Foundations of our Faith: Shavuot

Shavuot [Pentecost]

Good afternoon once again, everyone. Thank you for joining us. For those who were here yesterday, well, long time no see! If you missed yesterday, I spoke about ha’Shabbat, the Sabbath. Specifically, the background on it, and the concepts of “work” and “rest.” This was part of our Foundations of our Faith series that Jeff and I have started, as we alternate teaching from week to week. If you did happen to miss yesterday, or any of the previous weeks, we are in the process of making all of them available online, on YouTube as well as our website: nrfcommunity.org.

For today, I had originally intended to speak about the Feasts and festivals in general. I had even begun writing my sermon notes and detailing each of the moedim, the appointed times, in order, starting with Passover. I quickly discovered, however, that given the amount of material I wanted to include just about Shavuot, today, I was going to go way over the time I would like to keep alotted for today’s message.

So instead, I think it will suit us better to address each Feast day’s significance, on that specific day. Or at least, that’s what I’m planning going forward. For today, then, that means we will be looking at Shavuot. I figure we can spend a little time looking at the Scriptures, and what they say about this special day. Additionally I think it will be helpful to look at some of the traditions surrounding this day, to help bring it into focus.

To begin, let’s start with some definitions. In order to communicate with one another effectively, we must be able to understand each other. Shavuot. Pentecost. Moedim. Chagim. Feasts. What do these terms mean?

Definitions

The first thing we must establish, is what we mean by the words we use. So let’s first define each one really quick before moving on.

מוֹעֵד (Moed)

The first word is moed. This word is what is most often translated as “appointed time” or in some cases, as “festival.” This word is not specific to the feast days. It refers to all sorts of appointed or set times. In 1 Sam. 13, it refers to the set date when Saul and Samuel were supposed to meet. At its core, it refers to a coming together. In Leviticus 23:2, we read, “These are the appointed times of Adonai.” These are the moedim, the plural of moed.

חג (Chag)

The next word is chag, which is most often translated as feast or festival. While we often refer to almost all of the appointed times, the festivals, as feasts, they are not technically all called that. In fact, only the three pilgrimage feasts - Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles) are called chagim, or “feasts.” We find this in Deut. 16. This is an interesting word. We typically associate “feast” with food and drink. In fact, that’s even what feast means, right? A large meal. Certainly, those associations are fair, given that at Passover we have a meal, and at Sukkot there’s talk of eating the fat and drinking wine and strong drink. But more so than that, this word, chag, more refers to the pilgrimage nature, the “going up” part of the celebration. It’s actually related to another Semitic word which means to make circular procession, to leap, and by implication, to dance.

מִקְרָא (Miqra)

The third word is miqra. It is most often translated as “assembly" or “convocation.” We find this throughout the Torah, especially in Leviticus 23, appearing more than 10 times in that chapter alone. Here’s just two examples:

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 23

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

Verses 2 and 3 both use the phrase “holy convocation.” Some Bibles like the Lexham English Bible use the words “holy assemblies.” The interesting thing about this word is that it essentially refers to a summons. It derives from the word meaning “to call out” such as to call together a group of people.

You may have already honed in on something about all three of these words: they are corporate in nature. You cannot have an appointment with just yourself; you cannot assemble with yourself; and making pilgrimage is to be accomplished by, at the very least, “all males” and the destination is Jerusalem, to bring an offering to the priests.

All of the holy days are holy gatherings, and appointed times. But only Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, and Sukkot are “feasts” in the sense of a pilgrimage feast.

שבועת (Shavuot)

So we’re here to talk about Shavuot, but what does that word mean? And why do we keep saying Shavuot / Pentecost?

Shavuot is a very simple Hebrew word; it is the plural form of shevua, which means “week.” As in, a 7-day period. Shavuot, then, being the plural form, means “weeks.” So chag shavuot, as we read in Deut. 16:10, means “Feast of weeks.”

Similarly, the Greek word pentekoste, means “fifty.” The relationship here comes from counting 50 days from the Sabbath after Passover, to arrive at the day of Shavuot. Let’s open our Bibles to Leviticus 23 and start there. Leviticus 23, as many of you are aware, is considered the festival chapter. Here YHWH tells Moses the order of the moedim, the appointed times, that He has set with His people.

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 23

9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. 17 You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. 18 Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD. 19 You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the LORD; they are to be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

I realize this is quite a lengthy passage, so let’s walk through a couple parts.

Verse 9 where we started reading, introduces the day of firstfruits, where a wave offering is made following after Passover.

Verse 15 tells us to count from the day after the Sabbath, when the wave offering is brought, 7 full sabbaths, 7 complete weeks. Then an offering - two loaves of bread - are to be brought as a wave offering. There are additional sacrifices and offerings to be made for the day, but I’ll have to save that for another time.

Aside from Lev. 23, the second go-to “Feast chapter” of the Torah is going to be Deut. 16. There, starting again at verse 9, we read:

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 16

9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you; 11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

Again we have the requirement to count seven weeks. Given that the offering of grain was to be made at the beginning and again at the end of these 50 days, and the measurement of unthreshed stalks of grain is an omer (often: homer), we can see why these days of counting are usually, traditionally, referred to as counting the omer. That is, we count one for each day, leading up to Shavuot. But technically - if we are so concerned for technicality - the requirement is only to count the days, not the bundles of grain.

So we can ask, then: what is the significance of Shavuot? On Passover, God rescued His people from slavery and bondage to Egypt. He brought them out, and redeemed them. On Yom Kippur, atonement is made for the people. These are important, significant things that occurred. So what about Shavuot? Is it just a day to count to 50, offer a couple sacrifices and two loaves of bread, and then be on our merry way?

This is what gave rise to numerous traditions.

Traditions

See, one thing you have likely heard is that Shavuot is the day the Torah was given at Mount Sinai. And for good reason, in my view. It makes logical sense, as we see in Exodus 19. Verse 1 states they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai in the 3rd month. Remember that they left Egypt in the 1st month, at Passover, which started on the 14th day. So now, a month and a half later, they’ve arrived at Sinai in the 3rd month. Shavuot always occurs in the 3rd month - and this is regardless of the method of counting you use.

Now it is true that the Torah doesn’t explicitly state - nor does anywhere else in the bible - that Shavuot was the day that the Torah was given at Sinai. I will grant that. But again, it is what we can infer. I find it interesting, if nothing else, that the day this occurred was not mentioned as a specific day. Would it not make sense? If Passover was a memorial of freedom from slavery, and Sukkot is a memorial of wandering in the wilderness, why is there not a memorial for Shavuot? I would posit that there is, and that it is a memorial of the giving of the Torah.

Now to be fair, there were other beliefs in the time of Yeshua at least, about the special significance of Shavuot. The Qumran community believed that it was a memorial since the time of Noah, and that Noah and his sons observed Shavuot. They also believed that Abraham observed it, and that it gained additional significance because Isaac was born on Shavuot. They also believed that it was this day that Moses ascended to receive the Torah. Now that’s not to say they were right, but it is evidence that this day held special significance at least in the 1st Centuries BCE - CE. Which means the claim that it was an invention 500 years later by the Rabbis doesn’t hold up. It was a belief that at the very least went back to the time of Yeshua.

Other traditions about this day include reading the book of Ruth. “Why Ruth” you ask? Great question. Because the Rabbis taught that King David was born and died on Shavuot, and David was Ruth’s descendant. Shavuot is a harvest festival, and Ruth’s events take place during the harvest. And because the Torah being at Sinai was the entrance of the people into covenant. “All that YHWH has commanded, we shall do.” the people said. So Ruth was brought into covenant when she proclaimed, “Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God.”

Another tradition includes undergoing tevilah in a mikveh; that is, immersion. Washing your body in preparation for the festival. The significance here can be found in Exodus 19, when the people were commanded to take three days to consecrate themselves - set themselves apart - including washing their garments and being cleansed. This will become - I think - even more significant in a few minutes.

Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenistic Jewish scholar, and contemporary of the time of Yeshua, said that when the Torah was given, there was a fire that streamed from heaven, “Then from the midst of the fire that streamed from heaven there sounded forth to their utter amazement a voice, for the flame became the articulate speech in the language familiar to the audience.” (The Decalogue 46) Similarly, the Rabbis of the Talmud taught that when God spoke on Mount Sinai, that His words “divided into seventy languages.” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 88b)

Now Exodus 20 details the start of the giving of the Torah, with the Ten Commandments. The people then say they can’t bear to listen. Because of the significance of today, and because it never hurts to hear Scripture read again, I would like to read all of chapter 20.

Exodus 20

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 20

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

18 All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” 21 So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23 You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. 24 You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

So is it fair to say that God most likely gave the Torah on Shavuot? I believe it is. I believe that’s a fair inference, and indeed the one that makes the most logical sense from reading Exodus as well as other ancient Jewish writings that predate the time of the New Testament. But I also believe this becomes even more significant when we reach the New Testament era.

So let’s go there. Our review and study of Shavuot [Pentecost] would not be complete without going to the book of Acts. Just I read all of Exodus 20, so I would like to read all of Acts 2. I know it’s a long chapter. I hope that’s okay. If it’s not, well…I’m going to anyway; you can never hear too much Scripture. And this is extremely important for us to understand. Amein?

Acts 2

New American Standard Bible, 1995 Edition: Paragraph Version Chapter 2

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and cAsia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and dvisitors from Rome, both Jews and eproselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

Peter’s Sermon

14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says,

‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND;

AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,

AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,

AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;

18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN,

I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT

And they shall prophesy.

19 ‘AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE

AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW,

BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.

20 ‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS

AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD,

BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.

21 ‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’

22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 For David says of Him,

‘I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;

FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.

26 ‘THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;

MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;

27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,

NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.

28 ‘YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;

YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’

29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. 32 This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore having been exalted ato the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:

‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,

“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.” ’

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”

The Ingathering

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, awhat shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand asouls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and ato prayer.

43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Again, there’s a lot to unpack here. I would be up here all afternoon if we really got into every part of this. But there are a few things I want to highlight, especially regarding the subtle hints in this text to some of the various traditions about Shavuot.

First is the obvious one: they were gathered together in observance of Shavuot, or as the Greek says, Pentecost. That’s why they were there. The Holy Spirit came and filled them. It says it “filled the whole house.” This is an intentional phrase that Luke, the author of Acts, uses. It’s supposed to parallel the language from the Tanakh (OT) about when the presence of God filled the Temple.

The apostles began to speak in different languages. Languages they didn’t know. They were accused of being drunk, but Peter stood up and reminded the people of a prophecy from Joel, about God’s spirit being poured out on the people, and they would dream and have visions and prophesy.

It’s also worth pointing out the parallels between what the Rabbis and Philo taught about the giving of the Torah, being heard in all 70 languages, as 70 is often the number used to represent all the nations of the world at the time. This would mean that when God spoke from Sinai, His words were heard by everyone in their own language. So these traditions, be them based on Biblical fact or otherwise, were nonetheless the sort of background context that these men, Jews from all over, would have had in mind as these things began to unfold.

Further, Peter goes on to refer to Psalm 16, which speaks about God not allowing His “holy one” to see decay. Peter says that David is dead, and his tomb is still with them, and so this is actually to be taken as a reference to Yeshua. Recall for a moment that the tradition states that David died on Shavuot.

If you reach verse 37 here in Acts 2, your Bible might have a header there. In the NASB, this header says “The Ingathering.” How fascinating is that? Others like the NRSV says “New Converts.” The Tree of Life Version says Teshuvah, which means repentance. But verse 37 starts the reference to those that were ingathered, another perfect parallel to Shavuot, the Spring harvest festival.

Peter continues his preaching and calls them to repent, to turn away from their sins, and to be baptized - that is, immersed - in the name of Yeshua. Another parallel: baptism, immersion, this time in water AND in the Holy Spirit. It says “and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” This is also interesting to note since when Israel sinned at the golden calf - that is, when they sinned while Moses was still on the Mountain receiving the commandments - there were about three thousand that were killed by the Levites for their worship of the golden calf.

Wrapping Up

So here’s my take on it. At Shavuot, Israel reached Mount Sinai, and was given the Torah. Prior to this, Torah knowledge was somewhat limited. Abraham knew at least enough for it to be said that God said Abraham kept His laws and statutes. Noah knew, at least enough to differentiate between clean and unclean animals. But it wasn’t until Shavuot that the Torah was given en masse, to such a massive group of people, an entire nation. So too, prior to Shavuot in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit had previously empowered people. The artisans that built the furnishings of the Tabernacle, it says in Exodus, were “filled with the Spirit” to perform that work. The Spirit of God overcame Samson, and he was empowered with superhuman strength. The Spirit of God enabled the prophets to see visions and interpret dreams. But this sort of thing was few and far between. Until Shavuot here, after Yeshua’s resurrection and ascension.

Just as there were two loaves of bread offered for Shavuot, there are two important pieces of its fulfillment: Law and Spirit. It’s not an either-or sort of thing, we need both to live balanced lives. The Law tells us how to live, what to do and what not to do. The Spirit helps us to understand it, and empowers us to keep it.

The three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot, matched the agricultural cycle of the year. But more than that, they tell the story of Israel’s salvation. At Passover, freedom from slavery in Egypt. At Shavuot, meeting with God at Sinai. At Sukkot, wandering in the wilderness with the Tabernacle, the house in which His spirit dwelt.

At Passover, Yeshua died to free us from slavery to sin. At Shavuot, He met with the Apostles to fill them with the Holy Spirit. And at Sukkot, we look forward to dwelling with Him in His Kingdom.