Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) – Pentecost – Marriage Anniversary
9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: 11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
Deuteronomy 16:9-11; see also Leviticus 23:16-22
The period from Passover (Pesach) to the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot – pronounced, “sha – voo – oat”) is a time of great anticipation. The days are counted from the second day of Passover (Week of Unleavened Bread – Leviticus 23:15) to the day before Shavuot, forty-nine days or seven full weeks, hence the name of the festival (i.e., the Feast of Weeks). This makes it 50 days after Passover, where it gets the Greek name, Pentecost (pentekoste – fiftieth).
Pentecost is a truly significance holiday. It marked the wheat harvest in Israel (Exodus 34:22), and it commemorates the anniversary of the day when Elohim gave the Torah to the nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:3-8) and the people responded that they would obey all that the LORD commanded (see also, Deuteronomy 5).
This is the marriage covenant that Yahweh makes with His people. He called them to be His and they took His Name. The Commandments in stone and the rest of the Torah are the marriage certificate. When we “confess Yeshua as Lord” (Romans 10:9), we take our place within the covenant (see Born Again?).
This is a serious commitment (as all marriages should be) and a flippant taking of Yahweh’s name is a serious transgression (see Chapter 2, the third commandment). Marriage vows are not nonchalant – If one is not “all in”, then the chances of success are greatly diminished.
Yahweh instructed Israel to count the weeks to remind them of the important connection between Passover and Shavuot: Passover freed them physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavuot redeemed them spiritually from their bondage to idolatry and immorality.
The Hebrew holiday of Pentecost has no particular similarity to the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which occurs forty-nine days after Easter (the ‘Christian’ Spring holiday). Their desire to celebrate it on a Sunday (“the Lord’s day”) means that it is seldom celebrated on the same day that the Jews celebrate it. It also means that it is never celebrated on the fiftieth day – negating the reason for calling it “Pentecost”
To followers of Christ, Pentecost has similar redemptive qualities because this is the day the Apostles and thousands of others were first filled with holy spirit because of the sacrifice of Yeshua Ha’mashiach, the Father’s perfect Passover Lamb. Believers were freed from the consequences of sin (the second death) which changes the whole nature of worshipping the Father.
The Talmud had been written by men as a supplement to the Torah and was kept out of fear of the consequences of sin – now the Torah is kept out of thankfulness for the abolition of that consequence. It is a completely different mindset.
In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jeremiah 5:24, Deuteronomy 16:9–11, Isaiah 9:2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Pentecost. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, a wave offering of barley was made during “First Fruits” (Leviticus 23:9-14) and from the wheat harvest on Shavuot.
This is one of the three holy days that required a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot) and all required a wave offering. Once again, the Word states we should “rejoice before the LORD thy God . . . in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there” (Deuteronomy 16:11). It is not possible to observe this holy day without the presence of the Temple. Commemoration and worship are still available, though.
Shavuot is unlike other Jewish holidays in that it has no prescribed Torah commandments. It relies on traditional festival observances of meals and merriment; observances of special prayer services and abstention from work. It is also characterized by other customs:
- Akdamut – reading from a liturgical poem during Shavuot morning synagogue services.
- Chalav (milk) – consumption of dairy products like milk and cheese (cheesecake, baby!).
- Ruth – reading from the book of Ruth at morning services.
- Yerek (greening) – decoration of homes and synagogues with greenery.
- Torah – participation in all-night Torah study.
These observances are fine, but I would also add readings from the Book of Acts where tens of thousands were given holy spirit and spoke in tongues. Since no specific observance is prescribed (and pilgrimage is presently unavailable), make the day your own and worship in a way that is a blessing to you and to Yahweh.
Remember, it’s your anniversary!