Feast of Weeks

Exodus 23:14 ~ Three times a year you shall hold a festival for Me: Feast of Unleavened Bread, eating unleavened bread for seven days. 16 ~ Feast of the Harvest, of the first fruits of what you sow in the field; and Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year.

Exodus 34:22 ~ You shall observe the Feast of Weeks (aka Feast of the Harvest), of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. 26 ~ The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of Elohim..

At this time His people had not yet begun farming - they do not raise crops until they settle the promised land. I have learned that both wheat and barley were planted the same time but barley ripens earlier than wheat. Feast of Weeks begins with the barley harvest and ends with the wheat harvest. The sheaf of barley offering is made, and fifty days later the first fruits of the wheat harvest are offered. 

Leviticus 23:9 ~ When you enter the promise land and reap its harvest: you shall bring the first sheaf of your (barley) harvest to the priest who shall elevate the sheaf before YHWH for acceptance. The priest shall elevate it on the day after the sabbath... until that very day when you bring your offering you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears (of the new crop) 15 ~ From the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation - the day after the sabbath - you shall count off seven weeks... to day fifty, then bring an offering of new grain (wheat) to YHWH: two loaves of bread as first fruits to Yah.  On that same day (Day 50) you shall hold a celebration, a sacred occasion and you shall not work at your occupations. This is a law for all times throughout your generations.

Numbers 28:26 ~ On the day of the first fruits, your Feast of Weeks, when you bring an offering of new grain (wheat) to YHWH, you shall observe a sacred occasion and do not work at your occupations. 

Feast of Weeks begins with first fruits of the barley harvest (sheaf) and ends with the first fruits of the wheat harvest (new grain).

Deuteronomy 16:9 ~  Count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to יהוה your Elohim, according to the voluntary offering from your hand, which you give as יהוה your Elohim blesses you.  And you shall rejoice before יהוה your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the Lĕwite who is within your gates, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where יהוה your Elohim chooses to make His Name dwell. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Mitsrayim (Egypt), and you shall guard and do these laws.

Now, Deuteronomy reads that the count begins at the harvest, when the sickle is put to standing grain. Leviticus says the count begins when the priest offers the first sheaf of the barley harvest to Yah, after the sabbath. If I brought my sheaf to the priest on the 5th day, he would wait until after the 7th day to make the offering on my behalf. But when does the counting of days begin? When the sickle is put to standing grain or when the priest makes the offering? I've always gone with Deuteronomy on this matter because it usually clarifies and summarizes all things that came before. Y'shua summarized all things that His Father put in place, even clarified and raised the bar here and there, but never changed anything. Moses is doing the same thing. Y'shua once said if we would have known Moses we would also know him. I suppose we can cycle this around using Y'shua as an example of Torah.

What about translations? That is what made me take a second look at my studies on Yah's moedim. There is a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls including Deuteronomy 16 translated as: "... begin to number the seven weeks from the time you raised the devoted grain."  And I quote the DDS translator: 

This word חרמש is interesting. The KJV has chosen to translate it as "sickle". While its meaning does include "to be cut off" it also refers to a devoted thing being cut off. In this case the devoted thing which is cut off is the omer that is offered up as a freewill offering. The timing of the count to the Feast of weeks is not from the beginning of the harvest but is after the harvest is complete. We take an omer from that harvest and offer it up as a freewill offering.

I personally stay away from quoting the KJV, but many other versions of Scriptures also use the word 'sickle' in Deuteronomy 16:9.  And I have never considered the offering being taken at the end of the harvest. First means first and anyone could have taken the first sheaf to the priest as soon as it was cut, leaving the rest of the workers to finish with the harvest.

Did someone get it wrong translating either Leviticus or Deuteronomy about this time to begin counting?  Does the barley ripen the same day year after year so that it can be included on a pre-printed calendar? It's no wonder that Yahweh put specific people in charge of keeping watch on things like this! Leaving it up to us common folk has opened up a can of worms. Who do we trust?

We know on Day 50 Yahweh came down on the mountain and gave His Laws to the people. For the mixed multitude along with the Hebrews, their count began the day they were set free from Pharaoh on the 15th day of the first month. Fifty days later they were assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai. It was on Day 50 that the Apostles received the Ruach haKodesh as promised by Y'shua. For the Apostles, the count began at the resurrection of Y'shua, who died on the 15th day of the first month and was resurrected 3 nights and 3 days later. He was taken up to heaven forty days later as the First Fruits of the Dead; and in another ten days was Shavuot.

Counting is something our Creator would like us to do.  He counted six days and rested on the seventh. He instructed us to do likewise, counting in seven day intervals from each new moon, each reckoned as His day of rest for us. If something was date specific, He told us as He designated the specific day of the month in keeping Unleavened Bread, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Sukkot. Feast of Weeks is not date specific but relies on the harvests.

When we come into covenant with our Maker there are terms of that covenant we are to abide by. A section of those terms are instructions in observing specific set apart times, His moedim. There are segments of those instructions we are unable to fulfill these days because the temple no longer stands in Jerusalem nor is there the priesthood to handle the daily affairs of temple life. This includes the various offerings which were to be brought to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year: the passover offering, first fruits of the wheat harvest, Shavuot and the Feast of Ingathering, Sukkot. Neither are we to substitute what we think is right in the meantime. His Set Apart times are meant to be observed throughout the generations, which we can do in 'remembering' why they were done and realizing how they train us up for a future time. We still treat them as sacred times and observe them as the Sabbaths that they are, sans sacrifice, offerings and traveling to Jerusalem.

With that being said, I will give it a rest, the discrepancy between what was written in Leviticus with what was written in Deuteronomy, because the physical actions cannot be performed in this day and age.  The timeline is still observed in remembrance of the mighty and awesome power of the One who created us, and all praise and glory belongs to Him! 

If you have more you can add to this, please enter your comments in the appropriate space below.  I'll come back to this later with a fresh perspective and more study time.

Feast of Weeks = Shavuot

The passover offering was at a specific time: 14th day of the first month, at twilight.  Thus began the seven days of Unleavened Bread and together commemorate Yah's Set Apart People being freed from bondage in Egypt to Pharaoh.  Some 40 years later, after the Israelites settled in the promised land of Canaan and were able to plant fields and harvest crops, we learn of Elohim's next appointed time.

Leviticus 23:10- When you enter the land which I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest.  He shall wave the sheaf before YHWH for acceptance in your behalf (on the day after the weekly sabbath).  :14 Until that very day, until you have brought the offering, you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears, it is a law for all time throughout the ages in all your settlements. :15 from that day after the sabbath you shall count off seven weeks; until the day after the seventh week - fifty days (total) - then you shall bring an offering of new grain to YHWH - two loaves of bread (of the first fruits) as a wave offering, as first fruits to YHWH.  :20 The priest shall offer these- they shall be set apart to YHWH, for the priest. :21 On that same day hold a celebration, a sacred occasion - do no work at your occupations. This is a law for all time in all your settlements, throughout the ages.

In Deuteronomy 16 He names this time the Feast of Weeks. The fiftieth day (Shavuot) is a sacred occasion, a day of 'new grain' offering. As instructed in Leviticus, seven weeks are counted off from when the sickle is first put to standing grain.  As I have learned, both wheat and barley are planted at the same time but barley ripens earlier than the wheat, so this Feast of Weeks begins the day of the barley harvest.  The first fruits of this harvest (sheaf) are taken to the priest as an offering to YHWH.  On the day after those seven weeks, the 50th day, is when a celebration is held commemorating the blessings of YHWH shown in the bounty of the wheat harvest.  This is not a 'date specific' event but hinges on the harvesting of barley, the day the first sheaf is cut.

Note:
Three times a year all males went to the place where Yah chose to place His Name: Feast of Unleavened Bread for the passover offering; Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) for the offering of first fruit of the harvest; Feast of Booths (Sukkot) for the offering from the ingathering of the threshing floor and vats (grape harvest).

Deuteronomy 31 points out that every 7th year is set for remission and that every 7th year during the Feast of Booths is when all Israel (all Hebrews and Set Apart believers) come together before YHWH (in His place of choosing).  Torah is read aloud during this time in the presence of all the men, women, children and strangers that they may hear and so learn to revere YHWH our Elohim and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching = Torah = YHWH's Instructions for His People.

These appointed times are to be observed that we may rejoice in the blessings from YHWH - He blesses our all our undertakings that we may have nothing but joy.  We obey and receive the blessing - Life Eternal.

YHWH appeared to the people at Mount Sinai.  When they had been at the mountain long enough, YHWH instructed the building of the Tabernacle and He traveled with them in the wilderness. Years later, Solomon built the House of Elohim in Jerusalem, the last known place for the priesthood, their duties, and where YHWH attached His Name.  Jerusalem still exists but the temple and priesthood no longer exist.  YHWH's set apart times did not cease to exist. He put them in place, as He said, for all time, throughout the generations and all ages - a command not to be ignored.  There is no excuse for substituting other behavior in place of His Teaching.

We can't make things up and believe that we are truly pleasing YHWH Elohim.  Satan has a counterfeit for almost everything put forth by our Creator; let us not fall into this same pattern.  A similar example given is what happened in 1 Kings 25 when Jeroboam (out of fear of losing his position of power) convinced the Israelites (who had chosen him as king) that they did not need to go to Jerusalem to worship YHWH anymore.  Jeroboam had built 2 temples, one in Bethel and the other in Dan, in which he had a golden calf placed in each, telling them 'this is your god'.  He convinced them that 'God was Everywhere' and it was okay to worship Him anywhere. This is not what Yah taught!  Jeroboam also made cult places and appointed priests from the ranks of people who were not descendants of Levi.  This same example applies to religious traditions of today when teachers and leaders and preachers convince folks of things that just aren't correct according to what is written in Scriptures.

During this time called the Feast of Weeks we are thankful for His bounty in our lives.  We give Him our best every day and are content with what we have.  We are grateful for how He has provided for our needs as we see to the needs of others.  We will not substitute vain imaginings to replace His Instructions.  If you can't take the first sheaf of the harvest to the priest to make an offering in your behalf, don't fake it with anything else.  Jeroboam was 'faking it' and  did not turn back from his evil way whereby the House of Jeroboam incurred guilt.

We must abide by the Creator's Instructions and follow Him with all our heart, doing what is right in His sight.  Lets not be displeasing or provoke YHWH and incur guilt.  Continue to read Scriptures and let the Ruach haKodesh reveal His Truth.