pentecost2

It is important to understand that the instructions for how to
count the days to Pentecost were given to those who would be
doing this for the first time and Moses set down those instructions
in a book which came to be a part of the Bible we have today.
We are reading history when we read how they were to count off
the days, in one sense. The count ties Passover and Pentecost
together. Without the count, the two separate Holy Days would
have no significance to each other.

If the count to Pentecost had involved a holyday only, there
would have been no need to count the days. The count was from
a specific time of the day to the same specific time of the day, 50
days later. Furthermore, the Israelites would not have realized
that Pentecost always fell on Sivan 6th the first time they did the
counting. They would grasp later that the reason for counting
had a significance of greater importance than just finding the
date.

When we read the scriptures, we tend to think that each word is
speaking to us personally. Moses instructed the priests of Israel
to count off fifty mornings. We find this striking because we
have come to see that it is always on the same day. It is obvious
that God wanted them to do something which we would learn the
significance of, later. The first time it was important to know
that it was the fiftieth morning from the wave sheaf. However,
later after they had counted several times and came to realize
that it always came on the same day they would understand that
the counting was of a greater importance than just finding the
date to observe Pentecost.

We begin to understand this when we realize that everything
they did was for an example and lesson for those of us whom God
has brought into the New Covenant.

When the first Holy Day of the Passover Season is on a weekly
Sabbath, most of the Church of God keeps Pentecost on a
Sunday. Some few keep it on a Monday. Later in this writing we
will show why a Monday Pentecost every year is wrong.

In the year 2001, the weekly Sabbath within the days of U.B. fell
on the last day of U.B. In that year, those who follow the Hebrew
Calendar kept Pentecost on Monday, May 28th. Those who
follow the rule that the wave-sheaf must fall within the days of
Unleavened Bread, but after a weekly Sabbath, kept Pentecost
on Sunday, May 27th. They begin their count following the
previous Sabbath, which is <not> in the days of U.B. in order to
keep the wave sheaf during the days of U.B. There are several
problems with that method. #1) The count to Pentecost would
begin on a Holy Day. It would have been illegal to harvest the
barley sheaves for the firstfruits offering on a Holy Day. #2) The
firstfruits would have been offered on a Holy Day, requiring the
grain to be parched, beaten, ground into flour, sifted several
times and then offered. A lot of work went into the preparation
of the grain before it was offered as a “wave offering” the
morning after it was harvested. #3) The priests would have
harvested the “wave-sheaf” even before the Israelites ate the
Passover, when one understands that the Passover Feast was
after sunset of the 15th. The people would have been out in the
fields harvesting the wave-sheaf rather than preparing the lamb
for eating Passover. It would have been necessary to act out two
ceremonies at the same time. If one accepts a 15th Passover
Feast, he must understand that this method of counting for
Pentecost is wrong. #4) The Bible mentions no exceptional years
for counting Pentecost, as this method requires.

One group kept “Pentecost” on Sunday, June 3rd in the year
2001, because they could not find any scripture that required the
wave sheaf to be during the days of Unleavened Bread. While
they are consistent, from one perspective, they accept without
proof that the Sabbath mentioned in the count to Pentecost is
referring to the weekly Sabbath during the days of Unleavened
Bread. Those who keep a Monday Pentecost agree with this
method, so they kept their Pentecost-plus-one on June 4th.

Add to the above that many keep their own personal calendar
rather than the Hebrew Calendar and the count to Pentecost
confusion multiplies. Of course, unless one keeps Pentecost on
Sivan 6th, he can hardly say that he is following the Hebrew
Calendar! All who keep Pentecost any other day are fabricating
their own rules to arrive at their day of worship.

Whitsunday is the Catholic and Protestant name given for their
Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter. This is termed
as the 50th day after Easter. However, as Easter is on Sunday
and Whitsunday is on Sunday, it must include Easter Sunday in
the count to arrive at day 50.

The name Whitsunday, originally known as White Sunday
because of the practice of those baptized on their “Pentecost”
who wore white garments for a week after their baptism, later
became Whitsunday – a shortened form for White Sunday.

Easter is on the first Sunday following the full moon, that occurs
on or next after March 21. In most years, those who keep a
Sunday Pentecost will be keeping the same day as Whitsunday.
In order to arrive at this date the Catholics followed the
Sadducees in their belief that the count to Pentecost began with
the day following the weekly Sabbath in the days of Unleavened
Bread. The reason for this was that it worked well with their
belief that the Messiah rose from the dead on a Sunday.

The Messiah said that the Jews, of His day, were required to
observe what the Pharisees told them to do! One should not
ignore these instructions. Furthermore, one should not follow the
instructions of the Sadducees, as the Catholics do in reference to
the timing of their Pentecost.

Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but
do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Let us give one small observation about the Pharisees. Today we
hear references to a person being legalistic, like the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were like those today who “say and do not”. The
Pharisees liked to talk religion but they did not like to do
religion! Those who speak of the abrogation of the law, who say
we do not have to do anything except believe, are hypocrites like
the Pharisees. They have a “say and do not” religion! The
Pharisees were not legalistic; they were hypocritical.
Nevertheless, they loved to tell other people how to do what was
right. They knew what was right; they just did not do it.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were deadlocked against one
another on this matter of when to observe Pentecost. The
Pharisees said that Pentecost was to be determined based on the
count beginning after the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread.
Why would The Messiah admonish the people to follow what the
Pharisees said if they were wrong in this matter – without making
any correction of their error?

Because we have thought that the count is to find out what day
we are to observe Pentecost, we have focused on “from when to
count”. However, when we realize that the count has a greater
importance we can accept the instructions of the Pharisees as the
Messiah told us to do and concentrate on the count rather than
when to begin the count.

Paul the Apostle who wrote more of the New Testament than any
other one man was a Pharisee taught at the feet of Gamaliel who
was in the council, apparently the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.

Paul says that the Pharisees were the strictest sect of the Jewish
religion. Moreover, as touching the law, the Torah, the first five
books of the Bible, Paul lived according to the understanding of
the Pharisees.

Ac 22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia, yet brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, and
taught according to the perfect manner of the law (torah) of the fathers,
and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

Ac 5:34 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named
Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and
commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

Ac 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and
the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a
Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I
am called in question.

Ac 26:5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that
after the most straitest sect of our religion I (Paul) lived a Pharisee.

Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Paul informs us that he kept the law blamelessly and lived his life
as a Pharisee but he never tells us that the Pharisees were wrong
in the matter of Pentecost.

Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Now, ask yourself the following question, “Which day did Paul
observe Pentecost?” Did Paul follow the Sadducees in this one
matter? If you know anything about the animosity between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees as a result of their interpretation of
the Scriptures you have your answer. Notice in the above
scriptures that Paul, realizing that the crowd was part Sadducees
and part Pharisees only had to bring out a doctrine that the
Sadducees did not believe, in order to divide the crowd! The
Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection! Paul told the
crowd, “I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” If one is going
to keep Pentecost according to the Sadducees, he should explain
why Paul was a Pharisee! Furthermore, here Paul continues to
refer to himself as a Pharisee, after his conversion. We never
find Paul apologizing for this assertion!

Pentecost is on the fiftieth day (Sivan 6th) after the Passover
Feast or first High Day of Unleavened Bread, as understood by
the Pharisees of the Messiah's day. Therefore, the count would
have to find importance in something else besides arriving at the
date.

It is interesting to note how the Septuagint renders these verses.
Verse 11 of Leviticus chapter 23, specifically says that the wave-
sheaf is to be waved on the "morrow" after the first day! This is
exactly the understanding of the Pharisees during the time of the
Messiah when He said that we were to observe <all> that they
told us to observe! The Hebrew word from which “On the
morrow after” is translated does not mean “on the morrow of,”
but “on the morrow after”. We have shown that clearly in our
book on the Passover.

LXXE:
Lev. 23:11 "and he shall lift up the sheaf (omer) before the Lord, to be
accepted for you. On the morrow of (after) the first day the priest shall
lift it up."

Verses 15 and 16 of the Septuagint translate the word Sabbaths
and Sabbath as weeks and week. Furthermore, the way the
English version of the Septuagint uses the word <after> in the
following passage, supports the commentators’ conclusion that
“on the morrow after” is the more correct translation in verse 11.

LXXE:
Lev. 23:15-16, "And ye shall number to yourselves from the day after the
Sabbath, from the day on which ye shall offer the sheaf of the heave-
offering, seven full weeks: until the morrow after the last week ye shall
number fifty days, and shall bring a new meat-offering to the Lord."

Perhaps it would be good to ask ourselves why we have the
Septuagint. Was it important for another translation of the Old
Testament to be preserved? God gave the Jews the job of
keeping the oracles. The Jews translated the Septuagint from
Hebrew into Greek in about 250BC. Some scholars indicate that
the Masoretic text came into existence during the second century
AD. However, other scholars indicate that the development of
the Masoretic text was between 600-900AD. Therefore, the
Septuagint is a minimum of 400 years older than the Masoretic
text.

There is value in both of these Old Testament Bibles. As the
Masoretic Manuscripts are in the original language of the Old
Testament’s creation, it is no doubt more accurate than the
Septuagint in most cases. Of course, the existing manuscripts
are copies, not the originals.

The value of the Greek Septuagint is that it is all we have as an
Old Testament from a time before the coming of The Messiah.
Of course, the Samaritans do have their copy of the Torah.
However, the Jews’ translation of the Septuagint Old
Testament, from Hebrew to Greek, is readily available to us
today in an English translation. Some commentators indicate
that the Septuagint was the Bible used during the time of the
Messiah. They base this conclusion on New Testament quotes of
the Old Testament matching those of the Septuagint more than
the Masoretic texts of today.

This is very important because there is no Hebrew text of the
Old Testament still in existence from before the time of the
Messiah, readily available to us. As the Jews did not accept the
Messiah, we cannot trust their rendering of certain Old
Testament passages, in the Masoretic Text, that refer to the
Messiah. Some works indicate that they changed several
passages to keep the Old Testament from showing the veracity
of the New Testament Messiah.

Because of the time when the Septuagint was written and the
accuracy of the Masoretic in most cases not having to do with the
Messiah, we have a check and balance on the Old Testament
when we look at the two rather than only one or the other. Of
course, the Septuagint is a Greek translation from the Hebrew.
In addition, what we have is the English translation from the
Greek. Two translations would involve more errors than one
translation given everything else equal. Nevertheless, if we let
the sum of the whole be our guide, we have an invaluable tool in
the Septuagint.

There is an ongoing controversy over whether the word Sabbath
– indicated in angled brackets in the two verses below – refers to
weeks or regular weekly Sabbaths. As we have seen, our English
translation of the Septuagint is <weeks> for these words. On the
other hand, our English translation of the Masoretic text uses the
word <Sabbath> for these words.

KJV:
Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the
Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering;
seven <Sabbaths> shall be complete:
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh <Sabbath> shall ye number
fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat (meal) offering unto the LORD.

As the definition for the word <Sabbaths> #07676 shows, the
word can mean <week>. However, let us propose another
possible solution.

*************************************************************
07676 tbv shabbath shab-bawth'

intensive from 07673, Greek 4521 sabbaton; TWOT-2323b; n f/m

AV-sabbath 107, another 1; 108

1) Sabbath
1a) sabbath
1b) day of atonement
1c) sabbath year
1d) week
1e) produce (in sabbath year)
*************************************************************

Although many who believe in a Sivan 6th Pentecost have
maintained that this is referring to weeks, there is a possibility
that it is actually referring to weekly Sabbaths and still not
referring to a Sunday Pentecost. Some have focused on the
scriptures that use the word Sabbaths while others focus on the
scriptures that use the word weeks. This has only sustained the
two different schools of thought. However, verse 16 of Leviticus
23, may have a perspective we have overlooked. The KJV
translators may not have given us a clear understanding of the
original in this verse.

Lev. 23:16, "Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye
number <05608> (8799) fifty days;"

Online Bible:
*************************************************************
08799 Stem - Qal
    Mood - Imperfect
    Count - 19885
*************************************************************
05608 caphar {saw-far'}

a primitive root; TWOT - 1540,1540c

AV - scribe 50, tell 40, declare 24, number 23, count 6, shew forth 5,
   writer 4, speak 2, accounted 1, commune 1, told out 1, reckon 1,
penknife + 08593 1, shewing 1, talk 1; 161

v
1) to count, recount, relate
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to count (things)
1a2) to number, take account of, reckon
*************************************************************

The way the KJV has translated this verse indicates we are to
count seven weekly Sabbaths and then on the morrow after the
seventh Sabbath is Pentecost. However, this sense of the verse
may be wrong. Let us look at the following phrase of this verse:
“shall ye number <05608> (8799)”

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