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.

Clean or Unclean

Definition of unclean:

1: morally or spiritually impure 

2: infected with a harmful contagion 

3: prohibited by ritual law for use or contact

The Book of Leviticus is not an easy read.

Chapter 5 teaches about incurring guilt through sin, either intentionally or unknowingly, according to the Teachings of Yahweh; and provides the appropriate action to be taken to remedy oneself.

In regards to coming in contact with anything 'unclean', when one realizes his guilt, he acknowledges his wrongdoing and provides the required offering to the priest who makes expiation on his behalf, and all is forgiven. (It is the feeling of 'guilt' that creeps in after we have done something wrong. It's as if wearing 'filthy rags' instead of 'fine linen')

Leviticus 5:5 teaches when he realizes his guilt in any of these matters, he shall confess the circumstance of the sin which he is guilty of and bring his penalty (sin offering) to Yahweh (via the priest). If we transgress any of His Laws = His Instructions in Righteousness = this is considered as sin.

Unintentional sin is forgivable once we realize what we have done and pray for forgiveness. Y'shua is our high priest who intercedes on our behalf and we are forgiven. The Instructions still apply to us today but the remedy has been changed from bringing offerings to the temple and priest, to accepting the death of the Son as our covering and salvation from eternal death.

Hebrews 10 (lightly paraphrased)

We choose to accept Y'shua as our High Priest who offered a one time sacrifice for sins, who sits forever at the right hand of Elohim where he waits until his foes are placed as a footstool under his feet. For, by one offering (himself), he has perfected forever them who are sanctified (set apart) by him. And the Ruach haKodesh also testifies to us by saying: This is the covenant which I will give them after those days, says Master YHWH: I will put my Torah into their minds and inscribe it on their hearts and their iniquity and their sins I will not remember against them. Now, where there is a forgiveness of sins there is no offering for sin demanded. We have therefore my Brothers assurance of entering into the sanctuary by the blood of Y'shua and by a path of life.

Another misunderstanding about clean and unclean shows up when folks point out that God told Peter all food was acceptable to eat, Acts Chapter 10, but they don't read the entire chapter.  Peter's vision is clarified when we read beyond the part about the food vision and take into consideration his standard of not meeting with people who were not of the House of Israel (tribal descendants). Cornelius the Centurion was a believer in Elohim who saw a vision and was told to send some men to go get Simon Peter and bring him to his house. The next day Peter was in prayer and was feeling hungry. He saw a vision of what looked like a linen cloth coming down from heaven full of all creatures and creeping things and birds. He heard a voice say Slaughter and Eat! But he did not because he had never eaten anything defiled or unclean. The second time this happens a voice said "That which Elohim has cleansed, you should not consider defiled." This vision happened a third time.... Peter was standing there marveling at this when the 'three' men from Cornelius showed up at this house. The Spirit tells Peter to go with those three men without being indecisive because it was The Spirit who sent them. Peter goes with them men to Caesarea. Acts 10:28 explains the unclean food vision - "... it is not Lawful for a Yehudean man to associate with a foreign man who is not a son of his tribe, but Elohim showed to me concerning a man not to say that he is unclean or defiled. So I came to you...."  (food was used as a visual metaphor; this vision was about Gentile believers).

Click here to go to my study: Substitutes

The 2 The 10 and The Rest Follow Naturally

Matthew 22 tells us that Yah's Instructions (Torah) and the (writings of the) prophets hold onto these two commandments: 

• Love Master Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, soul, might and mind 
• Love your neighbor as yourself 

Earlier, we read in Deuteronomy 6:5

• You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might.

and in Leviticus 19:18

• Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself.

You see, those "two great commands" do not replace anything else - they come straight from the Old Testament, the part referred to as Torah. If you love Yah with your entire being then it should be no problem for you to understand and follow His Instructions.

I am YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. I YHWH am your Elohim, impassioned, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not swear falsely by My Name for I will not clear one who does.

If you love your fellowman as yourself, you will treat him with the same respect as you would like to be treated. You should have no problem following the Instructions of Yahweh.

Honor your mother and father that you may long endure in the Promised Land that I am giving you. You shall not murder, or commit adultery or steal or bare false witness against one another. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or wife or anything that belongs to him.

Those who do the commandments are those who love Yahweh. 

Without love, observing His Instructions is vanity and 

without His Instructions one's love is vanity.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it set apart. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath of Mine. You, your family, your hired hands or your work animals or the stranger who is visiting your town shall do no work. I made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh I rested, therefore I blessed the sabbath day and set it apart.

All of His Instructions are recorded in the the first five books of Scriptures: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This is His Instruction Manual provided for His Creation.  Sure, it takes some study time to even begin to understand what was going on back in those days and to learn that it still applies to us today; just as any owner's manual needs to be read a few times before the instructions make sense, become clear.

Nothing was done away with when Yahshua came on the scene, in fact, he clarifies and even raises the standard a few times, but he did not put an end to what the Father started.

Exodus 20:

I am YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides Me.

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

I YHWH am your Elohim, impassioned, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those w ho love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not swear falsely by My Name for I will not clear one who does.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it set apart. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath of Mine. You, your family, your hired hands or your work animals or the stranger who is visiting your town shall do no work. I made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh I rested, therefore I blessed the sabbath day and set it apart.

Honor your mother and father that you may long endure in the Promised Land that I am giving you.

You shall not murder, or commit adultery or steal or bare false witness against one another. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or wife or anything that belongs to him.

The Fall Appointments

These are the set times of Yahweh to be celebrated as sacred occasions:

Leviticus 23:23-44

• On the first day of the 7th month sound the shofar;
• The 10th day of this month is The Day of Atonement; 
• On the 15th day of this 7th month begin the Feast of Booths
• Followed by the 8th Day, a solemn gathering

It has been noted that Yah's Set Apart times are also types and shadows of things to come, that those which occur during the spring have been fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Yahshua, and that the ones which occur in the fall (the 7th month) are yet to be fulfilled. These could be related to events recorded in Revelation:

The 7th Seal, which has yet to be opened...

The 7 Shofars, which have yet to sound....

The Gathering of Yah's Chosen People...

Yahshua as our king and High Priest

After 1,000 years Yah restores all things

Leviticus 23:23

Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. You shall not work at your occupations and you shall bring an offering by fire to YHWH Elohim.

23:27

The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to YHWH Elohim; you shall do no work throughout that day. It is a Day of Atonement on which expiation is made on your behalf before Yahweh your Elohim. Whoever does not practice self denial throughout that day will be cut off from his kin, and whoever does any work throughout that day, I will cause that person to perish from among his people. Do no work whatever; it is a law for all time, throughout the ages, in all your settlements. It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you and you shall practice self denial; on the ninth day of the month from evening to evening, you shall observe this sabbath.

And again in Numbers 29 with more details:

In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations. You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded (a day of festivity). You shall present a burnt offering of pleasing odor to YHWH: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, without blemish. The meal offering with them - choice flour with oil mixed in - shall be 3/10 of a measure for a bull, 2/10 for a ram and 1/10 for each of the seven lambs. And there shall be one goat for a sin offering, to make expiation in your behalf in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon with its meal offering and the regular burnt offer with its meal offer each with its libation as prescribed, offerings by fire of pleasing odor to YHWH.

29:7

On the tenth day of the same seventh month you shall observe a scared occasion with you shall practice self denial. You shall do no work. You shall present to YHWH a burnt offering of pleasing odor: one bull of the herd, one ram, seven yearling lambs, without blemish. The meal offering with them - of choice flour with oil mixed in - shall be 3/10 of a measure for a bull, 2/10 for the ram, 1/10 for each of the seven lambs. And there shall be one goat for a sin offering of expiation and the regular burnt offering with its meal offering each with its libation.

New moons, regular offerings, blasts of the shofars, atonement, 7th month, days of the month... how do we apply these rules to our modern days? How do we know God's Calendar of Months? If the temple nor the the priesthood exist, how are we to make offerings? Did Y'shua fulfill all offerings? How do we observe these times without causing YHWH to become upset with us?

We can keep these days as sacred occasions and not work at our occupations. We can shout out to YHWH on the first day and practice self denial on the tenth day. We can live as examples of what it means to be Set Apart and study out the Word of Elohim to be familiar with these appointments He put in place for us. We should not substitute other behavior or traditions and think we are pleasing Him. 

A 'sacred occasion' is akin to a dignified ceremony; solemn; earnest. 'Self-denial' is akin to setting aside our own interests; restraining our own desires; being in control of our impulses as we refrain from indulging ourselves (turn off the TV, radio, computer, phones, etc...)

On the first day of the 7th month of Yah's Calendar we observe the Feast of Trumpets as a sabbath's day rest and do no work on this day. Shout praises unto Elohim, let Yahweh know you're here! Then on the 10th day of this 7th month, set it aside as a dignified ceremony wherein not only do we treat it as a sabbath of rest and do no work but also deny ourselves our usual activities. Go without eating regular meals this day, be in prayer about your life and where you stand in the Word and know Y'shua the Son of Elohim is making Atonement in our behalf. Let us be worthy of this friendship with the one who laid down his life that we could gain life eternal.

Sukkot = The Ingathering of Yah's People

This is one of the set times where the males traveled to Jerusalem, after the end of season harvest, to make the appropriate offerings at the temple, and they lived in huts or tents while there. Only during every 7th year did the entire household attend this Feast of Booths. We can treat the first day as a sabbath day of complete rest and do the same for the 8th day. If we want to 'camp out' in our own backyards, I don't see why not as long as we remember we do this so that we teach future generations that YHWH made His people live in booths when He brought them out of Egypt.

There are many groups who like to advertise a gathering place for folks to celebrate Sukkot, which seems like a good thing, when in reality Yah chose Jerusalem, the last place He attached His Name was there, so how can we think we are honoring him if we do it our own way, where ever we choose?  We should know enough by now not to make it up as we go along.

!!! HOLD EVERYTHING !!!

Here is one of the unforeseen benefits of studying topics such as this. I had recently read a post from folks already celebrating the First Day of the 7th Month, which I thought was aligned in October, not September, but I never followed that trail at the time. Right now while looking for a calendar to share I found out where that discrepancy came from... turns out to be a rabbinic error in adding a leap month when it was not necessary.  Here is a quote from The Refiner's Fire:

For 2016 our calendar and the traditional Jewish calendar are FAR off! The reason is, the traditional calendar applies a fixed cycle of leap years, so for 2016, the traditional calendar is a leap year when it should not be! It has Nisan a whole month late! Our calendar has Nisan falling at the correct date so Pesach (passover) falls just after the Vernal Equinox, i.e., Spring. Thus our calendar for 2016 differs from the rabbinic 2016 calendar for all dates after February 9th!

So let it be known - how can we please our Creator if we don't even know what day it is? and whose fault is that? and how do we remedy this?  I see another study on the horizon! Stay tuned! 

And I also see why YHWH Elohim said this:

Isaiah 7:11 What need have I of all your sacrifices... I have no delight that you come to appear before Me - trample My courts no more. Bringing your offerings is futile, incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath you proclaim solemnities and assemble with wickedness I cannot tolerate. Your new moons (months) and your fixed seasons (man's traditions and substitutes for Yah's moedim) fill Me with loathing - they have become a burden to Me, no longer a joy. When you lift up your hands in false praise and worship I will turn My Eyes away from you.