And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God […]
Deuteronomy 16:10 (KJV)
Weeks – This holy day that recently passed is called the Feast of Weeks. It’s not called Spirit Day even though Christians recognize it as the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and believers. It’s not called Torah Day even though Jews recognize it as the day God gave the Torah to Israel. But the Feast of Weeks is a unique blend of both of these events, and when reviewing the weeks up to this day we find an interesting association to both the Spirit and the Torah.
YHVH calls this day the Feast of Weeks obviously focusing our attention on the 7 weeks that occur after Passover. Have you ever wondered why? I did, so I thought to do a study into those weeks.
One of the most significant events that occurred during those weeks was the gathering of Manna in the wilderness. The Israelites were told to gather one omer of Manna every day, but on the sixth day to gather two omers of Manna to provide for them through the Sabbath, or the last day of the week. This terminology about “omers” is also used about Passover AND Pentecost. Let’s take a look.
Passover (1 omer)
9 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:9-11)
A “sheaf” is 1 omer, or 1 tenth deal – it’s a measurement. On Passover they were to bring 1 omer and wave it before YHVH.
Feast of Weeks (2 omers)
Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord. (Leviticus 23:17)
“Two tenth deals” is 2 omers, or 2 sheafs. On Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) the people were to present 2 omers.
So how is this tied together with the counting of the omer (the 7 weeks)? Maybe we can abstract some lessons based on the patterns found. Let’s unpack this.
There’s one omer at the first holy day, and 2 omers during the second holy day. In between them is a repeating pattern of 1 omer everyday until the end of the week comes when they can gather 2 omers to sustain them. What are the spiritual relationships we can find? Can this timeline extrapolate to reveal a similar message on the history of the world?
The Torah was given on Mt. Sinai several thousand years ago. All this time throughout history, the people of God have lived with 1 omer, given on the first significant Feast of Weeks – the Torah. They have lived day in and day out with this 1 omer. But as the latter days approached (the week was ending), as the Israelites in the desert were allowed to gather 2 omers, so too are we given the second omer. This happened on the 2nd most significant Feast of Weeks recorded in Acts 2 – the Spirit.
Today we need both omers, the Torah and the Spirit, to sustain ourselves in these latter days. This is the only way to overcome.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)
Spirit = Holy Spirit
Truth = Torah (law of God)
God gave the law to the Israelites in the wilderness, and latter gave His Spirit on that exact same day.
There is a wealth of information available when we decide to turn our attention in the direction God reveals. I know we love to focus on the day, and it’s important that we do, but don’t forget to focus on the weeks that lead up to that day. There’s a message inside those weeks that God is hoping we’ll find.
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