Pentecost and the Confirming of an Oath

 

The third annual holy day that God has given us is Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). This holy day is unique from the others in that there is no specific date given on the Hebrew Calendar for its observance. And yet, as we read in Lev. 23, it is on the list that God commanded Moses saying: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts [appointed meeting] of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations [sacred assembly], these are My feasts’” (Lev. 23:2).

God did not leave us wondering how we are going to know when His sacred appointment is. Instead of giving us a date, He gave us very simple instructions on how to arrive at the correct date. Even though the instructions are very simple, they have still been the cause of a lot of confusion among the brethren. This is most unfortunate as we read in 1 Cor. 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

I believe God's instructions are very clear on this issue. The following is what I believe His Word tells us on this matter. Please don't take my word for it, but search the scripures as the Bereans did.

Everything God does is for a reason. He does not do things haphazardly or in a confusing way. So when it comes to this holy appointed time, we must ask ourselves—what is His purpose in the instructions He gave on how to arrive at the date for this particular holy day?

In Deut. 16:9-10 we read— “‘You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.  ¹⁰Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks 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.’”

We have a little better clarification on “from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain” In Lev. 23:10-11: “‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.  ¹¹He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.’” And then in verse 14-16 it adds— “You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.  ¹⁵And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.  ¹⁶Count fifty days to the day after the

seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.”

Here in these scriptures, we are told to begin our fifty day count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day the wave sheaf was offered up.  So, how do we know which Sabbath to begin our count from? Was it a weekly Sabbath? If so, which one? Or an annual Sabbath (holy day)?

 

To answer this question, let’s go back and read the first part of Leviticus 10:11 again. “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, and reap its harvest…’” 

 

So, the answer to our question would be found when the children of Israel entered the land.  Josh. 5:10-12: “Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept [prepared] the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight [lit., evening] on the plains of Jericho.  ¹¹And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day.  ¹²Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.”

Passover mentioned in this passage would have to be in reference to the 15^th, the first holy day, not the 14^th. If it was in reference to the 14^th, the day after would be the 15^th which is the holy day on which no work (as in this case, harvesting) was to be done.

The Passover ceremony began on the afternoon of the 14^th with the killing of the lambs, but concluded with the eating of the lambs “in that night” (Ex. 12:6-8). Since sundown starts a new day, this service concludes on the 15^th; therefore, “the day after the Passover” would be the 16^th.  

In this passage in Joshua 5:10-12, we see that they harvested and ate the produce of the land on the day after the first annual Sabbath of “Passover.”  As we just read in Leviticus 23:14, they were forbidden to do so until the day they brought the wave offering.  There is no other scripture that tells us when they offered up the wave sheaf.  The command was for when they entered the land; therefore, without this scripture in Joshua 5:10 telling us that it was the day after the annual Sabbath of Passover (the 15^th) that they offered the wave sheaf, we would have no idea which Sabbath to count from.

 

Cutting a Covenant

 

Now that we know where to count from, let’s look at the next question that comes to mind—why are we commanded to count in the first place? The answer is that God gave us a unique set of instructions to help us better understand what this day is about. How you might ask? Let’s start by breaking down the counting of seven weeks (seven sets of seven).  

 

The number seven is Strong’s #7651. It is from #7650, “to seven oneself, i.e. to swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times).” The Lexicon translates it, “to seven oneself, or bind oneself by seven things.” The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible says, “A common practice was to make seven declarations when making an oath. This declaration can be making the oath seven times or doing seven things to show the sincerity of the oath.” 
 

We can see an example of this in Gen 21:27-31:  “So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made [Strong’s #3772, cut] a covenant [Strong’s, #1285 a compact made by passing between the pieces of the sacrifice]. ²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, ‘what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘you will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.’ ³¹ Therefore he called that place Beersheba [well of the oath], because the two of them swore an oath there.”

 

The idea of passing between the parts of the sacrifice is that if one of the parties fails to keep the covenant, then the other party may do to them as was done to the sacrifice. We have an example of this in Jeremiah 34:8-20. King Zedekiah had “cut a covenant” with the people that they should let their Hebrew slaves go free (vv. 8, 9).

 

Jer. 34:10-20: “Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves. ¹² Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ¹³ ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: “I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ at the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. ¹⁵ Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.” ¹⁷ Therefore thus says the LORD: “You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,” says the LORD—"to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— ¹⁹ the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— ²⁰ I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.”’”

 

Another example of the cutting of a covenant is when God cut a covenant with Abraham in Gen 15:7-18: ⁷ “Then He said to him, ‘I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.’ ⁸ And he said, ‘Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?’ ⁹ So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ... ¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—…”

 

The seven weeks that we are commanded to count to Pentecost is seven times seven days. Or seven sets of seven, and pictures our declaration that we will keep the covenant that we have made with Yeshua/Jesus when we came under His blood at Passover. This is also why the count was to begin on the day after the annual Sabbath of Passover. Pentecost is inextricably linked to Passover and the blood of the covenant!

 

The Wave Offering

We are getting closer to seeing the whole picture of what this day is about, but we are still missing an important part, and that is—what is the significance of the wave offering that had to be offered before they could eat of the produce of the land?

 

To answer this question, let’s back up a bit to the Passover in Egypt.  The firstborn, who were spared because of the blood at Passover, then belonged to God.  They were “bought with a price” which was representative of us when we come under the blood of Yeshua/Jesus (1 Cor. 6:20).

 

Num. 3:11-13: “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² ‘Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD.’”

Here, we can see that not only were the firstborn sanctified to God by the blood, but God then chose the Levites instead of the firstborn. They were the only ones who chose to follow Him during the golden calf incident—Ex. 32:1-29. We still have to make the choice to come under the blood and be “bought with a price.” It is only after making that choice that we can come under the blood and therefore belong to Him.

Num. 8:10-11, 13-19: “So you shall bring the Levites before the LORD, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites;  ¹¹and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD, like a wave offering from the children of Israel, that they may perform the work of the LORD.... 

¹³ "And you shall stand the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and then offer them like a wave offering to the LORD. ¹⁴ Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine. ¹⁵ After that the Levites shall go in to service the tabernacle of meeting. So you shall cleanse them and offer them, like a wave offering. ¹⁶ "For they are wholly given to Me from among the children of Israel; I have taken them for Myself instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the children of Israel. ¹⁷ For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast; on the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them to Myself. ¹⁸ I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.  ¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the sanctuary.”

Notice how in verse 11 it says, “and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD, like a wave offering from the children of Israel…”

 A wave offering is a gift that you are giving to God. We can see an example of this in Ex. 35:21-22, “Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the LORD's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments. ²²They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the LORD.”

The word used here for “offering” is Strong’s # H8573 and is the same word used in both Num. 8 in reference to the Levites being offered up as a “wave offering” from the children of Israel, and in Lev. 23 in reference to the wave offering that began the 50 day count to Pentecost.

 

As in the case with the Levites who were substituted for the firstborn, in type, it was like a gift from the children of Israel to God, that God then turned around and gave to Aaron the high priest, who was a type of Jesus Christ, our High Priest. When we give a gift to someone, we are giving of something that belongs to us. It is not a gift if we are giving someone something that already belongs to them.

 

Ps 50:7-14:   "Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! ⁸ I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. ⁹ I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. ¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. ¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. ¹³ Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴ Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.”

Since God owns everything, what could we possibly have left to give to Him? 

Ps 51:16-17:  “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

The answer is simple: ourselves! That is what God is interested in. He wants us to become part of His family; He wants our hearts and souls.  So on the day after the Passover, having been redeemed by the blood of Yeshua/Jesus, we willingly offer ourselves as firstfruits to God.

Rom 12:1-2:  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

 

The wave offering that was made up of the firstfruits of the harvest and offered on the day after the Passover, pictures us, as the firstfruits to God and the Lamb, offering ourselves to Him. Yeshua/Jesus did His part by covering us with His own blood to atone for our sins, but we still have to do our part by accepting His sacrifice and terms of the covenant by offering ourselves to Him.

Rom 6:13: "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

 

Getting back to the meaning of Pentecost, let’s continue to follow the children of Israel after the crossing of the sea. They began their journey as a new nation toward the mountain of God.  On the day of Pentecost they stood before the mountain of the LORD and He gave them His law (Ex. 19:1- 23:33).

 

In the New Testament, on the day of Pentecost, God gave His Holy Spirit to the disciples.  “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  ²And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  ³Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  ⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

 

The day of Pentecost pictures not only the giving of the law at Mount Sinai (God’s conditions of the covenant and how we are to serve and obey Him), but also the giving of His Holy Spirit to aid us in keeping that law.  “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:33).

 

Without God’s spirit we cannot please God.  “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).

 

In our journey, once we have made our covenant with God and been washed clean, in order to continue and uphold our oath, we need His Holy Spirit. Without it we would inevitably be dragged back to our former way of life by our human nature and end up breaking our covenant.  

 

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).  It is this helper that enables us to overcome our human nature and take on God’s nature, which we must have if we are going to be a part of His family.

 

This third holy day, the day of Pentecost, picturing the giving of His Holy Spirit, is a crucial step, but would not be possible without the two holy days preceding it.  Without the atoning of the blood and the cleansing by baptism, there could be no giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You” (Psalm 5:4).

 

In Acts 2:38, Peter summed up the first three holy days when He said, “Repent [Passover], and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins [Last Day of Unleavened Bread]; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [Pentecost].”

In summary, the instructions God gave for the observance of the third holy day, the day Pentecost, is to paint a picture for us of what this day is about. We are commanded to count seven weeks (seven sets of seven, picturing the cutting of a covenant) totaling forty nine days. On the day following, the fiftieth day, we are to celebrate Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). We are to begin our count on the day after the Passover (when we were redeemed by the blood) with an offering of ourselves as firstfruits to God (pictured by the wave offering on the 16^th of the first month). Having come under the blood at Passover and been washed clean by baptism on the seventh day of Unleavened Bread. And having cut a covenant with God Almighty by the counting of seven sets of seven--- on the day of Pentecost we are now eligible to receive God’s holy spirit as a helper, to aid us in continuing in this covenant and new way of life.

If a person willfully breaks the covenant, then they “…have trodden underfoot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and have done despite to the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29).

There is no turning back once we have cut this covenant. Luke 9:62 “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

The counting of seven weeks and the day of Pentecost are both extremely important components in our walk to becoming part of God's family. Without them, we are not eligable and cannot reach the goal of entering His rest.