Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost (Greek: Πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], Pentēkostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth [day]") is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot. Later, in the Christian liturgical year, it became a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ (120 in all), as described in the Acts of the Apostles 2:1–31.
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.
Feast of Weeks
Shavuot, in Hebrew: שבועות, lit. "Weeks", known as the Feast of Weeks in English and as Πεντηκοστή (Pentecost) in Ancient Greek, is a holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan.
Besides its significance as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai (which includes the Ten Commandments), Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9-11, Isa. 9:2).
Why was it important to count when the Barley was ripe?
Was it because a Lunar calendar did not work well? It was find for having feasts on a full moon when the light of the moon was handy like the tithing-men of England who met on the full moon "at the time of the filling of the butts".
But for planting crops and marking the seasons it was essential to use the sun and even the stars to mark the time.
All grain harvests are not at that time every year or in every place. We know because of geological and solar events harvest and planting times would shift world wide. So was the Barley crop merely a natural-barometer for the seasons.
So what was all the wheat sheaves and counting really about stalks of grain or was something lost in translation? Was the metaphor unmoored from the meaning? Was this really about grain or about men?Was it a grassroots census of men organizing themselves in a natural network of charity?
Jesus tells parables about harvests and the tears and the wheat and sowing seeds.
What is this feast really about?
As a nation operating on the bases of freewill offerings and charity with no king to rule over them nor parliament, congress or Sanhedrin to make new laws for them what was the social, economic and political significances of this feast.
Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Deuteronomy 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
2 Chronicles 8:13 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
Counting of the Omer
The counting of Omer[1] is supposedly about counting sheaves.
What are sheaves but stalks of wheat gathered in bundles. Are we the wheat gathered in groups counted during the seven weeks between the passover and Pentecost?
Exodus 16:16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer[2] 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.
Exodus 16:33 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.
Bonds of Freedom
The Feasts of Israel were in-gatherings and played an essential roll in maintaining a free nation.
Without these festivals there was no practical way to bring a nation together and to create bonds in society that were essential for a free state. There was no civilly enforceable contract to compel performance in a pure republic because the status or state of the people was independent because of the nature of a republican form of government.
Since religion was how you cared for others within your community and society these gatherings were essential for the maintenance of a governmental system based on liberty. Each elder of each family was required, by common sense, to participate.
Making this system work was dependent on everyone working and doing their part. There was no central leader forcing everyone to pay their share. What you contributed and how you participated set the path for success or failure and acceptance or rejection by your nation was founded in either the brotherhood of caring or the covetousness of controlling.
This Kingdom of God like all utopias depended on individual virtue and the nobility of character of every participant. Without the Character of God written on our hearts and minds there would be no salvation in this world nor the next. It also depended upon structure.
While the congregations were based in local communities the logistics of the whole network did not allow each level of the network to live next door.
Imagine a society where the people did not get paychecks every two weeks nor did they have wire transfers, debit cards, bank accounts, etc. There were no telephones and little in the way of daily mail service. Social bonds could only be renewed by actually going and visiting individuals and if you were to meet as groups a time for those meetings had to be set aside. These feasts were the only practical way to stay in touch and keep clear lines of communication open and functioning.
Society was not regulated by the tick of the clock but by the seasons, by sun up and sundown. Crops were ready according to their cycles and what you had to share was dependent upon those rhythms of nature. After winter needs were often at their greatest.
Remember the Levites had fields of their own but were not operating in a commercial realm or private enterprise or trade and business. Their business was to serve the needs of those congregations that they served.
There was local charity but in the case of calamity there could be a need for national charity which could require an emergency response.
Also most of the ministers up this chain of service did not see each other on a regular basis... They did not meet every Sabbath because they lived farther and farther apart as they were overseers in service of groups that covered a wider and wider area... There also could be complaints that needed to be aired to groups that could not meet every day or even monthly because of those greater distances.
This was a government and people in it needed to check in directly with individuals and their groups.
This did not change the individual right to choose at any time....Any time a group of ministers wanted to change their minister they could do it. Of course you could just shift to another minister but you would be leaving behind others who you were bound to by friendship and the bonds of brotherhood.
We often talk about just changing your vote for a different minister in the network anytime you wish but congregations are not a vacuum... Just changing your vote did not solve all the problems... the elders would want to stay together but if they saw problems they would want to address the matter... That often had to be done face to face and with an honest and open attempt to obtain a consensus.
These gatherings were festivals but there were serious issues that could be brought up such as when the tribe of Reuben appeared to be setting up a system independent of the other tribes.
Pentecost and Shavuot
Israel's harvest festival of Shavuot commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the people at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus. The modern Church often plays down the commandments, equating the law that was nailed to the cross with those commandments of God because they believe they are saved by faith.
“And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:6 [3]
If this message of keeping the commandments of God is repeated over and over again in old and new testaments [4] we must ask if you have faith in Christ but do not think you need to keep the commandments or at least strive[5] to keep them, then what do you have faith in? If it is Christ we should believe in then we should understand that faith in Christ would be believing what he said and doing what he said to do[6] in order to inherit eternal life in this life and the next.[7]
So, Jesus made it clear that we must strive to keep the commandments to inherit eternal life but we do read in John 3:15 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” But John also talks about deeds by which we can gauge the truth of what a man truly believes.
John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” If a man's “deeds were evil” then we should know that they do not really believe nor do they love the light. How do we know if their deeds are evil? Do they keep the commandments?
Most professing Christians today do contrary to what Christ said to do and many ministers seem ignorant of some of the basic instructions given by Christ to those who would be His Church. The modern Church certainly does not do what the early Church did nor do they seem to understand why it is important to follow those directives and precepts of Christ and the early Church.
The modern Church excuses the coveting of their neighbor's goods as long as they do so through consent with their modern governments. They allow application to those governments to obtain benefits from men who call themselves benefactors but exercise authority one over the other. They have approved of the socialist state despite the words of Old and New Testaments.
Pentecost is sometimes said to be the "Birthday of the Church". The Church was established by Christ by His appointment and under His authority “to receive, preserve, and propagate his doctrines and ordinances.” If the modern Church is to claim Christ as the one who has established them, then they should not be established by any other authority. The ministers of Christ and His Church should be His servants[8] alone and no one else.
The apostles had been appointed a kingdom by Jesus Christ.[9] But they were not to be like the other governments who exercised authority in their service to the people.[10] They still collected funds from the people and provided benefits to the people but this was all done by faith, hope and charity.
This system required free will offerings and a virtuous population that did not covet their neighbors' goods but actually loved their neighbor as they loved themselves. Such true love is rare today and when we find it amongst the people we must nurture it on a local and national level. This was the purpose of the feasts.
Pentecost was such a feast for the Israelite called Shavuot, literally meaning Weeks.[11] Seven weeks after Passover which is about 50 days the people would gather. It was known by many names and may have gathered in many different places and even at different times.
The Day of the First Fruits was the last day of Feast of the Unleaven Bread and first day on which individuals marked the first fruits of their labor to be offered. It would be the day of resurrection.
From that day they counted fifty days to Pentecost [Festival of Weeks]. The Festival of Weeks was the completion of the Day of the First Fruits. This day and Festival served several functions in their national government under God. It was their opportunity to offer to God and His servants (Bikkurim) to the Temple in Jerusalem the substance needed to serve the nation. This giving was worship and one who was a worshiper[12]was one who served by giving.
Originally the temple was not in a city called Jerusalem, but was found in a tent that moved around. The living stones of that temple were the true living servants of liberty under God who were called the Levites. They had been the first to come out when the people began to create a central bank to bind the people in the camp of the golden calf.
These times of giving the Fruits of your labor in a national feast was the gathering of the people under the God of faith and charity. Three times a year[13] the people would meet as a people to deal with matters of the government of Israel. Since they did not gather to rule over each other what was the purpose of their gatherings?
One purpose was to fund the government of God with free will offerings.[14] This free will offering according to the will of God the Father was worship and those who gave in service to all were the worshipers of God. Three times a year the people gathered to pay their taxes to the government of God but unlike the governments of the world the people taxed themselves.[15] The Levites were the government of the people and the people only chose to tithe to Levites who were men of service to their families and their congregations.[16]
It was also a time to organize the network of public servants that was essential in a free government. The local congregations of ten families confirmed their their minister before the assembly. That minster got together with other ministers like himself and chose someone to be their minister. This pattern continued until you had all the ministers of the government chosen up to the high priest, who could be called the prime minister of their government.
These were not offices of power to rule over the people. Their government was composed of servants who served the tents of the congregations of the nation. Family was the core of the nation but in order to bind the people as a nation and be faithful to God they could only bind them with love and honor. There is no other way if they were to remain a free people. These feasts allowed for that liberty under God and therefore it was called the kingdom of God.
This was a feast for everyone and everyone who came was expected to contribute their free will offering to the minister of his choice.[17] They were reminded that the alternative of these free will offerings is that they will end up in the bondage of Egypt again like they were before if they do not cultivate the virtue of sharing and supporting the servants of their nations. [18]
They did not drop these funds in a central treasury but gave them to the minister of their choice who in turn took a share of what he received to the minister of his choice. Because you are dealing with a whole nation of people networking together through servants of their choice some of the servants of that nation come from locations that are farther and farther apart.
This distance creates a greater need for national gatherings in order to make these choices that will link the whole nation in a network of charity and mutual concern. It was also was a time for people to meet others from other areas of the national network. Other bonds were created through marriage and friendships. Remember, these ministers of national charity were also the appeals courts to insure justice throughout the nations.[19]The people that were in Jerusalem on the Pentecost 50 days after Christ's resurrection were there to pay their taxes or their tithe. They had two choices, stay with the baptism of Herod and the Pharisees or get the baptism of Christ. The Pharisees were forcing the contributions based on their membership in the Corban of the Pharisees which Jesus had already stated that their system made the word of God to none effect.
Jesus was very clear that his government, like that of Moses, was based on free will offerings. What ever you could afford to pay by your own choice was considered paid in full.[20]
Thousands chose the government appointed by Christ and were cast out of the government of the Pharisees and Herod.[21] Early Christians did not go to any government that forced contributions from the people to obtain any benefit. If you had need you would go to church, not Caesar, nor the Pharisees.
Modern Christians covet[22] their neighbors' goods through legal systems of corban they create through their government. They then make applications to these governments and the men who call themselves benefactors. Now again they are entangled in the bondage of the world[23] through “covet means”.[24]
Had their ministers been serving Christ and tending to the weightier matters the people would not have returned to the bondage of Egypt. Any government that does not rely on free will offerings is not a government of God, Moses, or Jesus Christ/Yeshua the Messiah. Those governments of the world created by men who covet their neighbor's goods and say lets have one purse and desire to eat at the table of ruler are allowed by God to punish the wicked who choose to reject God and create those systems. True Christians who believed in and loved Christ would not want to be a part of such system and we turn around and create the alternative which was the Church.[25]
== Footnotes ==
- ↑ 06016 ^רמע^ ‘omer \@o’- mer\@ from 06014; n m; {See TWOT on 1645 @@ "1645b"} {See TWOT on 1645 @@ "1645a"} AV-sheaf 8, omer 6; 14 1) omer 1a) a dry measure of 1/10 ephah (about 2 litres) 2) sheaf
- ↑ 06016 ^רמע^ ‘omer \@o’- mer\@ from 06014; n m; {See TWOT on 1645 @@ "1645b"} {See TWOT on 1645 @@ "1645a"} AV-sheaf 8, omer 6; 14 1) omer 1a) a dry measure of 1/10 ephah (about 2 litres) 2) sheaf
- ↑ Same as Deuteronomy 5:10
- ↑ Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway. Deuteronomy 11:13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Deuteronomy 19:9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three: Deuteronomy 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. Joshua 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. Nehemiah 1:5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Psalms 119:127 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Daniel 9:4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 2 John 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
- ↑ Luke 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
- ↑ Matthew 19:16-17 “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Mark 10:17-19 “...Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.” [Luke 10:25-28, Luke 18:18-20]
- ↑ Mark 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
- ↑ Luke 12:43 Blessed [is] that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. John 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. Acts 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. Philippians 1:1 ¶ Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Colossians 1:7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; Romans 1:1 ¶ Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called [to be] an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, James 1:1 ¶ James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 2 Peter 1:1 ¶ Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
- ↑ Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
- ↑ Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors....
- ↑ Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
- ↑ 05647 dbe `abad worshippers 1) to work, serve 1a1) to labour, work, do work 1a2) to work for another, serve another by labour 1a3) to serve as subjects 1a4) to serve (God)
- ↑ Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
- ↑ Deuteronomy 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give [unto the LORD thy God], according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:
- ↑ Deuteronomy 16:17 Every man [shall give] as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.
- ↑ Numbers 7:5 Take [it] of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service.
- ↑ Deuteronomy 16:11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that [is] within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that [are] among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there. Deuteronomy 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that [are] within thy gates.
- ↑ Deuteronomy 16:12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
- ↑ Numbers 35:6 And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites [there shall be] six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall add forty and two cities. Numbers 35:25 And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.
- ↑ Luke 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. Matthew 18:31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
- ↑ John 9:22 These [words] spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
- ↑ 2 Peter 2:3 ¶ And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
- ↑ Galatians 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: Galatians 5:1 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
- ↑ “For we are opposed, around the world, by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy, that relies primarily on covet means for expanding it's fear of influence, on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation, instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night, instead of armies by day,” John F. Kennedy Speech, April 27, 1961. American Newspaper Publishers Association. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, NY.
- ↑ Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s. Proverbs 1:10 “... Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:...” Proverbs 23:1 “,,,And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite....” Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Romans 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus.
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