The Meaning of Shavuot

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. (John 14:26 WMB)

On the modern Jewish Calendar, Shavuot begins the evening of Tuesday, June 11.

The Hebrew word Torah can refer to any kind of instruction or teaching, but is most commonly used to refer to the first five books of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. 

According to Jewish tradition, Moses received the Torah on Shavuot, also known as Pentecost.   On that very first Shavuot, God gave the Teaching to the Jewish people. Approximately one and a half millennia later, on that very same Jewish holiday, the earliest Messianic Jews received the Holy Spirit. And so we see that on the very first Shavuot the Jewish people received the Teaching, while in the Book of Acts, those first Messianic Jews received the Teacher.

Don’t forget to ask the Teacher to help you understand the Teaching. And don’t forget to be faithful in your Bible reading.  Always remember that the Holy Spirit can’t remind you of something you haven’t heard or read.