Shavuot is one of the three yearly Pilgrim Festivals. This commanded observance took place fifty days (or seven weeks plus one day) after the Pesach/Passover season and at the start of the summer wheat harvest-Hag Hakatzir.
Shavuot is celebrated to remember the giving of the Torah and the awesome presence of the Lord at Mt. Sinai. In Shemot/Exodus 19 we see the Lord and Israel being betrothed, as the Torah is understood to be the ketubah (written betrothal contract between husband and wife) between the God of Israel and the Israelites themselves. This festival took on additional meaning during the first century at the outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh upon the disciples of Yeshua on Shavuot.
Erev Shavuot (the evening of Shavuot) begins at sundown 50 days after the Shabbat which falls during Pesach. There are currently two schools of thought regarding when this Feast occurs, both based on the day you begin counting the Omer. Some say Shavuot does not have a "fixed calendar date" in the Torah. Others say Shavuot falls on Sivan 6, and the counting is simply a step of preparation and self analysis. See Derech's home page for this year's actual date of observance and the Omer Sefirah.
Once a year, this solemn feast required the men of Israel to present themselves at the Temple. The families would bring up, in a basket, their two loaves of leavened bread ( "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven..." Vayikra/Leviticus 23:17) and it would be presented along with instructed sacrifices to the Lord . "And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD." Since Adonai stated that offerings "which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire (Vayikra 2:11), the priest would not burn the loaves, but would perform a wave offering unto God.
Adonai then commands the children of Israel that this holy convocation was to be treated like a Shabbat day, with "do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (Vayikra/Leviticus 23:21)" The Lord follows up with instructions for sharing with the poor an appropriate amount of what you've been blessed with during this season..."And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: " Vayikra 23:2
This Festival commemorates, as well, the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai with the awesome and magnificent revelation of God's presence atop the mountain. Most students of Torah believe Shavuot was the day that the Torah (Mosaic Law) was given to Moses, during the third month of the biblical religious calendar. Therefore, Shavuot is called "Z'man Matan Toraseinu" - the season of the giving of the Torah.
Shavuot also commemorates the waving of 2 loaves before God, representing both Houses of Israel who are full of leaven (sin) and need cleansed before Him (and by Him).
Finally, this season also celebrates the Ruach HaKodesh coming into our lives. Yeshua was resurrected at the time of Ha Omer (Yom HaBikkurim); fifty days later the Ruach HaKodesh came to dwell in the hearts and lives of all those who believe in Yeshua (Acts 1:5,8; 2:1-18).
In addition to treating this day like a Shabbat day, as the Torah instructs (Vayikra 23:21), tradition has it that individuals celebrate the Torah by doing various things such as decorating the scroll covers
with flowers (nature - harvest theme emphasis) and spending Erev Shavuot at a religious service nearby. Some folks will spend the evening studying Torah until late into the night (showing appreciation for the Torah being given at Mt. Sinai during this Festival). At sunrise in Israel, thousands of Jews make their way to the last remaining piece of the ancient Temple...the Western Wall, where the Amidah (a Jewish prayer) is read.
There are traditional readings for Shavuot which review the 10 Commandments, as well as passages of powerful appearances of El Shaddai in visions with Ezekial 1:1-28; 3:12 and Habakkuk 2:20-3:19. Also recommended are the first and second chapters of Acts regarding the account of the Shavuot outpouring of Ha Ruach (the Spirit) upon those whom Yeshua told to wait in Jerusalem. It is customary to ready the Book of Ruth (in the Torah) at this time, as the story unfolded during harvest time.
Today, as a matter of custom, dairy products are eaten along with sweets and other items that are made with milk (pasta/dumplings, cheesecakes, cheese blintzes, cheese kreplach,etc.). The reasoning behind this is to symbolically remember the goodness of the Torah/Law (Torah really means "instructions" more than it means"law" in the Hebrew language), since the Words of Scripture are like "milk and honey" to the soul. It is also customary to produce two loaves of challah bread for this Feast of Weeks, representing the two loaves offered in the Temple and the two tables of stone received on Mt. Sinai.
Due to the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash/Temple, we cannot at this time perform the commandment of going to it and presenting our offerings. However, we can attend various places of worship and even decorate them in honor of this Festival (as well as our homes), and we can celebrate the Torah and the Ruach HaKodesh. It should be remembered as well, that since the Ruach HaKodesh came to dwell within believers in Yeshua, we've been enabled to continuously enjoy a personal Shavuot. Our blessings are everlasting and we need to offer sacrifices of praise to Him. And as long as we "do these words (Torah)" the Ha Ruach will lead and guide us into a deeper and more exciting relationship with Adonai Eloheinu
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. Shemot (Exodus) 34:22-24
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: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God. Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:15-22
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. 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: 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. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. D'varim (Deuteronomy) 16:9-12
And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.
And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them. And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 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. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Shemot (Exodus) 19:9-20:22
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 4:1-8
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?...we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. Acts 2:1-13
