The
Three Biblical Pilgrimages
or
Regalim
Do we have to
obey the Bible?
[E-015]
In Deuteronomy 16:16 is stated: Three times in
the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which
he will choose, at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks,
and at the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah
empty: (ASV)
This command statement is quite
clear: Three times a year there is a pilgrimage:
-
At the Feast of Unleavened Bread
-
At the Feast of Weeks
-
At the Feast of Tabernacles
Is this commandment still valid for us as followers of the Messiah,
Jesus Christ? And if so, how, we
do have to comply with this?
Is there an analogy of all the Feasts, or do they differ from each
other in duration?
The outcome is rather
surprising and a rare insight that has long been hidden for the reader in
general, and it confirms with the text of Proverbs 25:2; It
is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of kings is to search out
a thing. (DBY)
De Sabbatariër (The
Sabbatarians)
(c) Bonne Rook
PO Box 56
8316ZH Marknesse
The Netherlands
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The Three Biblical Pilgrimages
[E-015]
Introduction
Regalim is the Hebrew word for the three Pilgrim
Festivals. The Torah required all men to come to “the place Adonai your God shall choose. The Festivals are called Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks, Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles).[1]
One of the
most spectacular religious Feasts, that is being held in accordance with the
Bible is the Feast of Tabernacles, that is held in the autumn of each year,
reflecting the great harvest of the land in corn and wine. It is a joyous Feast, and people are
looking forward for a long time each year to keep this. It is a Feast of temporary dwellings,
and is kept, depending on the group of people at home, or at a holiday resort,
and whatever may in between.
And everyone who is attending this Feast is telling
the other person, how he has been longing for this happy event, that should be
a Feast to the Lord.
As a very usable reference Deuteronomy 16:16 is quoted by the spiritual
leadership for admonishing the Feast-attending people to empty for a
substantial part their purses, as the »work has to be done« and reading: »Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before
Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, at the feast of unleavened
bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles; and they
shall not appear before Jehovah empty.«[2]
This Biblical
text is both quoted for the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread and the Feast of Weeks, to have a generous offering three times per
year. Despite that it is clearly
stated that there are three times per year, there are religious leaders, that
distort this text to such an extent, that they can hold the offertory seven
times per year to get more money extracted. They will be held accountable for this misbehaviour and
distortion of the Holy Writ for their own sake.
What is even
more enigmatic is that almost no teacher of the Law or Bible exegete is telling
their people, that this verse is a commandment for a pilgrimage, and not only
for the Feast of Tabernacles, but starting with the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
The Feast of Weeks, and then the Feast of Tabernacles. For three times per year all thy males
shall appear before Jehovah thy God in the place he will choose.
This is clear language and leaves no doubt.
For the
Biblical proof we have to find an extra text, as it has been written:
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, and for
any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the
mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.[3]
So we have the
commandment to keep these Feasts:
—And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of
wheat-harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year. Thrice in the year shall all thy males
appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel. For I will dispossess the nations before thee, and enlarge
thy border, and no man shall desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear
before the face of Jehovah thy God thrice in the year.[4]
There is no
doubt needed, as thrice a year one has to go up to appear before the face of
the Lord. This is not restricted
to the Feast of Tabernacles only. It
also applies for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks.
We do know
that Messiah fulfilled the Law, and kept the Law. He was adamant about the keeping of the Law in the proper
way, not according to the tradition of men, but to the Law as it has been given
to the children of Israel by the service of his messenger, the Prophet Moses.
Think not that I am come to make void the law or the prophets; I am not
come to make void, but to fulfil.[5]
And Jesus reflected possibly also to
Proverbs 25:2 »It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the glory of
kings is to search out a thing.« as he said:
At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the
heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them to babes.[6]
So there is a glory to search out the
things, that are hidden from the wise and prudent, also with the pilgrimages of
the Bible, whether there are three commanded, and what the parallels in the
type and duration of these pilgrimages each are. The things will be hidden for the wise and prudent, and been
revealed to babes. In other words:
the simpler we approach the very wordings in the Scriptures, as they are, and
not what we want to read, the more we will understand the things.
The
Sequence of the Feasts
The sequence
of the three Feasts is stated both in Deuteronomy and in Exodus and starts with
the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the Passover Festival, followed with the Feast
of Weeks and closed with the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a commandment of the Eternal and we have to obey and
keep the feasts in this sequence.
The
consequence is that the religious year therefore starts with the Feast of
Unleavened Bread and this is confirmed in Exodus:
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you.[7]
This month refers to the month in which
the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls, and the Passover sacrifice to the
Lord. It is stated to be the
first month of the year.
There is no other way around.
It has been ordained by the Eternal, and who wants to know better?
The calendar in the Bible is a luni-solar
one, and each month starts with the new moon. So there are at least twelve moon-months per year and rather
frequently a thirteenth moon-month that is called an intercalary month, and
precedes the first month, to keep the year within the solar cycle
The new moon day is the day of the
astronomical conjunction, and can readily be found in almanacs and journals all
over the world.
A day is a period of about 24 hours from
sunset till sunset. To avoid any
discrepancy in the specific day of the new moon, that will occur all around the
whole planet earth, the times of the conjunctions are related to the
coordinates of the Holy Mountain.
Remains the question what is the Holy
Mountain? The Jews allege that
this is Mount Zion as the Samaritans contend that this is Mount Gerizim. This has always been a contention
between the Jews and the Samaritans over the centuries. Even the Evangelist John writes about
this:
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is
the place where one must worship. Jesus says to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when ye
shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.[8]
Mount Gerizim is only 30 miles (50 km) to
the north of Mount Zion.[9] It is also situated only 2 minutes to
the East respectively. This is
reflected in the difference of the sunset times, that are +8 seconds for the
vernal equinox and -6 seconds at the autumn equinox for the two Holy Mounts.[10] For practical purposes this difference
can be neglected, as a day variation for a new year day between these two
Mounts can occur statistically only once in a 10,000 years.
The first month of the year is also known
as the month Abib and falls in general in March/April of
the Gregorian, or Roman Catholic calendar. The name Abib is biblical:
Keep the month of Abib, and celebrate the Passover to Jehovah thy God;
for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by
night.[11]
Despite its clear wording in the Holy
Writ, the majority of people that claim to keep the three festivals, start the
new year six months later with the first day of the seventh month as the new
year and keep this as the rosh hashanah. They feign to know better what the new
year day is, compared to the Eternal, Who has ordained His Feasts and their
sequence. Although the religious
leaders are very well aware of their false exegesis of the Scripture in this to
the laymen, they do nothing to rectify their improper traditions. The Eternal has appointed the
ordinances of heaven and earth and man cannot change this, although he always
tries:
Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not
appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;[12]
The tragedy is that with an improper
sequence the very meaning of the Feasts has been lost, and that the worship of
the Eternal becomes vain, and the traditions of men are increasing, nullifying
the Law.
Mainstream Christianity is worshipping in
vain the Trinity following as a consequence the Gregorian calendar, Sundays,
Easter, Christmas and has
completely lost the meaning of all the Biblical Sabbaths and Feasts as a sign
and seal of the worship of the One True God.
We have seen that the religious year
commences with the month Abib, that falls after the vernal
equinox, and in this month Abib one has to celebrate the
Passover. Later the Feast of Weeks
has to be kept and the Feast of Tabernacles. That is the proper sequence for the religious year.
The determination of the new moon of Abib, or
the first day of the first month is dealt with in our paper E-013
The Samaritan Calendar.
We will now have a more detailed look to
the structure of the three Pilgrim Festivals and will start with the Passover –
Days of Unleavened Bread.
The Passover – Days of Unleavened Bread
(Pesach)
The instructions for the timing of this
Festival are very clear, as they are described in Leviticus:
These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall
proclaim in their seasons:
In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the two
evenings, is the Passover to Jehovah.
And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of unleavened bread
to Jehovah; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner
of servile work shall ye do. And
ye shall present to Jehovah an offering by fire seven days; on the seventh day
is a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do.[13]
Here we read the clear instructions that
the feasts of Jehovah have been set.
This has been part of the creation as is mentioned in the history of the
Creation:
And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to
divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days and years;[14]
With the
creation the days and years have been divided in a very accurate mathematical
way. The days follow each other
with the sunset as the last ray of the sun is blocked by the horizon in the
ongoing revolution of seven days in a week and the new moons divide the year in
months at the very moment that sun, moon and earth are in the same plane, also
called the conjunction. This
mathematical accuracy has been revealed by the Eternal to Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Moses and Pinehas, the grandson of the high priest Aaron and so on.
This eternal
motion is repeatedly attacked by sects and people that are not familiar with
the revelation of the calculation [also known as the true reckoning] of the calendar and think to know better, and they
do advocate and practice the observation of the crescent of the coming
moon. Their eyes determine for
themselves the beginning of the month, keeping the Festivals at the improper
days, and worshipping in vain.
Sometimes this
is even more complicated in that people also want to determine the beginning of
the first month of the year by observation of the barley in the fields. This is for them the sign whether the
coming new moon crescent will be the one of the intercalary month or of the
first month.
They
completely ignore the fact that there has been a considerable time lapse
between the observation of the crescent combined with the determination of the
greening of the barley and making the results known over the whole country for
calling the people in due time to place that God has chosen for the first
pilgrimage. Also in biblical times
a pilgrimage requires lots of time for proper preparation and travelling to the
place and selecting the Passover
lamb within a few days or one whole month later. As the first day of the month Abib is the monthly Sabbath of the New Moon and
in the coming period there is at least one other weekly Sabbath, on which no
travelling is allowed, only common sense will show the nonsense of the
observation of crescent and barley for determining the beginning of the new
year. There are only six or seven
days available for the calling, the preparation and the travel in those times,
to be present in due time at the proper place for the pilgrimage.
With the
proper mathematical astronomic determination of the conjunction for the New
Moon there is ample forewarning for the exact date of the Festivals. And people can prepare themselves and
make arrangements.
At the tenth
of Abib the lamb has to
be set apart to be sacrificed on the fourteenth. This is done close to the proper place. It should be
one without any blemish.
The lamb will
be killed as the Passover to Jehovah between the two evenings.
This expression has also caused a lot of misunderstanding and
strife. The Hebrew texts mentions:
Bein haarbayim – lit. between the darkenings. It refers to the hours between the “darkening of the day” and the “darkening of the night.” The darkening of the day starts at midday, when the shadows begin to lengthen. The darkening of the night is simply the beginning of the night, after sunset. Thus bein haarbayim connotes the afternoon.[15]
The fourteenth
of Abib is the most
important day of the whole religious year as it is the Passover (Pesach) to Jehovah. It is not a Sabbath of rest or joy. It is the day of reconciliation of the
chosen ones to God by the one sacrifice of Messiah. And it is God’s Will that all mankind will become His chosen
sons and daughters. Each Passover
lamb is a sign of the onetime sacrifice of Messiah. It is the freeing from the bondage of the sin and the start
to become the adopted sons and daughters of God.
This one
solemn day of the Passover is followed by the seven days of Unleavened Bread,
the depiction and remembrance of the Exodus from the House of bondage. It is from the fifteenth to the
twenty-first of Abib,
both days mentioned being annual Sabbath days.
Passover and
Days of Unleavened Bread are used together meaning the whole period of the one Passover
day plus the seven days of Unleavened Bread, totalling eight days. This period of eight days is sometimes
called an octave.
So the first
pilgrimage of the religious year comprises a festival of an octave of eight days.
There are no
rules determining on what weekday these days do fall, as the first of the first
month is determined by the new moon of the conjunction. So the fourteenth of Abib can fall on any weekday and there are no
restrictions or postponements. It
may fall on a Sabbath and followed by the annual Sabbath of the first day of
Unleavened Bread. During these
seven days of the Unleavened Bread there is always one normal weekly Sabbath,
and this one can fall on any of these days.
In Leviticus
the instructions for this pilgrim festival are followed by an extra
commandment, leading to the next pilgrim festival:
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap
the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your
harvest unto the priest. And he
shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you; on the next day
after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.[16]
This wave
sheaf sacrifice is on the day next after the Sabbath, during the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. The day that
follows on the weekly Sabbath is always the first day of the week. This first day of the week is called by
the pagan name of Sunday.
Mainstream Judaism
considers the next day after the Sabbath as the sixteenth of the month
Abib. They also have fixed the
length of the month Abib
on thirty days as with the following month on thirty days.
Fixing a
length of a month to thirty or twenty-nine days is also against the
mathematical astronomical order God has set in motion at the Creation and God
has revealed this to His servants.
The length of a month is determined by the two following conjunction and
can be either thirty or twenty-nine days, irrespective of the annual month.
And ye shall count from the morning after the Sabbath, from the day that ye
brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven weeks; they shall be complete; even unto the morning
after the seventh Sabbath shall ye count fifty days; and ye shall present a new
oblation to Jehovah.[17]
Here we have a commandment for counting
from the morning after the Sabbath.
Counting that is starting from the morning after the Sabbath begins at
the first day of the week. We have
to count seven weeks that shall be complete. A complete week starts at the first day of the week and ends
at the seventh day of the week. Do
this for seven complete weeks and one arrives again at a Sabbath, the seventh
Sabbath. The morning after the
seventh Sabbath is the fiftieth day of the count.
The counting
of these fifty days starts with the first day of the week after the Sabbath of
the Days of Unleavened Bread. This
counting is also known as the Omer count. Omer (SHD6016) is the Hebrew word for the wave
sheaf of the first day of the count.
Counting is
absolutely necessary to arrive at the proper day of the specific month for the
fiftieth day, as the length of the month Abib is not fixed as well as the
length of the second month. The
heavenly lights are determining the conjunction, and therefore the variable
length of each month in each year.
By fixing the
fiftieth day on the sixth day of the third month is against the ordained
sequence by the Eternal from the Creation and is in fact blasphemy. It also obscures the real meaning of
the Festival.
The Feast of
Passover / Unleavened Bread as the first pilgrim feast has been tied in with
the Feast of Weeks by the Omer count as the second pilgrim feast.
The Feast
of Weeks – Pentecost
The
commandment has been to count seven complete weeks. A
complete week is a week that begins with the first day of the week and ends
with the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. The word Sabbath is in Hebrew the meaning of seven.
A Festival of
seven weeks starts with the first week and ends with the seventh week, that is
in analogy a Sabbath week. This
Sabbath week consists of seven days and is crowned with the next day, the
fiftieth day. We have here again a
total of eight days, an octave.
There is a
striking resemblance of the second pilgrim festival to the first and third
pilgrim festival as these last also eight days in total. This is no coincidence. It is one of the proofs that the
Eternal has set in motion a very orderly system.
This octave of the Feast of Weeks is also confirmed in
the Talmud:
Just as the Festival of Succos has a compensation period for its festival offerings for all of eight days, - so too the Festival of Shavuos has a compensation period for all of eight days.[18]
Judaism has
lost the real meaning of the second pilgrim festival and therefore has no firm
relation with this festival as they do not follow the commandment with the
first day of the week as the starting point of the Omer count. However, they are familiar with the week as the proper unit
of time for the Omer
count.:
By using the term “Festival of Weeks,” the Torah teaches that the primary unit used in counting to this festival is the week. Thus the analogy between Shavuos and Rosh Chodesh teaches that just as the period for bringing the sacrifices of Rosh Chodesh (one day) is the same unit of time used for counting to it, so too the period for bringing the festival offerings of Shavuos is the same unit of time (one week) used for counting it – one week.[19]
A Jewish sect,
the Karaites, do the Omer count, starting at the first weekday of
the seven days of the Festival of the Unleavened Bread during the first month
of the year, ending with the fiftieth day of the Omer count on a first weekday,
the Gregorian Sunday.
Unfortunately this sect uses the observance of the crescent for
determining the New Moon and the greening of the barley for determining the Abib.
Therefore they do not follow the calendar properly and keep the
Festivals in general on the wrong days.
Mainstream
Christianity has lost the true reckoning of the calendar and so the Omer count. Still they do celebrate the Pentecost as the fiftieth day
after the Easter Sunday, the so-called resurrection day. In general the Christian Pentecost
falls often on the proper day for the fiftieth day of the Omer count or Feast of Weeks.
The Feast of
Weeks begins already during the Days of Unleavened Bread and culminates in the
seventh or Sabbath week, crowned by the eighth day, or the fiftieth day of the Omer count. The Feast of Weeks ends with a eight days Pilgrim Festival,
with the seventh week plus the fiftieth day.
As this is
rather obscured for most people, we have to have a look in history, whether the
first Christian congregations and the later Christian/Catholic churches had a
festival of eighth days. The
weekly Sabbaths plus the fiftieth day do have the state of a Sabbath according
to the Scriptures.
We have seen
above, that although Judaism has diverted from the Torah by fixing according to the Hillel calendar
and now do celebrate two days for the shavuot, it has been a practice to keep eight days. The misleading way of the two days for shavuot has also entered mainstream Christianity
in the celebration of two days of Pentecost in most European countries. An old relict of a longer period we
find in certain parts of the Netherlands, where people do celebrate Pinkster-drie, a third day for the Pentecost feast.
The Catholic
Encyclopaedia states under Pentecost, Whitsunday:
The Apostolic Constitutions (V, xx, 17) say that Pentecost lasts one week, but in the West it was not kept with an octave until at quite a late date.[20]
The Source
Book of Mediaeval History states under Truce of God - Bishopric of
Terouanne, 1063:
You shall also keep this peace every day of the week from the beginning of Advent to the octave of Epiphany and from the beginning of Lent to the octave of Easter, and from the feast of Rogations [the Monday before Ascension Day] to the octave of Pentecost.[21]
For some
reasons the Catholic Church has reduced the eight day Festival to a mere three
and later to two days.
As the
Protestant Churches are the Roman Catholic Church in an other disguise, we see
that mainstream Christianity has changed the Festival of Weeks and has lost the
proper meaning of this Feast.
The first
Christian congregations kept the Pentecost festival properly, as can be deduced
from the history as given in the book of Acts. When we are scrutinising the relevant texts in Acts, a
number of surprising conclusions will follow. The book of Acts has been written by the physician Luke very
accurately and gives us the keys to a better understanding.
With the
reading of the first chapter we have to keep in mind, that Jesus and his
apostles counted the Omer
and were obedient to the Torah.
The first day
of the Omer count was on the day of the Wave Sheaf, in which Messiah had to
present himself to God the Father as the first of firstlings. This happened on the first day of the
week, after his resurrection on the Sabbath before. That is also why he told Maria not to hold him fast, as he had to ascend to heaven as
the Wave Sheaf. In most English
translations the Greek word SGD 681 haptoo has been translated with to touch, giving rise to a number of
misinterpretations of the redeeming work of Messiah.
Jesus saith to her, do not hold me fast; for I am not yet ascended unto
the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father
and your Father, and my God and your God.[22]
After his
ascension and return on the first day of the week, on Omer 1, he commanded his apostles and taught
them concerning everything of the Kingdom of God for forty days.
2 until the day in which he was received up, after that he
had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had
chosen: 3 To whom he
also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them
by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of
God:[23]
Beginning on Omer 2, Messiah taught his Apostles for the
space of forty days, ending with Omer 41.
The next day
was the day that he, Jesus Christ, has been received up, the ascension
day. This was on Omer 42, the last day of the sixth week of the
Festival of weeks, a Sabbath.
Messiah went to the Father as our High Priest, this contrary to the
tradition of mainstream Christianity that it was on the fifth day of the week,
a Gregorian Thursday. The
ascension day is in most European countries a holiday.
The ascension
of Jesus Christ was from the
Olivet mount, close to Jerusalem.
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is
nigh unto Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey off.[24]
Why were Jesus
and these men from the Galilee at that time in Jerusalem?
who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? …. [25]
Because of the
Feast of Weeks, and they were there in obedience to the Torah on a pilgrimage, and had probably arrived
just before to keep this Feast.
The Sabbath week of the Feast of Weeks commences with the first day of
the week, or Omer
43. As it was not allowed to do
extensive travelling on a Sabbath, so they must have arrived before the
Sabbath, to be able to keep the whole Festival as a pilgrimage.
And Messiah
commanded them also to stay for the whole period of the Festival in Jerusalem:
and, being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me:[26]
We do know
that Luke, a physician, and also an accurate man has written the book of Acts,
guided by the Holy Spirit, to tell us the words we do have to know.
In Acts 1:12
Luke describes the distance that the Olivet mount is from Jerusalem; a
Sabbath’s journey off. Why is that
stated here, if there is no relation to a Sabbath itself? Little travelling is allowed on the
Sabbath, making a distance of one Sabbath journey as a maximum. In this Messiah and his apostles were
even obedient to a tradition of men to keep the Sabbath holy.
With the
ascension of Messiah, the apostles had in fact to breath for themselves and the
New Testament congregation, the first Christian assembly went into a new phase
of God’s plan.
In fact the
congregation had come to life on its own beginning that last week of the Feast
of Weeks. They took for
example action during that week to
complete the twelve again from the midst of the brethren:
And in these days Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, and said
(and there was a multitude of persons gathered together, about a hundred and
twenty),[27]
Again Luke is
specific and writes these days, referring to the Sabbath week of Weeks. The Sabbath week is not a week of Sabbath days. The days had a normal character as a
day of the pilgrimage, and not a high day. Besides the eleven apostles and some women (verse 14), there
were about ten times as many people present, and from these the twelve were
completed.
They all
stayed together and were also assembled on the eighth day of the Feast of
Weeks, or Omer 50. The Greek word
for fifty is pentekostè.
And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in
one place.[28]
It was on this
eighth day of the Feast of Weeks that the congregation received the Holy Spirit
without measure, and is sometimes considered as the birth of the
congregation. This has not been
the birth, it is the circumcision of the heart that took place on that specific
day. It was the eighth day of the
Feast and the eight day that the congregation had to breath on its own and they
did as we have seen before. The
loving Father poured out His spirit on all of them and put the Torah in their hearts, both men and women. All of them became circumcised of the heart. Circumcision had to be done, according
to the Scriptures, on the eighth day of life of a child. This life starts when the child begins
to breath on its own. The
similarity is striking.
It is clear
that obedience of the proper Omer count will reveal the meaning of the Ascension of
Messiah on a Sabbath, as the Lord of the Sabbath, and the circumcision of the
congregation on the eighth day in the heart by pouring out the Holy Spirit.
The traditions
of Judaism and mainstream Christianity concerning Shavuot/Pentecost do not have any specific meaning as truth
is emerging only when one searches the Holy Writ for the proper answers without
following the teachings of men.
There is an
other accurate fit in the history as has been written down by Luke. Luke describes in Act 20 that the
apostle Paul also wanted to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Pentecost:
For Paul had determined to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to
spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be at
Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.[29]
Again the
accuracy in the account of Luke is staggering. The full Omer count comes from his description, and it fits only
when the Omer count
starts on the first day of the week.
Else there is no possibility to get a fit. The history of Acts 20-21 is given in the following scheme:
|
Omer 1 Wave sheaf Last day unleavened bread Week 1 |
Omer 2 from Philippi to Troas after Feast unleavened Week 1 Acts 20:6 5 days |
Omer 3 from Philippi to Troas Week 1 Acts 20:6 5 days |
Omer 4 from Philippi to Troas Week 1 Acts 20:6 5 days |
Omer 5 from Philippi to Troas Week 1 Acts 20:6 5 days |
Omer 6 from Philippi to Troas Week 1 Acts 20:6 5 days |
Omer 7 Sabbath Stay at Troas Week 1 Acts 20:6 7 days ? |
|
Omer 8 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 9 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 10 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 11 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 12 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 13 Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
Omer 14 Sabbath Stay at Troas Week 2 Acts 20:6 7 days |
|
Omer 15 from Troas to Assos Week 3 Acts 20:13 1 day |
Omer 16 from Assos to Mitylene Week 3 Acts 20:14 1 day |
Omer 17 from Mitylene to Chios Week 3 Acts 20:15 1 day |
Omer 18 from Chios to Samos Week 3 Acts 20:15 1 day |
Omer 19 from Samos to Miletus Week 3 Acts 20:15 1 day |
Omer 20 Stay at Miletus Week 3 Acts 20:17 2 days |
Omer 21 Sabbath Stay at Miletus Week 3 Acts 20:38 2 days |
|
Omer 22 from Miletus to Cos Week 4 Acts 21:1 1 day |
Omer 23 from Cos to Rhodes Week 4 Acts 21:1 1 day |
Omer 24 from Rhodes to Patara Week 4 Acts 21:1 1 day |
Omer 25 from Patara to Tyre Week 4 Acts 21:2 3 days |
Omer 26 from Patara to Tyre Week 4 Acts 21:3 3 days |
Omer 27 from Patara to Tyre Week 4 Acts 21:3 3 days |
Omer 28 Sabbath Stay at Tyre Week 4 Acts 21:4 7 days |