untitledThe Feast of Weeks, also known as Pentecost was a celebration of thanksgiving at the end of the barley, grain and wheat harvests.  In the Jewish faith, the Feast of Weeks also known as Shavuot commemorated the anniversary of Moses bring the law down from Mount Sinai in the tables of stone.  You will find in this article that the timing of this holy feast day has been tampered with for many generations.  The count to Pentecost/Shavuot in the bible is completely different than the count to Pentecost practiced by Jews and Christians today.  To begin gaining an understanding of this statute of God, let’s look to scripture:

“And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.” ~ Exodus 34:22

“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.” ~ Leviticus 23:15-21

The sacrifices:

  • This involves two wave loaves “baked with leaven
  • They would offer 7 first year lambs, 1 bulls, and 2 ram
  • It also included meat offerings and drink offerings
  • They would offer 1 kid goat for a sin offering
  • They would offer 2 lambs of the first year for a peace offering
  • The priest would wave these 2 lambs along with the wave loaves of the firstfruits as an offering before the Lord
  • This is to be observed forever, throughout our generations

So you can see that this was a day of thanksgiving at the end of the wheat harvest.  What you may be puzzled by is the leaven in these loaves.  As you probably know, leaven is representative of “sin” (See Feast of Unleavened Bread page).  Why would they offer two loaves of the firstfruits of the harvest to include something that symbolizes sin?  This couldn’t be understood until the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks after the death of Christ, when His disciples on the day of the Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost received the Holy Spirit.  Though they were full of sin, just as these two loaves of bread were full of leaven, they received the Spirit and blessing of God.  These two loaves represented the Jew and Gentile who would be made one in Jesus Christ.  The church today, the body of believers- still carries the sin of the flesh as we all fall short of God’s requirements, also symbolized in the leaven.

wheatThere has however been some misunderstanding in calculating the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost over the past many centuries.  To find this misunderstanding we have to simply consult with God’s word itself.  As mentioned earlier, according to the Jewish faith, this celebration is a commemoration of the giving of the Law by Moses at Mount Sinai.  This understanding goes back thousands of years, yet today there is a problem.  When you calculate the actual date that Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Torah, this occured well after 50 days from the Day of Firstfruits (which falls on the 16th Day of the 1st Month).  How can this be?  All of Christianity, and the Jewish faith calculate Pentecost to be 50 days from the Day of Firstfruits, yet this doesn’t align with the purpose and history of the Feast?  The reason for this, is that this feast has been miscalculated for hundreds of years.  To calculate the exact date of Pentecost, one must use God’s lunar calendar, and obey the count given in Leviticus 23.  Below is the count instructed:

“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days ~ Exodus 34:22

You can see here, that the count doesn’t only require “50 days”.  The count begins the day after the sabbath (aka the high sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which would fall on the 16th day of the 1st month), 7 sabbaths shall be complete…..THEN unto the morrow (day after) of the 7th sabbath shall you number 50 days.  This is a considerably longer period of time between the Day of Firstfruits and Pentecost than has been ackowledged by mainstream Christianity and Judaism.  What is even more revealing is that when you correctly count the Pentecost, it comes to the exact day when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Torah/Law.  To explain in detail, you can follow along with the below Luni-Solar Calendar:

Calendar-luni-solar-Feasts-grid-Master-3-newNEW%20PENTECOST

Calculated on the Lunar calendar, 7 sabbaths complete after the day of Firstfruits will always fall on the 8th day of the 3rd month.  Counting 50 days from the 8th day of the 3rd month will always fall on either the 28th or 29th day of the 4th month depending on the number of days of the 3rd month of course determined by the moon.  The Pentecost will always fall on the 28th or 29th day of the 4th month (June/July).  Now let’s consider the story of Moses giving the law.