Pentecost / Shavuot / Feast Of Weeks
Shavuot is a Hebrew word that means “weeks”—Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Firstfruits.
For Christians, Firstfruits celebrates the Sunday on which Jesus rose from the dead. The world calls this Easter. (According to Google’s Generative AI, “The word "Easter" is believed to come from the Old English word Ēastre” and Ēastre was “the name of a pagan spring festival that celebrated the goddess of fertility and rebirth.”) I personally would prefer to see Easter called Firstfruits, since the Bible tells us that “Messiah has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20 WMB)
It’s interesting to me that according to the Bible both Firstfruits and Shavuot just so “happen” to fall on Sundays. But I’d rather you heard this next bit from a rabbi. Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Israel Drazin says this:
The current observance of Shavuot has no relationship to its biblical ancestor and doesn’t even occur at the same time. Very few people know the truth about this day. Most Jews think Shavuot recalls the day the Torah was revealed to the Israelites during the days of Moses. This is not true. This significance was given to the holiday in the middle ages when the holiday had lost one of its original purposes; the sacrifice prescribed for the day was discontinued when the second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE.
I am not advocating that Jews should not observe Shavuot. Judaism today is not Torah Judaism. It is Rabbinic Judaism. Jews observe the Torah as it is interpreted by the rabbis.
Source: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/our-shavuot-is-not-a-biblical-holiday/
For Jews, Firstfruits and Shavuot have always been linked together by the Counting of the Omer, but Jews haven’t understood quite why. Most Christians are unaware of the Counting of the Omer, but if they’ve been reading their Bibles, it’s perfectly obvious that the two holidays are tied together—and not just because both holidays happen to take place on Sunday. Theoretically, Easter should always coincide with Firstfruits because Firstfruits “just so happens” to mark the Sunday on which Jesus rose from the dead: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20 WEB). The New Testament tells us Jesus had to be resurrected before the Holy Spirit could be given—and that’s why these two holidays are so obviously linked together. Jesus told his disciples, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7 WEB)
Why were the disciples going to need the Counselor? Before he died, Jesus told them, “I have said these things to you while still living with you. 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 14:25-26 (WEB). So far as we know, before the Crucifixion, Jesus could only teach in one place at a time. After the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would dwell in every believer all the time. And that’s what Counting the Omer is all about.
Margot Armer
Scriptures about Shavuot
Exodus 34:22
“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest” Exodus 34:22a (WEB)
Leviticus 23:15–21
15 “ ‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the LORD. 17 You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an efah‡ of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to the LORD. 18 You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to the LORD. 19 You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21 You shall make proclamation on the same day that there shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. Leviticus 23:15-21 (WMB)
Acts 2:1–21
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.” Acts 2:1–21 (WEB)
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words. For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘It will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions.
Your old men will dream dreams.
Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days,
I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the sky above,
and signs on the earth beneath:
blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood,
before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Acts 2:1-21 (WEB)
1 Corinthians 16:8
But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, 1 Corinthians 16:8 (WEB)