Counting of the Omer from Passover to Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)

On the first month and the 14th day of the month of Nisan is the Passover. The lamb is slain on the 14th day at around 3pm, but the Sabbath fully begins at sunset. This was a special Sabbath, because the days of the lunar months do not necessarily align with the days of the week from creation. In all, the day was not a Saturday, but presumably a Wednesday. This meant that the Sabbath with two holidays back to back would be an extended Shabbat.
However, the New day always begins when the sun starts to go down (evening), while no work is allowed when the Sun is down (night). Messiah Died on the cross and was taken down and buried before the sun fully sets and the start of the 14th day of Nisan around Wednesday (around between 3-7pm) which is the Passover and a Sabbath day as said in John. 

“Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”

John 19:31, 42 ESV

The Passover is the sacrifice feast of the Lord which is distinct From the feast of Unleavened bread. Right after the Sabbath, the 15th day of the month of Nisan at around 3pm begins the first day of Unleavened Bread (Thursday). The First day of Unleavened Bread no ordinary work is to be done and a holy convocation is commanded by God. This means, no harvesting, and Yeshua is in the tomb for 24 hrs. The Omer begins when “you bring the sheaf of the wave offering.” However, the priest can only wave it “after the Sabbath”, and a person was not allowed to eat of the grain until they brought the offering. As no ordinary work was to be done, this day (15th of Nisan, Thursday @3pm) considered a Shabbat needed to be complete. This means that on the Second day of unleavened bread (Friday @ around 3pm 48 hrs. After Yeshua’s death), the people were able to fully work and bring the sacrifice to mark the beginning of the harvest/counting of the “Weeks”. This was important, because nobody can eat until the offering is brought, and if nobody brought the offering, they would have to wait until Saturday night.

“and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.”

Leviticus 23:11, 13-14 ESV

That Friday, 2nd day of unleavened bread, the 16th of Nisan, is also when we see the Women prepare spices and ointments in Luke before the Shabbat

“It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”

Luke 23:54-56 ESV

And in the next chapter (Luke 24) and in Mark it says that after the Shabbat was past, the woman brought spices.

“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.”

Mark 16:1 ESV

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.”

Luke 24:1 ESV

As we read this, the spices were prepared on the 16th of Nisan (Friday @3-7pm) after the Shabbat, however, they were not able to put the spices on Yeshua, because all of a sudden Shabbat came! This shows that the Shabbat before and after was observed completely and after the Shabbat (Saturday @3pm the 17th of Nisan) was when Yeshua would have been Resurrected while there was still daylight/early on/in first day of the week a full 72 hrs. While the ESV says dawn, the literal translation is “early”, and the evening when the sun was setting is what is actually considered early in the day.

The first day of the harvest is very important, With this the 16th of Nisan is the morrow of the Shabbat (Second Day of Unleavened bread) where people can actually do their regular work after being accepted through the Sacrifice and in turn begin to gather the harvest.

So the 16th of Nisan + 49 days (7 weeks) lands on the 6th of Sivan, and the 7th of Sivan marked 50 days a rest day and a day of holy convocation. So remember that the Lord from 1-6 Sivan was before the children of Israel and Moses giving the commands. The 6th of Sivan is when God finished giving the commands. On the 50th day (Day 7 of the month of Sivan) God reveals His Glory in a devouring fire. (On the 3rd month, God was in a cloud for 6 days, and on the seventh God’s Glory is revealed in Fire). What’s even more incredible is the 50th day is 49 days (7 weeks) after the exact Resurrection of Yeshua.

This moment in time was known as Shavuot.

Shavuot means “Weeks” and this is taken from the scripture in Lev. 23:15 which tells us exactly how many weeks are “counted” following the sheaf offering which is known in Hebrew as the “Omer”. The Omer is not the name of a day rather it is the offering and more specifically the scale used to measure how much of the grain-offering was brought. 

“You shall count seven (Sheva/שבע) full weeks (Shavuot/‏שבועות) from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf (Omer) of the wave offering. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath (the 49th day). Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.” Leviticus‬ ‭23:15-16‬ ‭ESV

However, please note that this passage does not actually say “weeks” as the English translations says, rather Leviticus says… “Sabbatot/שבתות” which means Sabbaths. Later on Deuteronomy we actually see specifically “Feast of Weeks/Chag Shavuot” 

““You shall count seven weeks (Shavuot). Begin to count the seven weeks (Shavuot) from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks (Chag Shavuot) to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭16:9-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So what is the name of this Holiday? Well according to the Scripture we have the names, “Feast or Harvest/Chag HaQatzir”, “Feast of Ingathering/Chag HaBikkurim”, and “Feast of Weeks/Chag Shavuot”. All of these names are acceptable to describe the counting of 7 weeks leading up to the 50th day. 

Now, how did we come up to the 50th day of the giving of the law? Well, Shavuot is the counting of 7 weeks (49 days) leading to the culmination of 50 days after the first Shabbat after Passover which the first Shabbat after Passover is the Shabbat of unleavened bread (15th of Nisan) meaning we start the count on the 16th of Nisan. And this is where it can get confusing for some people, but I will keep it as simple as I can.

First when did God give the Ten Commandments to Moses (the giving of the Testimony/Torah):

“On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.” Exodus‬ ‭19:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Third New Moon is the Month of Sivan. In the 3rd day of the month God was going to appear to the Children of Israel. So God appeared and told Israel to consecrate themselves at Mount Sinai. Then in Exodus 24 the covenant is confirmed saying:

“Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days (Sivan 1-6). And on the seventh day (Sivan 7) he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭24:15-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So from day 1 to 6 of the 3rd month (Sivan), God was speaking and giving the commandments to the people, and in the seventh day God called Moses as written. Then it is written (still in the seventh day)….

“Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭24:17-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We can see a relation to tongues of fire in Acts 2 which happened on the day of Pentecost with the glory of God that was revealed as a devouring fire on the 7th day of the third month. So now it begs the question… is this time the 50th day which is the day of Pentecost?

With this we have to understand what is a Shabbat day, because the counting of the omer starts the day which begins in the evening (the start of a new day) following “the Shabbat”. As we know, every 7 full days is a Shabbat, but not all shabbats are 7 day counts. For example: The day of Atonement happens on the 10th day of the 7th month. God says something interesting: 

“It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.”

Leviticus 16:31 ESV

So there are two kinds of Sabbaths, the one that always begins Friday night the 7th day of the week that belongs to the Lord, and you have the one that God gives for us to rest in Him by not doing any/ordinary work and coming together as a community to remember what He did for us (taking us out of Egypt). Essentially the First kind of Shabbat reminds us that the Lord Sanctifies, and the second reminds us that He Sanctified us.

So on the 14th of Nisan, A Wed. @3pm - The Passover Sacrifice of Yeshua was made and Shabbat began @7pm

15th of Nisan, Thur. @3pm - it is also a day of no ordinary work and the 1st day of Unleavened Bread,

16th of Nisan, Frid. @3pm - this was the 2nd day of Unleavened Bread, and the Shabbat ends with a gap of about 4 hrs before next Shabbat. The Offering that took place is Accepted, the Sacrifice of Yeshua was/is secured, and it is at this moment we begin the counting of 7 weeks, but if the offering was not able to be brought then, those who couldn’t bring the offering would have to wait until Saturday night and do the offering then.

The 17th of Nisan, Sat. @3pm is the 3rd day of Unleavened Bread, Yeshua resurrects from the dead. Not Shabbat. Yeshua reveals Himself and in the same day Yeshua give His Spirit to the Disciples present as said in John.

“On the evening of that (Sat. Evening while still day), the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.””

John 20:19,22-23 ESV

1-6 of Sivan, God appears to Moses and Israel on Mount Sinai in a cloud. 6th of Sivan, 7 weeks (49 days) after 16th of Nisan, Moses sprinkles the blood on the people as they confirm the covenant with God and God accepts them through Moses.

7th of Sivan, 50th day of the counting, 7 weeks (49 days) after 17th of Nisan, Moses goes up to God and God reveals His Glory in Fire. God extends the gift of the Ruach to the multitude in Acts 2.

“Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”

Exodus 24:3-4, 7-8, 12, 16-17 ESV Basically first fruits is all the time from the 2nd day of Unleavened bread all the way to the 50th day. The 50th day is simply known to be a Holy Convocation and called the feast of the ingathering during the weeks of the harvest. This means that the 50th day is not necessarily the day that God gave His Torah. Rather, the 50th day marks the completion of the Torah/the covenant that God made with His people via the sacrifice which lead to the Revelation of His Glory. Yeshua who is God was speaking to his disciples like God had spoken to Moses so that they would see the Glory of God!

This shows that Yeshua accomplished His role in Sanctifying us, He then reveals His Word to us to see His Lovingkindess and Grace, and when we accept Him, His blood is poured out to us, we are accepted, and He gives us His Spirit.

“After his suffering (Sanctification), He presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive (Revealed His Word that He is God). He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God (Showing His Loving-kindess). On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about (His Grace).” “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.” “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place (To accept His gift).”“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting (His Promise is fulfilled). And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them (We are accepted and are given His Spirit).”

Acts 1:3-4, 12; 2:1-3