L ike 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 Yehovah. 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 Torah. 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 Elohim 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 Elohim and His people.

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

It is first of all a time of thanksgiving before Yehovah.

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

"Two loaves of bread for a wave offering ... leaven... Yehovah" - 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 Yehovah.

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

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

This may not seem to fit with a harvest festival but it is closely tied to the visual lessons Elohim 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 Elohim'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.

Universal Theme - Harvest or Ingathering

The basic theme of Shavuot - is the harvest and thanksgiving to Elohim. 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 Yehovah? For that we need to look at (Acts 2:1-5)

Have you ever asked what all those people were doing in Jerusalem? They were "devout men" (Acts 2:5)- meaning careful to observe all that Elohim commanded - they were there because Elohim commanded them to go up to Jerusalem to observe the feast. There were three times each year appointed by Elohim for His people to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate with Him in His feasts. Why did Elohim pour out His spirit on them? To fulfill the symbol of this harvest of ingathering and to fulfill His prophetic word.

Earlier we noted that the rabbis tied this feast to the giving of Torah - but here too are some other interesting parallels. When Elohim 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 Elohim's judgment (Ex 32:28) and 3,000 of Elohim's people were destroyed. Is it just coincidence that years later on the anniversary of the giving of Torah - Elohim 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 Elohim's people's attitude in first receiving Torah -" All that Yehovah has spoken we will do" (Ex 19:8) and Elohim's intended purpose: