Shavuot: Feast of Weeks

Shavuot is the celebration of the latter fruits of the spring harvest.  It’s also called the Feast of Weeks, because Adonai commanded the Jews to count 7 weeks, or 50 days from the Feast of First Fruits.  This year Shavuot begins at sundown on Wed., June 7. 

Shavuot is the second of the three feasts God commanded all men to go up to Jerusalem to celebrate.   They were to bring 2 loves of leaven bread (as opposed to the unleavened bread of Pesach), to wave before the Lord.  One loaf represent the Jewish people and the other one represents believers in Yeshua, because all of us have sinned (hence the leaven).

Shavuot was the day Jehovah gave Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai 3,300 years ago (Exodus 19). 

Shavuot was also the day Yeshua poured out the Ruach HaKodesh on the early believers 2,000 years ago, in the Upper Room in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-5), fulfilling the prophecy of the Prophet Joel (Joel 3).  It is also referred to as Pentecost (Greek for 50).

Prophetically, Shavuot may also be the day of the 'Later Day' outpouring and the beginning of the revival of the nations. 

Today, at Shavuot, Jews set their tables with their best dishes and linens, and decorate their homes with greenery and fresh flowers.  After dinner, the family gathers for the reading of the book of Ruth from the Tanakh.  The setting of the story was during the wheat harvest, or at Shavuot.   There is also a tradition of eating dairy products on this day.

During the Six Day War in 1967, the Kotel, or the Western Wall, was opened to the Jewish people on Shavuot.  That day, 200,000 Jews walked to the Wall to pray and celebrate the recapture of Jerusalem.  This 'pedestrian pilgrimage' is still observed in Jerusalem today.