Shavout, The Feast of Pentecost
Shavuot: The Feast Of Pentecost
Pastor Keith Hassell
Major Scriptures:
Exodus 19-20; 23:16-17; 24; 34:22-23
Leviticus 23:15-21
Numbers 28:26-31
Deuteronomy 16:9-12
Acts 2
2 Corinthians 3
Hebrews 8
1. The Festivals
The Hebrew word for festivals is "mikrah" which means "convocations", or literally, ""rehearsals" or "recitals" for the men of Israel. Another Hebrew word used is "mo'ed" which means "appointment." These festivals are Jewish festivals, they are God's festivals. They are rehearsals designed to reveal the Messiah. There were three major festivals: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Jesus fulfilled Passover as the Lamb of God and Pentecost by sending His Holy Spirit. One day He will return to fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles.
Each of these three feasts had a different theme:
a. Passover's theme is creation
b. Pentecost's theme is revelation
c. Tabernacle's theme is redemption
Therefore the Creation, Revelation, and Redemption are the three major themes in Jewish life. These three themes also appear in other aspects of Jewish life such as in the three meals of Shabbat(Sabbath).
2. The names of the feast
a. The Feast of Harvest(Exodus 23:16)
b. The Feast of Weeks(Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10,16)
c. The Day of Firstfruits(Numbers 28:26; Exodus 34:22)
d. The Feast of Weeks of the Firstfruits of Wheat Harvest(Exodus 34:22)
e. The Feast of Harvest, The Firstfruits of Israel's labors(Exodus 23:16)
f. The Feast of Pentecost, in the New Testament. "Pentecost" is the transliteration of the Greek word for "fifty". (Acts 2:1; 20:16; I Corinthians 16:8)
g. Hebrew Names for the Feast
1) Shavuot---means "weeks"
2) Atzeret Shel Pesach---used by the Talmud which means "the closing season of the Passover festival" implying that the sages regarded Pentecost as the conclusion of the Feast of Passover.
3) Hag Hakatzir---means "The Festival of the Harvest"
4) Yom HaBikkurim---means "The Day of the First Fruits"
5) Zman Matan Torateinu---used in the Jewish Prayer Book and means "the season of the giving of the Torah"(i.e. Law)
h. The three days before Shavuot are called "Shloshet Yemei Hagbala" meaning "the three days of bounds"(Exodus 19:10-13) These days commemorate the three days of preparation before Moses received the
Ten Commandments.
3. Shavuot(Greek: "Pentecost") was the feast that God was calling Israel to observe in the wilderness (Exodus 5:1; 10:9)
4. Historic and Cultural Background: Israel observed Passover on the 14th of Nisan. Israel left Egypt on the 15th of Nisan and crossed the Red Sea on Sunday, the 17th of Nisan. From there they traveled forty seven days until they reached Mt. Sinai. God instructed Moses to tell the people to prepare themselves for three days. On the fiftieth day after coming up out of the Red Sea, the people were to approach the mountain to meet with God. Moses was instructed to set bounds to limit the approach of the people. Anyone crossing these bounds were to be killed. A heavenly shofar (trumpet) sounded louder and louder. The Lord descended upon the mountain in fire. The smoke ascended like the smoke of a burning furnace. The whole mountain quaked. From the mountain God spoke audibly to the people in giving the Ten Commandments. The people were terrified and requested that from this moment forward Moses would speak to God for them and tell them what He said.
The earliest observance of Shavuot was as an agricultural feast. Shavuot marks the beginning of the harvesting of wheat, the last grain of the harvest season. On Shavuot the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were presented to the Lord in the Temple. The offering consisted of two loaves of baked bread with leavened flour. This bread is called "The Challa" and is baked with a ladder design on top to commemorate the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai. [Note: The numerical value of the Hebrew word for "Sinai"(130) is the same as that of the Hebrew word for "ladder"(sulam)] The ladder symbolizes Moses' ascent up Mt. Sinai.
In instructions on keeping this feast, the people of Israel are instructed to count seven weeks(thus the "Feast of Weeks") from the Festival of the Sheaf of the Firstfruits(Leviticus 23:10-12) and then to observe the following day as Shavuot, or Pentecost. The forty nine days of the seven weeks are referred to as "Sefirat Ha Omer" meaning "The counting of the Omer" where the people count the measure of the barley harvest each day. In doing so, the people remember and connect the Festival of Passover with the Festival of Shavuot to impress upon themselves that the deliverance from Egypt did not constitute complete freedom until it consummated with the giving and accepting of the covenant, i.e. the Ten Commandments.
In the modern observance of Shavuot, the Jewish people observe three days of preparation called "Shloshet Yemei Hagbala" which means "the three days of bounds" in commemoration of the boundaries set up by Moses around Mt. Sinai and the preparation of God's people before meeting God. Some people stay up all night before Shavuot in prayer and study in order to be prepared spiritually for the holiday commemorating the giving of the Law. This practice is from an old Jewish legend that stated that thunder and lightning kept the children of Israel awake during the time Moses was on Mt. Sinai waiting to receive the Law. The Synagogue readings for this holiday include Exodus 19-20 and two other passages recording divine appearances of God: Ezekiel 1-2 and Habakkuk 3. Another book that is read is Ruth because it is a story of harvest and the joining of a Gentile woman Ruth to God's people. For New Testament believers this foretells the future work of God to join Gentiles to the Jews through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Shavuot is also the traditional date on which King David died, a significant thought when reading the portion of Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:25-32.
5. Rabbinical Teachings
Rabbi Joseph Hertz in his Authorized Daily Prayer Book, page 71, speaks about God's voice giving the commandments on Mt. Sinai: "The Divine Voice divided itself into the seventy tongues then spoken on earth, so that all the children of men might understand its world-embracing and man-redeeming message."
Rabbi Moshe Weissman in his book, The Midrash Says(Benei Yakov Publications, 1980, page 182) says that the voice of God appeared visibly to the children of Israel in a fiery substance. "Each commandment that left Hashem's(the Lord's mouth) traveled around the entire camp and then came back to every Jew individually, asking him, 'Do you accept upon yourself this Commandment with all halochot(Jewish law) pertaining to it?' Every Jew answered, 'Yes', after each Commandment. Finally the fiery substance which they saw, engraved itself on the luchot(tablets)."
[Note: Exodus 19 The people did not hear "thunderings" but "voices"(Hebrew "kolot")]
The Talmud(Rosh Hashana 2a) states that Shavuot is judgment day for fruit trees.
6. The Significance of Fifty
a. Shavuot(Pentecost: meaning "fifty") was observed on the fiftieth day after the Feast of the Sheaf of the Firstfruits(observed on the day after the first weekly Sabbath after Passover)
b. Fifty is used symbolically to represent liberty, freedom, or deliverance.
c. The fiftieth year in Israel is called the year of Jubilee.
d. Priests were at liberty to cease serving in the Tabernacle at age fifty.
e. For New Testament believers, the day of Pentecost represents liberty and freedom from Old Covenant ceremonialism that we might serve the Lord in the newness of the Spirit rather than in the oldness of the letter.
7. Shavuot and the New Covenant
a. 2 Corinthians 3 The New Covenant is more glorious than the old
b. Hebrews 8:6-13 The New Covenant is based on better promises, a better priesthood, and it is lasting
c. Hebrews 12:18-24 We have not come to Mt. Sinai, but to Mt. Zion
8. The Seal of the Covenants
a. Old Covenant was keeping the Sabbaths(Exodus 31:13)
b. New Covenant is the Holy Spirit(Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)
c. Insight: The Old Testament seal was a day of rest. The New Testament seal is a Spirit of rest.
9. The Old Testament Pentecost Established
a. The Letter of the Law
b. The Levitical Priesthood
c. The Sacrificial System
d. The Festivals
e. The Tabernacle
f. The Church in the Wilderness(Acts 7:38)
10. The New Testament Pentecost Established
a. The Spirit of the Law(Isaiah 2:3; 2 Corinthians 3)
b. The priesthood of all believers(1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6)
c. Spiritual sacrifices(Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15-16)
e. Jesus as the fulfillment of each festival(1 Corinthians 5:7-8)
f. The temple of our bodies(I Corinthians 6:19)
g. The Church of Jesus Christ
11. The Letter and Spirit of the Law
a. The letter of the Law was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Spirit of the Law was given to the church on Pentecost. The letter of the Law kills, but the Spirit of the Law gives life.(2 Corinthians 3). 3,000 people died in the inauguration of the Old Testament Pentecost. 3,000 were saved at the inauguration of the New Testament Pentecost.
b. The letter of the Law was written on tablets of stone. The Spirit of the Law is written on the fleshly tables of men's hearts(Jeremiah 31:31-34)
12. Shavuot and The Holy Spirit
a. "Torah" means "teaching" and not "law". So the Holy Spirit teaches God's truth(John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13; I John 2:26)
b. It is customary on Shavuot to eat milk foods. So the Holy Spirit provides the milk of the Word(I Peter 2:2)
c. Romans 8:23 We have received the "firstfruits" of the Spirit
d. Acts 2:1-4 The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost
e. The account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came with manifestations similar to those at Mt. Sinai(fire, wind, voice, etc.)
13. Shavuot and New Testament Harvest
a. The two leavened loaves presented on Shavuot represent God's people consisting of Jew and Gentile(John 10:16; Romans 11:17-26; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 2:14)
b. Acts 2:41 3,000 people become the "firstfruits" of Jesus' new Spirit- empowered priesthood
c. Firstfruits always points to more to come. The harvest of Passover and Pentecost point to the harvest of Tabernacles at the end of the year----the end of the age.
d. Final harvest necessitates the final rain(outpouring) of the Holy Spirit (James 5:7)
14. Pentecost and the Believer
a. The believer must experience the glorious feast of Pentecost even as he does the feast of Passover
1) Passover: Salvation, introduction to the Lamb of God, Jesus. There are no need for a repeated Passover with Jesus but every new believer can have the truth and experience of Passover by faith.
2) Pentecost: Baptism in the Holy Spirit and by the Holy Spirit into the church, the body of Christ. There is no need for a repeated Pentecost with the Holy Spirit, but every new believer can have the truth and experience of Pentecost by faith.
3) The truth and experience of Passover and Pentecost prepare us to look forward to the truth and experience of Tabernacles.
b. What does God expect from us? Good fruit unto Him!(John 15)