Counting to Pentecost
“on
the morrow after the sabbath” Lev.23:11,15
It is contested now and in the past (like most everything found in scripture)
on whether the ‘first of the firstfruits’ (Lv.23:10-11, 17, Ex.23:19, 34:26)
were waved by the priest (beginning the countdown to Pentecost) on the 16th,
the day after the first of the two sabbaths or holy convocations of the feast
of unleavened bread, or the 22nd, after the last holy convocation
(Lv.23:6-8). Or was “the morrow after the sabbath” a
reference to the weekly sabbath which would always fall on one of the days of
unleavened bread. For example, if the 1st day of unleavened bread
fell on the 16th then the 17th would begin the countdown
to Pentecost:
As usual God has concealed the truth in such a place that
we need to search it out and network it with other passages of scripture. The
question is what sabbath is referenced as “the morrow after
the sabbath”- the first or the last sabbath in the feast of unleavened
bread or the weekly sabbath? The context becomes critical to pay close
attention to. Consider the passage:
Lev.23:1 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be
holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but
the seventh day is the sabbath of
rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of
the Lord in all your
dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye
shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the
first month at even is the Lord's passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the
same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat
unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an
holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do
no servile work therein.
9 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you,
and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the
firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf
before the Lord, to be
accepted for you: on the morrow after
the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (This was the first of the
firstfruits brought to the house of God- Ex.23:19, 34:26)
Although a sabbath
is a holy convocation in which no servile work was to be done, God reminds us
of the weekly sabbath first here in v3. He calls it “the sabbath” stating clearly “the seventh day is
the sabbath of rest”. He proceeds to refrain for the moment from
identifying the first and last days of unleavened bread as sabbaths by name
calling them instead ‘holy convocations’ (compare 23:24,32,39). This subtle
distinction leaves you in context with the sabbath of v11 being the weekly
sabbath. It is further made distinct in v15 “ye shall count
unto you from the morrow after the
sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete”.
The only sabbaths in the count to Pentecost were weekly sabbaths.
We see this subtle
connection between the weekly sabbath and Pentecost here as well:
“Six days thou shalt work, but on the
seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt
rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of
wheat harvest…” Ex.34:21-2
The weekly sabbath
was still to be kept during harvest; to begin counting after the weekly sabbath
was a reminder Israel to observe it even during harvest.
Thus Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week started the countdown to Pentecost which itself was the first day of the week.
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