Thoughts on Shavuot
In fact, Shavuot is the one ‘God commanded feast’ that has
no fixed calendar date. Instead of being
on the first of the month, like the majority of other feasts, the Feast of
Weeks is dependent upon the count of 7 weeks ‘from the time you put the sickle
to the standing corn’ as in Deuteronomy 16, or is 50 days from ‘the first day
after the Sabbath’ as in Leviticus 23. The
Sabbath referred to here is for the offering of Firstfruits, the Sabbath after the
Pesach meal, so happens on the first day of the week - the Sunday that Yeshua
rose from the dead.
In this way, Shavuot can be seen as a compliment to Pesach -
Pesach is not complete without Shavuot and Shavuot cannot begin without
Pesach. According to some Rabbi’s it is
a picture of moving from the physical freedom from slavery, into the spiritual freedom
of receiving God’s commandments and instructions at Mt Sinai, noting, “The
Torah was given not to enslave but to instruct and teach Israel how to live in
freedom by relationship with a holy God”.
It’s a beautiful picture of the day the covenant between them, as the
people of God was established, “a joining not dissimilar to a wedding when God ‘married’
Israel and established the beginning of His bride”.
A poignant thought when we consider the journey of
Yeshua (Jesus) at Pesach as he embraced the cross to give freedom to us all from
our slavery to sin, and move through to Shavuot (Pentecost) when the Holy Spirit
was given to instruct and teach us how to live in freedom by relationship with
a Holy God! Without Pentecost, Yeshua’s
journey would not be complete, and without Passover, Pentecost could not have
started. The Holy Spirit empowering the
church is the compliment to Yeshua’s walk and sacrifice that brings us salvation.
It is, to quote the Rabbi’s, a beautiful picture of the day the covenant
between us as the people of God was established, “ a joining not dissimilar to
a wedding”, when we as one’s grafted into the covenant, join and become part of
His bride.
The story of Ruth is set in Shavuot - another poignant and
timely reminder that ‘whosoever will’ may come into the family of God, of being
grafted into the story of God’s people, His plan and strategy of redemption.
She was a widow, an immigrant and a foreigner from a non-allied country. She
had lost her husband, her home and all the men in her husband’s family had
died. What a great time to consider
packing up your belongings and moving to your dead husband’s homeland with your
also-widowed mother in law - not! Yet Ruth found herself at the very roots of
redemption - such a ‘grafted in one’ was the ancestor of King David, and even
greater, the ancestor of Yeshua, the Messiah. Bethlehem, the house of bread,
responded with joy at Ruth’s inclusion to God’s family (Ruth 4:11-13) and today
it is our privilege and joy to witness God’s chosen people being welcomed back
into God’s family, once again becoming His bride and seeing the fulfilment of
both Passover and Pentecost fulfilled in their lives throughout the Land.
And a final thought. Whether titled in Greek, English or
Hebrew, the significance of the name of this Feast is in highlighting the count
of 7 weeks or 50 days. In Psalm 90:12 Moses picks up on the thought of ‘numbering
our days’, asking that God teach us to do so, “that we may gain a heart of
wisdom”. Shavuot is a time of
anticipation for the coming harvest, and celebration of God’s provision. It’s an opportunity to remind ourselves to
make every day count. To be ones who have God’s wisdom ‘set deeply in our
hearts’. To ask the Holy Spirit to teach us, to instruct us so that we live
each day on purpose, remembering our joy to be His bride, our honour to walk in
His footsteps and delight to ‘live in freedom by relationship with a Holy God!
Shavuot is celebrated this year on the first day of the
week, starting at sundown 8th June.