The Feast of Weeks

[Messianic Israelite]

Since the Assemblies of Yahweh observe the Holy Days of Leviticus chapter 23, some people have assumed that the Assemblies of Yahweh would look to the Jews to set the scriptural calendar since they also observe these identical Holy Days. This is not the case. It is true that because of the dispersion, the Jews have no longer followed an observable calendar. Scholarship abounds with substantial and irrefutable evidence that, during the days of the Messiah, it was the Sanhedrin which set the calendar. This august body of elders in Israel fixed the months by sending out observers to the higher elevations of terrain around the city of Jerusalem so that they could visually observe the actual new crescent which marked the new or rebuilding moon.

We don't use astronomical calculations to set the times for our holy days but we look for the new moon as the Bible teaches to set our holy days.

But specifically in relation to the Feast of Weeks as found in Leviticus 23:10-21, why do we count the 50 days differently to the Jews. The wave sheaf offering was to be offered on the morrow after the Sabbath, as we read from verses 10 and 11. The Hebrew terms here (Sabbath) is exactly (the very same) terms used throughout the Bible for the weekly rest day, Sabbath, with the definite article attached, the Sabbath. There is no difference of opinion among Bible students about which is the scriptural sabbath. It is the seventh day of the week. The root of the word means to cease, or to rest, and it is only by extension that it means a week, since the Sabbath completes the week of seven days. The morrow after the Sabbath is the first day of the week and begins the new weekly cycle. It is the beginning of our count toward another period of seven days, ending with the rest day, or the weekly Sabbath. On the first day of the week, then, is the day when the wave sheaf was offered, since it was directed by Almighty Yahweh to be offered on the morrow after (the day after) the weekly Sabbath.

It was the Pharisees who originated the idea that the Feast of Weeks should be counted from the day after the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They defined the word Sabbath to mean the high day (Abib 15), the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where no work is to be done and a holy convocation is to be observed. The Sadducees and later, the Karaites viewed this concept as erroneous. They argued that if such were the case, there would be no need to count the days. Pentecost would always fall on Sivan 6. They argued that the word Sabbath did not mean the annual holy day, but the weekly Sabbath which is located within the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. According to the reference works (especially the Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition), there was considerable controversy evidence over this subject among the Jews themselves. Apparently, this doctrinal leaven of the Pharisees has infiltrated some of the groups who are keeping the feasts today (Matthew 16:6).

The Assemblies of Yahweh correctly keep the Feast of Weeks by numbering the 50 days with the day after the weekly Sabbath (on the first day of the week) and ending with the weekly Sabbath 49 days later. The day after a weekly Sabbath (the 50th day) is Yahweh's annual holy day.

What are your thoughts about the Feast of Weeks?
I apologise to non-Jews in advance who may not understand what I am talking about. I am directing this to the Jews.

 

[Batya]

Since the Assemblies of Yahweh observe the Holy Days of Leviticus chapter 23, some people have assumed that the Assemblies of Yahweh would look to the Jews to set the scriptural calendar since they also observe these identical Holy Days. This is not the case. It is true that because of the dispersion, the Jews have no longer followed an observable calendar. Scholarship abounds with substantial and irrefutable evidence that, during the days of the Messiah, it was the Sanhedrin which set the calendar. This august body of elders in Israel fixed the months by sending out observers to the higher elevations of terrain around the city of Jerusalem so that they could visually observe the actual new crescent which marked the new or rebuilding moon.

We don't use astronomical calculations to set the times for our holy days but we look for the new moon as the Bible teaches to set our holy days.

But specifically in relation to the Feast of Weeks as found in Leviticus 23:10-21, why do we count the 50 days differently to the Jews. The wave sheaf offering was to be offered on the morrow after the Sabbath, as we read from verses 10 and 11. The Hebrew terms here (Sabbath) is exactly (the very same) terms used throughout the Bible for the weekly rest day, Sabbath, with the definite article attached, the Sabbath. There is no difference of opinion among Bible students about which is the scriptural sabbath. It is the seventh day of the week. The root of the word means to cease, or to rest, and it is only by extension that it means a week, since the Sabbath completes the week of seven days. The morrow after the Sabbath is the first day of the week and begins the new weekly cycle. It is the beginning of our count toward another period of seven days, ending with the rest day, or the weekly Sabbath. On the first day of the week, then, is the day when the wave sheaf was offered, since it was directed by Almighty Yahweh to be offered on the morrow after (the day after) the weekly Sabbath.

It was the Pharisees who originated the idea that the Feast of Weeks should be counted from the day after the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They defined the word Sabbath to mean the high day (Abib 15), the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where no work is to be done and a holy convocation is to be observed. The Sadducees and later, the Karaites viewed this concept as erroneous. They argued that if such were the case, there would be no need to count the days. Pentecost would always fall on Sivan 6. They argued that the word Sabbath did not mean the annual holy day, but the weekly Sabbath which is located within the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. According to the reference works (especially the Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition), there was considerable controversy evidence over this subject among the Jews themselves. Apparently, this doctrinal leaven of the Pharisees has infiltrated some of the groups who are keeping the feasts today (Matthew 16:6).

The Assemblies of Yahweh correctly keep the Feast of Weeks by numbering the 50 days with the day after the weekly Sabbath (on the first day of the week) and ending with the weekly Sabbath 49 days later. The day after a weekly Sabbath (the 50th day) is Yahweh's annual holy day.

What are your thoughts about the Feast of Weeks?
I apologise to non-Jews in advance who may not understand what I am talking about. I am directing this to the Jews.

There are a few within the Torah-observant community around us and throughout the U.S. who start counting from the 16th of Aviv, including ourselves for a few years, though I am leaning in the direction of the weekly sabbath at this point.
One thing for me is that every other feast has an actual date on which to be kept, with the exception of the feast of Firstfruits. Why then would there be this difference if we are to observe it the same way? So that is one reason I'm leaning toward the other, counting from the day after the weekly sabbath.

 

[Messianic Israelite]

There are a few within the Torah-observant community around us and throughout the U.S. who start counting from the 16th of Aviv, including ourselves for a few years, though I am leaning in the direction of the weekly sabbath at this point.
One thing for me is that every other feast has an actual date on which to be kept, with the exception of the feast of Firstfruits. Why then would there be this difference if we are to observe it the same way? So that is one reason I'm leaning toward the other, counting from the day after the weekly sabbath.

Hi Batya. It's good hearing from you again. Good morning. Yes, if you read Leviticus 23:15 it says: "15 “‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to Yahweh". The Hebrew word for 'complete' is temimoth. The Holladay Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon defines this word as whole, entire, intact. Therefore we have the thought in these four Hebrew words "seven Sabbaths shall there be complete (whole, entire, intact)." I just want to point out that the word which has been translated weeks in the King James Version is the plural of the term for Sabbath in the Hebrew. Significantly, the Holladay Hebrew Lexicon defines this word as "plural - weeks (i.e., from one Sabbath to the next)." This is how the word is used throughout the Scriptures. Once more, scholarship supports the fact that a full week is the intended meaning of this passage from the Hebrew. It must be a full week, beginning with the day after the Sabbath (the first day of the week) and ending with Sabbath (the seventh day of that week.

I want to emphasize that one cannot have a full, whole, intact or complete week if you begin to count with any other day than the first day of the week! No matter from which angle you examine this commandment, beginning the count on a first day of a week is always indicated! No other valid interpretation can be derived from the original Hebrew text.

But definitely be sure to look in to this yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised to know that Yahweh has explained Himself and we must obey Yahweh rather than men (Acts 5:29).