Mbostrom2's Blog

Pentecost Sundown 6/7/11 (8^th & 9^th) Ends Sundown 6/9/11. On the Hebrew calendar it is Sivan 6-7, 5771. This is now celebrated as a 2 day Feast since the Rabbis could not agree if Moses went up the mountain on the 6th or 7th of Sivan. This is the 4th of the 7 Feasts listed by God for Israel to keep forever. (Lev 23).

Each of the Seven Feasts of the Lord has a harvest season:

• Passover is in the spring and is during the barley harvest. It includes the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Feast of First Fruits.
• Pentecost is in the summer and is the wheat harvest.
• Tabernacles is the fall and is the grape harvest. It includes Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles.

An interesting note from the Carta’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem by Chaim Richman from page 249: ‘The Mishnah (Taanit 28a) describes how once, in days of the Second Temple, the Roman Empire enacted a decree which outlawed the bringing of firstfruits to Jerusalem. In order to enforce this law, roadblocks were set up on the routes leading to the Holy City.” (My thoughts, did this happen after the Holy Ghost fell in Acts 2 and they were afraid it would happen again?) Because of this, they began bringing their firstfruits on Av 15, when all the seven firstfruits of the season had ripened.

Many Christians ask the question of what is the difference between the Jewish Pentecost and Christian Pentecost Sunday.  The answer is simple,  Jewish Pentecost follows 50 days after the 2nd day of Passover. The Christian Pentecost follows 7 weeks after Easter Sunday. The calendar that God instituted in Exodus 12 is  a lunar calendar and this is the calendar to follow to keep aligned with God’s Feast seasons and His signs for these last days.

FEAST NAMES

• Shavu’ot – This is the main Hebrew name, meaning ‘weeks‘, representing the 7 weeks following the 2nd day of Passover when the omer begins to be counted.
• Pentecost– Greek, pente means 50, representing the Holy Day following 50 days after Passover
• Festival of Weeks– Chag HaShavuot
• Festival of the Giving of the Torah (Chag Mattan Torateinu)
• The Day of First Fruits– Yom HaBikurim, Numbers 28:26, when the firstfruits of the wheat harvest is brought to the Temple
• Feast of the Wave Loaves– Leviticus 23:17. During the times of the Temple, the priests would wave two loave of bread, baked with the fine wheat flour. NOTE: records show the leavened loaves each had 4 lbs of flour (½ gal) and were 28″ long.

BIBLICAL HISTORY OF PENTECOST

Exodus 19-20. Exodus 19 begins with “In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they [into] the wilderness of Sinai.” The counting of the months began in Exodus 12:2 when God told Moses, “This month [shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to you. ” This began God’s calendar, known as the biblical calendar. The other calendar, which I call the civil calendar,  begins 6 months later in the month of Tishri when the Hebrew year changes, following the years since Adam’s birth.

God told Moses, as recorded  in Exodus 3:12, “And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this [shall be] a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain“. The Hebrew children left Egypt the day after the first Passover and they were now at the mountain to meet with God, 44 days later. Now they were to prepare themselves and wait for God’s appointed meeting.

On the 3rd day, God spoke to the Hebrew children from the mountain.  Ex 19:16, “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled. (18) And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. (19) And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.” At this time they were orally given by God the 10 Commandments, but they were fearful of God of God and told Moses to talk to God for them. On the 6th day Moses went up the mountain and did not come back for 50 days.

• This is known as the time when Moses was given the Torah.
• This is also when God made covenant with Israel. He made covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the land- but now His covenant is also with the entire nation. This is when the nation of Israel was born.
• This is considered to be the time of God’s marriage to Israel since marriage is a covenant relationship.
• More information is recorded in Exodus 19 & 20, 23:15-19; Leviticus 23:16; Deut 26:5-11;  Ruth 2:23

During the time of the Temples they would bring their firstfruits of wheat to the Temple and present them to the Lord. They would recite Deuteronomy 26:5-11 to the priest, present the basket at the altar and law prostrate before the Lord.

On Pentecost Exodus 19-20 is read and the Scroll of Ruth is read in its entirety. The beautiful story of Redemption is found in Ruth and it takes place during the wheat harvest (Pentecost). It is a recording of Ruth and the kinsman redeemer Boaz, the only one who could redeem the land Naomi’s family lost and save her and Naomi. It is also a joining of a Gentile & Jew – traditionally the marriage of Ruth & Boaz was on Pentecost. King David’s beginnings- believed to have been born and died on Feast of Shavuot (70 yrs) and is the great-grandchild of Ruth and Boaz.

On this day meals include dairy and honey, representing the promise of a land full of milk and honey. Mothers will dip their finger in honey and touch the baby’s tongue, telling them ‘God’s word is as sweet as honey’.

Tradition is to stay up all night studying the promises in God’s word regarding opening heavens. Scriptures included Joel 2, Zech 12:10a, Isaiah 44:3, Ezekiel 1:4; 3:12-13; 36:26-27.

In services of Sephardic Jewish congregations read a ketuba, ‘wedding contract’ . Pentecost being the marriage covenant to Israel.

SEVERAL SIMILARITIES TO THE FIRST  PENTECOST AND ACTS TWO