What is Shavout?
Shavuot (Pentecost)
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.
22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’” (Leviticus 23: 15-22)
Also known as “the Festival of Weeks” because it is 7 weeks from Passover, Shavuot is a time in which Jews celebrate the gift of the Torah. More than 3300 years ago, the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Shavuot means “weeks” and it also means “oaths.” Each year, the Jews renew their acceptance of God’s gift (the Torah) and God re-gives the Torah to them.
On the morning that God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, He had to wake them up. Now on Shavuot, Jews stay awake all night in order to study and prepare themselves to receive the Torah anew.
The giving of the Torah is a deeply spiritual event and has been compared with a marriage between God and His people. With the Torah, God made a covenant with His people and He is forever in the hearts of the Jewish people.
Upcoming dates: June 12 2016; May 31 2017; May 20 2018; June 9 2019; May 29 2020
Scriptures Read on this Holiday
Torah reading: Exodus 19 & 20; Deuteronomy 14 & 16
Pentecost for Christians
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2: 1-4)
Pentecost takes place 50 days after Passover. It was an established Jewish holiday so Jesus’ disciples were gathered together for that festival. On that day, God poured out His Holy Spirit onto the disciples of Jesus Christ.
For Christians, the celebration of Pentecost is a reminder of the day when God’s Holy Spirit was first poured out onto the followers of Jesus Christ. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, they can receive the Holy Spirit:
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1: 13-14)
For Jews, the celebration of Pentecost reminds them of their commitment to God and that He is in their hearts. Pentecost provides a foreshadowing that one day the Jews will receive the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit.
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