How does Pentecost connect with the ancient Jewish festival of Shavuot?
If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you have likely heard of Pentecost—the time mentioned in Acts 2 where God poured out His Spirit on the early Jewish believers in Jesus. But did you know this monumental event is intimately connected to an ancient Jewish festival called the Feast of Weeks (or Shavuot in Hebrew) and that this feast is specifically mentioned in Leviticus 23? Keep reading and we’ll unpack the amazing significance of what God did at Pentecost.
Photo by Darko Trajkovic on Unsplash
The Feast of Shavuot
In the Hebrew Bible (also known as the Old Testament), God tells Moses about seven appointed times, where God wants to meet the children of Israel. Three of these were pilgrimage festivals, where the people were required to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate.
One of those appointed times is the Feast of Shavuot or Feast of Weeks. This was the second harvest festival, celebrating God’s goodness to provide the first harvest of wheat. After Passover, came the Feast of Firstfruits celebrating the first barley harvest, and from there, the people would count seven sabbaths (seven weeks) leading up to the Feast of Shavuot. On the 50th day, Shavuot officially took place.
Here’s what Leviticus 23:15–20 says:
“Then you are to count from the morrow after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering, seven complete Sabbaths. Until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath you are to count fifty days, and then present a new grain offering to Adonai.
You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to Adonai.
The kohen is to wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Adonai, with the two lambs. They should be holy to Adonai for the kohen (priest).
Over time, it became Jewish tradition to read and celebrate a few things that were related to this feast: like the story of Ruth, a gentile who took on the faith of her mother in-law, as well as the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
This was the day when the Jews would be in Jerusalem celebrating the feast and the giving of the Torah. It is on this feast day—this appointed time—that God chose to send the Holy Spirit as proof that Jesus had been exalted as Lord.
It happened 50 days after Jesus was resurrected, aligning perfectly with the feast of Shavuot (Weeks), and coinciding with a time when Jews in Jerusalem were celebrating how God gave the Torah on Mount Sinai.
What amazing, significant timing!
The Giving of the Torah
While our Jewish friends are celebrating the giving of the Torah during Shavuot, we would be amiss to simply gloss pass this monumental occasion.
Think about this incredible sequence of events: after God's promise to Abraham he would become the father of a multitude of nations, it seemed impossible. And yet there was hope. Jacob wrestles with God, and God gives him a new name. Joseph is sold into slavery, only to find himself a savior of his family of 12 tribes. And after 400+ years in bondage to Pharaoh, God sends a deliverer through Moses to redeem His people.
They cross through he sea of reeds on dry ground, and after wandering through the desert for 3 months, God calls Moses up the mountain.
It's here Moses meets with God, while the children of Israel wait at the base of the mountain.
In a fury of thunder, lightning, and smoke, God descends in a thick cloud of darkness and fire with the sound of a shofar resounding in the background.
On the morning of the third day, there was thunder, lightning and a thick cloud on the mountain. Then a shofar blast sounded so loudly that all the people in the camp trembled.
Moshe brought the people out of the camp to meet God; they stood near the base of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was enveloped in smoke, because Adonai descended onto it in fire—its smoke went up like the smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.
As the sound of the shofar grew louder and louder, Moshe spoke; and God answered him with a voice.
—Exodus 19:16–19
The earth shakes violently as heaven meets earth. God, the King of the universe answers with a voice.
Can you imagine the sheer intensity of this moment? A God heard about in stories passed down through generations. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now speaks in the roaring thunder and flashing lightning.
As told in Jewish tradition, when God appears on mountain Sinai, flames of fire appeared on every person present at the base of the mountain, representing God's presence resting on them as a sign of the covenant.
After God’s miraculous, fear-inducing display, God speaks to Moses and gives him the Ten Words—the Ten Commandments that many of us are familiar with. Moses descends the mountain:
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.
—Exodus 20:18
As we celebrate Shavuot, we remember God’s goodness to reveal His Torah as instruction to His chosen people. Through our Jewish brothers and sisters, the Torah has been handed down through the ages. God’s heart revealed through these ancient Torah scrolls.
And it’s upon this foundation we can know what God wants. He has given us His revelation of how we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength, while showing us how to love our neighbors. Through His Torah He has shown us what justice, mercy, and compassion all look like.
The story of all humanity rests upon this foundation.
The Giving of the Spirit
You may have been taught in church that the new covenant replaced the old. That the law was done away with. Did you know that instead, what happened at Pentecost during Shavuot was actually part of a much bigger story?
As far back as the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God spoke to bring a message of hope. Not long after Israel settled in the promised land, the people turned away from God’s ways. “They did what was right in their own eyes,” is painstakingly repeated generation after generation.
Yet, even though God’s people had been unable to fully live out His instruction, God sent a promise that He would one day send His Spirit to write his Torah on the hearts of His people.
No longer would people reject God's Torah—His Spirit would cause an inner change in people. A change that would shift their desires to know God’s ways and to follow them.
He would put a new Spirit inside them.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them," says Adonai.
"For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra'el after those days," says Adonai: "I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people.
—Jeremiah 31:31–32 CJB
This new covenant, established through Yeshua's blood did not cancel God's other covenants throughout the Hebrew Bible. While the children of Israel violated their covenant through Moses, God upheld his end of the covenant because of his faithfulness and lovingkindness. If God was one to break his words, how could we trust Him with anything else?
And so God does what only he can do—He makes a way.
After Yeshua was raised from the dead, he appeared to over 500 people for 40 days (this happened during the counting of the Omer). He instructed His disciples to wait a little bit longer and that He would send the long-awaited helper.
As the disciples were gathered in the upper room in Acts 2, they were celebrating the Festival of Shavuot, or Pentecost. Pentecost simply means fiftieth, which is the 50th day after counting the Omer that is directly connected to Passover.
The festival of Shavu`ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
—Acts 2:1–4
Do you see this amazing connection?
Just like the roaring thunder and lighting at Mount Sinai, the disciples had a similar experience—a roaring violent wind filled the room they were gathered in. Flames of fire appeared to rest over each of them. The stories they had likely heard about the giving of the Torah were now coming to life before their very eyes as God's Spirit manifest.
With the words of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel ringing in their ears, It was an unmistakable sign that God’s promised new covenant with His people was being fulfilled.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you; I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit inside you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them.
—Ezekiel 36:26–27
It’s incredible that all of this happened during an appointed time, established by God in the pages of Leviticus 23. A thousand years later, God’s promise came true. He kept His covenant with His people, and He still keeps His promises today.
God’s love for Jew & Gentile
What happens next is a powerful, miraculous move of God’s Spirit. The disciples, gathered in Jerusalem went out to proclaim the amazing moment they had just witnessed. Because of the festival of Shavuot, Jews “from every nation under heaven” were present.
Due to the commotion, a crowd gathers. The disciples, filled with the Spirit of God began to speak in other languages. The crowd was confused because each of them heard the message of the good news in their own language—God has done it, He has poured out His Spirit!
As a faction of the crowd scoffed, claiming the people were drunk, Peter stands up and declares that this happening is what the prophet Joel had spoken:
‘Adonai says: ‘In the Last Days, I will pour out from my Spirit upon everyone.”...And then, whoever calls on the name of Adonai will be saved." '
—Acts 2:17,21
He testifies about the great miracles Yeshua (Jesus) had done, how we was raised from the dead, is seated at the right hand of God, and that he is both Lord and Messiah! The resurrection happened, death has been defeated, and the Lord’s Anointed One has come. He’s at work! God’s promise has been proven true!
This was incredibly good news.
The people hearing Peter’s words were cut to the heart with conviction. “What should we do?!” They cried out.
"Turn from sin, return to God, and each of you be immersed on the authority of Yeshua the Messiah into forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)!
For the promise is for you, for your children, and for those far away—as many as Adonai our God may call!"
—Acts 2:38-39
As a result of God’s Spirit, over 3,000 primarily Jewish people accepted the good news and were immersed!
And this act of God working in His perfect timing, opened up the new covenant to Gentile believers who were coming to faith in the God of Israel. As a result of God’s unending love, we are grafted into this Jewish root through our trust in Yeshua.
Conclusion
When we don’t understand the Jewish heritage that we are grafted into, we lose sight of the incredible way that God has been at work throughout history. When we think that the church has replaced Israel or has abandoned those that He loves, we inevitably miss the rich significance that Shavuot has for followers of Jesus.
As you celebrate Pentecost this year, may our Father pour out His Spirit on you afresh.
May He be continually at work in your life to help you follow His ways. May He give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand how He is always at work.
And may you be richly blessed through Messiah Yeshua who has put His Spirit within us to help us as we trust His blood of the new covenant.
Shalom!
