vav-He (Jahweh)