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Shavuot:
The Feast of Pentecost |
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| The Feast of Shavuot (pronounced Sha-vu-OTE`) occurs fifty days after Passover and is commonly called Pentecost, from the Greek word meaning “fifty.” Shavuot is traditionally celebrated as the birthday of both Judaism and Christianity: traditional Judaism calls it “the Season of the Giving of the Law” at Mount Sinai, and the New Covenant teaches that it was on Pentecost that the Holy Spirit was given to believers. | |||||
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Back for the Future Of the three major pilgrim festivals, Shavuot is unique in several ways. Unlike Passover and Tabernacles, the feast of Shavuot is dateless! It's name, Shavuot, which literally means “weeks”, hints at its mystery and uniqueness. Is this because it would be celebrated for weeks on end? No, Shavuot is biblically celebrated for only one day, but it’s called “weeks” because of how one knows when to celebrate this unusual Holy Day. In order to celebrate Shavuot you have to count “seven weeks” from “the day after the Sabbath” of the Passover, and the next day, the fiftieth day, would be Shavuot. “You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD” (Lev. 23:15-17). So, why don’t the Scriptures just give the date? |
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Remember Uncle Murray! Can you imagine if your mother never told you your birthday? Rather, she told you to celebrate it fifty days after the anniversary of your uncle Murray’s death. When you’re very young, this might be okay, but by high school it would be embarrassing not to know your birthday. “Hey dude, when’s your birthday?” “Well, it’s fifty days after the day my Uncle Murray died.” You’d eventually run home insisting on knowing the date of your birthday. |
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| Mom would reply, “It's fifty days after your uncle Murray died.” “But, Mom why do I have to count fifty days from Uncle Murray's death?” “Because, your Uncle Murray left you his fortune and I never want you to forget your Uncle Murray!” In the same way, Israel was to count fifty days, so that in order to celebrate Shavuot they would never forget Passover. Traditionally, Shavuot is remembered as a time when God made Israel one people at the giving of the Torah at Mt Sinai. But, it was Passover, not Shavuot, when God redeemed us as a people from bondage through the blood of the Lamb. | |||||
| As the head of the year Passover celebrates Israel’s redemption from bondage, and redemption is the foundation of our faith. Thus the foundation of Israel’s redemption was provided, not at Shavuot, not the people themselves, and not by the Law, but only in Passover. As Israel was forced to count the weeks from Passover for their “national birthday,” they were forced to remember that their redemption as a people was found in the Passover lamb.
Remember Messiah's Sacrifice! A Two-Loaf Offering: With Leaven The New Covenant continues this theme regarding leaven. Messiah warns His followers of the hypocrisy, pride and false teaching of the religious leaders of their day: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” and “beware of the ... teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” In 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks to a congregation in sin (a “leavened loaf”) about the malice and wickedness of unconfessed sin in their carnal fellowship (see 1 Cor. 5:6-8, Gal. 5:9). Leaven is a clear picture of the corruption of sin. Understanding the biblical symbol of leaven can help us more accurately interpret certain Scriptures. In Matthew 13:33, Messiah is speaking of the mystery form of the kingdom, “He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.’” Many commentators think this speaks of the wonderful growth of the “Body of Messiah” (the Church). But as we look further at the Scriptures, (like the mustard tree parable before it) we find this speaks of the corrupted form of the kingdom ‘leavened’ or contaminated with false teaching and hypocrisy. For example, the history of certain denominations contains episodes where after waging their wars, the ‘Church’ would actually march captured pagan armies through a river, then declare them to be “baptized Christians”. These so called “Christians” would then be allowed to continue in their pagan forms of worship, including ‘Mother worship’ the deification of the mother of Yeshua and identifying her with the pagan goddess Ishtar--all done in the name of ‘Christ’ and ‘church growth.’ Is it any wonder that so many Jewish people today have a difficult time seeing the Jewish roots and context of biblical faith? This parable in fact cautions believers to live ‘leaven free’ lives. Our service and growth is to be without pride, hypocrisy and wickedness, lest we end up with useless “wood, hay and straw,” representative of our service for Messiah (see 1 Cor. 3:12-15). Intimacy in our relationship with God is hindered while unconfessed sins remain in our heart. We must “purge out this leaven” by admitting it for what it is: sin. We can then be cleansed and restored to walk closely with our God, experiencing again the joy of our salvation. Come As You Are! |
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