Program Transcript
Episode 36: Feasts of the LORD: Shavuot
Heather M R Olsen
Welcome back to our journey through the LORD’s 7 biblical Feasts.
Before we dig in, I just want to express how grateful I am that you are here and listening. I get into my topic to teach and forget to acknowledge that you have many podcasts you could tune into, and you chose this time and place for Illumination. I know you will be blessed.
If you are new to the Illumination podcast, welcome! These podcasts cover a lot of information! Please just listen and absorb what you can. It can be a lot!
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My overarching goal is to dig into and know the Bible.
The Bible tells us God’s plan of redemption for the world, plus it is the primary way that God speaks to us today; our “ongoing conversation with the Creator.” (M&D 57)
So again, thank you for practicing soul self-care.
God has so much to teach each of us!!
We are on our fourth out of seven Feasts of the LORD.
We covered Passover/Pesach, the first holiday in the Jewish calendar, celebrated in early spring.
Nestled within Pesach is the Feast of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits, covering 8 days.
Each of these three holidays has been fulfilled by Jesus’ Death, His Undecaying Body in the Tomb, and His Resurrection.
We have one more fulfilled Feast, the Festival of Weeks or Shavuot.
This Feast comes in late spring, still an agricultural holiday as commanded by God to the Israelites AND is the second commanded Pilgrimage feast.
Honestly, with the pilgrimage feasts—Passover as the first—the pilgrims would have been in Jerusalem for all three early spring feasts; Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. In the 1st century, unlike today, travel was on foot and arduous. One didn’t just pop into places for the weekend but ended up staying for a while. As we continue to explore, we will find that though God instilled only 3 pilgrimage feasts, a diligent pilgrim would end up being in Jerusalem for all 7 due to the timing of the feasts and difficulty of travel.
The name for Weeks in Hebrew is SHAVUOT.
Shavua שָׁבוּעַ = is a singular week. Shavuot, the feminine plural, is “Weeks”
This feast is also a harvest festival, part of the Jewish Rhythm of life, specifically celebrating the wheat harvest.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word, Shavuot, is similar to the Hebrew word for “Oath”… שְׁבוּעָה
Remember for Firstfruits, the family brings the Omer, which is about a 1/2 gallon of recently ripened spring barley.
The counting of weeks then began, after Passover to Shavuot: 7 weeks times 7 days, then the next day.
Remember from the last podcast, Pentecost means 50th in Greek.
On the 50th day, the second harvest and first fruit was WHEAT.
This day is also a holy convocation, where no work was to be done.
Since these holidays rely on the moon, again, there is no singular date for Shavuot, just counting of the weeks from Passover, hence another name: Counting of the Omer.
Consequently, it is always 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits.
Michelle Van Loon reminds us that this is a “tangible way of acknowledging that God had provided everything the people needed to survive: seed, soil, and sun. He Created, He Provided, He Sustained.” (M&D pg 51)
Van Loon also explores contrast and symmetry of Passover and Shavuot. (M&D 51)
For Passover, the meal was hastefully eaten, and the theme is deliverance: WHAT God HAD done for them.
For Shavuot, God’s provisions are celebrated. Fresh, yeasty loaves of gratitude are brought back to the Giver. She calls this an “Epilogue to the Exodus story” (51).
From Sacrifice to Abundance, from haste to celebration.
This holiday is the second celebration of Firstfruits, and is of the summer wheat harvest.
First, God rescued His people then He continues to care for His People.
Let’s read about it in:
Lev 23:15-21
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. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 19 Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. 20 The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest. 21 On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
Numbers 28:26-31
The Festival of Weeks
26 “‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 27 Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 28 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 29 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 30 Include one male goat to make atonement for you. 31 Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.
Deuteronomy 16:9-12
The Festival of Weeks
9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and follow carefully these decrees.
Did you notice something different about this bread?
There were “2 long flat LEAVENED loaves.” These 2 leavened loaves along with 2 lambs were offered to the LORD and waved in front of the altar. They were then set aside for the priests to eat later in the day at the temple.
Shavuot celebrates “corporate thankfulness from the covenantal relationship with the One who’d not only delivered them from slavery but also continued to husband them at each step of their journey.” (M&D 51)
The Israelites were to give a freewill offering to the LORD in proportion to the blessings the LORD had given them.
What a beautiful symbol of gratitude.
Customs and traditions for this holiday evolved throughout time.
Remember, the temple had been destroyed in 70 AD as was the sacrificial system. There was no altar to bring the sheaf to anymore.
First, the Jewish sacrificial system was replaced by prayer, works of charity, and a cycle of holy days. (M&D 53)
Second, rabbis convened and decided to associate this agricultural festival with another God ordained event: the giving of the Torah at Mt Sinai.
Third, in the synagogue today, the annual scripture reading is the Book of Ruth. The book of Ruth contains harvest themes plus the person of Ruth exemplifies a faithful response to the LORD which reinforced God’s covenant for her as a grafted in Gentile. This narrative foreshadows the inclusion of Gentiles. Last, and most exciting, Ruth is an ancestor of Jesus, and one of the 5 women named in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus.
Back to the giving of the Torah, God’s covenantal sealing of His people. God chose the Israelites as His people to reveal Himself to the world, so consequently they needed to learn the right relationship with Him, and with each other. This giving of the Torah correlates with Exodus 19:1.
At Mount Sinai
19 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai.
Remember Passover sits halfway through the first month. Shavuot takes place 50 days after Firstfruits, which would put it in the third month. The dates could easily coincide.
The current holiday is celebrated by religious Jews with an all-night Bible study. Dairy is a popular food, specifically cheese and cheesecake. In fact, rabbinic tradition incorporates honey and dairy, equating it to the Torah and how sweet the Words are on the lips.
The traditional decoration of the synagogue is one of greenery.
Let’s pivot to the messianic fulfillment.
We’ve already established that Shavuot is the 50th day after Firstfruits.
We’ve also established that the Christian parallel of what the Church calls Pentecost, is the 50th day after the Resurrection.
This is no coincidence.
Let’s wrap up Jesus’ ministry here on earth.
In Matthew 28, Jesus and an angel told the women, who were first to encounter the resurrection, that He is going to Galilee. Their message to the disciples is that they should meet Him there.
The gospel of John in chapter 21 records the disciples encountering Jesus on the shores of the Lake of Galilee. At first, they didn’t know it was Him, as He told them (once again) to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They caught an insurmountable number of fish before they recognized that this was Him! Impulsive Peter jumped into the water to reach the Lord first, while the boat followed closely after. Jesus had made a fire, and they ate a simple breakfast. It is here that Jesus reinstated Peter after his three-time denial at Jesus’ trials.
Luke’s Gospel concludes with the eleven assembled in Jerusalem. Jesus appeared to them, and let’s be honest, He terrified them. Jesus ate some fish, another of many meals He ate, proving His bodily resurrection. He re-reminded the disciples that, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Luke 24:44.
Jesus continued, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:26-49
Both Luke and Matthew record Jesus’ bodily ascension and departure from earth at the conclusion of their Gospels.
It was after Firstfruits and the Resurrection and before Shavuot and Pentecost that Jesus revealed himself to over 500 people.
Let’s reread,
Luke 24:49
I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
God had made another promise He was about to make good on.
First, though, they were to stay in Jerusalem and wait.
Let’s read Acts 2:1-41 in the Tree of Life Version.
The Ruach Fills the Disciples TLV
2 When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out.
5 Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “All these who are speaking—aren’t they Galileans? 8 How is it that we each hear our own birth language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome 11 (both Jewish people and proselytes), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own tongues the mighty deeds of God!” 12 And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?”
13 Others, poking fun, were saying, “They are full of sweet new wine!”
Peter Speaks to the Shavuot Crowd
14 But Peter, standing with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: “Fellow Judeans and all who are staying in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose—for it’s only the third hour of the day! 16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God,
‘that I will pour out My Ruach on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even on My slaves, male and female,
I will pour out My Ruach in those days,
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will give wonders in the sky above
and signs on the earth beneath—
blood, and fire, and smoky vapor.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and glorious Day of Adonai comes.
21 And it shall be that everyone who calls
on the name of Adonai shall be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words! Yeshua ha-Natzrati—a Man authenticated to you
by God with mighty deeds and wonders and signs God performed through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Yeshua, given over by God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men, you killed. 24 But God raised Him up, releasing Him from the pains of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by it. 25 For David says about Him,
‘I saw Adonai always before me,
for He is at my right hand so that I might not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;
moreover, my body also will live in hope,
27 because You will not abandon my soul to Sheol
or let Your Holy One see decay.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’
29 “Brothers, I can confidently tell you that the patriarch David died and was buried—his tomb is with us to this day. 30 So because he was a prophet and knew God had sworn with an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 David saw beforehand and spoke of Messiah’s resurrection—that He was not abandoned to Sheol, and His body did not see decay.
32 “This Yeshua God raised up—we all are witnesses! 33 Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and receiving from the Father the promise of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, He poured out this—what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens; yet he himself says,
‘Adonai said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make Your enemies a footstool
for Your feet.”’
36 “Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him—this Yeshua whom you had crucified—both Lord and Messiah!”
Teshuvah—Thousands Immersed
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. 39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away—as many as Adonai our God calls to Himself.”
40 With many other words he warned them and kept urging them, saying, “Save yourselves from this twisted generation!” 41 So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about three thousand souls were added.
So many astounding details in this exciting passage!
Let’s unpack it.
First, as one of God’s 7 commanded Feasts, after knowing about the first three, we also know that Shavuot has to be a fulfillment of something miraculous.
If you listened to Episode 22, Theophany, Seeing God remember that God appeared to humanity on earth most commonly as fire or smoke. In this Shavuot scene, His Shekinah appeared over the heads of Jesus’ followers, as tongues like fire spreading out. Then His Glory infilled the believers. Something new was happening to these disciples, all of them, not just the 11, as the New Covenant was being fully established.
Jeremiah 31:31-33
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
The beauty of this New Covenant is that God invites us all into covenant with Him now!
Let’s quickly go to the setting as Peter preached his life changing sermon.
Remember this is another pilgrimage holiday, so Jerusalem would have been packed with Jewish people who were able to travel. “5Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.”
We often picture Pentecost in the Upper Room as depicted by art. Scripture says that they were “all together in one place,” and that this sound of rushing wind from heaven “filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Thousands would not have fit into or even outside this upper room to witness the sound of the wind and hear the sermon.
Peter confirmed that it is 9:00 in the morning, “the third hour,” which is why they wouldn’t have had too much wine. They were in Jerusalem and this third hour would have been the time of morning sacrifice and prayer at the temple. The disciples would have continued their Jewish tradition, visiting the temple. Some theologians authenticate that this “house” where they were gathered was in fact, the House of God, the temple.
This would have been a logical place for thousands to have heard his sermon. The southern steps of the temple open up to space that would accommodate this number of people. In fact, when Jesus taught at the temple, the southern steps are known to be a major teaching site of His.***
The disciples being labeled Galileans, was a jab that they weren’t known for being educated. Clearly on this side of the narrative, we know they were miraculously empowered by the Holy Spirit. Only with the Spirit’s help could they speak so confidently and eloquently in all languages, languages they had not studied. This diversity of Jews would have convened from all over the diaspora, so these different languages would have met the needs of each pilgrim and foreigner, the gospel told to each.
Peter quoted prophecies from the Hebrew Bible:
Three specifically, about God pouring out His Spirit.
Joel 2:28-32, Isaiah 44:3, Psalm 16:8-11, Psalm 110:1
Joel 2:28 And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Isaiah 44:3 I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
Psalm 16:8-11
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 110:1 The Lord says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
Peter told these new believers, 3000 in all, to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Just as he and the other disciples had received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Hebrew word for repentance is Teshuvah. The shoresh, which is a three-letter root in Hebrew, is Shoov. Shoov means “to turn back, to return.” God was asking these new believers in Yeshua to turn back or return to Him. How often do we hear God’s words of “return to me” in Scripture? These new believers needed more than their Jewish faith now. They needed faith in the Messiah, and to return to God and be cleansed from their sins. Be immersed in baptism.
But baptizing 3000 people takes a lot of water. This gives additional supporting evidence that the temple would have been the setting as certainly, there was not enough water for an immersion at a house. At the temple, there were many small pools; walk down one side of a set of steps into the water, and up the other side of the steps—entitled mikveh.
A mikveh is a small bath where Jewish people would dunk in the water to become ritually clean: people such as lepers, a woman after childbirth, the priests before the sacrifices needed to become ritually clean.
This becoming clean through the waters at the temple sounds familiar.
It was a precursor to baptism.
The waters of baptism.
In fact, at the temple alone, 50 mikvehs have been uncovered through archeological finds.
200 mikvehs have been discovered in Jerusalem proper, and 700 throughout the land of Israel.
Mikvehs were important in Jewish life.
In the Hebrew Bible, God had given another precursor for His Divine Picture language: becoming clean through the waters.
Unfortunately, this ritual cleanliness was only temporary. It had to be repeated over and over again with continued sin and uncleanliness.
At this proclamation of belief and baptism, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on each of these new believers.
This Spirit lives within all who believe.
The Hebrew phrase for the Holy Spirit is Ruach HaKodesh.
Kodesh is holy, and ruach is “wind or spirit or breath.”
We can find talk of the Spirit in the Hebrew Bible.
There is the difference between the Hebrew Bible Spirit and the NT.
The Spirit in the Hebrew Bible, came onto those who loved and obeyed God, but did not indwell. Following are a couple examples.
Numbers 11:25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.
Judges 14:6 But the spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he tore the lion apart barehanded, as one tears a young goat.
1 Samuel 16:13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
But the Spirit came like a mighty wind from heaven, blew around and into believers.
I know many people who don’t appreciate the wind. Where I live, in the Spring, the wind can blow voraciously. I like to picture the Spirit blowing through the trees and leaves in the yard. The Ruach.
The Spirit living in me, this breath of God given at Shavuot, is a treasured gift.
Spirit. Wind. Breath.
We are empowered by this gift and called to use it mightily!
Let’s close with a passage from Isaiah.
Isaiah 59:20-21
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”
declares the Lord.
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.
Treasure the words of scripture as a gift we have been given.
Read the Bible daily, enjoying your conversation with God.
Treasure the deposit placed in your hearts as a permanent gift.
May the power of the living Ruach HaKodesh live in you mightily.
Shalom my friends!
**Heather!
©2025 Heather M R Olsen, Illumination: Hebrew Insights. All rights reserved.
