FEAST OF WEEKS
Also Called
Feast of Harvest
Feast of Firstfruits
Pentecost
Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks.
Numbers 28:26-31 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto Yahweh, after your weeks be out. (KJ)
At your feast of weeks. (Revised Standard)
Deut. 16:9, 10, 16 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. (KJ)
Feast of weeks – 10th and 16th verses.
2 Chronicles 8:13 – Feast of weeks.
Jeremiah 5:24 -He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
WHEN TO START THE COUNT FOR THE FEAST OF WEEKS
Leviticus 23:10-16 When ye come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. … And ye shall eat neither parched corn, nor green ears until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering … it shall be a statute for ever … And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete.
(Note in Rotherham – seven weeks)
(Quote from Dugger) – In Leviticus 23, v. 15, it says you are to number unto you seven Sabbaths, refers to seven weeks, as all Jews who understand the Hebrew language know. They had no word for week in their language at that time and always used the Hebrew word for Sabbath. The days were counted: “First after Sabbath, 2nd of, or after Sabbath, 3rd of Sabbath,” etc. through the entire week. This same usage is found in the N.T. concerning the resurrection of Yahshua: “First of the Sabbath,” etc. Most Bible dictionaries also explain this usage correctly and avoid confusion.
The day of Pentecost, the year of the crucifixion, took place also on Friday, and not on Sunday, as many erroneously teach. Mt. Zion Reporter, Dugger.
Joshua 5:10-12 …and kept the Passover on the 14th day …And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover (15th), unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more (manna ceased 16th); but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (fruit – Strong’s Concordance #8393, income, i.e. produce)
Rotherham – So they did eat of the yield of the land of Canaan throughout that year.
Note: They were not to eat of the new crop until they had offered the firstfruits on the morrow after the sabbath.
Editors note: The “Passover” used in the following quotes is erroneous. Feast of Unleavened is correct.
Quotes from Unger’s Bible Dictionary.
The Time of the Festival. The time fixed for celebrating the Pentecost is the fiftieth day from “The morrow after the Sabbath:” of the Passover (Lev. 23:11, 15, 16; or, as given in Deut. 16:9, seven full weeks after the sickle was put to the corn. The precise meaning of the word Sabbath in this connection, which determines the date for celebrating this festival, has been from time immemorial a matter of dispute. The Boethusians and the Sadduces in the time of the second temple, and the Karaites since the 8th century of the Christian era, have taken “Sabbath” in the sense of the “Seventh day of the week,” and have maintained that the omer was offered on the day following that weekly Sabbath which might happen to fall within the seven days of the Passover. This would make Pentecost always come on the first day of the week. Against this many arguments are presented, showing that such an opinion involves many arbitrary and improbable arrangements. Commenting on Lev. 23:15-22, K. and D. (Com., in loco) say that “Sabbaths (v. 15) signifies weeks. Consequently, “the morrow after the seventh Sabbath” v. 16 is the day after the seventh week, not after the seventh Sabbath.” It is therefore evident that the Jews, who during the second temple kept Pentecost fifty days after the 16th Nisan, rightly interpreted the injunction in Lev. 23:15-22. The fiftieth day, according to the Jewish canons, may fall on the 5th, 6th, or 7th of Sivan. Page 356-357
The 16th Nisan, Cutting Barley Sheaf. This day was also called “the morrow after the Sabbath,” and on it the omer of the first produce of the harvest (i.e. barley) was waved before Yahweh (Lev. 23:10-14). Page 355
Barley Sheaf: On the second feast day (16th Nisan) the first sheaf of the new harvest (barley) was symbolically offered to Yahweh by waving – not burned on the altar – Page 353
Sabbath, Morrow after the (Heb. maharath hashshabbath). A term of disputed meaning (Lev. 23:11, 15), occurring in connection with the feast of the Passover. The Sabbath referred to is not the weekly Sabbath, but the day of rest, the first day of holy convocation of the Passover, the fifteenth Abib (Nisan). As a day of rest on which no laborious work was to be performed (v. 8), the first day of the feast is called “Sabbath,” irrespectively of the day of the week upon which it fell. Thus “the morrow after the Sabbath” is equivalent to “the morrow after the Passover” (Josh. 5:11).
COUNT FOR FEAST OF WEEKS (Pentecost)
Abib 14 Crucifixion (Wednesday)
Abib 15 1st day of Feast, High-Sabbath, Thursday, Savior in tomb
Abib 16 1st day of count for 50 days, Morrow after Sabbath, Manna ceased. Savior in tomb (Friday)
Abib 17 2nd day of count, Savior resurrected (7th day Sabbath)
1 – 3rd day of count, Savior seen alive for 40 days (1st day after resurrected)
2 – 4th day of count
3 – 5th day of count
4 – 6th day of count
5 – 7th day of count (One week of 7 days)
6 – 8th day of count
7 – 9th day of count
8 – 10th day of count
9 – 11th day of count
10 – 12th day of count
11 – 13th day of count
12 – 14th day of count (Two Weeks)
13 – 15th day of count
14 – 16th day of count
15 – 17th day of count
16 – 18th day of count
17 – 19th day of count
18 – 20th day of count
19 – 21st day of count (Three Weeks)
20 – 22nd day of count
21 – 23rd day of count
22 – 24th day of count
23 – 25th day of count
24 – 26th day of count
25 – 27th day of count
26 – 28th day of count (Four Weeks)
27 – 29th day of count
28 – 30th day of count
29 – 31st day of count
30 – 32nd day of count
31 – 33rd day of count
32 – 34th day of count
33 – 35th day of count (Five Weeks)
34 – 36th day of count
35 – 37th day of count
36 – 38th day of count
37 – 39th day of count
38 – 40th day of count
39 – 41st day of count
40 – 42nd day of count (Six Weeks) End of 40 days. Savior caught up.
43rd day of count 1st day of tarrying
44th day of count 2nd day of tarrying
45th day of count 3rd day of tarrying
46th day of count 4th day of tarrying
47th day of count 5th day of tarrying
48th day of count 6th day of tarrying
49th day of count 7th day of tarrying (Seven Weeks)
50th day of count 50th day – FEAST OF WEEKS
(Pentecost)
The Savior was in the tomb 2 days of count (Abib 16 and 17). He was seen alive for 40 days, which makes 42 days. He told His disciples to tarry (wait) in Jerusalem “until ye be endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49). They tarried seven days and received the Holy [Kodesh] Spirit on the 50th day (Acts 2).
Editors Note: The preceding article by N. Bigford (deceased) was printed in The Faith May-June, 1978.
Smith’s Bible Dictionary – Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day (from a Greek word meaning fiftieth), or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover. It lasted for but one day. From the sixteenth of Nisan seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost …
An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W.E. Vine – Pentecost – Pentekostos, an adjective denoting fiftieth, is used as a noun, with “day” understood, i.e., the fiftieth day after the Passover, counting from the second day of the Feast …
The Bible Almanac – On the second day of the Festival [Feast of Unleavened Bread], a priest waved a sheaf of first-ripe barley before [Yahweh] to consecrate the beginning harvest. The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). This festival was observed 50 days after the offering of the barley sheaf at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of the seasonal offering of first fruits.
Josephus – Concerning the Festivals – 5. … But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. … 6. When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, (which weeks contain forty and nine days,) on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, …