Pentecost, Shavuot & First Fruits
05-13-2009, 10:34 PM
This is still a work in progress, but here's the grist of it.
For whatever reason, it seems as though the Feast of First Fruits is pretty much lost in the mix of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And some folks see First Fruits as being more connected to another first fruits category of feasts, Shavuot or Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks.
I've been doing a lot of reading and I've not found much in the Hebrew studies that I've found, sadly. Still looking. What I have found is that it seems that the folks in the olden days of Hebraic lore, they started "counting the omers" on First Fruits, counting down the week of weeks until Pentecost. It was a big deal to those folks, but nothing I've found yet tells me WHY! I can guess, but I don't have anything concrete. Pentecost/Shavuot was one of the pilgrim feasts when males over 13 years of age were expected to show up in Jerusalem, in God's favorite city, His capital city. Was the excitement only because of the upcoming trip and fulfilling the Lord's directive to show up in J-town, in the City of Shalom?
There was an anticipation about Pentecost. There are traditions surrounding the day, but not much history. No big events, but some great traditions. The Giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai is celebrated on Pentecost; again, this is a tradition with no full history behind it. Yes, there are some hints in the Exodus account about some of the days spent in the wilderness, but they're only hints, in my opinion.
Did you know that they also celebrate King David's birth and death on Pentecost? That's the tradition. Anything to get excited about over 50 days? I don't think so. We celebrate George Washington's birthday here in the US, but we don't start a countdown for 50 days! I do remember as a kid that we had a little 3" cartoon on the front page of the local newspaper that counted down the shopping days to Christmas. I remember looking forward to them, to looking at what the artist had conjured up to help us little kids get their holiday juices flowing more and more each day. And I remember disliking Sundays during that time of year! Silly, eh? We did not have a Sunday paper!! No cartoon. I had to wait an extra day to see the new fun.
Now, the Hebrews are into this sort of thing. Remember that they still fill Elijah's Passover cup and walk to the door to see if he's shown up this year. That's more than just hype and script to entertain the kiddies. There is something there, the acting out of their hope in Messiah's coming and the one who will herald that event in their eyes. Year after year, decades, centuries, still pouring a cup for Elijah. Why WOULDN'T they count the omers to Weeks?? But what's the deal?
They celebrate the Law's arrival on Pentecost. As Christians, we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to man. They celebrate the tablets, we celebrate the birth of the Church and the writing of the Law on our hearts.
Are you counting down? Are you expecting something on Pentecost? No? Why not??
For whatever reason, it seems as though the Feast of First Fruits is pretty much lost in the mix of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And some folks see First Fruits as being more connected to another first fruits category of feasts, Shavuot or Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks.
I've been doing a lot of reading and I've not found much in the Hebrew studies that I've found, sadly. Still looking. What I have found is that it seems that the folks in the olden days of Hebraic lore, they started "counting the omers" on First Fruits, counting down the week of weeks until Pentecost. It was a big deal to those folks, but nothing I've found yet tells me WHY! I can guess, but I don't have anything concrete. Pentecost/Shavuot was one of the pilgrim feasts when males over 13 years of age were expected to show up in Jerusalem, in God's favorite city, His capital city. Was the excitement only because of the upcoming trip and fulfilling the Lord's directive to show up in J-town, in the City of Shalom?
There was an anticipation about Pentecost. There are traditions surrounding the day, but not much history. No big events, but some great traditions. The Giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai is celebrated on Pentecost; again, this is a tradition with no full history behind it. Yes, there are some hints in the Exodus account about some of the days spent in the wilderness, but they're only hints, in my opinion.
Did you know that they also celebrate King David's birth and death on Pentecost? That's the tradition. Anything to get excited about over 50 days? I don't think so. We celebrate George Washington's birthday here in the US, but we don't start a countdown for 50 days! I do remember as a kid that we had a little 3" cartoon on the front page of the local newspaper that counted down the shopping days to Christmas. I remember looking forward to them, to looking at what the artist had conjured up to help us little kids get their holiday juices flowing more and more each day. And I remember disliking Sundays during that time of year! Silly, eh? We did not have a Sunday paper!! No cartoon. I had to wait an extra day to see the new fun.
Now, the Hebrews are into this sort of thing. Remember that they still fill Elijah's Passover cup and walk to the door to see if he's shown up this year. That's more than just hype and script to entertain the kiddies. There is something there, the acting out of their hope in Messiah's coming and the one who will herald that event in their eyes. Year after year, decades, centuries, still pouring a cup for Elijah. Why WOULDN'T they count the omers to Weeks?? But what's the deal?
They celebrate the Law's arrival on Pentecost. As Christians, we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to man. They celebrate the tablets, we celebrate the birth of the Church and the writing of the Law on our hearts.
Are you counting down? Are you expecting something on Pentecost? No? Why not??
Blessings!
Dean
DeanZF
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