“I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them.” (Ezek 36:27-28, NKJV)
From the previous teachings we learnt that the feasts had all been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The festival of Shavuot (pronounced as sha-voo-ote) is called Atzaret Pesach in Hebrew, the concluding of Pesach. In Lev 23:15-16 the link between these two feasts is made clear – “And you shall count for yourselves from the day of the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.” (Pentacost can in Greek be translated as fiftieth.)
These feasts are explained by using architectural terms – “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. Then 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.” (Deut 16:9-10). Israel was a nation living according to the rhythm of the agricultural seasons and harvests, and understood God’s symbolism here. The feast of Pesach was celebrated when the first barley harvest had been planted, the festival of Pentecost coincides with the wheat harvest. Fifty days after the Israelites celebrated Pesach they travelled to the Mount Sinai to make a covenant with God.
But within Jewish tradition Pesach is seen as the promise of engagement which God had made to His people. She would move from her house (of slavery), to the desert (where He would speak to her heart – Hos 2:14), and there He would remove the Baals from her mouth (Hos 2:17). The seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot then symbolically points to the seven days during which the bride prepares for her wedding. This would be followed by the cutting of the covenant of marriage, after which she would cleave to God as her Husband (Hos 2:16). According to the Jews this handing over of the Law on Mount Sinai took place during the cutting of the marriage contract.
In Ex 19 the story of how the Law as marriage covenant was offered to the people of Israel is told. Similar to a ketuba – the legal (written) contract which a Jewish man and woman sign, which regulates the legalities of their relationship (Amos 3:3), the tables of the Law become a marriage contract. His visible presence during the cutting of the covenant (Ex 19:16-18) is a clear marker of his dedicated commitment.
In Greek Shavuot means Pentecost, and in the New Testament it plays out according to the Old Testament pattern of time – 50 weeks between Pesach and Shavuot, and fifty days from Christ’s death to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1)!
For the Old Testament believers Shavuot pointed to the coming of the Holy Spirit. For us in the new covenant Pentecost again points to the Holy Spirit as the first fruit (Ex 34:22; Rom 8:23) of our inheritance in God, a seal (2 Cor 1:11; 2 Cor 5:5) to last us until the day in which we come into our full inheritance. “And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24).
- Sela: Interpret the Scripture from Ezekiel, noted blow, in the light of Randall Price’s remark that during the thousand years of peace all the Jewish feasts will be celebrated. Argue the different points.
- Read: Deut 18; Ezek 44; Micah 6
- Memorize: Ezek 44:23-24
- For a deeper understanding: Read pp 227-229 of Randall Price’s In search of the temple treasures.
