The number 49 in Judaism represents the natural end of a full cycle or a full quota or measure.  The word for measure in Hebrew is middah and this word has a numeric value of 49.  The number 49 is the epitome of a good measure. What follows is completion or deliverance and this is represented by the number 50. It is Jubilee.  God uses this number pattern for the weeks of years.  After 49 years that is seven cycles of Shemitah years—a sabbatical rest for the land every seven years, a Yovel (Jubilee) is reached on the 50th year, representing freedom and liberation.

This fiftieth day on Pentecost, therefore, also points to Jubilee, at which time the shofar (ram’s horn) was sounded, all slaves were set free, all debts were canceled. It was the start of something new.

And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.  It shall be a jubilee [yovel] for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.” Leviticus 25:10

The number seven is also significant, because it represents wholeness, perfection and completion.

God created everything in six days, but on the seventh day, His work was completed and so He rested.

Following the pattern of the counting of the Omer—seven weeks of seven (49) that lead to a day of harvest and transcendence—Jews count down the days in the expectation of a supernatural harvest when all will be complete and perfect. Christians also (should) seek such things and the significance, prophetically speaking, is that whilst things seem to be getting grim in a darkening and confused world, a supernatural harvest is starting to happen. Light overcomes darkness.

Because the Holy Temple is no longer standing in Jerusalem, the Jewish People can no longer bring an offering of the omer, but the counting is still observed. For Jews this 50-day period, which culminates with Shavuot, is considered a journey of self-discovery and refinement. It is a time to reflect on their character, to prepare themselves to receive and live out God’s Word—an attitude that we can all adopt.

Although Scripture does not explicitly state this, it is generally accepted that Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, seven weeks after the Exodus. It is regarded as a privilege whilst also means accepting responsibility. It became the agreed upon standard of behavior or code of conduct for both the native-born Israelite and the stranger who came to join them.

One law [torah achat] and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you. Numbers 15:16

The Torah is much more than a list of rules and Mount Sinai was not simply a place to receive the law—it represented the sealing of a Covenant between God and His people, as a Bridegroom with His beloved Bride. In many Jewish congregations, a ketubah l’Shavuot (marriage certificate for Shavuot) is read prior to the reading of the Torah on Shavuot. The ketubah is a symbolic betrothal of God and Israel.

The Jewish belief is that the message of Shavuot is that we are all significant to God.  He has chosen, appointed, and anointed us all to proclaim and live out His purposes in this world by bringing us into covenantal relationship with Him by accepting His Torah—His word. Christians can regard this as both the living word and the written word. Jesus is the word. He is the living Torah. The Torah, by the way is the first five book of both bibles. Our Old Testament and the Jewish bible contains the same books but they are in a different order.

Jews believe that God has entrusted us all with a sacred mission—to spread its light to all the nations and Jesus’ final words to us were similar—to go and make disciples of all the nations (Ethnos, or ethnic groups of peoples), teaching them all God has commanded us.

Go and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the mikvah in the name of the Father (Av) and Son (Ben) and Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh), teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.  Matthew 28:19–20.

As it is with many of these “feasts”, they convey more revelation truths that many Christians think. We would not have the bible if it were not for such a thing. We would not know about the covenants God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and the Exodus, the Tabernacle and other events recorded in human history without such a thing as Shavuot.

Not necessarily

When we look into the feasts of the Lord and other matters, it would be wise to always remember that our calendars may not always coincide. We usually refer to the Gregorian calendar and this is based on different standards to Jewish calendars. The days of our months are solar based. Jewish reckoning is more Lunar based and concentrates much on agricultural seasons. Suitably trained and qualified en perused the sky for signs of he state of the moon and proclaimed it to the priests for verification. The dates when we celebrate our Easter (a heathen concept introduced by Rome) can vary considerably and so the Jewish celebrations are based on different principles.

Shavuot and Pentecost are very similar in that Adonai supernaturally poured out the Ruach HaKodesh on Jesus’ followers so they were empowered to live a holy, Spirit-led life and be his witnesses—in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth! They moved out of the realm of the natural into the supernatural and this is how all believers are meant to live. Keeping the Law is not how we are saved, we should nevertheless strive to live holy lives, set apart from the world—because we are saved.  That holiness leads us to love, which is the whole point of the Torah.

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Galatians 5:14; see also Leviticus 19:18

Shavuot is thus a very important festival for all followers of the Lord, whether native-born and those “wild branches” grafted into the natural olive tree. This is represented by the way Jews brought two loaves of leavened bread called the Shtei HaLechem to the Temple and offered on Shavuot. Those loaves represent Jew and Gentile.

Bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest  flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.
Leviticus 23:1

A reversal

Shavuot is considered by many as the “birth of the Church” when the people who experienced the Ruach HaKodesh at this time were God-fearing Jews from many nations:

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. Acts 2:5 

In Exodus 32, many people made a golden calf, or to me more accurate, a cast calf and all images were forbidden. Please carefully assess what you allow in your homes and churches. Many Christians have crucifixes and whilst the idea may seem “good”, for many, it is a cast calf. I say that carefully, but consider what it represents. Jesus is no longer on the cross and we remember Him at Communion time, not by gazing on some object. I was raised in the church of England and am familiar with such things, but never had any in my own home. I now realize why.

Human nature being what it is, many people reverted idolatry—despite the miracle of Exodus and whilst God was giving Moses Torah. As ares ult, 3000 people perished as seen in Exodus 32:28.

On the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 people were added to the community of believers in Acts 2:41.

The Spirit of God reversed the destruction caused by the sin of man!

Biblical accuracy

Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage feasts that God commanded His people to gather in Jerusalem.
Like the others, it is timed to an important moment in the agricultural calendar, namely the first grain harvest of the season as depicted in my cover image.

It lacks the ritual pageantry of the other pilgrimage festivals and whilst it is less observed in modern times than other Jewish holidays, Shavuot is one of the most important moments in Jewish history, because it remembers the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

In Exodus chapter nineteen, God issued very precise instructions whereby the people had to prepare themselves in a proper manner and assemble together before Him.
He called Moses up the mountain and came down in chapter twenty. A thick cloud enveloped the mountain, fire, extremely loud trumpet blasts were sounded and rocks cracked in a truly awesome event and from this encounter, we now have what the Jews call Torah.

As it is in Christianity, there are different forms or branches of Judaism. Some are very legalistic whereas others are ceremonial. Some Israelis do not practice Judaism as we understand it, but there is a general regard to God that is unique. As for the Jewish bible, it is much the same as ours, but many of the books arranged in a different order.

Torah is usually recorded on special parchment and handwritten by specially trained men who meticulously copy each letter. If one small error is found the work is totally discarded and they start again. This ensures that the original language is retained and kept as accurate as possible. This is why I often advise people to avoid many of our modern translations because they are not always “accurate”.

I noticed that in Shabbat service, the readers follow the words with a special pointer and concentrate much on pronouncing the word correctly. On one of my visits, I observed the Rabbi gently “correct” the man reading in a friendly manner, when he mispronounced some words.

I am of the opinion that the words might even be the very same words Jesus spoke when He read in synagogues. They honor God’s word more in my opinion, more than many professing Christians do.

A marriage contract

The Bible refers to Shavuot as chag hakatzir, the festival of the harvest as it was the time when the first fruits, known as bikkurim, were brought as a sacrificial offering in the Temple, but there is another meaning.

Some communities have a tradition of reciting of a ketubah l’Shavuot. This is a symbolic marriage contract between the Jewish people and God to symbolize the betrothal of God and the people.

The book of Ruth is read publicly. Ruth was a Moabite woman who joined the Jewish people after the death of her husband around the time of the barley harvest.
 

In many congregations, prior to the Torah reading on the first day of Shavuot a ketubah le-Shavuot (marriage certificate for Shavuot) is read as a symbolic betrothal of God and His people Israel.

There are various versions of such piyyutim (religious poems), each very similar in terminology to the traditional t’naim that is a premarital document specifying the conditions agreed upon between the two parties. It is linked with the ketubah that is the certificate the bridegroom presents to the bride at the wedding ceremony.

Several hymns based on certain scripture verses are often sung.  They are:

...I will espouse you forever:

I will espouse you with righteousness and justice, And with goodness and mercy,  And I will espouse you with faithfulness; Then you shall be devoted to the Lord.

In that day, I will respond—declares the Lord—I will respond to the sky, And it shall respond to the earth; And the earth shall respond With new grain and wine and oil, And they shall respond to Jezreel.

I will sow her in the land as My own;

And take Lo-ruhamah back in favor;

And I will say to Lo-ammi, “You are My people,”

And he will respond, “[You are] my God.” Hosea 2:21-25

See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused them—declares the Lord.

But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Lord”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:31-34

Some texts describe the marriage as being solemnized symbolically between the Torah–the bride–and the people of Israel, the bridegroom. In these versions, God as the bride’s father gives as dowry the 613 commandments, the Bible, Talmud, and other sacred writings.

Moses presents as dowry to his son–the people of Israel–the prayer shawl and phylacteries, the Sabbath and festivals. The contracts are witnessed by God and His servant Moses.

In other versions, the “Prince of princes and the Ruler of rulers” presents the Torah to the bride as dowry, and in His love He gives her the Oral Law as an added portion. The bride responds affectionately, “We shall do and we shall hearken.”

The contract is dated the sixth day of the month Sivan in the year 2448 from the creation, which is traditionally the day on which the Torah was given.

I hope I have shared some interesting and useful information with you that has been a blessing.

Chag Sameach,

Robert