Leviticus 23:15-22 comments: the Feast of Weeks

 

Leviticus 23:15 ¶  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16  Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. 17  Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. 18  And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. 19  Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20  And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21  And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22  And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

 

Here is the description of Pentecost, Pente-cost, or 50^th day, seven weekly Sabbaths. It is the Feast of Weeks.

Deuteronomy 16:9  Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10  And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

 

The sheaf of firstfruits was the introduction to the harvest. Now, two loaves of leavened bread are brought out. Notice that the Feast of Unleavened Bread symbolized the hasty exit from Egypt, the Exodus, and the unleavened bread they ate when they came out of Egypt. Here, they eat leavened bread as a sign of God’s goodness to them in the providing of ordinary food.

They offered one lamb in the firstfruits but here, giving glory to God, they offer an abundance of sacrificial beasts. One kid of the goats as a sin offering shows their unworthiness while two lambs to make peace with God for His blessings on the harvest.

A holy convocation, a day of no servile work, was ordained. They were also ordered to leave gleanings of the harvest for the poor among them to gather and for the alien.