COUNTING THE OMER (Sefirat ha Omer)
Counting the Omer is an event for believers that generally goes unnoticed, largely overshadowed by Pesach. It is a minor event in the Hebrew calendar yet it contains many precious gems.
During the seven weeks from Pesach to Shavuot, the period from the exodus to the giving of the Torah at Sinai, both the days and weeks are counted. Remembrance is made of the journey from the depths of slavery as to the heights of entering God’s presence through covenant relationship.This is a shadow and type for believers as a reminder of a newer covenant through the blood covenant attained by Yeshua’s sacrifice for us: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.” (2Cor.3:18) We read in 1John 3:2 that when He appears we shall be like Him, and see Him as He is in all His fullness and glory.
WHAT IS THE OMER?
The omer was a measure of barley (one tenth of an ephah around two quarts) and was used because it was the first cereal crop to be harvested in the new calendar year.
During the days of the Temple, on the second day of Unleavened Bread, following Pesach known as ‘Reshit Katzir’ (the beginning of the harvest) an omer of barley was cut down and brought to the Temple as a special offering during this season and waved by the priest before the Lord in all directions as a gesture of dedication to Him. A lamb was then sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord along with unleavened bread mixed with oil, and wine (Lev.23:13). After the wave offering was offered, the people could harvest their crops. Here we see a beautiful symbolic picture of Yeshua our Pesach lamb, as a flawless male lamb was offered alongside bread and wine. The waving of the omer began the counting of the omer leading to the Feast of Shavuot.
THE COMMAND TO COUNT
“You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you” (Deut 16:9-10; Lev. 23:10-16).
PSALM 67
Psalm 67 is read on the last day of the omer, because its seven verses and 49 words match the seven weeks and 49 days of the omer period. Concluding the omer with this Psalm reminds us of the fullness of God’s blessings given us by Ruach ha Kodesh followed by a harvest both individually (“Paul sows, Apollos waters but God gets the increase” 1Cor.3:6) and prophetically in His eternal plan (7×7). This is mirrored in the 49 days of the counting of the omer which also correspond to the 49 letters in the Hebrew names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
COUNTING UP
SHAVUOT HIDDEN YET REVEALED
Nowhere in the entire Torah is the date of Shavuot mentioned but takes place at the end of 50 days. This is intentional because everyone prepares themselves at their own pace according to their level of motivation. Otherwise, when we climb the ladder, we fall in danger of becoming stuck between the rungs as we stumble over each other.
It is important to understand that without these weeks of preparation beforehand marked by the counting of the omer, there can be no Shavuot. We cannot simply migrate from Pesach to Shavuot without the in-between, otherwise we simply mirror the five foolish maidens described in Yeshua’s parable.
The counting of the omer begins “from the day you bring the sheaf (omer), or bundle.” (Lev.23:10). Normally we count down towards any big event, but in the case of the omer, we count up ― from one to 50. This is significant. To understand, we must look back in time to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. God waited 50 days before giving the Torah because it was an important time of preparation following the miracle of deliverance. They had been immersed in pagan culture for over 400 years and needed to grow in spiritual maturity. God was protective of His ‘little children’’ and took them through the long route through the wilderness (40 years) rather than the short one (12 days) to only to be overwhelmed by their Philisitine enemies.
Counting is not an activity for babies or toddlers, but everyone does so when they reach the appropriate stage of maturity. This is no less true from a spiritual perspective as applied to the counting of the omer.
To make full sense of Shavuot, we must prepare ourselves each day as we count the omer, drawing near to Him as we earnestly seek His face.The full measure of the pouring out of Ruach ha Kodesh upon our lives can easily be squandered, misused or abused for those who treat it lightly. Many choose to be entertained rather than transformed.
Messiah In The Counting Of The Omer.
This period is the time between Yeshua’s crucifixion on Pesach and the sending of Ruach ha Kodesh on Shavuot. During the 50 day period of the omer, Yeshua:
1. Preached to the spirits that were imprisoned:
“He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; and in this form he made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark…” (1Peter 3; 18-20)
Who were these spirits? If they were Nephalim, why would Yeshua have proclaimed (made a formal announcement – not preached) to them? It was to proclaim to fallen angels that their fall though unnecessary, was final: “For God did not spare the angels who sinned; on the contrary, he put them in gloomy dungeons lower than Sheol to be held for judgement.” The Greek word used here is ‘Tartarus’, the residence of fallen angels and an underworld for demons: “And the angels that did not keep within their original authority, but abandoned their proper sphere, he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for the judgement of the Great Day.” (Jude 6)
Why would Yeshua have done this? According to Scripture, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:15)
2. Yeshua was resurrected on the third day (First fruits) following his crucifixion: He is the First Fruit and we are His first fruits.
In 1 Cor.15:20-23 we read, “But the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man. For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: the Messiah is the first fruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming;”
Also, in the Book of James 1:18 is recorded: “18 Having made his decision, He gave birth to us through a Word that can be relied upon, in order that we should be a kind of first fruits of all that he created.”
We read something amazing in Matt 27:52-53: “Also the graves were opened, and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life; 53 and after Yeshua rose, they came out of the graves and went into the holy city, where many people saw them.”
This puzzling verse now becomes clear, illustrating how Yeshua offered unto His Father the First Fruits offering. His resurrection was like a wave offering presented to the Father as a first fruits offering unto Him. Yeshua offered to the Father the ‘early crops’ of what will be an incredible harvest at the Day of the Lord.
3. Yeshua appeared in his resurrected body before many witnesses over a 40 day period before returning to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Yeshua appeared to his disciples at he end of this period and told them to tarry awhile and ’wait for what the Father promised,” (Acts 1:4). At the end of this time, (ie.day 50), Ruach ha Kodesh was sent to those who were actively waiting (Acts 2).
At the end of the first day of the omer, Yeshua rose and appeared to Mary and two of the disciples while they travelled to Emmaus, and also to Peter. On the second day of the omer He appeared among the Twelve. On the ninth day of the omer, He appeared to the disciples again including Thomas. During the counting, He appeared to a further 500 believers and then to James. During the counting, Yeshua appeared to seven of His disciples while they fished on the sea. On the fortieth day of the omer, He led His disciples out to a hill near Bethany, and they saw Him ascend to heaven. Before He ascended, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. They waited and counted the days, so that when the day of Shavuot arrived they were all together in one place.
OTHER EVENTS DURING OMER
4. Day of Remembrance (4th Iyar – 19th day of the Omer)
5. Day of Independence (5th Iyar – 20th Day of the Omer)
6. Pesach Sheni (14th Iyar – day 29 of the Omer)
When the Holy Temple was still standing, those who had become ritually impure would got a second chance to offer their Pascal sacrifice on the day:“There were, however, certain persons who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, and could not, therefore, prepare the Passover offering on that day. They approached Moses and Aaron . . . and they said: ‘. . . Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present God’s offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?’” (Num 9:6–7; 11)
7. Lag B’Omer – 33rd day of the Omer – May 7th
8. Day of Jerusalem (28th Iyar 43rd Day of the Omer) Israel celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem.
THE OMER WAS PARCHED IN FIRE –
- FIRE REPRESENTS JUDGMENT-Gen19:24;Ex9:23 Jer 52:13,Rev 20:10
- FIRE REPRESENTS REFINEMENT AND PURIFICATION Ps12:6; Zech 13:9, Mal.3:3
- FIRE REPRESENTS THE TRIALS OF FAITH 1Pet 1:7, James 1:2,3,12
THE OMER WAS TOSSED IN THE WIND
REPRESENTS EVERY KIND OF DOCTRINE – Eph 4:8;11;13; 4:14
THE OMER WAS GROUND INTO FINE FLOUR
REPRESENTS REFINEMENT, PURIFICATION AND BEING MADE WHITE (RIGHTEOUS)- Isa 48:10; Dan 12:10; Rev 3:5
Ultra orthodox Jews have a weekly theme throughout the Omer and each day has a sub-theme.The list is:
▪ Week One: Chesed (Lovingkindness, Grace, Benevolence)
▪ Week Two: Gevurah (Discipline, Justice, Restraint, Awe)
▪ Week Three: Tiferet (Beauty, Harmony, Compassion, Truth)
▪ Week Four: Netzach (Eternity, Endurance, Fortitude, Ambition)
▪ Week Five: Hod (Humility, Splendour)
▪ Week Six: Yesod (Foundation, Bonding)
▪ Week Seven: Malchut – Nobility, Sovereignty, Leadership)
PSALM 67
Psalm 67 is read on the last day of the omer, because its seven verses and 49 words match the seven weeks and 49 days of the omer period. Concluding the omer with this Psalm reminds us of the fullness of God’s blessings given us by Ruach ha Kodesh followed by a harvest both individually (“Paul sows, Apollos waters but God gets the increase” 1Cor.3:6) and prophetically in His eternal plan (7×7). This is mirrored in the 49 days of the counting of the omer which also correspond to the 49 letters in the Hebrew names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
PSALM 119
Psalm 119 is also studied throughout the omer period with the focus as we approach Shavuot of delighting in His Torah!
The Omer and Messiah – sequence of events
On the same day that Caiaphas interrogated Yeshua, three elders from the Sanhedrin went out to a barley field not far from Jerusalem. As the Romans bound and crucified Yeshua, these same elders bound up the standing barley into bundles to make it easier to reap.
As the harvest began, the reapers collected three seahs of barley in their baskets and carried it back to Jerusalem. The baskets contained more than enough grain to constitute a full sheaf’s worth (an omer, עמר), enough to fulfil the Torah’s command:
“You shall bring in the omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the omer before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.” (Lev 23:10–11)
The Torah prohibited utilising any produce from the new year’s cereal crops until the priesthood offered up the first of the new grain to the LORD. The barley crop ripens first in Israel, so the priesthood always offered an omer of barley. The commandment of the barley omer reminded Israel that the land and its produce belong first to God.
That same night (Saturday) and throughout the night, the priests in the Temple threshed, roasted, and ground the barley into flour. In the period that the priests refined the freshly milled flour, sifting it through thirteen sieves., Yeshua was raised from the dead.
The next day on Sunday morning, while the women discovered the empty tomb, the high priest was busy mixing the barley flour with oil and frankincense to prepare it as a bread offering. The priests mixed the flour into dough with olive oil and incense. Caiaphas took the batch of dough in his hands and waved it before the LORD as a wave offering. Then he touched the barley flour to the corner of the altar.
After the morning sacrifice and the additional Pesach sacrifices (described in Numbers 28:24), Caiaphas offered a portion of grain offering on the altar as a memorial portion. The priests baked the remainder of the dough into loaves of unleavened barley bread for distribution amongst the priesthood. Caiaphas concluded the ceremony by sacrificing a single male lamb as a burnt offering to accompany the new grain. That day began the fifty-day count to the festival of Shavuot (Pentecost).
WHEN WAS THE WAVE OFFERING MADE?
There is some controversy about when exactly the wave offering was conducted because of the ambiguity of the phrase, ‘the day after the shabbat.’
However, evidence from historical records indicates that the Pharisaic tradition was the correct one, observed by Yeshua, the 1st Century Ekklesia and adopted by the rabbis as reflected in the current Hebrew calendar.
Why did the Pharisees and the Sadducees disagree about the day for the barley ritual?
The Pharisees maintained that “the day after Shabbat” (Leviticus 23:11) referred to Nisan 16, the day following the High Shabbat of Pesach. The Pharisees explained that the Torah referred to the High Shabbat as ‘the sabbath”’ because it was a special festival day with Sabbath work-restrictions.
The Sadducees maintained that “the day after the Sabbath” referred to the day after the first Saturday (weekly Sabbath) that fell during the week of Pesach. In their opinion, the day for offering the barley sheaf always fell on a Sunday.
The Pharisees had the popular support of the people, so their view prevailed.
In that particular year of Yeshua’s crucifixion, (AD 33) both opinions coincided. Nisan 16 (the correct date according to the Pharisees) fell on a Sunday which was also the correct weekday according to the Sadducees.
God designed it so that the ritual of offering the first fruit of the barley omer in the Temple coincided with the resurrection of Mashiach! The apostle Paul connected the two events when he wrote, “Mashiach has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Cori 15:20).
The day of His resurrection began the fifty-day count to Pentecost.
Below is a fuller rationale of the two viewpoints concerning the correct date for commencing the counting of the omer.
OPTION 1
“From the day after the day of rest -that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving -you are to count seven full weeks, 16 until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to YHWH.” Lev 23:15
Every year at Passover time the question arises: “When do we start counting the Omer?” This is a great question, because the Scriptures are simply not clear on the distinction of which “Shabbat” is inferred as to the beginning of the count! So, how can we properly determine this?
Levi 23:5: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for YHWH. 6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah. 7 On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; don’t do any kind of ordinary work. 8 Bring an offering made by fire to YHWH for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work.”
We now know from verse 5 that Pesach can be any day of the week – it is late afternoon the 14th of the Hebrew Calendar month, and the 1st day of each Hebrew month begins with the moon, and that can be any day of the week. We also know from verse 6, that the festival of matzah begins the next day, so it, too, can be on any day of the week. We learn from verse 7 that the first day of the festival of matzah is a holy convocation – a High Shabbat (“miqra” in Hebrew). So we know that that High Shabbat can be on any day of the week. We know that these “special Shabbats” are called “holy convocations”.
Since the commandments were already given (see Exodus 20:8), the weekly Shabbat was already made special, and the fact that YHWH reiterated in Leviticus 23:3 that the weekly Shabbat was special, we can solidly infer that these “holy convocations” cited in Leviticus 23:7 and 23:8 are “special Shabbats” or “High Shabbats”.
But just when we believe we have begun to understand, Lev 23:5-8,10-11 throws a monkey wrench into the works:
Leviticus 23:10 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the cohen. 11 He is to wave the sheaf before YHWH, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat.”
On which “Shabbat” is the First Fruits waived? Is it the day after the High Shabbat (i.e., the first day of the Festival of Matzah), or day after the regular, weekly Shabbat? Well, take a look at Leviticus 23:15-21 and 37-39:
Leviticus 23:15 “‘From the day after the day of rest -that is, from the day you bring the sheaf for waving -you are to count seven full weeks, 16 until the day after the seventh week; you are to count fifty days; and then you are to present a new grain offering to YHWH. 17 You must bring bread from your homes for waving-two loaves made with one gallon of fine flour, baked with leaven -as first fruits for YHWH. 18 Along with the bread, present seven lambs without defect one year old, one young bull and two rams; these will be a burnt offering for YHWH , with their grain and drink offerings, an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for YHWH.
19 Offer one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs one year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The cohen will wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; these will be holy for YHWH for the cohen. 21 On the same day, you are to call a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live.”
Leviticus 23:37 Notice in verse 15 we are to count 7 full weeks (49 days). Also notice that on the 50th day, an offering is made. Then take special note in verse 21, “that same day” (i.e., the 50th day), it is a “holy convocation” – a High Shabbat…This is Shavuot. Finally, take a hard look at verse 38, highlighted in red above. YHWH says, unequivocally, that the designated times He has just listed are BESIDES the (regular weekly) Shabbats! So we know the “Shabbat” referred to in verse 15 is NOT the weekly Shabbat, rather, it is the special Shabbat of verse 7. These designated times are “each on its own day” (verse 37). Notice something else that you may not have realised: If we start counting the weeks from the day after the regular weekly Shabbat (taking the meaning of “Shabbat” in Leviticus 23:11 as the regular weekly Shabbat), then the 49th day would always be a Saturday. This means Shavuot would ALWAYS fall on a Sunday!
Thus, if it were correct to start the omer count from the day after the regular weekly Shabbat, we would have no reason to expect YHWH’s instructions in Leviticus 23, verses 15 and 16, to contain the requirement to count 50 days. It would only be necessary to say: “count to the day after 7 Shabbats”. Saying “you are to count 50 days” becomes unnecessary if it is tied to a weekly Shabbat. But some argue that verse 15 does not say to “count weeks”, but to “count Shabbats”. However, this is an incorrect understanding of the use of the word “shabbat” in the Hebrew context of the verse. In verse 15 it clearly means to count 7-day periods, and not to “count Shabbats”. We see the Hebrew context of “shabbat” as a count again in Leviticus 25:8 in the counting of years to the Jubilee:
Leviticus 25:8 “You are to count seven shabbats of years, seven times seven years, that is, forty-nine years.
The Hebrew actually says to count “shabbatot” in Leviticus 25:8, as it does in Leviticus 23:15 and the former clearly means to count 7 years, while the latter clearly means count 7 days. That is, it is the “count of 7” that is important, and not the count “from a weekly Sabbath”. So we see that the proper interpretation of Leviticus 23:15 is to count periods of 7 days and not to count “Shabbats”.
We see this meaning of “Shabbat” again in Leviticus 23:27-32 in the description of Yom Kippur. This High Holy Day, Yom Kippur, is identified as the 10th of the month of Tishri, and verse 32 says (about it): “It will be for you a Shabbat of complete rest, and you are to deny yourselves; you are to rest on your Shabbat from evening the ninth day of the month until the following evening.” So here we have the same Hebrew word, “Shabbat”, yet here it is clearly understood as describing Yom Kippur as “a day of rest”, and most certainly NOT as the “7th day of the week”. So the premise that the word “Shabbat” in Leviticus 23:11 must be the weekly Shabbat is already negated within the same Chapter of Leviticus.
The Stone edition of the Tanakh has an interesting footnote for 23:16. It says: “Shavuos is not identified as a specific day in the calendar, but as the fiftieth day after the Omer-offering, recalling the days when the Jews excitedly counted the days, each day elevating themselves, so that they would be worthy of receiving the Torah.” Now this may be simply a rabbinic embellishment, however it provides an important clue as to when the Omer count should begin.
The case has been made that the Omer count begins on the day after the first High Shabbat of the Festival of Matzah, and the explanation could end here. But let’s examine the original counting – the days the people counted during the Exodus, to the giving of the Torah. Let’s see how it came out:
Let’s turn back to Exodus.
What was the date of the Exodus? Can we tell? We certainly can! In Exodus 12, verse 6, YHWH tells Moshe they are to slaughter the lamb at dusk on the 14th of the month. The month is Abib (modern day Nisan). They smear some of the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes, and they eat. That night, now Abib 15, YHWH kills the firstborn in Egypt (verse 29).
Now it is some time in the dark of the morning, well after midnight and Pharoah is up only to discover great wailing in his kingdom (verse 30). He summons Moshe while it is still dark, and tells Moshe and all his people to leave Egypt. Now 600,000 men, plus women, children and a “mixed multitude” (verse 37) had to be mobilised to move – on foot. So all day the 15th of Abib, word had to spread to gather their belongings and go! Those who got word first moved quickly – so quickly their dough that morning did not even have a chance to rise (verse 34).
So the Israelis began their exodus on the 15th of Aviv – a HUGE mass of people! It would have taken them all day to get word out they were leaving and to get all the people moving. So their first day “on the move” would have been the 16th of Aviv. This would have been the first day they would have counted from their departure from Egypt!
Now consider Exodus 19:1. “In the third month after the people of Israel had left the land of Egypt, the same day they came to the Sinai Desert.” You have to think about this a bit to understand how we can glean the exact day to which this is referring. The 1st month was Aviv (Nisan), the second month would have been Iyar and now the 3rd month would be Sivan. Since they left Egypt on 15 Aviv, and Aviv would have had 30 days, and Iyar would have had 29 days (Hebrew months typically alternate between 29 and 30 days), the beginning of the month of Sivan means they had traveled for 45 days.
Note then Exodus 19:1 says “the same day they came to the Sinai Desert” which means that the 1st day of Sivan IS the day they arrived! So the wording of the Scripture confirms then it is the 1st day of Sivan, and we are justified in concluding they had traveled for 45 days. This was a LARGE CROWD – in excess of 2 million people, so it is very likely that though the first to arrive on 1 Sivan established the camp, it would have taken a couple of days for the entire crowd to arrive and make their camp. This is worth mentioning, but not important since a specific day was given in Scripture.
Next we have a sequence of trips up and down Mt Sinai by Moshe as he receives instructions from YHWH:
Exodus 19:3 – Moshe goes up the mountain.
Exodus 19:7 – Moshe comes down the mountain. This completes one day. Remember, he is on foot!
Exodus 19:8 (end of verse 8) – Moshe has gone back up the mountain. YHWH tells Moshe to go back down and have the people prepare “today and tomorrow”… for on the 3rd day He would appear (verse 10-11).
Exodus 19:14 – Moshe goes back down and talks to the people. This completes another day.
We know that on the third day, YHWH will appear. Let’s count these days:
•They arrived at the Sinai Desert on 1 Sivan and set up camp. 45th day (see above)
•Moshe went up and down Mt Sinai – 2 Sivan. 46th day
•Moshe went up and down Mt Sinai again – 3 Sivan. 47th day. (This was also the 1st of the promised 3 days. See verse 10).
•2nd day was therefore 4 Sivan. 48th day
•And the 3rd day was 5 Sivan. YHWH came down to Mt Sinai – Exodus 19:20 – and calls Moshe to come up! 49th day
•Then Moshe is told to go back down the mountain – this completes another day – it is now 6 Sivan. The 50th day
Moshe then speaks to the people – Exodus 19:25 – and in Exodus 20, the people hear the Ten Commandments and the Torah. Praise Yah!
We have found that the 6th of Sivan was 50 days from the beginning of the exodus from Egypt!
The count of the number of days from the beginning of the exodus to the giving of the Torah was 50 days. But not “just 50 days”, rather it was 50 days from the 16th of Aviv (Nisan) – the first day “on the move”.
Now you know why in Leviticus 23:11 the waving of the First Fruits, and the beginning of the Omer count is the 16th of Nisan, the day after the 1st miqra of Unleavened Bread and NOT the weekly Shabbat which can be up to 6 days later! It is the counting of the 50 days that is important, not the counting of Shabbats. The counting of the 50 days to Shavuot begins on 16 Nisan in complete harmony with and commemoration of the day the Israelis began counting the days from their exodus from Egypt!
And now it should also make sense to you why Bible translators, including David Stern in his “Complete Jewish Bible”, quoted above for Leviticus 23:15-21, use the word “weeks” instead of “Shabbats” in verses 15 and 16. Indeed the original Hebrew actually says “Shabbatot” (plural for “Shabbat”, but meaning “weeks”, not the “counting of weekly Shabbats”)! It is because it is the counting of 50 days that is important and therefore the instruction really is to “count weeks of 7 days”, not “count Sabbaths”.
In Hebrew, a variation of “Shabbat” can mean (for example): “to cease”, “the 7th day”, “a week”, “a group of seven” (as in 7 years, see Leviticus 25:8), or one of the miqra. Even the Tanach, written by Jewish rabbis, uses the word “weeks” in these same verses clearly for the same reason.)
Now it is demonstrable that in the year of the Exodus, 1447 BCE, the 16th of Aviv (Nisan) WAS a Sunday, (see “Wheel of Stars”, Roth, 2010), and therefore the giving of the Torah was a Sunday as well! But this juxtaposition of the events and the day of the week does not happen every year! This is because the Hebrew calendar is Lunar-Solar, which means months are determined by the New Moon, and the months are balanced to the solar year, equinox to equinox. Because a lunar synodic period is a little over 29.5 days, sometimes, rarely, the alternating 29 and 30 days does not work and there must be two consecutive 30 day months or even two consecutive 29-day months!
Today, the accepted rabbinic (halakhic) calendar carries with it the date of First Fruits as the 16th of Nisan, however it ALWAYS has Shavuot on the 6th of Sivan after the counting of the Omer. But this should not be the rule! Since there are TWO new moons between the 14th of Nisan and the 6th of Sivan, there are two opportunities for that rare extra day to be required to begin the next month on the proper day. Therefore, it is possible for Shavuot to fall on the 5th of Sivan, as it did in 2011. (In 2011, Iyar required that rare 30th day to keep the new moon and the full moon on the proper days. The published rabbinic calendar did not reflect this correction, and is an example how today’s calculated Hebrew calendar with its associated “rules” is sometimes not right!) Also, it is possible that the two intervening months before Sivan could have 29 days each, so the 50th day count would end up on the 7th of Sivan!
And finally, if you are still not convinced that the beginning of the Omer count is on 16 Nisan, please consider the words of Flavius Josephus (Josephus ben Mattathias). Josephus lived in the 1st century CE, in the generation which followed the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah. He was of the royal line of priests, (The Works of Flavius Josephus, Vol 1, Whiston, 1854, pg 7), and thoroughly documented the conduct of Jewish life of his time and of his ancestry. In his “Antiquities of the Jews” he writes:
“But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth, for before that day they do not touch them. And while they suppose it proper to honour God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in the first place, they offer the first fruits of their barley, and that in the manner following…” (Antiquities, Bk 3, Ch 10)
So here is Josephus, writing to us almost 2000 years ago, that First fruits is the 16th of the month of Nisan! Yet still today many argue Leviticus 23:11 means the waving of the first fruits is on the day after the weekly Sabbath! As shown here, that simply cannot be the case.
Conclusion. At the onset of this article was posed the question “When do we start counting the Omer?” The answer is: On the 16th of Nisan. Though it was not simple obtaining that answer, it should now be clear. Not only can we see it for ourselves by a careful review of Leviticus 23, but also by a careful study of Exodus 19, and we can consider a valuable ancient record, that of Josephus, which confirms this is the case.
Extract adapted from: http://www.therefinersfire.org/counting_the_omer2.htm
OPTION 2
The whole controversy about the date for Shavuot has to do with the interpretation of “the day after the Sabbath.” The fact that the controversy has endured for more than two millennia speaks for itself.
The Sadducees, calculated Shavuot by counting fifty days from the Sunday which falls within the days of unleavened bread. They interpreted the expression “the day after the Sabbath,” found in Leviticus 23:15, from which date the count to Shavuot is to begin, as being the day after the weekly Sabbath.
Traditional Judaism (represented by the Pharisees) asserts that “Sabbath” is referring to the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread (a.k.a. “Passover Day”). Which is it?
The Pharisees, as Josephus says, however, claim it was the Passover Annual Sabbath.
Alfred Edersheim, in his book The Temple:
•“The expression ‘the morrow after the Sabbath,’ has sometimes been misunderstood as implying that the presentation of the so-called ‘first sheaf’ was to be always made on the day following the weekly Sabbath of the Passover-week. This view, rests on a misinterpretation of the word ‘Sabbath.’ As in analogous allusions to other feasts in the same chapter, it means not the weekly Sabbath, but the day of the festival. The testimony of Josephus, of Philo, and of Jewish tradition, leaves no room to doubt that in this instance we are to understand by the ‘Sabbath’ the 15th of Nisan, on whatever day of the week it might fall” (The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, p. 257)
SUMMARY
1.There were two competing views at the time of Yeshua on how to calculate the day of Shavuot. For the Sadducees, Shavuot always fell on Sunday, while the Pharisees had it on various days of the week. Yet in Acts 2:1, with a Friday Passover, both would have agreed that Shavuot fell on the first day in Acts 2:1, which was 33 AD. (But the specific year is not important.) The difference was that the Sadducees started counting 50 days after the first weekly sabbath and the Pharisees started counting 50 days after the yearly Sabbath, ie Passover.
2.The Sadducees controlled the Temple worship and the feast days at the time of Yeshua. It wasn’t until about 70 AD that the Pharisees view came into power and prominence. This means that even though both methods of calculating Shavuot agreed that it fell on the first day of the week in Acts 2:1, the Sadducces had the official say at this time to calculate the actual day. In other words, during Yeshua’s 30 years on earth as a man, Shavuot always fell on the first day.
3.Regardless of whether the Sadducee’s or Pharisee’s method of calculating Shavuot was used the year Yeshua died, both would calculate Shavuot in Acts 2:1 as the first day of the week.
4.This means that the discussion about whether Shavuot always fell on a Sunday is irrelevant to Acts 2:1 because even the method noted by Josephus and Philo and the Pharisees had Pentecost fall on the first day of the week in Acts 2:1.
Conclusion
Ancient records have provided us with different models used for counting the 50 days to Shavuot. The heart of the difference between all of these various systems, nonetheless, is their differing interpretations about what exactly is meant by the phrase, “on the day after the Sabbath,” as found in Leviticus, 23:11.
Nevertheless, it is important to notice that the oldest of these known systems was the Sadducees Shavuot, who said that it always falls on the first day and this was also the system deemed correct by all of the ancient Christian assemblies.
The Sadducees celebrated Shavuot on the 50th day (inclusive reckoning) from the first Sunday after Passover (taking the ‘sabbath’ of Lv. 23:15 to be the weekly sabbath); their reckoning regulated the public observance so long as the Temple stood. The Pharisees, however, interpreted the ‘sabbath’ of Lv. 23:15 as the Festival of Unleavened Bread (cf. Lv. 23:7), and their reckoning became normative in Judaism after AD 70, so that in the Jewish calendar Shavuot now falls on various days of the week.” (New Bible dictionary, 1996 Pentecost, Feast of)
The date of the feast came to be firmly fixed only in later Judaism. It was now dated on the 50th day after the Passover. Opinions varied as to the significance of the “day after the Sabbath” mentioned in Lv. 23:15. The Sadducees took this literally and counted from the first regular Sabbath (Saturday) after the first day of the Passover, so that Shavuot would always fall on a Sunday. The Pharisees, however, took the text of Lv. 23:15 to mean the first day of the Passover, the 15th Nisan, and thus counted seven full weeks from the 16th Nisan, so that Shavuot would fall exactly on the 50th day after the 16th Nisan. According to this reckoning the day of the week on which Pentecost carne would depend on the day of week the Passover began.” (‘Theological dictionary of the New Testament, 1976, The Jewish Feast of Pentecost’).
Article adapted from: http://www.bible.ca/7-sunday-pentecost.htm
Raphael ben Levi
