2) Sefirat Ha'omer - Shavuot

Shavuot or Hag Hashavuot, the Feast of Weeks, in modern times is associated with the giving of the Torah commandments at Sinai. Though the Bible makes no specific connection, they approximately coincide. The Bible feast was about the joy of harvest and the release from bondage.

But the strongest idea associated with Hag Hashavuot is in its designation. It is the feast of weeks. It is the 50th day after counting 7weeks from the offering of the firstfruits of barley harvest.

Traditionally the firstfruits is after Passover (14th Nisan) and during the 7 day feast of Unleavened Bread on the 2nd day (the 16th Nisan) when all were gathered to worship before Yahweh. Before the offering on that day no-one could partake of the new barley crop, underlining in the people's actions the importance of the giving of the first of the harvest.

7 Weeks

The importance of firstfruits and it's connection to Passover extends for a full 7 weeks.

Deuteronomy 16:1-12

(1) Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God; for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

(2) And thou shall sacrifice the passover-offering unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.

(3) Thou shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shall thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for in haste did thou come forth out of the land of Egypt; that you may remember the day when thou came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life....

(5) Thou may not sacrifice the passover-offering within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth you;

(6) but at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell in, there thou shall sacrifice the passover- offering at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou came forth out of Egypt....

(8) Six days thou shall eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God; thou shall do no work therein.

(9) Seven weeks shall thou number unto thee; from the time the sickle is first put to the standing corn shall thou begin to number seven weeks.

(10) And thou shall keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God after the measure of the freewill-offering of thy hand, which thou shall give, according as the LORD thy God blesses thee.

(11) And thou shall rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid- servant, and the Levite that is within they gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.

(12) And thou shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt; and thou shall observe and do these statutes.

The rejoicing of the feast of weeks, Shavuot, where the fullness of the wheat harvest is brought before Yahweh, is associated with release from bondage.

Therefore a counting of 7 weeks from the firstfruits is related also to the release from bondage.

It is curious that the phrase '7 weeks' only occurs in 3 places in the entire scriptures. It is used twice in reference to the feast of weeks (Leviticus 23:15-16, and Deuteronomy 16:9 above), the repetition showing its importance. The 3rd and last reference is in Daniel.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:25-27)

People tend to speak of 490 years, and wonder why it doesn't work. But 490 years is not precisely correct. It is 7 weeks plus 62 weeks. Again, we are to count 7 weeks.

Are these connected? Sabbath for the Land_the Shmita year Here I proposed that it may be read as the following,

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks..

It seems, then, possibly not a co-incidence that Jerusalem day, the day Jerusalem was liberated, occurs within Sefirat Ha'omer, the Counting of the Omar, and that Shavuot where people rejoice at the ingathering of the harvest (one of the 3 feasts when the people go up to Jerusalem) occurs just after. It seems fitting that the regathering from the nations had a process, like the remembrance of the redemption from bondage from Passover to Shavuot. The re-establishment of Israel was a kind of firstfruits, to which the acquisition of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria is the fullness of a harvest at one level. But Jerusalem is also a firstfruits, as it is still waiting for the fullness of its redemption from bondage, of a new harvest of wheat with the outpouring on Jerusalem (Zion) of a new spirit,

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:23-29)

Some see this fulfilled at Pentecost. But the record in Acts shows that Peter said that Pentecost is like the time Joel spoke of Joel, the outpouring of the Spirit

indicating that as yet Joel is not fulfilled, and there is another greater Pentecost.

That there be a waiting time, counting the omer, makes sense. If Elijah is to come at Passover to Israel, then it will take some time for the messenger of the covenant to prepare the hearts.

Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall clear the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and there shall be they that shall offer unto the LORD offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. (Malachi 3:1-4)

Ezekiel also speaks of a process, occurring in time and a point in time when they will be first cleansed then a new heart given.

And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. (Ezekiel 36:23-30)

And each Jerusalem Day people count how many years have passed. This year (2010) was 43 years, six 'weeks' and one year. The year 1967 was in a first year of the 7 year cycle for the land. A full 7 'weeks' will end in 6 years.

From 1967 the Israeli government sought to build in Jerusalem. There was a 'decree' of sorts to build to house 600 families in the old Jewish quarter (Passia) as well as effort to build a corridor to prevent Mt Scopus from being separated (JPCA.org). It is interesting that the word restore is used as indeed there was an architect who ensured restoration occurred (Passia.org).

The thought that we should count seven weeks to Messiah from the modern re-building of Jerusalem, is not new. My thought is original but I found another had the idea before me; Isaac Newton.

Daniel's Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:24-7) was crucial to Newton's end-time calculations. The normal pattern for expositors was to calculate seventy weeks (490 years according to the day-for-a-year principle) from the call to rebuild Jerusalem under the Persians and the return from the Babylonian captivity to the first coming of Christ. Several different chronologies were suggested (arriving at either Christ's birth or cruci¢xion) and Newton himself settled on one in which the 490 years of Daniel 9:24 concluded with 33 or 34 AD.118 However, Newton also isolated the seven weeks (forty-nine years) of Daniel 9:25 as referring to the time immediately before Christ's Second Coming.119 He thus believed that there would be an interval of forty-nine years between the future call ``to restore and to build Jerusalem'' and the Second Coming of the Messiah. Snobelen Newton in Jewish restoration

This is quite remarkable for in Newton's era, modern Jewish Zionism hadn't even stirred. Yet he was confident that not only would Jews return to the land, that they would also possess Jerusalem before Messiah came and that it would be possible to count seven weeks. And it so happens that many of his papers have ended up in all places, Jerusalem, and are now being made available to the web.

We are in the seventh week. Was Newton right? Israel are to count 7 weeks – complete – not 49 days!

Leviticus 23:15-16

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete;

even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto the LORD.

It is not until the 50th day that the offering is made from the harvest of the wheat. The fiftieth year is also the year of rejoicing that all bound and in debt are made free and return to their inheritance, after counting seven 'weeks' of years, or Shmita years (note the 7th year was a Sabbath for the Land).

The modern connection of Shavuot to the study of the Torah, connects the rejoicing of the harvest of wheat to renewed application to Yahweh's word. The harvest that Yahweh wants is not, and was never, that people give him the increase of their field, but rather that they love His law. The law given at Sinai where the mountains smoked at His presence, was about a covenant with a people to be redeemed from bondage.

Ruth: The Stranger at Harvest

It was a law that the stranger may take up. At Shavuot the book of Ruth is read. Ruth the daughter in law to the bereaved Naomi, who was a stranger gleaned the fields during Barley harvest and to the wheat Harvest (Ruth 2:23). Boaz the mighty man of the tribe of Judah gives a testimony regarding Ruth.

Then she fell on her face, and bowed down to the ground, and said unto him: 'Why have I found favour in thy sight, that thou should take notice of me, seeing I am a foreigner?' And Boaz answered and said unto her: 'It has fully been told me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people that thou knew not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and be thy reward complete from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to take refuge.' (Ruth 2:10-12)

Naomi had no way of claiming an inheritance, having lost her sons, with Ruth a stranger as a daughter in law. Under the law a kinsman could be a redeemer. Boaz, according to the Law, at the time of the wheat harvest, becomes the redeemer. Naomi's family gains in the actions of Boaz their inheritance, and a release from the privations of exile. The result of which is the birth of a son to the tribe to whom was promised as sceptre (Genesis 49:10). From this son was to come King David, who obtained a promise of a greater son (2 Samuel 7). Naomi returns and Ruth arrives with the firstfruits of the barley of Boaz's field, but redemption is not until the wheat harvest. Naomi must have counted the 7 weeks also.

For more on The Redeemer in the book of Ruth

The Glory shown Ezekiel

The harvest time speaks of people, such as Ruth, who come, and the people such as Naomi who return from an exile that claimed many lives, to the glory revealed at Sinai, with a new heart and a new spirit. At Shavuot Ezekiel 1- 3:12 is read.

Whithersoever the spirit was to go, as the spirit was to go there, so they went; and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went, and when those stood, these stood;... And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as the colour of electrum, as the appearance of fire round about enclosing it, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke. (Ezekiel 1:20-28)

Ezekiel was asked to eat a book,

And thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee: be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house; open thy mouth, and eat that which I give thee.' And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; (Ezekiel 2:8-9)

This is just as it is said that the worlds of scripture must be as milk and honey to the soul.

And He said unto me: 'Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with My words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, but to the house of Israel; not to many peoples of an unintelligible speech and of a slow tongue, whose words thou can not understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken unto thee. But the house of Israel will not consent to hearken unto thee; for they consent not to hearken unto Me; for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.' Moreover He said unto me: 'Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them: Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.' Then a spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing: 'Blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place'; (Ezekiel 3:4-12)

It is asked of Ezekiel that he should hear and receive all the words of Yahweh with a new heart, because this was the glory of Yahweh.

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:2-19

(2) O LORD, I have heard the report of Thee, and am afraid; O LORD, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember compassion.

(3) God cometh from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.

(4) And a brightness appears as the light; rays has He at His side; and there is the hiding of His power.

(5) Before him goes the pestilence, and fiery bolts go forth at His feet.

(6) He stands, and shakes the earth, He beholds, and makes the nations to tremble; and the everlasting mountains are dashed in pieces, the ancient hills do bow; His goings are as of old.

(7) I see the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian do tremble.

(8) Is it, O LORD, that against the rivers, is it that Thine anger is kindled against the rivers, or Thy wrath against the sea? that Thou dost ride upon Thy horses, upon Thy chariots of victory?

(9) Thy bow is made quite bare; sworn are the rods of the word. Selah. Thou dost cleave the earth with rivers.

(10) The mountains have seen Thee, and they tremble; the tempest of waters flow over; the deep utters its voice, and lifts up its hands on high.

(11) The sun and moon stand still in their habitation; at the light of Thine arrows as they go, at the shining of Thy glittering spear.

(12) Thou march through the earth in indignation, Thou thresh the nations in anger.

(13) Thou art come forth for the deliverance of Thy people, for the deliverance of Thine anointed; Thou wound the head out of the house of the wicked, uncovering the foundation even unto the neck. Selah

(14) Thou hast stricken through with his own rods the head of his rulers, that come as a whirlwind to scatter me; whose rejoicing is as to devour the poor secretly.

(15) Thou hast trodden the sea with Thy horses, the foaming of mighty waters.

(16) When I heard, mine inward parts trembled, my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble where I stand; that I should wait for the day of trouble, when he cometh up against the people that he invades.

(17) For though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no food; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;

(18) Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will exult in the God of my salvation.

(19) God, the Lord, is my strength, and He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and He makes me to walk upon my high places. For the Leader. With my string-music.

In the future The Glory and salvation will come from Sinai. For when the law once went out from Sinai. Moses prophesied,

Deuteronomy 33:2 “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.”

God is to come from Teman, the Holy one from Mt Paran giving the law, to the place where Yahweh placed his name: at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:2-5

(2) And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

(3) And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

(4) And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

(5) O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Jerusalem is where The Glory will rest again on the earth and from there will proceed the law. The result of the law will produce a new harvest, not of war, but of the glory of people walking in the light of Yahweh. A redemption from bondage, after counting 7 weeks – complete -from the first 'sheaf of the waving'.

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