Shavuot
Deuteronomy 16:9-12
“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to Yahweh, your Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where Yahweh, the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
Leviticus 23:15-21
‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to Yahweh, the Lord. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
We count 50 days starting at the Sunday of the First Fruits. The only rule with the counting is that we do it with strong attention. For example, you start your prayer with: Today it is the 10th day. Thank you for the 10th day of the counting period till Shavuot. Day 50 is Shavuot. Shavuot means week. Referring to the 7 weeks that we count.
Exodus 34:22
You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
Deuteronomy 16:10
Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to Yahweh, the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you;
Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) is a celebration that commemorates the date when Yahweh gave the Torah to His people at Mount Sinai over 3,000 years ago.
We as followers of Yeshua also celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This moment is the celebration day for the start of the Kingdom. The constitution (10 commands) and the Law is given on this day. That means that Yahweh’s people were from this moment an official nation.
And the apostles started on this day to bring the good news of the Kingdom that soon will come to all the nations. The hope that the Messiah will come to take the throne soon is back.
Numbers 28:26,
‘Also on the day of the first fruits, when you present a new grain offering to Yahweh, the Lord in your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.
In the morning all men went to the temple to bring the first fruits of the wheat. Two bread of the grain were offered as wave offer. Plus the sin offer and the peace offerings. You were not allowed to come with nothing. Ofcourse we can give a extra offer instead combined with a special thank prayer.
How to celebrate:
On Shavuot you are not allowed to work. You shall have a holy convocation. The 10 commandments have to be read loud on the congregation. You have a celebration dinner with candle light. Decorate with green plants and flowers. Listen to the Bible reading, sing applicable worship songs, dancing. Just make a joyful holy day from it. Some people will stay awake all night and study religious texts, and then say the morning prayer, to show their enthusiasm and happiness because they have received the Torah. Because no one will find true freedom except by studying and living by the Law.
Freedom is not a good that can be experienced as a loose gift, without being given meaning in a life of freedom. That interpretation can only take shape in a good way, if life in freedom is given direction from Yahweh’s commandments. Only by listening to the Torah can the liberation, as it is commemorated on the day of the resurrection of Yeshua, take shape in a good way. Only then can the freedom that Yahweh has given be experienced in the right way. It is therefore understandable that it was precisely on the closing feast after Pesach that legislation at Mount Sinai was commemorated and celebrated.
Texts used on this day:
Exodus 19:3-9
Moses went up to Yahweh and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
Exodus 20:1-23
Then Yahweh spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh, the Lord your God gives you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not Yahweh speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for Yahweh has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where Yahweh was. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.
Acts 2:1-36
When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ Yahweh says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by Yahweh with miracles and wonders and signs which Yahweh performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of Yahweh, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But Yahweh raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that Yahweh had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Yeshua Yahweh raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of Yahweh, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that Yahweh has made Him both Lord and the Messiah —this Yeshua whom you crucified.”
The whole book of Ruth is also read on this day.