Shavuot and the Ruach

רוח הקודש

PART FIVE


The Ruach HaKodesh

An Autobiography



Shavuot and the Fullness of God’s Blessing

(this is part of a longer series titled “the Autobiography of the Holy Spirit”, studying every appearance of the Spirit of God (Ruach Adonai) or the Holy Spirit) (the Ruach HaKodesh)and writing a comment in the voice of the Holy Spirit in this font.  I mean it to be literary, and not literal… and am not presuming to speak for the Holy Spirit, but following His inspiration)

In traditional Judaism, Shavuot is the date when Moses was given the law on Sinai.  The date the law was given is by tradition, a date is not specifically referenced in scripture.   In the New Testament, Shavuot is Pentecost, the day the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) is poured out for all mankind.  

Shavuot (of course) means “sevens” or “weeks” and represents the end date of the biblical 49 days (seven sevens) we are supposed to count to get from Passover (the barley harvest) to Shavuot (the wheat harvest).    A sheaf of wheat is called an OMER, and the 50 day period is called “the counting of the Omer”.   It is to build up anticipation toward the day of Shavuot.   

Leviticus 23:15-21: This passage provides detailed instructions for counting the Omer, leading up to Shavuot. It states: "And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven complete Sabbaths shall you count. Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days, and then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord... And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations."

It’s one of the holidays that are commanded by the Bible to be celebrated… FOREVER.  How interesting that God used this eternal holiday, with so much anticipation, to POUR OUT the Holy Spirit on all people in Acts 2!  


Celebrating Shavuot

אֶרֶץ חִטָּה וּשְׂעֹרָה וְגֶפֶן וּתְאֵנָה וְרִמּוֹן אֶרֶץ־זֵית שֶׁמֶן וּדְבָשׁ׃      Dt. 8.8

a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; (from the scripture above).  So it is at Shavout that we celebrate these seven “species” (in the illustration above the “land” is added twice… it’s not “seven”, but I just liked it)

ארץ - land

היטה - wheat

שערה - barley

 גפן - vine

תאנה - figs

רימון - pomegranate

ארץ -  a country / land

זית שמן - olive oil 

דבש - honey


The Giving Of the Law




This is a location in Saudi Arabia associated with the giving of the law, though no one knows the exact location, Jabal al Lawz (Jabal Mousa) - the Mountain of Moses


============

The tradition of Shavuot we know by now.   

שבות = Shavuot = “Sevens” or “Weeks”.    


Traditional readings    

EX 19 - 20  (below)

Habakkuk  3  

Though the fig tree should not blossom

And there be no [o]fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

18 Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

19 The Lord [p]God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,

And makes me walk on my high places.

Numbers 28:26-31 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

26 ‘Also on the day of the first fruits, when you present a new grain offering to the Lord in your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. 27 You shall offer a burnt offering for a soothing aroma to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs one year old; 28 and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an [a]ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 29 a tenth for [b]each of the seven lambs; 30 also one male goat to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall present them with their drink offerings. They shall be [c]without defect.


Shavuot.  When?


Lev 23: 15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an [c]ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.


Th HOly Spirit is poured out on Gideon - the spirit came upon him, so that “he blew a trumpet” and delivered Israel from Mideonite oppression. 


Shavuot commemorates:

  • The death of King David

  • To Chasidic Jews, the Death of the Baal Shem Tov (their founder)

  • MOST IMPORTANTLY:  The giving of the Law


The Purpose

Why give the I think we have to ask the question - why bother with the law?    What is the goal?    God’s people since Adam had not had a “law”, or code of conduct per se, the rightous conduct was referred to.  

Some ideas: 

  • To transform a slave people into a kingdom of priests.  

  • To give ORDER

  • To limit the wrongs of OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENTS

  • To give focus and LIMITATIONS to life.  


Exodus 19      5 Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then 

you shall be *My own possession among all the peoples, 

for all **the earth is Mine; 6 and 

*** you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ 

These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”


  • * “You will be Mine”.   This matters because….

  • ** “The earth is mine”

  • *** Every man and woman will be a priest


Exodus 19:16-19 16  So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17  And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

     The Lord Visits Sinai    

18  Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in

fire; 

and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. 19  When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

The result was the 10 commandments.  Ex 20.0

Yeshua tells what is coming.    (photo is of the “upper room” of Acts 2)

Acts 1:4   Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for  what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit  not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7  He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8  but you will receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”


9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.     


“I am your Guide.   I bring you fullness, straight from the Father.    It is glorious.    I am disclosing a secret to you.    A secret the Father has revealed to Me.    It is a secret that is meant to be told to others.   That I have given you the ABUNDANCE of the land, flowing with milk.  Flowing with honey.”       
-The Ruach HaKoesh (the Holy Spirt)

John 16:5-15 5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the  Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been ju2 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.


WHY didn’t the HS come while Yeshua was here… why did he have to go away as he said.   Because this transformation requires the sacrifice


Shavuot


Shavuot is not explicitly named as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai in the Bible, although this is commonly considered to be that date.  

The grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9–11, Isa. 9:2). It began with the harvesting of the barley during Passover and ended with the harvesting of the wheat at Shavuot. Shavuot was thus the concluding festival of the grain harvest, just as the eighth day of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was the concluding festival of the fruit harvest. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, an offering of two loaves of bread from the wheat harvest was made on Shavuot.[2]

Names in the Torah

In the Bible, Shavuot is called 

  • "The Festival of Weeks" (Hebrew: חג השבועות‎, Chag HaShavuot, Exodus 34.22, Dt 16.10  

  • "Festival of Reaping" (חג הקציר, Chag HaKatzir, Exodus 23:16)

  • "Day of the First Fruits" (יום הבכורים, Yom HaBikkurim Num 28.26

  • Shavuot, the plural of a the word both for "week" and "seven," because it is exactly seven weeks ( "a week of weeks") after Passover


Shavuot info…

These are the traditional readings at Shavuot, the anniversary date of the 

Giving of the Law, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit

Shavuot I - שבועות יום א׳

Torah Portion    about the giving of the law

Torah Portion: Exodus 19:1-20:23; 

Numbers 28:26-31 

and Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17; Numbers 28:26-31


And reading the book of Ruth 


Haftarah: Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12 

(Ezekiel's phenomenal vision of God in his Glory)

Ez 3:12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord in His (dwelling) place.”


Haftarah: Habakkuk 3:1-19   

Though the Fig Tree should not blossom


A celebration with The Seven Species    (Hebrew: שבעת המינים‎, Shiv'at HaMinim) are seven agricultural products - two grains and five fruits - which are listed in the Hebrew Bible as being special products of the Land of Israel.

The seven species listed are wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olive (oil), and date (honey) (Deuteronomy 8:8).[1][2] Their first fruits were the only acceptable offerings in the Temple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Species


 

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