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Chapter Five:
An
Introduction to the Counting of
the Omer |
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Let's
review the
language of the scriptures in the
King James Version Bible related to Pesach and the Counting of the Omer to
Shavuot in context of a pure lunar-based Biblical calendar. There
are only two methods one can
count to fifty days after seven full
weeks and seven weekly Sabbaths.
One is in the context of a pure
lunar-based Biblical calendar. The
other is in the context of a
solar-Gregorian calendar only if the
count is started the day after the
weekly Saturday Sabbath during the week
of Hag HaMatzah (Feast of Unleavened
Bread). You may read about this
method at
http://www.karaite-korner.org/shavuot.shtml.
The Rabbinic method of setting Shavuot
does not agree mathematically with the
way the Counting of the Omer is
described in scripture.
Let's focus on
the Book of
Leviticus chapter 23 (KJV)
and
Deuteronomy 16:5-15 (KJV).
The explanation of the verses is in the left column and the original scriptures are in the
right column.
First, read the
scriptures to your right to get a conceptual overview and then
return here to review the paragraphs along with the commentary
below.
Verse 5
is speaking of the 2nd evening of the 14th day, which is really
the 1st evening of the 15th day. Verse 5 and 6 are speaking of the
same period of time but in two different ways. In both cases it is Abib 15.
Seven days later or the 7th day of the week is Abib 21.
Make sure you review
Exodus
12:6-14, 18-19
as a cross-reference because it clarifies verse 5 and 6.
Verse 8 corresponds with the weekly Sabbath which is
seven days later than the first day of the week that is Abib 15.
Take a look at
Exodus
12:18-19.
The term in verse 11, "on the morrow after the Sabbath"
is basically saying the "next day after the Sabbath" or
"tomorrow after the Sabbath." Notice verse 15 is
speaking of the same day as verse 11 in the commandment to count
the omer. It is also referring to the same day as verse 14. We can
tell from the language used as well as the reference to the words,
"sheaf," "wave," "brought an
offering," and "selfsame day."
In the week of Pesach there are only two Sabbaths that
verse 11 and 15 can apply to. The first Sabbath is the Sabbath
on Abib 15, which is Pesach. The second Sabbath is the weekly
7th day Sabbath on Abib 21. In the context of a pure lunar
based calendar, the timing of days become clear.
The problem of identifying which Sabbath the verse is referencing is easily
reconciled. If you start the omer count after the 15th of the
month, which is the 16th, you are in the middle of the week. This
creates a problem because there is no way to arrive at the 50th
day on "the morrow after the seventh Sabbath"
after "seven weeks" (Deuteronomy
16:9) because you
started counting in the middle of the week.
The other choice is to start counting the omer on the "morrow
after the Sabbath" which is the weekly Sabbath or Abib 21. This is
what is illustrated in the pure lunar-base Biblical calendar in
Chapter 4.
As you can see by starting the omer count after the weekly
Sabbath, we arrive at the 50th day on the "morrow after
the seventh Sabbath" exactly as Yahuah
commands in verse 16 and
Deuteronomy 16:9.
Verse 21 clarifies the 50th day (selfsame day) to be Shavuot, a
day of holy convocation, a Sabbath, because no servile work is to
be done. Verse 17 speaks about the two waves loaves offered as
firstfruits on Shavuot. They are known as "meat
offerings."
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Leviticus
23:1-24 (KJV)
23:1 And the
LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning
the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy
convocations, even these are my feasts.
3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work
therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
4 These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which
ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even
is the LORD's passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the
feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat
unleavened bread.
7 In the first day ye shall have an holy
convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven
days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye
shall do no servile work therein.
9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye
be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the
harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of
your harvest unto the priest:
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the
LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the
Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he
lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto
the LORD.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine
flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for
a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine,
the fourth part of an hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green
ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought
an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for
ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
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.
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh
month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
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Deuteronomy 16:5-15
(KJV)
5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the LORD your God
gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his
Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the
sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. 7
Roast it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. Then
in the morning return to your tents.
8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an
assembly to the LORD your God and do no work.
9 Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the
sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then celebrate the Feast of
Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in
proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.
11 And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose
as a dwelling for his Name--you, your sons and daughters, your
menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the
aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.
13 Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have
gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. 14
Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters, your
menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the
fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days
celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will
choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and
in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
Exodus 12:6-14
(KJV)
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same
month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel
shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the
blood, and strike [it] on the two side posts and on the upper door
post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and
unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it. 9 Eat
not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast [with] fire;
his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10 And ye
shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which
remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11 And
thus shall ye eat it; [with] your loins girded, your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it
[is] the LORD'S passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast;
and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I [am]
the LORD. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the
houses where ye [are]: and when I see the blood, I will pass over
you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy [you], when I
smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep
it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it
a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Exodus 12:18-19
(KJV)
18 In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month at
even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and
twentieth day of the month at even. 19 Seven days shall
there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that
which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the
congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the
land.
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Copyright 2005 Beth Lechem Messianic
Ministry
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