Shavuot is right around the corner. So to all who may not know much about it, this may be of interest to you. If you would prefer the podcast of this post, you can find it at the bottom.The Torah states, "Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me".1 This is referring to three festivals found on the Jewish calendar, Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (weeks, Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles, Ingathering). These are collectively known to the Jewish people as Shalosh Regalim, meaning “the three festivals”. On these occasions, the people (specifically the males)2 were commanded to make a journey to “appear” at the Temple in Jerusalem, as part of the celebration. These are three of seven festivals given by God in the Torah for commemoration, but these three are set apart for specifically coming to Jerusalem.
Each of
these three festivals commemorates an important event in the history of the
Hebrews. Passover commemorated the exodus of the people out of the bondage of
Egypt; the freedom of slaves from 400 some odd years captivity. That is truly a
cause for celebration. Shavuot celebrates the giving of God’s Torah or
instruction/teaching (this is tradition, not actually stated in the scripture,
although there are good Biblical reasons through which the Rabbinical interpretations
on this are probably right, and does not really change the picture either way
because it was in the same season). Even the book of Jubilees (written around
the second century B.C.) links the giving of Torah to Shavuot. Sukkot
was also a real event; it was the journey through the desert to the land of
promise, and the celebration of the end of 40 years in wandering.
In
addition to the things I just mentioned about these three festivals, they also
have another meaning. Because Israel was always an agrarian based people, their
festivals and calendar reflected it. During the season of Passover (this time
period is called the festival of unleavened bread, as well as another holiday
called Reshit Katzir, also known as bikurim) is celebrated as the first-fruits
of the barley harvest. Shavuot is the first-fruits signifying the beginning of wheat
harvest, and the end of the barley harvest. Sukkot is then the final
“ingathering” of the produce.
Like many
other things in the Scriptures, especially for those who are believers in the
Messiah Yeshua, these festivals (also called feasts) contain many more pictures
and fulfillment in addition to an actual event at a specific time in history.
For example, Passover was a real event that was and is celebrated. But is it
possible that in the physical imagery that really happened at a specific point
in time, something greater was at work; another picture that is framed in that
one? Or perhaps it is the other way around. Maybe that was a picture of
something greater that was to come, something that would culminate in the
sacrifice of the Messiah. Can God do that? There were really lambs sacrificed
at the original Passover, and because of obedience, the angel of death would
Passover the people. The lamb is the Passover. Because of the Lamb we are
passed over.
Then in
the first century A.D., Yeshua instructed his disciples that when they
observed this [Passover], to remember him; he is the Passover. So observing
something that has been fulfilled or still seeing the picture, is not any
different after the coming of Messiah, other than we see it with more clarity
because we now know who the Messiah is, and we can see in vivid color the beauty
of a picture that was only one layer visible in black and white.
In much
the same way, Sukkot also was something that really took place, but I also
believe it has implications in our future (as well as other festivals, possibly
Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah). These festivals or feasts can have such an impact
for those who desire to see the richness of what God intended for them to
signify.
So, have
you been counting your omer? What kind of question is that, and what in the
world is an omer? The festival of Shavuot is also called the festival or feast
of weeks (Shavuot means “weeks”). Well, again if we go to the Torah,
specifically Leviticus 23:17 we find
that we must count the days from the second night of Passover to the day before
Shavuot, “seven full weeks”. This
period is called “counting the omer”. An omer is a unit of measure. It is one-tenth
part of an ephah.3
Well that doesn’t help much either. It
is a measurement of something dry containing, at least according to the Rabbis,
two quarts, but according to Josephus, three and one-half quarts. At least it
gives a little idea how much we are talking about.
On the
second day of Passover, during the Temple period, an omer of barley was cut
down and brought to the temple as part of what was called a “wave offering”.
From then on, every night, until the night before Shavuot, a blessing is
recited, and the omer is counted, cited in weeks and days. The counting is to
remember that Shavuot is connected to Passover. Without the Exodus (coming
out), we could have never come to the mountain of God and learn His
instruction. The picture was also taken further in the promises that were made
upon the Exodus; I will bring you out (used to be slaves), I will set you free
(not even a slave anymore), I will redeem you (redemption at Sinai), I will
take you (cup of protection, as a husband).4
The
picture of Shavuot can be found in “I will redeem you”, and “I will take you”.
The Hebrews looked at the giving of Torah as a marriage and the Torah as the ketubah (the marriage document). There
are many other very neat pictures found at this “wedding” of the God of Israel
and His people at Horeb (Sinai), but that is not my intent for now.
This feast
is celebrated 50 days after Passover, which is the month in the Jewish calendar
called Sivan (the third month). In Exodus
19, we find that the Hebrews reached Sinai “in the third month” (this is the religious calendar cycle, not the
civil calendar).
Yeshua
quoted the Torah in his desert experience (40 days just like Moses) from Deuteronomy 8, “a person does not live on food [bread] alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of ADONAI”. It
fits very well then, on this day as the Torah is celebrated, that “bread” is
part of the offering.
People
streamed from all around in celebration of this feast, as commanded. They would
bring their gifts to the temple in Jerusalem, and present them to the priest. This
festival was based on the offering of “new grain”, so two loaves of bread were
baked with a gallon of fine flour with the first of the wheat harvest as thanks
for the harvest of the wheat. The priest would wave the loaves before the Lord. 5 The
first of the harvest went to the Lord, with anticipation of more to follow.
That is the meaning of a “first-fruits”. You can imagine the crowds one would
encounter when all the people were obeying Torah and “appearing” before the
Lord on this occasion.
In
addition to all of this, sacrifices were also done. On the 50th day
(after the Passover Sabbath), not diminishing the daily sacrifice, seven male
lambs, one young bull and two rams were offered as burnt offerings. There were
other offerings as well, two lambs for a fellowship offering, and a male goat
for a sin offering. There were many things that took place, and there are many
details that could layed out that would undoubtedly be interesting to you, but
are not the whole point of what was being done. Take everything we have seen so
far about this God given celebration, and use it as a backdrop and a Hebrew
understanding for another point in time where we will go next.
Come with
me to the Galilee. After Yeshua’s resurrection, according to Matthew, Yeshua
told his disciples to meet him on a hill in the Galilee.6
All that distance for the disciples to go, and he gives them one message. He
wanted them to continue his mission and know they went under the authority that
was placed upon him. He told them to return to Jerusalem, and according to Luke, they are told to stay in the city
of Jerusalem and wait until they received the “promise of the Father”,7
which is the Ruach, the wind, breath,
or in the Greek translation, “Spirit” of God.
In the
first chapter of Acts we find it was
40 days after his resurrection, Yeshua ascended to the right hand of God. There
is no doubt about it that there was much anticipation for the coming feast of
Shavuot, as the disciples would continue to obey God’s instructions (Torah) as
Yeshua had done, and commanded. Yeshua having died on Passover, put in the
grave on unleavened bread, and raised on First-Fruits (barley), made this a
festival season for disciples unlike any they had ever experienced.
We come to
the day of anticipation, Shavuot. Now some translations render this not as
Shavuot, but Pentecost, which is the Greek literally meaning “fifty”, or “the
fifty”. It is now 10 days after Yeshua
ascended, and in Acts 2:1 we
observe, “The festival of Shavu'ot
arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place.” What else
would be expected on Shavuot? This is nothing out of the ordinary. They would
gather at the temple. Where were the disciples? Where else would you expect to
find Jewish males who were to appear before the Lord on Shavuot? They were at
the temple with everyone else participating in the ceremony and celebration. “Suddenly there came a sound from the sky
like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting.” Notice the word “house”, which is another way of describing the
temple, meaning “God’s House”.8 Showing
that this happened at the temple is not my objective, although with all the
things reflected in this festival, I don’t believe is very difficult to prove.
Either way, some strange things began to happen.
At a prior
festival (the last great day of the seven day festival of Sukkot called Hoshana Rabbah, at the water libation nisuch ha-mayim, which had to do with
living water being brought and poured on the altar), Yeshua stood and cried
out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep
coming to me and drinking! Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says,
rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!”(Now he said this about the Spirit, whom
those who trusted in him were to receive later- the Spirit had not yet been
given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified)” John 7:37-39. In the same manner as Yeshua had done, Peter
stood up at this festival and proclaimed, “You
Judeans, and all of you staying here in Yerushalayim! Let me tell you what this means! Listen carefully to me!”9 Peter
was explaining to those who were apart of the activities, who might not have
been privy to all that was happening, and had already happened with Yeshua, who
the disciples and we know to be the Messiah, the anointed of God.
Peter
gives us another clue as well, “nine in
the morning”,10
the time that the ceremony would be going. Some scholars also believe it was at
this time the portions from the Torah and prophets were read, which would have
included the description of God on Mount Sinai11
(which was thunder, lightning, fire, smoke and trumpets and earthquake). It
would have also included passages from the book of Ezekiel. The first two chapters of his account, tell of his amazing
vision (which is a whole study in of itself and the creatures and visions he
saw), but there was also lightning and fire. Ezekiel fell down, and was then
commanded to stand. When he had done so, it says that ruach ([the] spirit, wind, breath) entered him, and he was spoken
to. He, under what we might call this “empowering”, was to be a prophet, an
emissary, a sent one, with a divine message to his people. Does this sound
familiar? Did you know that this had been done before Acts? Does this surprise
you? God’s power comes over His people to perform His tasks. It is His message,
to be done His way.
In Acts we
have the same ruach coming with wind
and fire, and the gift of “tongues” allowing Yeshua’s disciples to speak the
message of the Father to the “Judeans, and all staying in Jerusalem” which
included many from different nations, as Acts
2:9 clearly shows. Without seeing the context, we cannot appreciate the
full effect of what is happening.
Other
passages read on this day are Habakkuk 3,
and the story of Ruth. What is amazing about the story of Ruth, especially with
the story of Acts in our minds, is that the book of Ruth in one sense
celebrates the idea of a gentile being joined to the Hebrew people, a
foreshadowing of what would be done in Acts through the disciples word and
through the unity of the Messiah. There is another part to this as well. The
story of Ruth is about harvest. In some senses we could say that the two loaves
of Shavuot represent the Jews and the Gentiles together, being presented as an
offering to God. Keep in mind as well that Ruth and Naomi’s survival was based
on others, and their leaving some of their harvest to provide for them. This is
a picture in Shavuot we will examine.
There is
another direct and strong correlation to that of Acts and the giving of Torah. In
chapter 32 of Exodus, Moses was on the mountain, and the people did not know what
had become of him. The people decided to have an affair with another “god” as
Moses was receiving the covenant of their
“Husband” (God, YHVH). God told Moses to hurry down because of what was taking
place. Moses saw what was being done, he took and ground the golden
representation of the “god” to dust and made the people drink it. If you think
the whole wife and husband thing is a stretch, look at Numbers chapter 5 verses
11-31 and the test for an unfaithful
wife, and see if it matches what was done to the people with the golden calf. Ultimately,
three thousand people die as a result of the affair. Now look at Acts again.
How many people because of the power given the disciples were birthed into the
Kingdom? Act 2:41 “So those who accepted what he said were
immersed, and there were added to the group that day about three thousand
people.” Do you think that is just a coincidence? That is a huge picture.
The same could be said in relationship to the first-fruits offering; this was a
type of first-fruits (the three thousand) of a larger harvest, or more to come.
In the
Torah it also says the people washed their clothes.12 The
next thing that happens in Acts is that those three thousand were immersed. Now
true, it does not say the immersion was a water immersion, but whether it was
or not, the picture is still there and it changes little either way. It is
however noteworthy that near the place where all this would most naturally take
place, are many ritual baths called “mikvoth”. These pools of water were for
people (pilgrims) to wash in before going up to the temple.
Being
filled with the “Spirit” in one sense was not a new thing. But as Peter and
Paul would later specify, God was giving much to the gentiles. The parallels to
Sinai are unmistakable and not coincidence. It is still the breath, wind, or as
most are acclimated to saying, the Spirit of God who gives life. God through
this great festival included the gentiles and gave new definition and further
meaning by allowing us to participate in something that was already there and
started so long ago.
There is
something else though that may give just a bit more of a glimpse as to what was
being said through picture and being seen by the eyes and ears of those early
followers. God had many ways of describing and showing His presence. But like
we saw earlier with the giving of the Torah to Moses, the Tabernacle was also
given. Then later on down the road, Solomon built the first stationary
tabernacle in Jerusalem (a place that God had chosen to put His name). In Exodus 25 and 40 the Ark of the Covenant was a place where God said His presence
would “dwell” (symbolized by smoke and fire). That presence was then moved into
Solomon’s temple in 2 Chronicles 5
and 7. We already looked at the fire
and smoke seen in Ezekiel’s vision
of chapter 1. In chapter 2 of Acts we see God once again represented by “wind” and “fire”, but
instead of being on the Ark, in the Holy of Holies (was the veil still torn
from Passover not too long before this) we see His presence upon the people,
suggesting that in the same way when His presence moved from the mobile
tabernacle to the temple, His presence was once again moving to a mobile
tabernacle. That is the picture. Is God that wishy washy that He can’t make up
His mind where He wants to live? No, I do not believe that was ever the picture
being portrayed. He never lived there anyway, as even God said to Isaiah, “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that
you will build Me? And where is the
place of My rest?13
This is attested at the witness of Stephen in Acts 7 when he testified saying, “Solomon did build him a house. But Ha'Elyon [Most High] does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne,'
says ADONAI, 'and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house could you build
for me? What kind of place could you
devise for my rest? Didn't I myself
make all these things? “Stiffnecked
people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the Ruach
HaKodesh! You do the same things your
fathers did!”
The
picture is that it is among the community, the people of God, the Sheep of His
pasture, where His presence dwells. It was the same before. God still desires
to “tabernacle” among His people. God wants His people, a Royal Priesthood to
show the nations around, what He is like, to put Him on display. That is what
the temple had been. The picture is not that of individualism to where we are
all little temples walking around, the picture is we all together make up the
temple, the House of God. Peter remarked in 1 Peter 2, “As you come to
him, the living stone, [also said to be the cornerstone by the Messiah
himself] rejected by people but chosen by
God and precious to him, you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into
a spiritual house [there is the temple again] to be cohanim [priests] set
apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua
the Messiah. This is why the Tanakh
says, “Look! I am laying in Tziyon a
stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and whoever rests his trust on it
will certainly not be humiliated. Now
to you who keep trusting, he is precious.
But to those who are not trusting, “The very stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.”14
This is
the culmination of God writing the Torah on the hearts of His people.15
It is not about legalism and keeping certain rites and rules, as many religions
propagate, it is instead having the desire to obey God, desiring His fullness
in every area of our lives, allowing Him
to fill us, and living in complete surrender so that God may be “all in all”.16
That
brings me to the final picture that I see in Shavuot, another correlation to
what Acts records from the Torah. In the harvest the people were to leave the
corners of their fields uncut.17
Yeshua reprimanded those who tried to keep the “law” and made God’s words
(Torah) of no effect.18
So in the same way, it would be hypocrisy to “bring your gift to God”, and have no concern for the poor by
cutting the corners of your field. Yeshua also stated that if there is
something between a brother and yourself, leave your gift at the altar and be
reconciled to your brother first (it is more important) and then give your
gift. Both things are commands of God, but loving your brother is greater.19
This “caring for others” (the poor among them) is one of great significance in
the entirety of the scriptures. Specifically here in Acts we find, “All those trusting in Yeshua stayed together
and had everything in common; in fact, they sold their property and possessions
and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need. Continuing faithfully and
with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily and breaking
bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of
heart.”20
They really took obedience seriously.
There is a
day coming in the not too distant future when this will happen again. God’s
people will not only have to share with one another, but share with the
unbelieving “nations” (represented by people, not geographical territories). Wouldn’t
it be better to start now, and share and live in harmony out of love in our
relationship not only with our Father, but also with our brothers in sisters
with whom we “have all things in common”?
How can we claim to have experienced “Shavuot”, but deny the least of what God
has said? Can we have conflict with others in the “house” of God and claim to
be living as He desires? Can we leave the “corners of our fields” uncut and
still claim to be living in the obedience He instructs? As Yeshua said, “You pay your tithes of mint, dill and cumin;
but you have neglected the weightier matters of the Torah- justice, mercy,
trust. These are the things you should have attended to- without neglecting the
others!”21
This is Shavuot.
1
Ex 23:14
2
Ex 23:17, Deut 16:16
3
Ex 16:36
4
Ex 6:6-7
5
Lev 23:15-22
6
Matt 28:7, 10, 16
7
Luke 24:49
8
2 Chron 5:14, Acts 7:47, Even to this
day in Hebrew and among those exposed to it, the temple mount is called har
ha-bayit meaning “the mountain of the house”
9
Acts 2:14
10
Acts 2:15
11
Ex 19:18-19, Deut 5:19-21
12
Ex 19:14
13
Isaiah 66
14
Quoted from Ps 118.
15
Jer 31 “new covenant”
16
1 Cor 15:28
17
Lev 19, 23
18
Mark 7
19
Matt 5
20
Acts 2:44-46
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