Template:Counting of the Omer

Counting of the Omer

The counting of Omer is supposedly about counting sheaves and days.

What are sheaves but stalks of wheat or barley gathered in bundles. Are we each the seeds of grain gathered in families and then in groups counted during the seven weeks between the Passover and Shavuot or Pentecost?

Exodus 16:16 "This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents."

Exodus 16:18 "And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

Exodus 16:32 "And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations."

Exodus 16:36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

Josephus writes

"On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which they have reaped and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar an assaron for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest."

The omer offering was discontinued following the destruction of the Second Temple. But had the system of God that was intended by Moses already corrupted? Did people replace the principles expressed in a metaphor for mindless rituals?

Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, [who were] ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

The term Korban from the word Korab as found in the Torah in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban (קָרְבָּן) whether for an animal or other offering. Various words are used in the Torah. Their exact meaning can vary. The most common usages are animal sacrifice (zevah זֶבַח), peace offering and olah "burnt offering." In Hebrew the noun korban is used for a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Hebrew Bible.

Such sacrifices or acts of charity were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites but later their purpose was undermined by an apostate priesthood at the Temple in Jerusalem. A korban could be an animal sacrificed, such as a sheep or a bull which was often cooked and eaten by the offerer, the priests and shared as a burnt offering on the Temple mizbe'ah or altars. Sacrifices could also consist of doves, grain or meal, wine, or incense.

The Hebrew Bible tells us God commanded the Israelites to offer offerings and sacrifices on various altars, and describes the offering of sacrifices in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem until the First Temple was destroyed, and resumed with the Second Temple until it was destroyed in 70 CE. But these descriptions are based on private interpretations of religious groups that strayed from the meaning of the original words.