FIRST SHEAF
by Avram Yehoshua
In Leviticus 23:10-14, we read of a special ceremony to acknowledge
Yahveh for what He had given to Israel: the coming year's harvest (food
to sustain life), and the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and
honey. A land of abundance.
Lev. 23:10: 'Speak to the Sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you
enter the Land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest,
then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits (grain), of your
harvest to the Priest.'
Lev. 23:11: 'He shall wave the sheaf before Yahveh for you to be
accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.'
Lev. 23:12: 'Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a
male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahveh.'
Lev. 23:13: 'Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of
fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahveh for a soothing
aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine.'
Lev. 23:14: 'Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering
of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new
growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in
all your dwelling places.'
The male lamb offered to Yahveh in verse 12 is a picture of Yeshua dying
in the prime of His Life (at age 33), offering Himself up to His Father.
The burnt offering is a picture of total surrender and dedication to
Yahveh.
Both the flour and oil, and the wine, of verse 13, were once part of
things that needed to be crushed in order to be transformed for Israel
to use: the fine flour from whole kernels; the oil for olives; and the
wine from grapes. These all picture Yeshua being crushed or crucified,
that we might be able to eat of Him. As we surrender ourselves to Him,
He crushes us, that His Glory within us (the Holy Spirit), might be seen.
THE PROCEDURE
On the Sunday of First Sheaf, the High Priest would be presented with an
omer of very finely crushed barley. He would scoop up a handful of the
grain, place some incense on it (symbolic of the prayers of the High
Priest for Israel, and Israel's prayers also), wave it before Yahveh (a
symbol of dedication, this first part of the crop representing all the
harvest), bless Yahveh, and cast it upon the Fire of the Altar. As the
first sheaf was dedicated to Yahveh, it made the rest of the harvest
acceptable to Israel for their use.
Omer is a term which signifies a quantity of about two and a half pounds
of grain. It comes from the name of the day, First Sheaf or First Fruit,
being Omer Ray-sheet in the Hebrew. It literally means, the First Omer.
It is from this term, omer, and what was done with it, being offered up
to Yahveh, that would set in motion what is called 'the counting of the
omer.' From the day it was offered, one was to count 50 days to the next
Feast, Shavuot (Pentecost).
From the Hebrew, Leviticus 23:15 reads:
'Then you are to count from the day after the Sabbath, the day you
brought the omer (sheaf) wave offering, seven Sabbaths...'
And this is where we get the phrase, 'the counting of the omer.' Now,
the relationship of the omer to Shavuot is that on the day the First
Sheaf (Omer) is waved before Yahveh, the High Priest would count 50
days, and that 50th day would be Shavuot.
In His blessing Yahveh, the High Priest would thank Yahveh for His
Faithfulness, in keeping His Word to Fathers Avraham, Itzhak and Yakov
in that:
They would multiply like the stars of the Heavens,
and their Seed would be given the Land of Israel,
and their Seed would have Yahveh as their God forever.
Genesis 15:5: 'And He took him outside and said, 'Now look toward the
Heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' And He
said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'
Gen. 15:7: 'And He said to him, 'I am Yahveh who brought you out of Ur
of the Chaldeans, to give you this Land to possess it.'
Gen. 17:2: 'I will establish My Covenant between Me and you, and I will
multiply you exceedingly.'
Gen. 17:4: 'As for Me, behold, My Covenant is with you, and you will be
the Father of a multitude of nations.'
Gen. 17:7: 'I will establish My Covenant between Me and you and your
descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting
Covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.'
Gen. 17:8: 'I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the
land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession; and I will be their God.'
And now, on First Sheaf, here was the High Priest, a physical descendant
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, representing all the Jewish People, who
were thankful to Yahveh for keeping His Word; and that they were eating
of the 'fruit' of the Land that Yahveh had given them.
The Priest, waving the new grain, would picture Israel's thankfulness
and praise to Yahveh, for giving them a Land flowing with milk and
honey.
The grain used would be barley, as it would ripen four to six weeks
before the wheat harvest, (which would be offered on Shavuot, which is
in early June). First Sheaf would be about mid April.
The wave offering of the first harvest pictured it and all the other
harvests (summer and fall), that were to follow. They would all be
dedicated or holy. This would make it acceptable to Yahveh. Without Him,
they wouldn't be there. He was to get the first and the best.
The waving by the High Priest of the finely crushed barely grain, the
first sheaf, would picture Yeshua being totally dedicated to Yahveh. The
incense on that quantity that was to be thrown into the fire of the
Altar (a handful), pictures the prayers of Yeshua as our High Priest,
for His People Israel, engulfed in the Fire of the Holy Spirit. The High
Priest, thanking Yahveh for the harvest, thanking Yahveh for His
Faithfulness to Israel would picture Yeshua as our High Priest, thanking
His Father for giving unto Israel their Messiah, their Savior, their
King. The grain that was not thrown onto the fire of the Altar, the
priests would eat. This pictures the Body of Yeshua being given to His
priests, as Food for us (John 6:53). Yahveh has been found faithful to
His Word. He has provided everything that Israel needs; from literal
food to the Bread or Matza or Food of Heaven.
THE IGNORANT CHURCH
Because the Church severed its relationship both with the Jews who
believed in Jesus and the Jews who didn't, and because they, for all
practical purposes, 'threw the Old Testament out,' they placed
themselves in a position of ignorance in relation to the basic tenets of
the Word of God. This is one such instance:
In John 20:16 we see Miryam (Mary), clinging to Yeshua and:
'Yeshua said to her, 'Miryam!' She turned and said to Him in Hebrew,
'Rabboni!' (which means, My dear Rabbi).'
The reason why Yohanan 20:16 is in Scripture is because Yahveh wants us
to understand that Jesus' first appearance has to do with the
fulfillment of First Sheaf. First Sheaf was that Sunday of Passover
Week. And that's why Yeshua says not to cling to Him in the very next
verse:
John 20:17: 'Jesus said to her, 'Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet
ascended to the Father. But go to My brethren, and say to them, 'I
ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'
Yeshua says to Miryam, 'Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet
ascended...' in wanting to fulfill the ceremony of First Sheaf in
Heaven, in Yahveh's Presence!
Now we see the Heavenly Reality along with the Earthly. It doesn't mean
the Earthly falls away, only that the Heavenly has been revealed! That
was the reason why the Earthly was established in the first place! They
are both valid for picturing what God has done for Israel. Now we can
enter into the Feasts with both understandings of what they mean for us
as believers in their Earthly and Heavenly Realities. They are both
significant.
You'll notice that Yeshua has not yet ASCENDED, but obviously, He has
already been resurrected. I state this because many followers of Jesus
claim that He rose on Sunday. And because of that, Christianity has
Sunday assembly or a 'Sunday Sabbath.' But no authoritative cite in the
New Testament states that He rose on Sunday.
He is first seen on this Sunday of First Sheaf, which is why God set it
up this way, for Yeshua ascends as the First Sheaf of all the Harvest
(of People), to come. But this does not sanctify all Sundays, as even to
the Jewish People, and of course the Bible, First Sheaf is not a holy
day (or a Sabbath). This gives no warrant for Sunday observance, as this
Sunday was placed within the Feasts of Israel for this purpose.
Yeshua's appearance before the Father would picture Yeshua being the
First Sheaf from the Resurrection of the Dead (Earth). He would be holy
unto Yahveh and make all that follow Him acceptable before Yahveh.
Yeshua ascends to the Father on First Sheaf, but He is not raised from
the dead on this day.
Yeshua is first seen alive on First Sheaf, but no one sees Him resurrect
on Sunday and there is no authoritative Scripture to support a Sunday
resurrection (or Sunday assembly over Sabbath assembly, or the doing
away with the Sabbath because of an alleged Sunday resurrection).
Even if Yeshua did resurrect on Sunday, no cite in the New Testament
tells us that because of this, Sunday is now the day of assembly; or
that Sunday is the new Sabbath. Or that Sunday is holy. Or that Sunday
is blessed (Genesis 2:3). If Sunday has replaced the 7th Day Sabbath, we
would expect to find volumes on this, not just a (proof text) verse,
here or there. These 'proof texts' are used to validate the removal of
the Sabbath, but these are only further instances of theologians and
people interpreting Scripture in ignorance.
The Tomb is empty...on Saturday night according to Matthew 28:1 which
reads, 'Now after the Sabbath, in the dawning towards the first of the
week...'
The word for 'Now' is ohp-seh and means, 'the first watch of evening.'
(Wesley J. Perschbacher, editor, The New Analytical Greek Lexicon
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publications, 1990), p. 301). Perschbacher
translates Matt. 28:1 as, 'After the close of the Sabbath' which means
that it was Saturday night at dark. This literally begins the first day
of the week (Sunday), in biblical terms (Genesis 1:5).
'In the dawning towards the first of the week...' does not necessarily
refer to sunlight as in daybreak, for another Greek word could have been
used for that, or-thros, which means, 'daybreak' or 'dawn.' The Greek
word here is eh-pis-sos-ku-say which means, 'to dawn; hence used of the
reckoned commencement of the day; to be near commencing.' (Ibid. p. 168)
What Matthew is telling us is that the first day was approaching, the
Sabbath was just over, and Miryam was going to the tomb in the darkness
of the evening, Saturday night.
Another place where a derivative of this word is used is in Luke 23:54
where it states,
'And it was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was dawning.'
Obviously, if it was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was
approaching, it would be Friday, late afternoon. (Not Friday night at 12
midnight.) It would still have to be Friday before dark. That would be
when the Sabbath would biblically begin, not at sunset as is commonly
held in Judaism. The word here is eh-peh-fos-ken (Ibid). So, it should
be translated:
Now, after the close of the Sabbath, it was the first watch of the
evening, the first day of the week approaching, Miryam came...(Matt.
28:1)
Also interesting is what the angel says to Miryam, 'He was raised' and
not, 'He was just raised when I rolled the stone away...' Matthew 28:6
YESHUA AS FIRST SHEAF
For Yeshua to be resurrected was no great miracle. He gave life to
Elazar and others who had died. But the real miracle is that He
prefigures our resurrection and ascension. We shall be like Him, to the
Glory of God our Father. 1st Corinthians 15:22-23 reads:
'For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive. But
each in his own order: Messiah the First Fruits (Sheaf), after that
those who are Messiah's at His coming,'
And we, like the summer and autumn harvests, will be resurrected to New
Life also.
The first three Feasts, falling in the springtime, were given to Israel
to speak of something past, present and future; of the Earthly and the
Heavenly. They were a yearly reminder of where Israel had come from, Who
had brought them to where they were, and what Messiah would do for them.
They also picture the Death, Burial, Resurrection and Ascension of
Yeshua:
As the Lamb of God, He dies at Passover time, a picture of Israel being
released from Egyptian slavery, the Heavens reverting into a night time
scene of darkness, even though it's high noon:
Luke 23:44: 'It was now about the sixth hour (12 in the afternoon), and
darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour,' (3:00 PM, when
Yeshua dies.)
As the Grain of Heaven, He falls into the Earth on the First Day of
Matza. This is the 15th of Aviv. This is the day when Israel was set
free from Egypt, and the day when you and are were set free from the
Kingdom of Satan. It's His Death that has set us free: the Blood of the
Lamb.
Num. 33:1-3: 'These are the journeys of the Sons of Israel, by which
they came out from the land of Egypt by their armies, under the
leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses recorded their starting places
according to their journeys by the command of Yahveh and these are their
journeys according to their starting places. They journeyed from Rameses
in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next
day after the Passover, the Sons of Israel started out boldly in the
sight of all the Egyptians,' (this day is the first day of the Feast of
Matza, a Sabbath, the 15th of Aviv.) It is on this day that Yeshua cries
out, 'It is finished' (John 19:31), a reference to the Heavenly Work of
Salvation.
He is resurrected on the Sabbath Day, most likely between 3:00 and 6:00
PM, because the weekly Sabbath is the holiest day of all. Three is when
He dies. About six is when He is actually placed in the Tomb, or the
heart of the Earth. After three days and three nights, somewhere between
three and six in the afternoon on the 7th Day Sabbath (of the Passover
Week), Yeshua is resurrected to Glory.
As the New Harvest, the first of many, He ascends at the exact time that
the High Priest would be thanking and waving the new barley grain before
Yahveh: the First Sheaf Wave offering, confirming that all the Harvest
to follow (us), will be acceptable to Yahveh. And that's why He told
Miryam not to cling to Him.
OTHER USES OF FIRST SHEAF IN SCRIPTURE
There are a number of times in the New Covenant that the term, 'First
Sheaf' (or, 'First Fruits' having an identical meaning), are used. We've
seen already the Apostle Paul using the term to apply to Yeshua as the
first to be raised from the dead, and that it established that Yeshua
had in fact, been raised from the dead (1st Cor. 15:20, 23). Another use
of the term is seen when Paul uses it to describe that the Holy Spirit
within us, is our promise or pledge from Yahveh, that He will do for us
as He has promised (glorification on the Day of Judgment):
Rom. 8:23: 'And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.'
Here it is used as a general concept of something that comes first, and
not a direct reference to the ceremony. It is also how we experientially
come to know our God, by His Spirit.
James (whose Hebrew name should have been translated into English as
Jacob, for that's what it is, but because of anti-Semitism among many
past and present theologians, a foreign, non-Jewish sounding name was
used, for John 4:6 correctly states that the well was Jacob's, and not
James'), gives us yet another use of the phrase:
James 1:18: 'In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word
of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His
creatures.'
Jacob is the literal half brother of Yeshua and literally the Prince
('nasi' from the Hebrew, sometimes erroneously translated as
'president'), of the Assembly of all the Jews in Jerusalem that believed
in Yeshua (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Galatians 1:19; 2:9). He is saying
that he considers the Jews that have come to Yeshua in his lifetime as
the first fruits. Israel is seen as the first born son of Yahveh (Exodus
4:22), and so from them comes the first fruits who have believed on the
Messiah of Israel.
I think what we see in Revelation 14:1ff, the 144,000, are the literal
fulfillment of what Jacob was expressing:
Revelation 14:4: 'These are the ones who have not been defiled with
women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who
follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased (redeemed),
from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.'
That this number specifically refers to the natural Seed of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, the Jewish People, seems to be evident from these
verses:
Rev. 7:4: 'And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred
and forty-four thousand sealed from every Tribe of the Sons of Israel,'
Rev. 7:9: 'After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude
which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples
and tongues, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed in
white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;'
From Revelation 7:9 we see that Gentiles who love the Lord are present.
It's also interesting to see that they have palm branches in their hands
as this is peculiar to the last great harvest, the Feast of Tabernacles
(Leviticus 23:33-44).
You and I are more like the End Time Harvest (than the 'us' or 'we' in
Jacob 1:18). Our 'time' or picture is in the fall or autumn of Salvation
History and yet, we are all 'first born sons of God:
Hebrews 12:18: 'For you have not come to a Mountain that can be touched
and to a blazing Fire, and to Darkness and gloom and whirlwind,'
Heb. 12:19: 'and to the blast of a Shofar and the sound of Words which
sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be
spoken to them.'
Heb. 12:20: 'For they could not bear the command, 'If even a beast
touches the Mountain, it will be stoned.'
Heb. 12:21: 'And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, 'I am full
of fear and trembling.'
Heb. 12:22: 'But you have come to Mount Zion and to the City of the
Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,'
Heb. 12:23: 'to the General Assembly and Called Out Ones of the
Firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and
to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,'
Heb. 12:24: 'and to Yeshua, the Mediator of a New Covenant, and to the
sprinkled Blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.'
I have used the phrase, 'Called Out Ones' instead of the word, 'Church'
that is normally there in English translations as the word 'church' is
not found in the New Testament. The word that is translated as 'church'
is 'ek-klih-see-ah' and literally means, 'the called out ones.' It is
used as the Greek form of the Hebrew word and concept, 'bah-har,' 'the
chosen ones.' Israel was chosen by Yahveh, and as Yeshua Himself says,
'You did not choose Me, but I chose you...
John 15:16: 'You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you
that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so
that whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He may give to you.'
Both times that Yeshua mentions it (choose and chose), the Greek words
are a derivative from 'ek-klih-see-ah'. As we know that Yeshua wasn't
speaking Greek but Hebrew, we understand that He would have been using
the verb, 'bah-har.' The concept of being chosen or being called out, is
one and the same. It gives a concrete reality to an otherwise drab word,
'church' which many unfortunately picture as the building where they go
to assemble. In reality, the 'church' are the chosen or the called out
ones. Wherever you find the word 'church' in the New Testament, you can
substitute, 'the called out ones,' or 'the chosen ones.'
And finally, there is the general conceptual framework of 'First Fruits'
taken to be a person or a family outside of Israel that was the first to
respond to the Message of Life in Yeshua the Messiah of Israel:
Romans 16:5: 'Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute
my well beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto
Christ.'
1 Corinthians 16:15: 'Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household
of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they
have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints),'
THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM
In the 7 day Feast of Matza, there would naturally be a Sunday. On this
Sunday the High Priest would wave finely crushed grain, from the first
of the barley crop. It symbolized Israel's recognition that Yahveh, the
Owner of the Land, had provided sustenance (food), for His People
Israel. First Sheaf would always fall on a Sunday, the day after the
Sabbath.
The Saducees followed this understanding that the Sunday after the
Sabbath of Passover, was 'the day after the Sabbath.' In the Passover
Week, there are three Sabbaths: the First and Seventh Days of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, and the 7th Day Sabbath (that always comes after
Friday.)
The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed that 'the day after the
Sabbath' referred to the First Day of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of
Aviv, which is also a Sabbath, an annual ( or yearly), Sabbath. This
position as we'll see later, is untenable, but has been adopted in
Judaism since the destruction of the Temple, because the Rabbis are the
spiritual descendants of the Pharisees. With their belief that 'the day
after the Sabbath' referred to the 15th of Aviv (today called the month
of Nisan), 50 days later would always be the 6th of Sivan. And that's
when they celebrate Shavuot (Pentecost).
The problem with the Pharisaic interpretation of the passage is seen in
that both First Sheaf, and the Feast that is marked 50 days later,
Shavuot, are never given any date in Scripture. There are three Sabbaths
within the Feast of Matza (Leviticus 23:3, 7, 9): the first and the
seventh days of Matza are declared to be Sabbaths by Yahveh, and these
can fall on any day of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.), unlike
the Seventh Day Sabbath which begins Friday night at dark and ends
Saturday night at dark. If the counting of the 50 days would always
commence the day after the first Sabbath of Matza (the 16th of Aviv or
Nisan), then Shavuot would always be the 6th of Sivan.
Neither of these dates (the 16th of Aviv or the 6th of Sivan), is
mentioned by Yahveh, or anyone else in Scripture. That's because it
can't be given. First Sheaf, and correspondingly, Shavuot 50 days later,
would change dates from year to year, depending on when Passover began.
If this were not the reason, then why would Yahveh have not given the
dates? He tells us the dates of all the other Feasts. The weekly 7th Day
Sabbath within the Feast of Matza can fall on either the 16th, 17th,
18th, etc., of the month of Aviv, and therefore, the date for First
Sheaf, the day after the Sabbath, would always be changing. It could be
the 17th, 18th, 19th, etc., of Aviv, thereby making the date for
Shavuot, 50 days later, as either the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, etc. of Sivan.
The Scripture for Shavuot (literally, 'weeks', referring to the seven
weeks that one must wait to celebrate it), reads like this:
Leviticus 23:15: 'You shall also count for yourselves from the day after
the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the Sheaf of the wave
offering. There shall be seven complete Sabbaths.'
Leviticus 23:16: 'You shall count fifty days to the day after the
seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a new grain offering to Yahveh.'
You might say it seems plain to you: 'the day after the seventh Sabbath
is obviously always going to be a Sunday. And seven complete Sabbaths
seems pretty clear also. But the way that it's worded, and the way that
the Pharisees and modern Judaism take it, is that the word for 'seven
complete Sabbaths' and 'to the day after the seventh Sabbath' is to be
interpreted as 'weeks' and not Sabbaths. They would see it as 'seven
complete weeks' and 'to the day after the seventh week.' This may have
some grammatical validity, but it doesn't seem to have any biblical
reality. Yet the Pharisees will tell you that they know more about God,
than God!
Just like your birthday which is always the same date every year, but
will fall on a different day of the week, so too Passover. It's always
the 14th of Aviv. But the 14th of Aviv can fall on a Monday or a Tuesday
or a Wednesday, etc. Now, First Sheaf, biblically, will always be the
Sunday of Passover Week, but its date, the 16th of Aviv, the 17th of
Aviv, the 18th of Aviv, etc., will change from year to year, depending
on what day (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.), the Passover begins. That's
why neither First Sheaf or Shavuot have a date to them.
To clarify the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread week, the
Passover happens as the sun is setting on Aviv 14. What is the Passover?
The Passover is not 'a day,' but refers to the sacrifice of the lamb,
around 5:00 PM on Aviv 14.
A few hours later at dark, the day changes to Aviv 15, the beginning of
the First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This is the first day
Sabbath of the Feast, the first day of the Feast of Matza. About 9:00 PM
the lamb will be eaten and the Passover Ceremony will take place.
The next day of light, would still be the 15th of Aviv. At dark, the
16th of Aviv would begin and this is the 2nd day of Matza. It is the day
when the ancient Pharisees and modern Rabbis believe the First Sheaf
should be offered.
The Saducees, which I think were biblically correct, would wait till the
day after the 7th Day Sabbath (Friday night dark till Saturday night
dark is the Sabbath), and on the next day, Sunday, the High Priest would
offer the First Sheaf.
The 21st of Aviv, the Seventh Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the
seventh day Sabbath of the Feast (for the Feast of Matza is from the
15th to the 21st of Aviv, seven days), would see the community come
together for the conclusion of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
If Passover fell on a Sunday, then the following Sunday would be First
Sheaf, the 21st of Aviv, the last day of Matza, and this too would be a
Sabbath, the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is
always a Sabbath.
If the counting began on the day after the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread,
as the Pharisees and modern Judaism contend, it would always start on
the 16th of Aviv and one would always come up with the 6th of Sivan. Two
days, two dates. But we never see them in Scripture.
If the counting for Shavuot (Pentecost), begins on the day after the
weekly Sabbath, then Yahveh could not give a date because it would
continually change from year to year, depending upon what day of the
week Passover would begin.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on
Sunday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Aviv,
would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around 9:00
PM Sunday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day after the
7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 21st of Aviv. This would have
been both First Sheaf, and the concluding day of Unleavened Bread, the
Sabbath of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on a
Monday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Aviv,
would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around 9:00
PM Monday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day after the
7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 20th of Aviv.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on a
Tuesday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of
Aviv, would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around
9:00 PM Tuesday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day after
the 7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 19th of Aviv.
I think it was this night, Tuesday night, that Yeshua ate the Passover
lamb with His friends. By Wednesday afternoon, 3:00 PM, He would be
dead.
If we have a Wednesday crucifixion, with Wednesday being the high holy
(yearly) Sabbath of Matza, the first day, we get three days and three
nights till Saturday at twilight; His Resurrection.
The next day, Sunday (beginning at dark on Saturday night in biblical
terms), would be both when Yeshua is first seen as the Bread of Life
coming from the depths of the Earth, and also His First Ascension, on
First Sheaf. He is not resurrected on Sunday, but first seen, as the
Gospels declare, whether Saturday night as Matthew seems to say, or
Sunday proper, as the others speak of.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on a
Wednesday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of
Aviv, would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around
9:00 PM Wednesday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day
after the 7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 18th of Aviv.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on a
Thursday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of
Aviv, would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around
9:00 PM Thursday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day after
the 7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 17th of Aviv.
If we have a Friday crucifixion, the Passover lamb would have been
sacrificed on Thursday at 5:00 PM, Yeshua eating the lamb on Thursday
night. Friday would be the First Day of Matza, the 15th of Aviv, a high
(yearly) Sabbath. This would be followed by the 7th Day Sabbath, and
then First Sheaf on Sunday.
One of the problems that I have with a Friday crucifixion is that it
comes to us from the Roman Catholic Church. They weren't there. And they
have introduced so much paganism into Christianity that I doubt their
posturing the crucifixion on Friday. Christianity today is divided over
when the crucifixion took place, as the day is not mentioned in
Scripture. Many today, because of the Catholic influence, believe it was
on Friday. A lesser number believe it was on Thursday. Still fewer think
that it was on Wednesday.
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on a
Friday at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the 15th of Aviv,
would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been eaten around 9:00
PM Friday night. The date for the following Sunday, the day after the
7th Day (weekly) Sabbath, would be the 16th of Aviv.
This would be the only time that the two different interpretations of
the Saducees and the Pharisees, would dove tail together. The 16th of
Aviv (Pharisee), would be that Sunday, and also the day after the
(weekly) 7th Day Sabbath (Saducees).
If the 14th of Aviv, the Passover, the sacrifice of the lamb, fell on
the weekly Sabbath at 5:00 PM, then the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the
15th of Aviv, would begin at darkness, and the lamb would have been
eaten around 9:00 PM Saturday night. Many would consider the date for
the 'following Sunday,' (First Sheaf), the day after the 7th Day
(weekly) Sabbath, to be the 15th of Aviv. I don't believe this was
practiced, as that Sabbath Day that the lamb was sacrificed on, was not
within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The Feast literally begins that night (Saturday night), and so the
Sabbath when the lamb was sacrificed would not be 'the day after the
Sabbath' within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I think God would want
them to wait for a week, till the weekly Sabbath actually fell within
the Feast of Unleavened. This 7th Day weekly Sabbath would also be the
last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast Sabbath of the 7th
day of Unleavened Bread, and the ceremony of First Sheaf would take
place the day after, on that Sunday.
It's interesting because First Sheaf would be offered, outside the seven
days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Many say that it should be
offered on that first Sunday, the 15th of Aviv, so that it can take
place within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but nowhere in Scripture
does it say that First Sheaf must take place within the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. But, it implies that First Sheaf must be after the
Sabbath Day within the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (In Leviticus 23,
Passover is mentioned first, then the Feast of Matza, and then after
that, First Sheaf. It would seem from this that the 'day after the
Sabbath, would mean that the Sabbath would have to fall within the Feast
of Unleavened Bread.) And the 7th Day weekly Sabbath, when the lamb
would have been sacrificed at 5:00 PM, cannot be considered, as it is
not the Sabbath Day within the Feast.
I used to think that First Sheaf should come within the framework of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread and so I opted for First Sheaf being done on
that Sunday, the 15th of Aviv, when the Passover would have been the 7th
Day weekly Sabbath before. But God does not make any provision or
exception for the Passover starting on Saturday at 5:00, saying that
First Sheaf should then be on that Sunday, the next day, the first day
of the Feast of Matza. Also, there seems to be no biblical reason why
First Sheaf can't be done on the Sunday after the last day of the Feast
of Unleavened Bread. The last day of the Feast would be both the 7th Day
weekly Sabbath and the 7th day Sabbath of the Feast itself. The next
day, Sunday, would be the 22nd of Aviv. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
having ended on Saturday night.
As you can see, depending on what week day the 14th of Aviv came, the
day when the lamb would be sacrificed, would determine the actual Sunday
date for the First Sheaf ceremony in Temple times. It would always be
that Sunday coming, but the day of the Sunday would change from year to
year, depending on if Passover began on a Monday, Tuesday, etc. And
consequently, Shavuot would have a different date every year too.
(I have used 5:00 PM as the time when the lambs would have been
sacrificed, believing that this would be the approximate time that they
would have sacrificed them at the First Passover in Egypt. The
Scriptures say that the sacrifice is to take place 'as the sun goes
down.' This has been variously interpreted and in Yeshua's day, because
of the vast number of lambs that were taken to the Temple to be
sacrificed for the Passover, it started about 2:00 PM or earlier.)
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