Feast of Weeks in Bible Times
(also called Pentecost or Shavuot)

The Day Moses Received the Ten Commandments

The Feast of Weeks not only marks the end of the grain harvest at Passover time, but also signifies the process of freedom started with the Exodus at Passover, and concluded with the proclamation of the Law at Sinai. The Feast Of Weeks is an observance of the giving of the Torah by Yahweh (God) to the Jewish people over three thousand years ago on Mount Sinai. Throughout the generations people have studied these works, commenting upon them, clarifying their meanings, deriving practical applications of these principles and codifying the laws derived from them. Thus, a continuous chain of tradition extends throughout the generations, connecting the scholars of the present day to the communication at Mount Sinai.

On that day (when Moses received the law) three thousand souls died due to disobedience. God has never taken His covenant with us casually. He is a jealous God. While on one hand, He desired and still desires intimacy with us, He also is a God committed in marriage to us by His rights as husband. When we violate Him, through types of spiritual adultery, we may indeed face His jealous wrath (Birnbaum 1996).

The Feast is one of the three times when all young men were required to appear before the Lord, a pilgrim festival (Exod. 23:17; 34:23, Deut. 16:16). Historically, the main activity on the Feast of Pentecost was the presentation of a wave offering to the Lord, two loaves of bread with leaven (Lev. 23:15-21). The bread was to be brought with seven male lambs, a young bull and two rams as a burnt offering (Lev. 23:18). The sin offering was a male goat (Lev. 23:19).
During the second Temple period, everyone gathered together in their home town and slept the night in the town streets (they didn’t enter homes to prevent being exposed to impurities). In the morning the overseer would walk among the people saying, “Get up, let us go into the house of Zion, to the house of the Lord our God.” Those in the Jerusalem area would join a procession carrying fresh dates, pomegranates, and grapes. Those at the back would carry dried fruit, figs, and raisins. The ox offering was led before them, whose horns were overlaid with gold, with an olive branch and a crown on his head. Each family brought two loaves of the finest bread.

Remember, only the best fruits were chosen. The men would go out before this festival to choose the best grapes and dates to give unto God. They tied a red thread to the fruit to mark them for the offering.

The wave offering expressed the Hebrews’ dependence on God for the harvest and their daily bread. This was a thanksgiving offering. The link between Passover and Pentecost is the omer. The second night of Passover (Firstfruits) the barley is harvested and the first sheaf is waved before the altar in the Temple. On Pentecost two loaves are waved as an offering before the same altar.

This one day is to be kept with a holy convocation. It was one of the days on which all Israel was to meet God and one another, at the place which the Lord should choose. Some suggest that, whereas seven days were to make up the Feast of Unleavened Bread, there was only one day appointed for the Feast of Pentecost because this was a busy time of the year with them, and God allowed them speedily to return to their work in the country (Mays 1988).
Through the centuries the Jewish people have celebrated this important event. It was at Mount Sinai that this band of wearied travelers would become the nation known as Israel.