The Feast of Weeks like Passover is a controversial topic. Over the years the Christian thought has been that Sunday has to be the wave sheaf, the feast of weeks, and the Sabbath. This is complicated by biblical evidence to the contrary but like any topic if we start off attempting to prove it from a false starting point we will end up with the wrong conclusion. The conclusion is that the Feast of Weeks could actually be on any day of the week just as the other feasts. The count of fifty (Pentecost) may end up on Sivan, the third biblical month, on the 5th, 6th, or 7th day. The question is how do we start the count?

Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even (between the evens) is Yahweh's passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto Yahweh: 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 Yahweh seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Importantly here for the study of the Feast of Weeks we find that Yahweh points out two holy days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The first holy day is on the fifteenth of Abib and the second on the twenty-first of Abib which is the last day of the feast. This precedes the command for how to keep the wave sheaf offering which starts the count to the Feast of Weeks.

Leviticus 23:9 And Yahweh 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 Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto Yahweh. 13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto Yahweh for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your Elohim: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Joshua 5:10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even (between the evens) in the plains of Jericho. 11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. 12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Israel ate the old corn or grain on the day after the Passover. Yahweh's Passover is killed on the 14th of Abib so they ate the old grain on the 15th. Then the day after they ate the old grain they ate the fruit of the land. This meaning that they ate the new produce of the land on the 16th of Abib. The manna also ceased on the 16th which relates to the resurrection of first fruits and the entering into the new covenant through the blood of Messiah as we will see later. The 16th of Abib as the starting point for the count to the Feast of Weeks makes the following verses clear.

Leviticus 23:15 And 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: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto Yahweh.

The morrow after the Sabbath as we read is the 16th of Abib. Counting seven complete weeks from the 16th of Abib ends up in the first week of the third biblical month. The use of Sabbath in most modern translations shows a lack of impartiality in verse sixteen on the part of translators. The oldest know translation of the Hebrew Scriptures dates back to about 300 BCE yet the oldest know Hebrew manuscript is from 916 CE. The oldest known translation of the scriptures, called the Septuagint, written before the sects of the Sadducees and Pharisees and was written to provide Greek speaking Hebrews readable scriptures in their acquired tongue. The English translation of these scriptures reads as follows.

Leviticus 23:10 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye shall enter into the land which I give you, and reap the harvest of it, then shall ye bring a sheaf, the first-fruits of your harvest, to the priest; 11 and he shall lift up the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up. 12 And ye shall offer on the day on which ye bring the sheaf, a lamb without blemish of a year old for a whole-burnt-offering to Yahweh. 13 And its meat-offering two tenth portions of fine flour mingled with oil: it is a sacrifice to Yahweh, a smell of sweet savour to Yahweh, and its drink-offering the fourth part of a hin of wine. 14 And ye shall not eat bread, or the new parched corn, until this same day, until ye offer the sacrifices to your Elohim: it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 15 And ye shall number to yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day on which ye shall offer the sheaf of the heave-offering, seven full weeks: 16 until the morrow after the last week ye shall number fifty days, and shall bring a new meat-offering to Yahweh.

The Septuagint verifies the point earlier seen in Joshua and by reading the verse in context with the Feast of Unleavened Bread that the Sabbath written about here is the 15th of Abib. It is important to note that most arguments against this conclusion are based on word studies done on the way "Shabbat" and "ha Shabbat", or Sabbath and the Sabbath respectively to the Hebrew as used throughout the scriptures. The conclusion that "ha Shabbat" in the Hebrew can only refer to the weekly Sabbath is incorrect as the Septuagint shows by preserving "the Sabbath". Another point is that if a rule is made that only "ha Shabbat" is the weekly Sabbath then references to the weekly Sabbath as Shabbat would be in conflict. For a rule to be true, it has to always be true. Through out the Hebrew Scriptures there are many places where "ha Shabbat" is used possibly referring to feast days. (Numbers 15:32; 2 Kings 16:18; Psalms 92:1; Nehemiah 10:31; 10:33; 13:15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22; Jeremiah 17:21, 22, 24, 27; Ezekiel 46:12; Amos 8:5)

Taking this one more step we find that "Shabbatown" translated in many places rest is used to reference both the weekly and annual Sabbaths. One example would be Lev. 23:3 reading in "Sabbath of rest" is the Hebrew "shabbat shabbatown". When doing a search on "Shabbatown" you find it is translated "rest" eight times and "Sabbath" three times in the Authorized Version. Using the Englishman's Concordance to search for Strong's number 7676 "Shabbat" you will find that it is in the Hebrew 111 times. "Shabbat" is specifically used in reference to Day of Atonement and sabbatical cycles, but in many places "Shabbat" in context with the verse is not specific enough to determine whether it is being used in regard to a weekly or annual Sabbath.

Overall there are many Hebrew phrases that are derived from "Shabbat" making a rule that all places that "ha Shabbat" is in the scriptures impossible to attribute to one definition. Within chapter 23 of Leviticus the verses that define Yahweh's command to keep the Sabbath, "ha Shabbat" is not used. It seems that rather than a rule the theory that "ha Shabbat" is always the weekly Sabbath should be presented as a guideline. When looking at Pentecost we can't formulate a solution based on a rule that can be ascribed to the weekly Sabbath less than 100% of the time. So let's continue reading in Leviticus 23 about the blessings of the Feast of Weeks.

Leviticus 23:17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto Yahweh. 18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto Yahweh, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto Yahweh. 19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest. 21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am Yahweh your Elohim.

Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto Yahweh thy Elohim with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto Yahweh thy Elohim, according as Yahweh thy Elohim hath blessed thee: 11 And thou shalt rejoice before Yahweh thy Elohim, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which Yahweh thy Elohim hath chosen to place his name there. 12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

The Feast of Weeks is seven weeks from time that the grain is beginning to be harvested or as we read in Leviticus 23:16, "until the morrow after the last week ye shall number fifty days, and shall bring a new meat-offering to Yahweh." This would be 49 days after the 16th of Abib or 50 days including the 16th of Abib. Considering different scenarios, the new moon month is 29.5 days long. If one month is 30 days long and the next is 29, then Sivan 6 will be the Feast of Pentecost. Some years we have two 30 day months so then Sivan 5 is the Feast of Pentecost. There is a rare situation where we would have two months 29 days long which would mean that the Feast of Pentecost would end up on Sivan 7.

In Deuteronomy 16 we find the same description for counting to Pentecost as in Leviticus 23. This description is close here to the Septuagint translation. Another point that can be gleaned from this and other verses is that "Hag Shavuot" in the Hebrew is related to weeks and called in four places the Feast of Weeks, not the Feast of Sabbaths. (Exodus 34; Deuteronomy 16:10; Deuteronomy 16:16; 2 Chronicles 8:13) Shavuot is used as weeks twenty times in the scriptures. In Daniel we find that it is referring to the midst of the week. Daniel 9:27, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (shavuot): and in the midst of the week (shavuot) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Shavuot is used in Ezekiel as the number seven. Ezekiel 45:21, "In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven (hag shavuot) days; unleavened bread shall be eaten." Shavuot is not restricted to the week started by Sunday which is the first day of the week. Here in Ezekiel we find in reference to "hag shavuot" in English "a feast for seven days" referring to Passover. Passover as we know doesn't have to start on a Sabbath or any specific day of the week.

As we move forward into the messianic period the question; how was Yahshua a fulfillment to the Feast of Weeks and the wave sheaf? Many say that Yahshua rose on Sunday, we know this is not true. One side note to a scripture used to prove that Yahshua rose on Sunday is Mark 16:9. Mark 16:9-20 are not found in the two oldest Greek manuscripts. (David H. Stern, Oxford Annotated Bible, New International Version, among other sources.) Those who look to the Peshitta (the oldest known Syriac text of the scriptures) will find that this maybe a good point to age the Peshitta. The Peshitta is newer than the oldest Greek manuscripts because it contains these verses. One other point is that Yahshua the Messiah as prophesied was in the tomb for three days and three nights. Considering that Yahshua was laid in the tomb by sunset then he would have had to of arose either exactly at the end of Sabbath or slightly before. He had to be buried by the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread according to scripture. (Matthew 27:57-66, Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:31-42) So while it was still dark after the weekly Sabbath Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Yahshua but by the time that she arrived at the tomb Yahshua had already arose. Mary is told that he went before the disciples to Galilee. Let's verify this in the scriptures, Matthew the 28th chapter.

Matthew 28:1 Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of Yahweh descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Yahshua, who hath been impaled. 6 He is not here; for he is risen, even as he said. Come, see the place where the Master lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples, He is risen from the dead; and lo, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9 And behold, Yahshua met them, saying, All hail (May Yahweh save you). And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then saith Yahshua unto them, Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb as soon as they could after the three days and three nights. On the way there was a great earthquake that opened the tomb but Yahshua already rose and was on His way to Galilee. While going to tell the disciples the blessed miracle the ladies ran into Yahshua. They took hold of his feet to worship him showing their love of the Master Yahshua. It is important to note that they took hold of Yahshua's feet. Many feel that Yahshua couldn't be touched because he had not yet presented him self as the wave sheaf. "Yahshua saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my Elohim, and your Elohim." (John 20:17) Since in Matthew we find that they held onto Yahshua this translation is somewhat flawed. Others translate this "Stop holding onto me..." according to Jewish New Testament, "Do not hold me..." in the Revised Standard Version, and "Do not hold on to me..." as translated in the New International Version. Yahshua still had much to do and the grieving of the disciples and brethren of the assembly was getting in the way of doing this. Yahshua according to the disciples showed himself many times. This reassured the brethren that he was the true messiah, fulfilling the sign of Jonah by rising after three days. Yahshua the Messiah was with the disciples throughout the forty days after His resurrection before then going to heaven.

Acts 1:2 until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of Elohim:

The idea that Yahshua fulfilled the wave sheaf on Sunday is simply not provable through scripture. The scriptures clearly points out that as a wave sheaf had to be offered before the harvest could begin. Paul points this out; Messiah Yahshua is the first fruits.

I Corinthians 15:20 But now hath Messiah been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Messiah the firstfruits; then they that are Messiah's, at his coming.

Yahshua the Messiah rose from the dead as the first of the first fruits. Those whom have part in the first resurrection are called in Revelations the first fruits of Elohim. (Revelation 14:4) Finally we have the scriptural guidance to answer the question of how Yahshua fulfilled the wave sheaf offering. Yahshua fulfilled it by being found acceptable for the first of first fruits. The wave sheaf was offered as a burnt offering upon the alter of Yahweh. Yahshua's sacrifice was found acceptable to Yahweh that on the third day he rose from the dead.

We find in Acts 2 that the disciples speak of the latter days and the fulfillment of prophecy. In Acts 2:14-21 the author writes that Peter speaking to the men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem that what they are witnessing is prophesied by the prophet Joel.

Acts 2:17 And it shall be in the last days, saith Elohim, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams: 18 Yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above, And signs on the earth beneath; Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the day of Yahweh come, That great and notable day. 21 And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be saved.

Yahshua fulfilled much of what is written in Joel through the things that took place at his death. The earth was dark for three hours before His death, earthquakes took place and veil was rent in half, and the some of the graves were opened. Looking at Joel 2:27, Joel speaks here of Yahweh being in the midst of His people. This is one of the major implementations of the new covenant and the fulfillments of Yahshua. Men no longer have human intercessors between them and Yahweh. Yahweh sent the Holy Spirit in Yahshua's name on the fiftieth day after the wave sheaf, the comforting spirit upon the disciples to help them understand what happened. (John 14:15-17, 25-26) The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the baptism with the Holy Spirit was all done so that future generations would grow to understand Yahweh and Yahshua the Messiah beyond the physical representations that could be seen with eyes. Seeing fulfillment of perfection Yahshua has given us the opportunity for salvation.

The conclusion of this study is that the wave sheaf is offered on the 16th of Abib. Then Pentecost is counted from that point forward to the fiftieth day. Yahshua is the Messiah of Yahweh; this seems to be the grand message that Yahshua was getting across to the many who saw him after the resurrection. Yahshua arose from the dead just three days after being wrongly executed as an innocent man. Let us then strive to be found acceptable to be called Messiah's. For we have been given by Yahweh the Holy Sprit and the most perfect sacrifice, Yahshua the Messiah, so that we might be found worthy.

Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; 6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: 7 Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O Elohim. 8 Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law), 9 then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yahshua the Messiah once for all.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Passover 101 QA ] [ Passover Eaten ] [ Determining Pentecost ] [ Scholars on Pentecost ] [ Passover 101 ] [ Counting to Pentecost ] [ Feast of Weeks ] [ Passover & FUB ] [ Tabernacles ] [ Day of Covering ] [ Awake Israel! ] [ Feast of Weeks ] [ Between the Evenings ]