Feast of Weeks — Shavuot in Hebrew for “sevens” and Pentecost in Greek for “50th”
“Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.” (Deuteronomy 5:1 NASB)
On Mt. Sinai, on the day of Shavuot, God wrote His law on stone tablets and spoke them to the people. Two thousand years later, on Shavout, God put His law on His disciples hearts and they spoke to the people and 3000 were saved.
This is the third in a series of Bible studies exploring the connection in thought and time between Passover, Festival of the Wave Offering (Firstfruits or Bikkurim), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzot) and the Festival of Sevens (Shavuot or Pentecost).
Richard considers another possibility other than the three main methods for determining the timing of Shavuot/Pentecost related to encampments the people of Israel during their exodus from slavery in Egypt leading up to their receiving the 10 Commandments from God at Mt. Sinai. Richard contends that a connection to the weekly Shabbat has an important bearing on what God is trying to teach with the festivals of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Shavuot.
Yeast is commonly seen as a symbol for pride, something bad. Why does God command us to not eat leavened bread for seven days after Passover then at Shavuot (Pentecost) command that He be offered two loaves of leavened bread? How is the answer to this paradox found in Yeshua’s cryptic instruction to His disciples to beware of the “yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees”?