Bikkurim - or First Fruits like most Biblical feasts it s best understood by the name. It is a day of bringing the First Fruits of the harvest as an offering to the Lord. Just prior to this festival is another called Sfirat Haomer - counting the omer - which is the early harvest of the season of barley. Bikkurim is the later harvest of wheat.

Shavuot - this word is the Hebrew word for Weeks. There is a set time period when it is celebrated. In (Lev 23:16) - its says to count 50 days after the seventh Sabbath. The seventh Sabbath of the year is at the time of Passover. So in addition to being tied to the harvest it is also connected to the Passover.

Pentecost - this is the name given to the feast in the New Coventant Scriptures. It is the same feast as Bikkurim or Shavuot. The difference in the name is that Pentecost is a Greek word meaning 50.

Zman Matan Torateynu - Season of the giving of the Law. This is not a Biblical name for the feast, but it is often called this today. Later in Jewish history the Rabbis, by careful calculation and time reckoning came to the conclusion that God had given the Torah to Moses in the third month after Passover - or during the time of Shavuot. Hence it is a time of rejoicing in the covenental relationship between God and His people.

"You shall present a new grain offering to the Lord..." - Lev 23:16.

It is first of all a time of thanksgiving before the Lord.

It is a grateful response to God for blessing and providing the early harvest.

"Two loaves of bread for a wave offering ... leaven... Lord" - Lev 23:17.

Part of the wheat offering was baked into two loaves of leavened bread - a striking contrast to the matzah a few weeks before.

Leaven in Scripture is a symbol or type of sin. The rabbis taught the reason for this distinction was that the bread of the Passover - is tied to the sinless Passover lamb. The two loaves however - speak of Israel in whom there is leaven or sin.

But why two? We will come back to this later.

These two loaves were brought to the temple with great ceremony - and waved in every direction before the Lord.

The act itself was a public statement of God's provision for His people.

"Along with the bread... lambs without defect... the Lord." - Lev 23:18

This may not seem to fit with a harvest festival but it is closely tied to the visual lessons God is teaching His people.

That lesson is the need of personal atonement.

So the offering of the animals was to symbolize the need of an innocent victim to remove sin from the people (Lev 17:11).

It points to the completeness of God's provision for the needs of His people - He provides the grain harvest for the basic needs of physical sustenance. He provides in Messiah's atonement - for the spiritual need of the forgiveness of sin.

Since the destruction of the temple modern Jewish observance of Shavuot has changed some what from the Biblical time period.
It is still a time to remember God's faithfulness, but has moved form being an agricultural celebration to a time of celebrating the giving of Torah.
Many synagogues celebrate Shavuot with a custom called - Tikun Leil Shavuot - "preparing for the arrival of Shavuot. During this time many devout Jews will stay up all night during the first night of the holiday studying Scripture.
The rabbis explain that this custom comes from - (Ex. 19:16,19) - where it is said that the Jewish people did not rise early to be prepared for the giving of Torah, and it was necessary for God Himself to awaken them.
It is customary to read from and study two sections of Scripture:

The ten commandments - since it is a central part of Torah.

The book of Ruth - since it has a harvest theme.

It is also customary at Shavuot to decorate the synagogue with greenery , flowers , and fruit.
There are two explanations for during this at Shavuot:

• It symbolizes the harvest aspect of Shavuot and keeps with the Biblical theme of the feast.
• There is also a rabbinical tradition that even though Mount Sinai was situated in the desert, in honor of the giving of Torah, the desert bloomed and sprouted flowers.

As with most Biblical holidays special foods are prepared and served at Shavuot. The foods point to symbolic truths of the holidays.
It is customary to eat primarily dairy products during Shavuot.
This is because sweet and nourishing milk and honey are symbolic of the Torah. It is also a reminder of the land and promises given by God to His people if they will but walk according to His Torah.
Milk products are also appropriate because Scripture is often described as the "milk of the Word" - (I Pet. 2:2)
Cheese blintzes and cheesecakes are commonly served during Shavuot.

• It is customary to read the Ten Commandments in the synagogue in keeping with the tradition of linking Shavuot to the Giving of the Law.

• We read the book of Ruth at Shavuot for three reasons. The setting of Ruth is the harvest. She became a follower of the God of Israel, just as Israel became a follower of the Almighty at Mount Sinai. And the book of Ruth announces the ancestry of King David, Ruth's great-grandson who, according to Jewish tradition, was born and died on Shavuot.

• In Ashkenazic synagogues, our people recite a twelfth-century poem called Akdamut in the Aramaic language. This poem extols God and heralds the messianic future. In Sephardic congregations a poetic ketubah (marriage contract) between God and Israel is offered.

• It is customary to decorate homes and synagogues with green plants and flowers. According to tradition, we do so because Shavuot is the day of judgment for trees and because grass grew on Mount Sinai, the place of the Giving of the Law. Also, green plants remind us of the trimming used to adorn the people's baskets of firstfruits.

• There is a custom of staying awake all night on the eve of Shavuot to read the Torah, the Psalms, and the Talmud. One midrash tells us that God revealed himself on Mount Sinai at noontime, but the Israelites were still asleep and Moses had to rouse them. Some say the present custom of staying awake all night is a way of atoning for our failure to be awake and alert when God appeared to us.

• One tradition states that when Israel received the dietary laws (kashrut) and realized that the pots being used were not kosher, the only solution was to eat dairy products which didn't need to be cooked! For that reason dairy foods are eaten during Shavuot. Another tradition states that after receiving the Torah, the Israelites were too hungry to wait for meat to be cooked, so they simply made a dairy meal instead.

• Since the nineteenth century, Reform Jews have used the occasion of Shavuot to hold confirmation ceremonies, just as our people were "confirmed" in our faith at Mount Sinai when we entered into the covenant and Ruth was "confirmed" into the fold of Israel. The Christian holiday of Pentecost or Whitsunday is a confirmation time for Christians to receive first Communion.

Some Shavuot customs beautifully express how our spiritual needs relate to our physical needs:

• According to one rabbinic interpretation, dairy foods are eaten at this time because the Bible compares the Torah to milk in the Song of Songs 4:11: "Honey and milk are under your tongue." Another reason is that the law of firstfruits is right next to the law that prohibits boiling a kid in its mother's milk, possibly to avoid imitating pagan rites. As we consider how God's word "feeds" us, physical requirements become images of our spiritual necessities.

• We array our homes and synagogues with flowers and plants to symbolize that the Torah is a tree of life. As a tree provides fruit and nourishment, so does the word of God.

• A Jewish child would learn the alef bet on the Shavuot of his or her fifth year. A special treat followed--a taste of honey to help the child associate God's word with sweetness, as it says in Psalm 119:103, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

The basic theme of Shavuot - is the harvest and thanksgiving to God. But what is the spiritual significance?
We mentioned an early harvest of first fruits and the feast of weeks - how are they tied together?
We read in (I Cor 15:20) that Messiah Himself is the fulfillment of the Feast of First Fruits. But where is the Feast of Weeks? Where is the fulfillment of that Feast of the Lord?
For that we need to look at (Acts 2:1-4) Have you ever asked what all those people were doing in Jerusalem?
They were "devout men" - meaning careful to observe all that God commanded - they were there because God commanded them to go up to Jerusalem to observe the feast. There were three times each year appointed by God for His people to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate with Him in His feasts.
Why did God pour out His spirit on them? To fulfill the symbol of this harvest of ingathering and to fulfill His prophetic word.

Giving of the Law - the imparting of Life

Earlier we noted that the rabbis tied this feast to the giving of Torah - but here too are some other interesting parallels.
When God gave Torah to His people - all Israel acknowledged they would follow it (Ex 19:8).
It wasn't long after that Israel forgot and disobeyed bringing down God's judgment (Ex 32:28) and 3,000 of God's people were destroyed. Is it just coincidence that years later on the anniversary of the giving of Torah - God would as first fruits have 3,000 - born to newness of life?
It also points to the fulfillment of (Ezekiel 36:27) where by His spirit on the feast day of Shavuot - He would write His Torah on the hearts of His people.
Shavuot (Pentecost) remembers God's people's attitude in first receiving Torah -" All that the Lord has spoken we will do" (Ex 19:8) and God's intended purpose:

• The rabbis have said that there is no liberty without divine Law and the self-discipline that it gives us.
• It is said a train must have rails and a river must have banks - to too our lives need Torah
• After all Yeshua did not say, "Go and do what feels good" or "Go and live your life as your please". He said, "Go.. and make disciples.. teaching them to observe (or more literally "be observant") all that I have commanded you." (Mat. 28:19,20)

We noted earlier - the two loaves - with leaven, and how they represented the people of Israel, in whom there is leaven. But why the two loaves?
If it speaks of Israel - then why not twelve loaves - as the shewbread in the tabernacle, with one for each of the twelve tribes?
Some have said the loaves symbolize the two tablets of the Torah, since the Torah was given at Shavuot - and therefore a reminder to keep and observe God's commandments - but then there is the problem of the leaven - certainly one would not conclude that God's Torah is sinful - (Psalm 19:7) says the Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Paul speaks of the goodness of Torah in showing us our own sinfulness. No that does not fit the symbol!
Rather is seems they prophetically point to - the two leavened people of God - Israel and the nations - who together make up the body of Messiah. The two loaves of leavened bread have, since that feast of Shavuot some 2000 years ago - become joined together to become one people of God. Jews and Gentiles, one in Messiah, who are called upon to observe - to be devout about - to keep all things that He has commanded us (Mat 28:19-20). This symbolic message of Shavuot must have been in Paul's mind when he wrote (Eph 2:11-13;16-22)

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