The Feast of Pentecost (πεντηκοστή pentékosté in Greek) and The Feast of The Weeks (שבועות Shavuot in Hebrew)!

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. Leviticus 23:15-16 NIV

Today, Sunday May 20th is Pentecost, also known as The Feast of The Weeks in English and שבועות (Shavuot) in Hebrew. On Passover, the people of Israel were finally released from slavery in Egypt; and on Shavuot they were given instructions on how to live post-slavery life well in the Torah.

With this love letter from God, His people became a nation committed to serving the Lord. The word Shavuot means weeks because the festival of Shavuot is the end of the seven-weeks between Passover and Shavuot.

There are explicit parallels and contrasts that are evident between the Feast of Pentecost in the New Testament and the Feast of Weeks in the Old Testament. The Feast of Weeks is the same feast the disciples observed in the New Testament, known as the Feast of Pentecost.

At the first Feast of Weeks, God provided the law. God had given the children of Israel freedom from bondage and slavery, so He then gave them the law to guide them in living.

As slaves they were told what to do by their masters, but in freedom they needed guidance from their new Master, the Lord God of Heaven. It should be noted that God gave them freedom, salvation from slavery, before He gave them the law.

Keeping the law was not a condition for receiving their freedom; it was a response to God’s grace in setting them free.

At the first Feast of Pentecost in the New Covenant, God provided His Holy Spirit for guidance. The Feast of Weeks/Pentecost celebrates God’s provisions for life. This feast is observed during the time of the wheat harvest, a major provision of the Lord. In Leviticus 23:15–16 God told the Jews:

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.

A new grain offering was to be offered in the Feast of Weeks:

From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. Leviticus 23:17 NIV

Leaven is now introduced to the bread in place of the unleavened bread of the former feasts. But why?

According to messianic rabbis, the Passover is referring to God and the purging of sin, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost refers to God’s people who receive the law and the Spirit. We still have sin in our lives until we receive our new glorified bodies at the Rapture. We read in 1 Corinthians 10:17:

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. (NIV) The two loaves mentioned in Leviticus 23:17 picture the Jew and the Gentile, but we are now one body, “one loaf.” There are a number of other offerings and sacrifices that are presented at the temple at this time as well, and they are applicable to several things, from sins to thanksgivings.

According to Leviticus 23:15-16, the Jews were commanded to start counting fifty days from the day of the Feasts of Firstfruits to the next feast, the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost. During the forty-nine days of this count, which they call “the counting of the omer,” the wheat crop is in the ripening process.

By the end of the omer count, the crop is ready for harvest, and the firstfruits of the wheat crop can be brought to the temple for Pentecost on the fiftieth day. Shavuot, the Hebrew name for this festival, means “seven weeks.” This concludes the festival season, which began at Passover. Just as Firstfruits celebrate the ripening of the barley crop, Shavuot celebrates the ripening of the wheat crop.

The feasts all have a historical significance. The Feast of Passover is a remembrance of the slaying of the Passover Lamb.

The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. The Feast of Weeks is a remembrance of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai.

The seventh day after Passover, according to tradition, reminds the Jews of the crossing of the Red Sea. The counting of the omer is regarded as a remembrance of the intervening days between the exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Sinai. That is why the Feast of Weeks became known as the anniversary of God’s appearance at Mount Sinai.

On the first Feast of Weeks, signs and wonders accompanied the giving of the law. We read in Exodus 20:18-19: When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. (NIV)

The מִדְרָשׁ (Midrash {is the genre of rabbinic literature which contains early interpretations and commentaries on the Written Torah and Oral Torah (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature (aggadah) and occasionally the Jewish religious laws (halakha), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture (Tanakh)}) also makes mention of what took place at the Feast of Weeks when the children of Israel heard the voice of God giving the law from Mt. Sinai.

According to the Midrash, the people in the camp saw sound waves in the form of fiery substances. Each commandment, as it left God’s mouth, circled the whole camp and eventually rested on each Jew personally. He also noted from the Midrash that the people heard God’s voice in many different languages.

Exodus 19:16 states: On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. (NIV)

The parallels are quite fascinating when we read Acts 2:2–6:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. (NIV)

While we cannot prove that everything recorded in the Midrash happened, but we can assume that all the people who were in the room in Acts 2 were familiar with the events. They could immediately make the connection between the Feast of Weeks and their present experience on the day of Pentecost as being of God.

The concept of the filling of the Spirit has always evoked different opinions regarding its meaning. One thing I observed about filling was that in the Greek there are two different words for the process. In Ephesians 5:18 the word for filling is πληρόω (plēróō, play-ro’-o), which conveys the idea of growth to maturity or being molded by the Word of God.

If we compare Ephesians 5:18 to Colossians 3:16, which discusses the same subject, we can see that “be filled with the Spirit” is the same as “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” Since this command in Ephesians 5:18 is in the present tense, this indicates a continual experience or process. Both phrases have the same result: praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

On the other hand, πίμπλημι (pimplemi pimplēmi) in Acts 2:4 is in the aorist tense (Greek tenses indicate not only time of action, but more especially kind of action. The aorist tense is a secondary tense, and accordingly, in the indicative mood it indicates past action. In other moods, it does not indicate absolute time, and often does not even indicate relative time.), which indicates a single event or happening. In context, the word implies an empowering for a work of service.

Today, since the Spirit indwells us as believers, we can be empowered by the Holy Spirit in our respective ministries. So the Holy Spirit is doing two major things for us: empowering and maturing us.

It is also interesting to note that when Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians6:19: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,…(NIV)

Paul used the Greek word ναός (naos), which means “the innermost holy place of the Temple where God dwelt.” The other word for temple, ἱερόν (hieron), means “the entire temple.” By Paul’s use of the word naos, he wants believers to understand that their bodies are truly the intimate dwelling places of the Holy Spirit.

I was also intrigued by one important contrast between the Old Covenant Feast of Weeks and the New Covenant Feast of Pentecost. In Exodus 32:28, we find that, The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died, but in Acts 2:41 we read that Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

So where the law brought death, the Spirit brought life!

It is interesting that the entire Godhead was involved in the fulfilling of the spring feasts. The Son honored and fulfilled the Feast of Passover by His death. The Father honored and fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by raising up Christ from death and the grave. The Holy Spirit honored and fulfilled the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost by His descent fifty days after the resurrection of Christ. Now we, in response to the fulfilling work of the total Godhead, can truly serve the Lord in all power and truth!