from The Feasts of Israel: Seasons of the Messiah
Shavuot:
The Feast of Weeks
by Bruce Scott
The world’s longest wall stands in northern China.
Roughly following the border of Mongolia, the wall stretches more than
1,500 miles. For most of its length, it is 25 feet high and 12 feet
across, wide enough for horses to travel upon. Taking almost 1,500 years
to complete, its purpose was to keep invaders out and protect those
within.
Today the Great Wall of China stands as one of the most renowned marvels of the world, an ancient monument to fear, isolationism, and separatism.
The Bible speaks of another wall, not tangible but present nevertheless. It is not made of brick and mortar but of “the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Eph. 2:15). Referred to as “the middle wall of partition” (Eph. 2:14), it is a wall that, in effect, has brought about the same consequences as the Great Wall of China. The resulting isolation and separation are between Jews and Gentiles. As one writer put it, “The post-exilic history of Judaism became the history of a ‘fenced’ community. But a fence while it preserves, also excludes. The Torah, which differentiated the Jew from others, also separated him from them”
Despite the existence of this “middle wall of partition,” God ordained that one day it would fall like the walls of Jericho. How would God accomplish this? The story is foreshadowed and told through one of Israel’s most neglected festivals, Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks.
Origin and Description of Shavuot
Shavuot (lit., weeks) is another of the holy convocations ordained by God and given to the nation of Israel. Shavuot was the second of the three pilgrim festivals that all adult Jewish males were required to attend at Jerusalem.
The Feast of Weeks (Ex. 34:22) is also known in Scripture by other names. It is referred to as the “feast of harvest” (Ex. 23:16) because it inaugurated the beginning of the wheat harvest. It is called the “day of the first fruits” (Num. 28:26) because its primary purpose was to bring a designated portion of the harvest, the “first fruits,” into the Temple as an act of dedication to God in recognition of His provision. The festival is also termed in the New Testament as “Pentecost” (lit., fiftieth) [Acts 2:1], signifying the fiftieth day from the waving of the omer (sheaf) of first fruits (Lev. 23:15–16).
Some have separated the act of waving the omer from the Feast of Shavuot and called it a holiday in its own right, the Feast of First Fruits. Although the Christologicals’ reasons for doing so are understandable, there is no textual support for such a separation. Both the so-called Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks are inextricably linked. While only the latter is designated as a day of “holy convocation,” together they serve as the bookends of one central theme—first fruits. Waving the omer denoted the first fruits of the barley harvest, and waving the two loaves on Pentecost denoted the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Furthermore, these two occasions were divinely bound together by the injunction to count a certain number of days from the first event to the second because Shavuot is not given a fixed date of observance in the Scriptures. It is impossible to know when to observe the Feast of Weeks without taking into account the waving of the omer. You cannot keep the second without keeping the first. Thus, for the sake of this discussion, the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks will be examined collectively, as part of the same topic, and together will be labeled Shavuot or Pentecost.
In rabbinical writings, the holiday of Shavuot was dubbed Atzeret (solemn assembly). Just as the Feast of Tabernacles has an extra day of observance—a day of solemn assembly (Lev. 23:36)—likewise the rabbis considered Shavuot to be an extra day or an extension of the Feast of Passover.
Shavuot has also been termed by the rabbis as the Festival of Revelation because it is principally an agricultural holiday and has no memorial significance. Apart from remembering what it was like to be a slave in Egypt (Dt. 16:12), Shavuot does not look back to any historical event related to the nation of Israel, as do the holidays of Passover and Tabernacles. Because they feared that the festival would lose all religious meaning and importance, especially among Jews in the Diaspora, the rabbis chose to tie Shavuot to a meaningful episode in Israel’s history.
The episode they chose was the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. Exodus 19:1 states that the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai on the first day of the third month, Sivan. According to rabbinical calculations, God spoke to the people of Israel on the sixth day of the month, the traditional day on which Shavuot is observed. Although it is possible that the two events coincided on the calendar, the Bible does not state or even intimate that the Law was given at Sinai on the traditional date of Shavuot. Even if it did, when God outlined the purpose and practice of the holiday in Leviticus 23 and other passages, He did not indicate that it was associated with the events at Mount Sinai.
Nevertheless, by about at least the second century a.d., the festival of Pentecost or Revelation became known as the day on which God gave the Torah (law or instruction) to the people of Israel. Jewish tradition states that God offered the Torah to all the nations of the world, but only one nation would accept its stringent demands—Israel. Along with the written Torah, it is taught that God also gave the oral Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. The oral Torah is composed of all the rabbinical commentaries on the Old Testament that were passed down orally from generation to generation and eventually put into writing. Together they make up the Talmud and other authoritative works.
The importance of the giving of the Law, both written and oral, to the nation of Israel cannot be overemphasized. It is seen not only as the ultimate goal of the redemption at Passover, but is also looked upon as the protecting, binding force of Jewish identity throughout the centuries. As one Jewish writer stated, “Torah is the essence of our unique faith and lifestyle, the material which must be transmitted from generation to generation if we are to remain an eternal nation. Torah is the historical gene which unites the generations.”
Observance of Shavuot
Unlike some of the other festivals, there are only a few precepts assigned to Shavuot, and they center around the presentation of the first fruits to God.
The Shavuot season began with the waving of the omer. God prescribed that once the children of Israel entered the promised land and reaped a harvest, they were to “bring a sheaf of the first fruits of [their] harvest unto the priest, And he [would] wave the sheaf before the Lord” (Lev. 23:10–11).
This speaks of the harvest of the barley crop. The omer was to be the first and best of the year’s produce. Although, according to rabbinical rules, the omer could be gathered from anywhere within the land of Israel, it was usually taken from the area near the Temple in Jerusalem, especially since the tribe of Judah was known for its high-quality barley.
When it was time to reap the omer, a delegation from the Temple went into the fields, where bunches of barley, previously tied together for easier reaping, waited. Since reaping the omer was considered a momentous event, large crowds from neighboring towns gathered to watch. The reaping was so important that it could be done even on the Sabbath. The reaping was performed by three Temple officials, each having his own sickle and basket. After sunset (the beginning of a new day on the Jewish calendar), the officials asked three questions, three times each: “Is the sun set Is this a sickle Is this a basket” The crowd looking on responded to each question with a resounding “Yes!”
Once the barley first fruits were cut and put into the baskets, the officials carried it back to the Temple area, where it was dried, beaten, and thoroughly sifted into fine flour. Some accounts indicate that it was sifted as many as 13 times. Based on Leviticus 2:11, all meal or grain offerings were to be unleavened. Because the omer was considered a meal offering, it was unleavened. As with other meal offerings, oil and frankincense were added to the omer (Lev. 2:1).
The omer was waved during the early daylight hours. The priest took one-tenth of the omer flour and brought it to the bronze altar. He then climbed the ramp and stood on the east side of the altar, where he waved the omer before the Lord, swinging the container of sifted flour forward, backward, up, and down. He then went to the west side of the altar, took a handful of the flour, and threw it into the fire. The remainder of the omer meal was then given to the priests for their personal consumption. Various sacrifices, meal offerings, and drink offerings accompanied the waving of the omer (Lev. 23:12–13).
After the omer was waved before the Lord, everyone in Jerusalem was permitted to buy, sell, and eat the new produce from the harvest. Those outside the city limits of Jerusalem had to wait until midday to use the new crops, to insure that the omer had been waved before they partook of the harvest.
During Temple days, a debate took place over which day the omer was to be waved. The issue was important because it not only affected the ritual of the omer, but also the date of Shavuot 50 days later. The biblical text states that the omer was to be brought on “the next day after the sabbath” (Lev. 23:11, 15). The dispute concerned the interpretation of the word sabbath. If it referred to the weekly Sabbath (Friday night to Saturday night) during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the omer was waved on Sunday. But if the text referred to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was also a Sabbath day, the day for waving the omer would be variable, depending on which day of the week the first day of Unleavened Bread fell. The Sadducees held to the first option; the Pharisees took the second. After much wrangling, the Pharisaic position prevailed. Therefore, the date for waving the omer and beginning to count the days to Shavuot was established as Nisan 16, the day following the first day (and Sabbath) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This day was accepted in Second Temple days and is still followed today.
Once the omer was reaped, they began to count the days to the Feast of Shavuot. The Bible says it started at the time when the sickle was first put to the grain (Dt. 16:9) and lasted for seven weeks or 49 days, the 50th day being Shavuot (Lev. 23:15–16).
Today this numbering process is known as the Counting of the Omer. It takes place in the evening of Nisan 16, the second night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As soon as the stars come out, the counting is done aloud by all adult Jewish males, who state both the number of days and the number of weeks that have progressed to that point. For example, on the 12th day they say, “Today is the 12th day, making one week and five days of the omer.” This procedure is repeated every evening for 49 days. They do not count on the 50th day because that is Shavuot itself.
The counting of the omer is also a prolonged period of partial mourning. For 32 days no weddings are performed, no music is enjoyed, and no hair is cut. This custom, believed to have started around 500 a.d., is said to commemorate various Jewish tragedies that took place during the counting of the omer. In particular, one famous rabbi, Akiva (ca. 135 a.d.), is said to have lost approximately 24,000 students to a plague, which ended on the 33rd day of the counting. To celebrate the end of the plague, a semi-holiday was established, known as Lag Ba-Omer (lit., 33rd of Omer). On this day the mourning ceases, weddings are held, music is enjoyed, and hair is cut. In Israel, schools are closed.
In Temple days, as the counting of the omer reached its climax and the Feast of Shavuot drew near, excitement and preparations intensified. Because Pentecost is also the day of the first fruits, worshipers busily prepared for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem with their first fruit offerings. Earlier, the pilgrims tied the first ripe fruits of their harvests with rope or string. Sometimes zealous worshipers designated whole fields of crops as their first fruits offering. No matter the amount, according to rabbinical guidelines, the fruits had to originate within the land of Israel. Jews living outside the land in the Diaspora apparently were expected to attend the feast but were not obligated to bring a first fruit offering.
Seven kinds of first fruits were accepted for the festival: “Wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates…olive oil, and honey” (Dt. 8:8). Wheat was the foremost offering because Pentecost occurred at the time of the beginning of the wheat harvest. People living near Jerusalem brought fresh fruit as an offering. Those from far away brought dried fruit. None of these first fruits could be presented to the Lord prior to Pentecost (except, of course, for barley at the waving of the omer). The seven kinds of fruit could be brought in either seven different baskets or, as was most probably the case, in one basket with each species separated by some type of covering, the barley being on the bottom and the grapes on the top. The baskets were adorned with live pigeons to be used for burnt offerings at the festival. The wealthy brought their fruits in baskets covered with silver and gold, while those less privileged brought their offerings in wicker baskets of peeled willow branches.
Tens of thousands of people made their way to Jerusalem for the festival, coming from near and far and from all points of the compass. The second chapter of the Book of Acts lists 15 different regions from which Jewish worshipers came for the Feast of Pentecost. They came en masse, occasionally the entire membership of a synagogue or whole districts together. So many people came up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost and the other two pilgrim festivals that they often became occasions for large demonstrations against Roman rule. On one occasion, just a few short years after the birth of Jesus, thousands of Jewish worshipers gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. While there, an insurrection arose against a corrupt Roman official named Sabinus. Thousands of Jews lost their lives in the conflict, many being crucified. Whenever a pilgrim holiday of the Jews arrived, the Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem went into a heightened state of alert, ready for any uprising or riot.
As they traveled onward, the holiday pilgrims journeyed up to Jerusalem. During the day they sang songs of praise to God and rejoiced in His goodness. At night they slept in the squares of the towns through which they passed. Preceding their procession was an ox, its horns covered in gold and its head adorned with a wreath of olive leaves. A flute player also preceded the group, playing his instrument all the way into the city of Jerusalem. Once near their destination, the excited pilgrims sent word ahead of their imminent arrival. The chief priests and officers of the Temple came out to greet them, and people in the city gave the travelers a hearty welcome as they entered and made their way to the Temple Mount.
Arriving at the Temple area, the holiday worshipers put their baskets on their shoulders and carried their first fruits into the Temple Court. Even King Agrippa II, whom Paul declared to be an “expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews”(Acts 26:3), participated in this act. As the pilgrims entered the Temple Court, the Levites sang Psalm 30:1: “I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.”
With their baskets on their shoulders, the worshipers then repeated after the priests the declaration of Deuteronomy 26:3: “I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swore unto our fathers to give us.” They then took the baskets off their shoulders and held them at the top as the priests held them underneath. Together the priests and worshipers waved the first fruits before the Lord, forward and backward, up and down. The worshipers again repeated after the priests a portion of Scripture (this time Deuteronomy 26:5–10), left their baskets of first fruits next to the altar, bowed down in worship to God, and departed. The priests could then consume the first fruits, but they had to be sure they were in a state of ritual cleanliness. If they ate the first fruits while unclean, they were subject to the death penalty.
On the day of Shavuot the waving and offering of the two loaves also took place, as the Lord prescribed in Leviticus 23:16–17: “and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the Lord.”
Because it was unlawful to bake the two loaves on the actual day of Shavuot, it being a Sabbath day, they were baked the day before. The procedure started by taking fresh wheat grain, which was then turned into fine flour by sifting it 12 times. Two measures of this fine flour were used to make the two loaves. Unlike most other meal or grain offerings, God instructed that the two loaves be baked with leaven. They were kneaded and rolled separately in the city of Jerusalem and then brought to the Temple Court, where they were baked separately. Each loaf was approximately two feet long and one foot wide. Each loaf had horns, each one about three inches high, placed similarly to the four horns on the bronze altar. At the moment the two loaves crusted in the oven, they were dedicated to God.
During the daylight hours of Pentecost, the two loaves were presented to God. Unlike most other meal offerings, they were not offered with oil and frankincense (Lev. 2:1). When the two loaves were ready to be waved, they were brought to the bronze altar. The priest stood at the top of the altar on the east side and put his hands under the two loaves, as well as two lambs for a peace offering (Lev. 23:20). He then swung them before the Lord, forward, backward, up, and down. Unlike the omer, none of the two loaves was thrown into the fire. Instead, the full two loaves were given to the priests for their consumption. Other biblical requirements for this day included refraining from work (Lev. 23:21) and rejoicing (Dt. 16:11).
Today the holiday of Shavuot has changed dramatically. First, it is practiced by very few in the Jewish community other than the Orthodox. Second, because there is no Temple in Jerusalem, the ceremonies of the omer, first fruits, and two loaves are no longer performed. Third, the emphasis of the holiday has shifted from first fruits to the tradition of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. For example, entertaining a rabbinical Torah scholar in the home is seen as the equivalent of offering first fruits. Also, a custom was instituted in the Middle Ages to introduce young children to the study of the Torah. On Shavuot, Bible verses were written on a small tablet. Honey was poured over the writing, and the children licked it off the tablet. Other treats were also distributed to impress upon the children that studying the Torah was sweet (Ps. 19:10). Some observant Jews still practice this custom.
The Feast of Shavuot is observed for two days, the sixth and seventh of Sivan (May-June). Reform Jews and Jews in Israel observe it for only one day. Readings and prayers in the synagogue include the Book of Ruth, because its story took place around harvest time and because Ruth is seen as a good example of a person who was willing to take upon herself the yoke of the Torah. In memory of King David, a descendant of Ruth, the entire Book of Psalms is also read, along with Exodus 19 and 20. When the Ten Commandments are read, the congregants rise from their seats out of respect.
Many Reform congregations, along with some Conservative, choose to hold confirmation ceremonies for their young people on Shavuot, symbolizing the charge and commitment of the young people to observe the Torah in like manner as the children of Israel did at Mount Sinai. Other customs associated with Shavuot include decorating the home and synagogue with greenery and sometimes putting roses on the Torah scrolls. It also is customary to eat cheesecake, blintzes (cheese crepes), kreplach (triangular dumplings filled with meat or cheese), and two loaves of holiday bread, reminiscent of the two loaves eaten in the Temple.
(Next week we'll continue with the remainder of this article.)
 Bruce Scott holds a B.A. in Bible from Grace College of the
Bible,
Omaha, Nebraska and a M.Div. from Central Baptist
Theological Seminary
in Plymouth, Minnesota. He is a Bible teacher and preacher
with The
Friends of Israel in Minnesota.
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