Feast of Weeks/Pentecost/Shavuot

I have been married to my wonderful husband, John for 4 years now. He and I get along great, love each other dearly, and are very happy to be together, but he is my second husband. My first marriage ended in divorce after 15 years. I’m not going to take the time to explain what happened or what went wrong but suffice it to say that I do not believe in divorce. There’s not much good that comes out of divorce. However, I also know that there are times when it is necessary and although regrettable, there are times when it has to happen. There are also times when Yahweh allows it. Now let’s look at another marriage.

The Exodus from Egypt of the Children of Israel brought them to the base of Mt. Sinai. Exodus 19:1-8 “In the third month after the children of Yisra’el had come out of the land of Mitsrayim, on this day they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. For they set out from Rephidim, and had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Yisra’el camped there before the mountain. And Mosheh went up to Elohim, and יהוה called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you are to say to the house of Yaaqob, and declare to the children of Yisra’el: ‘You have seen what I did to the Mitsrites, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ‘And now, if you diligently obey My voice, and shall guard My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples – for all the earth is Mine – ‘and you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation.’ Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisra’el.” And Mosheh came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which יהוה commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, “All that יהוה has spoken we shall do.” So Mosheh brought back the words of the people to יהוה.
This is a very important event for the Children of Israel. It was their marriage proposal with Yahweh! He made the proposal and they said “I do”. Following this He gave Moses what we all know as the 10 Commandments. This is part of the marriage contract between His bride and Himself. There is more to the contract than just the 10 Commandments so you will need to read the rest of Exodus for the full scope. We see Israel’s agreement to the terms in Exo 24:3 and Exo 24:7 as well.

Of course Israel has a hard time keeping their part of the contract. Moses goes up to the Mountain for 40 days and while he’s gone, Israel convinces Aaron to make a golden calf.

Yahweh tells Moses to go down and see what the people are doing and Moses has a fit! After Moses has a few choice words with Aaron he then asks the people in Exo 32:26 “And Mosheh stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Who is for יהוה ? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him.” Following this about 3000 men are killed.

In Lev. 23:15-19 and Deut. 16:9-12 Yahweh tells Moses that they are to count from Passover/Pesach 7 Sabbaths (49 days) and on the 50th day it would be Shavuot. They were to remember this day every year. It is their wedding anniversary. All the men were to be in Jerusalem on this day, every year. The counting of the days is called the Counting of the Omer. This is a harvest time. The time to prepare for what’s sometimes called the Second First Fruits. That’s why this is also called the Feast of Weeks, the 7 weeks until Shavuot.

When I was growing up, my mother had us in church every time the doors were open. But more than that, she had us in other churches when their doors were open! I remember receiving a white Bible at the end of a week long prophecy series put on by the Seventh Adventist church. Not sure I remember everything they taught but I still have the Bible.

One day she took us to us to a Foursquare church pastored by a woman in California. I had just gotten my first pair of glasses and so at the end of the service my mother encouraged me to go up and ask for healing for my eyes. I didn’t want healing! I liked my new pink striped glasses, I was 12 years old! But I went up anyways. Someone came to pray for me and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground uttering words I had never thought to utter before. I had no real conscious thought of what I was saying but I was praising Yahweh with all my heart. It wasn’t something I was looking for, asking for, or even knew what it was! I was filled with the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) with the gift of speaking in tongues. Now, those who have been brought up Pentecostal or Assembly of God know exactly what I’m talking about. The rest may think me insane or even evil! So let’s look at Scripture and see how this all began…
Yahshua tells His disciples to wait for the Comforter to come in Luke 24:49 “And see, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you, but you are to remain in the city of Yerushalayim until you are clothed with power from on high.” And in Acts 1:8.

Now in Acts 2:1 And when the Day of the Festival of Weeks had come, they were all with one mind in one place. The King James Version or other versions will say when the day of Pentecost had come. The word Pentecost is the Greek word for 50. In other words, when the 50th day had come, the 50th day of the Counting of the Omer.
The disciples and those gathered with them receive the in-filling of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) with the gift of speaking in tongues. At this time in Jerusalem there were men from many nations and they heard them speaking in their languages. These men from other nations were in Jerusalem because it was Shavuot, and they were keeping the Feast of Weeks and the command that they are to be in Jerusalem at this time. Because of this about 3000 men came to accept Yahshua as their Messiah!

So let’s look at a little bit of Hebrew. In Hebrew, every letter, every word and every letter’s numerical value means something. So you don’t just look at a word but the meaning of each letter and number value to that letter or word. “Kodesh” (kuf-dalet-shin) means “set-apart” or, as some say, “consecrated” or “holy”. But, truly the best definition is indeed “set-apart” or “separated” in Him. Looking at the meanings of the letters, kuf = surround or behind, dalet = door and shin = El Shaddai. So, set-apartness equals, “behind the door is El Shaddai”. The word “Ruach” (reish-yud-chet), while translated as “spirit”, literally means “breath of the mouth” or “wind” (as in blowing). According to Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, it also references the “mind”, “thinking”, “intellect” or “counsel”. In the Hebrew, it is a feminine word and considered a feminine part of Elohim. I would add here also, that the numeric value of the letters in Ruach HaKodesh is 622; which equal “britee” or “My covenant”, also “b’rachot” or “blessings”, “v’d’bar’tee” or “I will speak” and “v’hatorah” or “my instructions”.
Now let’s compare the two Shavuots:

As stated above, the numeric value of Ruach HaKodesh is 622 which means “My Covenant” or “My Instructions” isn’t that what Yahweh gave the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai? So on Shavuot Yahweh gave us His Instructions, and made a Covenant with us, a Marriage Contract, and gave us His Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh.
The word Pentecost is ok, but personally I like to use the Hebrew word Shavuot because I am a child of Israel, not a child of Greece. :-) This year according to the Biblical keeping of time Shavuot is on June 4th.