![]() ![]() The purpose of this feast was to commemorate the completion of the grain harvest. Besides the sacrifices prescribed for the occasion, every one was to bring to the Lord his "tribute of a free-will offering" ( Deuteronomy 16:9-11). The manner in which it was to be kept is described in Leviticus 23:15-19 Numbers 28:27-29. ![]() From the sixteenth of the month of Nisan (the second day of the Passover), seven complete weeks, i.e., forty-nine days, were to be reckoned, and this feast was held on the fiftieth day. ![]() The festival so named is first spoken of in Exodus 23:16 as "the feast of harvest," and again in Exodus 34:22 as "the day of the firstfruits" ( Numbers 28:26). This gift was for the whole period of the gospel dispensation and the mighty effects then produced foreshow the yet greater works the Spirit will perform in answer to prayer.Įaston's Bible DictionaryI.e., "fiftieth", found only in the New Testament ( Acts 2:1 20:16 1 Corinthians 16:8). The paschal lamb gave place to "Christ our Passover " and the Jewish feast in memory of the giving of the law, to the gift of the Holy Spirit for "every nation under heaven," Acts 2:5. On this occasion, as on the Passover seven weeks before, Judaism was at the same time honored and gloriously superseded by Christianity. It was on the day of Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit as first poured out upon the apostles and the Christian church, Acts 2:1-3. Secondly, to commemorate, and to render thanks to God for the law given from Mount Sinai, on the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt. The feast of Pentecost was instituted, first, to oblige the Israelites to repair to the temple of the Lord, and there acknowledge his dominion over their country and their labors, by offering to him the first fruits of all their harvests. Besides this offering, there were special sacrifices prescribed for this festival, Numbers 28:26-31. These first fruits consisted in two loaves of leavened bread, of five pints of meal each, Le 23:17. They then offered the first fruits of their wheat harvest, which at that time was completed, De 16:9-10. The Hebrews call it the "feast of weeks," Exodus 34:22, because it was kept seen weeks after the Passover. The fiftieth, a feast celebrated the fiftieth day after the sixteenth of Nisan, which was the second day of the feast of the Passover, Le 25:15-16. Just as the appearance of God on Sinai was the birthday of the Jewish nation, so was the Pentecost the birthday of the Christian Church. The typical significance of the Pentecost is made clear from the events of the day recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In the exodus the people were offered to God as living first fruits at Sinai their consecration to him as a nation was completed. The Pentecost is the only one of the three great feasts which is not mentioned as the memorial of events in the history of the Jews but such a significance has been found in the fact that the law was given from Sinai on the fiftieth day after the deliverance from Egypt. The interval is still regarded as a religious season. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, and to whom both the land and the people were holy, which was begun by the offering of the wave-sheaf at the Passover. ( Leviticus 23:18,19) Till the pentecostal leaves were offered, the produce of the harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other firstfruits be offered. The other sacrifices were, a burnt offering of a young bullock, two, rams and seven lambs with a meat and drink offering, and a kid for a sin offering. With the loaves two lambs were offered as a peace offering and all were waved before Jehovah and given to the priests the leaves being leavened, could not be offered on the altar. ( 16:10,11) The great feature of the celebration was the presentation of the two loaves made from the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. The Pentecost was the Jewish harvest-home, and the people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jehovah with their families their servants, the Levite within their gates, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in the place chosen by God for his name, as they brought a free-will offering of their hand to Jehovah their God. ( Exodus 23:16 34:22 Leviticus 23:15,22 Numbers 28) See Jewish calendar at the end of this volume. From the sixteenth of Nisan seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost, which fell on the sixth of Sivan (about the end of May). That is, the fiftieth day (from a Greek word meaning fiftieth), or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover.
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