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May 28, 2017 |
| Shavu'ot - Weeks | ||
This Tuesday at sunset begins the Jewish Feast of Shavu'ot. It is the last of the major feast days of spring that God gave Israel. Like the other feast days it is also prophetic. These feast days were not just days of rest and a time to socialize and have fun; they were also prophecies of things to come.
Shavu'ot was one of the three travel feasts for which Israel was required, if at all possible, to travel to the temple and present themselves before God. It is part of the Spring Feasts, with Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits, which all happen within the same week, but it follows them by more than a month and a half.
We know Shavu'ot better as Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit was given. But Shavu'ot and Pentecost rarely if ever occur on the same day. Shavu'ot was moved on the calendar by the Roman Catholic Church at the same time it moved the other Spring Feasts. Over time they gained new names and became disconnected from the feast days. Therefore most Christians do not understand the origin or the depth of the day.
The word "Shavu'ot" means "Weeks" and that will be our focus here, but it has many other aspects. It is related to the harvest, the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai, and even to marriage.
After Jesus came, we understood that there was even more to it. It is related to the giving of the Holy Spirit (a law written on our hearts) and related to the Gentiles being brought into a new covenent. The two, Jew and Gentile, had been separated but now were joined into one new people.
It would seem reasonable to name this feast after one of these aspects. Yet in the Bible, this feast isn't called the harvest feast, the law giving feast, or anything you might expect like that. Instead it is called the Festival of Weeks which refers to the 50 day period from First Fruits (Wave Sheaf Offering) to the observance of Shavu'ot. The name comes from God's commandment for calculating the date. It was to be 7 weeks from the day after First Fruits and therefore 50 days from First Fruits.
Leviticus 23 15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. 16 Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.
These 50 days were to be carefully counted off by the people in what is called "Counting the Omer." An omer is a measure of volume, usually of grain or flour. An omer is enough for one average person for one day.
Since the Israelites left Egypt on Passover and the law was given on Mt. Sinai on Shavu'ot, it's easy to calculate how long that trip took - 3 days to First Fruits + 50 days. After 3 days on the trip all the Matzah they had made in Egypt had run out. They did what the Israelites did - they complained instead of trusting in God. For the next 50 days God would provide them with manna to eat. That period of time (Weeks) is a big part of what Shavu'ot is about.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days." (Exodus 16:4-5)
The Israelites have just come out of Egypt. They know nothing of God's ways or what God is like. In Egypt they were slaves under a God-King, Pharaoh, who treated them very badly. He forced them into slavery and when they asked for time off to worship their God, Pharoah figured that meant they had too much time on their hands. He demanded they produce the same number of bricks but now they had to collect the grain stalks themselves.
It was an impossible demand even if they worked 7 days a week. More than that, it created a situation where the Israelites had to fight among themselves to get the grain stalks. In oppressive situations like this people learn they have to break the rules to survive and they become skilled at not getting caught breaking the rules.
God, their new king, would be giving them rules 50 days from when the manna started. Before that he wanted to show them how he would be different from Pharaoh. So he set up 3 rules for the manna to test them and to teach them.
The Israelites ignored the rules at first. Some collected way more than they needed but when they got back to their tents, they found they only had what they needed. Some weren't able to collect enough but when they got back to their tents, they found they only had what they needed. Some tried to save some for the next day but they found that it spoiled overnight. Some went out to collect on the Sabbath but found there was no manna.
These rules were different from the rules they had known in Egypt. No one could gain anything from breaking them. Everyone got what they needed. God was trying to show them that he was a good God, a God who cared for them, a God who gave them rest. His laws would be good for them, for each person and for the community as a whole. He wanted them to trust him.
They were slow learners, however. Their lack of faith would mean the entire generation would die in the wilderness and never see the promises made to Israel. For 40 years many would rebel against God and many times God would destroy them as he worked toward building a people who were ready to enter the promised land.
Through all those years, 6 days a week God would provide them with manna, yet many were still not ready to trust in him. That is the message behind the Weeks of Shavu'ot and the counting of the omers of manna, to remember how God provided everthing his people needed for food.
On the day of Shavu'ot God also provided them with the law they would need. It would also be a law that was for their good, and not a law that would take advantage of them, as Pharaoh's laws had.
Jesus uses the manna in the wilderness to teach those who are able to hear. Through that though we see that the Jews of Jesus' time are not so different for the Israelites in the wilderness. They still lack faith.
Yeshua answered and said to them: "This is the service of God, that you trust in him whom he has sent."
30 They were saying to him, "What sign will you do, that we may see and believe in you? What sign will you perform? 31 Our forefathers ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written 'He gave them bread from Heaven to eat.'"
32 Yeshua said to them, "Timeless truth I speak to you: It was not Moses who gave you bread from Heaven, but my Father gave you the true bread from Heaven. 33 For the Bread of God is he who has descended from Heaven and gives life to the world."
34 They were saying to him, "Our Lord, always give us this bread."
35 Yeshua said to them, "I Am (the living God), the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever trusts in me shall never thirst." (John 6:29-35)
The Jews in Jesus time were doing the same thing the Israelites had done in the wilderness. They wanted God to prove himself and were unable to believe in him. They wanted him to provide a sign. Their argument is that Moses gave them the manna as a sign, so Jesus should give them a sign.
Jesus responds first by correcting them - it was not Moses who gave them the manna from Heaven. The Israelites also did this in wilderness. They ignored God and treated Moses like he was doing everything. Secondly Jesus says that he is the sign sent from God, just like the manna. He is greater than the manna though, which only brought physical life and only to the Israelites; he is bringing everlasting life to the world.
Later but as part of the same teaching Jesus refers to manna again.
And Yeshua said to them, "Timeless truth I speak to you: Unless you eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. […] 58This is the bread that came down from Heaven. It is not as your forefathers who ate manna and have died; whoever eats this bread shall live for eternity." […] 60 And many of his disciples who heard were saying, "This saying is hard. Who is able to hear it?"
61 But Yeshua knew in his soul that his disciples were murmuring about this, and he said to them, "Does this stumble you? […] 63 The Spirit is the life giver; the body does not benefit anything. The words that I speak with you are spirit and life." (John 6:53-63)
In general Shavu'ot celebrates
Specifically in this lesson on the Weeks aspect of Shavu'ot we've seen God trying to teach his people they can trust in him. He demonstrated his care for them by providing them with manna (and later Quail). Despite that, the Israelites struggled to trust him. In Jesus' time we see that hadn't changed much.
God has promised to provide our needs as well. Jesus said:
Therefore do not be concerned or say, "What will we eat?", or "What will we drink?", or, "What will we wear"? 32 For the Gentiles are seeking all these things, but your Father who is in Heaven knows that all these things are necessary for you. 33 But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 You shall not be concerned about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be concerned for itself. A day's own trouble is sufficient for it.
We need to be careful not to look down on the Israelites for their lack of faith. We see the plagues in Egypt, walking through the Sea of Reeds with walls of water on either side, manna every morning, and we have to wonder how they could not have trusted God. Yet, I'm sure that each one of us has an area or two in our lives where we don't trust God or don't trust his word. We say we trust him in everything and we want that to be true, but in these areas we do what seems right to us.
In most cases I don't think we are even aware of these areas. If we were, I think we would make the necessary changes. We don't recognize them because we've gotten so used to doing things our way instead of God's way that we never think about it. Our prayer should be that God would reveal these areas to us so we can trust him completely.