seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 16:9 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.
I found this at the easy English site.
This festival happened 7 weeks after the beginning of the harvest. There were 7 weeks between the beginning of the grain harvest and the end of the wheat harvest. Therefore, people called it the Festival of Weeks. Later, people called it the Festival of Pentecost. ‘Pentecost’ means 50. The Festival of Pentecost was 50 days after the Sabbath at the start of the Passover. The Israelites had to give a gift to God. This gift was in proportion to how God had blessed them. They shared a common meal with their families and with those who had no possessions.
This is from bibletrack.org.
Three of the Jewish festivals are outlined in verses 1-17. These are the festivals when they were to gather centrally each year.
Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Feast of Weeks (aka Shavuot).
Feast of Booths (Tabernacles aka Sukkot).
Keep in mind, the Hebrews are on the east side of the Jordan River preparing to go into Canaan. Some changes are in order here. A pilgrimage back to a central location is specified three times each year. It is interesting that originally the Passover Feast was to be celebrated within one's own home. However, here we see that with changing circumstances this Passover Feast was to be done at that central location. It is here that the practice of many Jews of merging the Passover Feast with that of the Feast of Unleavened Bread took place. We see that in Jesus' day, some observed the Passover Feast separately and some did not.
Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Feast of Weeks (aka Shavuot).
Feast of Booths (Tabernacles aka Sukkot).
Keep in mind, the Hebrews are on the east side of the Jordan River preparing to go into Canaan. Some changes are in order here. A pilgrimage back to a central location is specified three times each year. It is interesting that originally the Passover Feast was to be celebrated within one's own home. However, here we see that with changing circumstances this Passover Feast was to be done at that central location. It is here that the practice of many Jews of merging the Passover Feast with that of the Feast of Unleavened Bread took place. We see that in Jesus' day, some observed the Passover Feast separately and some did not.
Back when I was a kid, Daddy was stationed at New London. My grandparents lived in Front Royal, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.. We would pack up the car and drive south a couple times of year. There was the Summer Vacation and then there was Thanksgiving to Christmas. We gathered together and enjoyed family. Every time we read about these long trips the Israelites had to take.... it reminds me of the trip from Gales Ferry to Charlotte by way of Front Royal. In all those years, we made the trips without incident.... once we threw a rod in the old Nash.... but we were so safe an happy.... they were always great trips compared to walking from the east side of Jordan to the site God chose for His Temple on the other side of the river.
