Tag: aparche – firstfruits – Strong’s G536

Categories
Discussions Torah

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8: Coveting thankfulness for the LORD’s blessings

God's way to teach us not to covet is to remind us that everything we have comes from him anyway. (Photo by Freeimages.com/Hazel Bregazzi via Creative Commons license)

There’s more to “you shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17) than lusting after other people’s stuff and spouses. That’s the lesson of Torah reading תבוא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8), which wraps an elaboration of the Ten Commandments that spans most of the book.

Under the hood of the instructions about the thanksgiving ceremony for first fruits of the Land’s crops and the third-year tithe is this message: We also are to be grateful for what the LORD has placed in our hands and use it to produce a “bumper crop” for the Kingdom.

Categories
Appointments With God Discussions Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavuot teaches encountering God ‘in spirit and in truth’

Richard Agee

This is a special time in God’s calendar. We have reached Shavuot, the “Feast of Sevens.” It’s also called Pentecost, which is Greek for 50th. This feast is, in a sense, a continuation of the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham.

When human beings try to obey God in the flesh without a redeemed spirit, they will inevitably fail.

We lift up two loaves at Shavuot, one made of wheat and one of barley. Both are His, and we will give both back to Him. There is so much hope for mankind at this time, even for those who are “not of us.”

Categories
Appointments With God Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavu’ot: Firstfruits and the remnant of the crop left for the poor

Shavu’ot is a holiday celebrated 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits. By this time, most of the harvest is gathered, prepped and stored. But God told His people in Leviticus 23 that they were supposed to leave a remnant behind for the “poor and the stranger.”